News

Saturday

Saturday IL6 had a birthday party to go for his triplet friends. It was at a kids’ gymnastics gymnasium. He loved it for the first hour, but then they decided to make it structured, and he got bored and came back to me. (I think the gymnasium was trying to drum up interest in their gymnastics classes by having a “lesson.”)

After the party, I wrote a letter, then Aaron and I went to D15’s play. There were two 45 minute plays, and she was very proud of being able to bow twice.

Sunday

Sunday we all relaxed. M12 went to band. In the evening, we played D&D as a family.

Monday

Monday was pretty productive. I dived into my to-do list, took dad to an appointment, the bank, and a nail salon. Since I had finished a good chunk of stuff by then, I read The Economist until IL6 got home. When M12 got home from auditions for the middle school play, I started cooking meatloaf. M12 then went to Boy Scouts and I finally programmed in Scratch with IL6 again. He learned a lesson on saving when he accidentally deleted something that we couldn’t get back, and we had to go back to a previous save. He lost some work, but he survived.

Tuesday

Tuesday Aaron and I took D15 to an appointment, and then we exercised. D15 did tech crew work after school. M12 had jazz band rehearsal.

When IL6 got home, he wanted to program the computer more (he’s really catching on), but what he wanted to do wasn’t possible, and he wouldn’t believe me. Then M12 tried to do it, and he said it was impossible, and IL6 believed him.

Wednesday

Wednesday started with me taking dad to the gym – we were both going to work out. But then I discovered that the wheel had fallen off his walker, so I told dad that we needed to look for the nut and bolt. It had fallen out somewhere. Dad said “Oh! Do you need me to come along?” Like, umm. Well it IS your walker. But, whatever. I left him there and went searching for the bolt. I didn’t find it. I returned 30 minutes later for my workout with my personal trainer.

Then Aaron and I went to a pub while waiting for our car to get an oil change.

Later, we went to parent-teacher conferences for the boys. They are both doing well. All teachers gave glowing reviews.

Thursday

Thursday was a relaxing day. The boys had no school, so dad took us all to Perkins. Then we relaxed at home. I read to D15 in the evening.

Friday

On Friday, I took IL6 to an appointment and then tried to take him to a second appointment, but it was cancelled. Then I took him for a haircut. Following that, I took IL6 and M12 to the library, and then D15 to a doctor’s appointment. In the evening, dad took us out to dinner.

Reading to myself

• The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
• Human Acts, by Han Kang
• 12 Major World Religions, by Jason Boyett
• Mr Ballen Podcast
• The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir
• The Economist: Revolt Against Regulation
• The Week: Immigration Offensive
• Master of the Phantom Isle, by Brandon Mull
• Ravenswood Witch, by Jenni Keer

Reading to IL5

• Attack of the Shadow Smashers, by Troy Cummings
• Jo Bright and the Seven Bots, by Deborah Underwood and Meg Hunter
• The Kiss Box, by Bonny Verburg and Henry Cole
• The Fran With Four Brains, by Jim Benton

D14 reading

• Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger
• The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

Aaron reading

• Fury of the Gods, by John Gwynne

Media Completed

A young bear learns to separate temporarily from his mom.

Retelling of Snow White

Alexander and his team fight shadow monsters. IL6 loved it.

Fran builds some bots to help her get stuff done.

In this heartbreaking novel, Han Kang explores how people must have felt in the aftermath of the Gwangju uprising (where about 2000 people were massacred for protesting). I had not heard about this real event in 1980, and it was terrible to behold in this novel. Human Acts was eloquently written – I see why Han Kang won the Nobel Prize.

News

Saturday

Saturday Aaron and I slept in. Then we played D&D for 4 hours. I had told IL6 I would teach him to code a game, so I downloaded Scratch, but then was having difficulty figuring it out. So I told him I needed to watch a tutorial. However, I was too tired for a tutorial, so, despite trying to watch one, I took a nap. For the rest of the evening. And through the night till just after 4am. I fell back to sleep around 6am.

Sunday

Sunday started with me trying to program an easy game with IL6 on Scratch (A kids’ programming language developed by MIT). He actually picked it up surprisingly well. We ran into a bug I was trying to fix, but he didn’t have the patience to fix it, so his mind on what he wanted to do, and screamed at me when I continued trying to solve the original problem. I didn’t know how to do the new thing he wanted to do, either, though Malcolm rather snottily explained how to program in a very simplistic sort of way that I’d understood even before watching the tutorial, because apparently he thinks I’m stupid. I told IL6 that I would figure it out alone, and we could continue tomorrow. We stopped at 11am.

I then looked at my phone. My friend Liz had texted at 10:30 to ask if she should come for our trip to Olive Garden for our book club meeting at 11. Oops. I told her “yes?” And started to get IL6 ready, as Aaron was out. Then, Liz asked if her nephew could come along, so I invited M12, and it turned out to be a party.

A little after getting home, I took M12 to band, then headed to the library with IL6. They had gotten rid of his favorite toys, but had acquired a new one that he wanted to play with. Someone else was playing with it, so he wanted to wait. But the computer was broken, and we’d picked out books, and I was super tired again, so to IL6’s dismay we went home. I felt bad.

Then I zonked out for 2 hours in IL6’s bed, while he played on his phone on the bed. And that was pretty much the end of the evening.

Monday

Monday Aaron and I went to the gym and ran errands. I figured out how to do what IL6 wanted to do while programming the game. But then he didn’t actually want to program when he got home, despite reminding me about it in the morning.

In the evening, dad took us to Red Lobster for dinner. Then IL6 wanted to hang out in his room, so I got some reading done. My cross-stitch of the creeper is coming along much faster than the one of Groot. I think because I’m more experienced. It is a lot more complex that Groot, though.

Tuesday

Tuesday I went to the gym, then to lunch, then to errands with dad and Aaron.

Wednesday

Wednesday, I got up at 5am and started the 3 hour drive to get to my aunt’s funeral. It was a beautiful service and nice seeing everyone, but at the end my social battery was drained and I had a headache, so I didn’t socialize long. I drove back home that night.

Thursday

Thursday I had little motivation to do anything. I washed dad’s laundry and ran some small errands. I read and cross-stitched for a little while. (The pattern is difficult because there are so many shades of green in one- or two-pixel areas, making the counting a pain.) IL6 had Cub Scouts. D15 had play rehearsal. M12 went skiing after school with some friends.

Friday

Friday started with two appointments for IL6. Then I wrote a couple of letters and read for a while. D15 had the first night of her play, which she says went well.

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

• Beyond These Walls, by Tony Platt
• Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi
• Mahabharata
• The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir
• Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank
• Master of the Phantom Isle, by Brandon Mull
• Human Acts, by Han Kang

Reading to IL5

• The End of the Overworld, by Nick Eliopulos
• The Leaf Thief, by Alice Hemming
• Beach Bummer, by Ryan T Higgins
• We are Growing, by Mo Willems
• Here Comes Teacher Cat, by Deborah Underwood
• Hidden Gem, by Linda Liu

D14 reading

• Girl in the Moon, by Terry Goodkind
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin
• Book Thief, Markus Zusak

Media Completed

A squirrel wonders where all the leaves are going.

A bear is dragged along to the beach.

Some grass figures out what it’s like to grow as unique blades.

A cat has to substitute teach a class, and learns to enjoy it.

This is a major Hindu spiritual work, one of the (if not the) oldest spiritual texts as well as the longest epic poem in existence. This audiobook, despite being abridged, was about 45 hours, and it took me about a year to read. The story was interesting (to me) and ok in terms of ease of following. Not much previous knowledge was necessary.

A rock discovers it’s awesome.

In the second book of this African fantasy trilogy, the 3 main characters fight for their differing visions of what is best for their country. This is an interesting and well-written book, based on the emotions it elicited in me. They weren’t all positive emotions, but I feel like any book that gets the feels is well-written. (As long as I’m getting feels the author suggested.)

Eggasaurus Inc. misunderstands the intents of a kid.

News

Saturday

Saturday, I drove dad 3 hours south to visit my aunt. She is very cheerful and says she doesn’t see herself dying any time soon. The pneumonia has turned out to be antibiotic resistant, but she is not in multiple organ failure as my cousin made it sound on Friday night. She was pretty tired, though. The visit took place from noon till seven, so I was pretty exhausted by the end of the visit. Dad and I then went to the hotel and a restaurant.

IL6 had his Pinewood Derby, and came in 39th out of 58th.

Sunday

Sunday dad and I went to church with dad, cousins Bob and Steve, and my uncle. Then dad and I had breakfast at Perkins, and visited my aunt. Before leaving, dad and went to dinner at Olive Garden with Steve.

IL6 was thrilled to see me when I got home, and demanded my attention. D15 was in an unusually chatty mood, too.

Monday

Monday we woke everyone up at 7 (despite it being a holiday), and stuck the cats in bedrooms. Workers came with their jackhammers to dig a trench where they’re placing the drain tile.

D15 and IL6 didn’t like the noise, so after their virtual appointment, we all piled into the car to go to Olive Garden (that’s where IL6 asked to go). We usually go to one in the suburb north of us, but M12 had an appointment right across from an Olive Garden in a suburb two cities to the west. So Aaron dropped D15, IL6, and I off there and drove off to the appointment. IL6 was crying so hard because he wanted to go to the other Olive Garden. It was -14 degrees out, and he just stood there outside crying. Finally I bribed him to go in with Dairy Queen later.

When the workers left, I let the cats out of the bedrooms. About an hour later, I realized I hadn’t seen Freyja since letting them out. But D15 said she’d seen him, so I dropped it. A couple hours later, I went looking for him.

Downstairs, I heard him meowing for help. It took a couple minutes to pinpoint it, since whenever I started looking, he stopped meowing. Finally, I found him in the area between the ceiling of the basement and the floor of the first level. He wouldn’t step down into my hands, so finally I wedged a large container about half-way up under the place Freyja was looking out. After I walked away, he jumped down using the container. Why do cats go places they can’t get out of?

Later that night, I noticed smoke pouring out of a greasy skillet on the stove. Dad had accidentally started the burner under it. I took it off the burner before it burst into flame. Then I pressed the check button on the smoke detector. It was dead! But we survived, and I guess we are fine. And now we know we need a new smoke

Tuesday

Tuesday, dad and I went to the gym with dad – I lifted weights with my legs and then walked on the treadmill.

The kids had the day off school because of the -40°F windchill. So they got to listen to more work downstairs. Freyja seemed to handle it a little better today.

I got a call from my cousin saying that  on Monday my aunt crashed and is close to passing. It’s a bit surprising, since she seemed weak but ok on Sunday.

In the evening, my friend Liz came over, and we watched Doctor Who and ate pizza.

Wednesday

Wednesday Aaron and I went to the gym. Then he, dad, and I drove to the elementary school and asked to look in the lost-and-found. We found IL6’s missing hat and coat! I had hoped they’d eventually make it to the lost-and-found. He likes the replacement coat better than the original, but he’d really missed that hat.

Then we went to Olive Garden to see if D15 had left her coat there. She had. (How you accidentally leave your coat somewhere when the temperature is below zero is beyond me.) We decided to eat since we were there.

IL6 was thrilled to see his hat when he got home. Then he played Spore on the computer with M12 for a couple hours, which was kind of M12. D15 had rehearsal.

I got news that my aunt was probably going to die overnight or Thursday, and was unable to read or do much because of grief. Hopefully Thursday will be better for at least reading.

Thursday

Thursday IL6 and I had a useless appointment in which the provider told us there’s nothing she could do, and she wishes she’d called to tell us not to come in.

Aaron and I finished a couple of errands. We went to the gym. In the evening, we went to D15’s parent-teacher conferences. She is doing well.

That night, my aunt passed. I guess I feel relieved that she’s not suffering anymore.

Friday

Friday I took IL6 to an appointment, then relaxed for the rest of the day. Except, I did make a phone call to insurance about IL6’s med – which apparently will simply not be covered by insurance.

M12 went to board game camp and D15 went to visit her mom. Dad went to my sister’s overnight, and IL6 took a 1.5 hour bath. So it was a calm night.

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

• Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett
• The Week: Agony in Los Angeles
• Mahabharata
• Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi
• Beyond These Walls, by Tony Platt
• Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull

Reading to IL5

• The Day of the Night Crawlers, by Troy Cummings

D14 reading

• Girl in the Moon, by Terry Goodkind

Aaron reading

• Fury of the Gods, by John Gwynne

Media Completed

Tiffany wants to be a witch, but has no one to teach her. However, when her brother is kidnapped she must convince some tiny men to help her use withcy powers to bring the brother back. This wasn’t as funny as the witch novels, but was pretty cute.

Alexander and Rip figure out why night crawlers are invading their town. IL6 was excited to read this book after he remembered the first book. It did not disappoint.

Franny develops a crazy dangerous bomb, but Igor eats it. She has to shrink herself and be snorted up Igor’s nose to retrieve it. Cute story. IL6 was pretty excited to read more about Franny’s creations.

Dog races the strawberry. Very cute.

Seth and Kendra need to beat the dragon king when he declares war on them. This was very interesting second book to the series.

News

Saturday

Saturday Aaron, IL6, and I went to M12’s band concert. It was really well-done. Later in the night, I started my cross-stitch pattern (a baby Creeper for IL6).

Sunday

Sunday, we all relaxed. I went to the gym and wrote letters. Aaron and I had a date.

Monday

Monday was a good day. IL6 had two appointments. The second was a blood draw, which, as always, was this huge ordeal. After dropping him at school, Aaron and I ran our errands. Then dad took us to Perkins. I wrote two letters. I worked on my to-do list.

Dad paid for Aaron to get a gym membership and personal trainer (he’s paying mine, too). I have faith he’ll exercise his butt off and I won’t almost beat him at arm wresting anymore. (Yes, I’m poking at you, Aaron. I clearly would have won if you hadn’t cheated. 😝)

When D15 got home, she was upset about some strange 3-day assignment in which she was supposed to pretend to be Italy and compete with other “countries” for parts of Africa. She didn’t like hurting the pretend people. I emailed the teacher and asked if this was supposed to help students empathize with the people being colonized. She said yes, but she didn’t think people were getting it, so she had decided to drop the assignment.

I read to D15 and played LEGOs with IL6.

Tuesday

Tuesday I took M12 to the eating disorder doctor, and she told him he needs to eat more if he wants to grow during puberty. He is now worried he will end up shorter than D15. Part of the problem is that he asked me if he would be taller than D15 and I answered “I hope so.”

M12 had a school band concert. He did great. Not only did Aaron and I go, but we saw where he sat, which apparently was important to M12. (I’m not sure what made him think we didn’t pick him out when he went to his seat. Maybe because all 7th graders look alike?)

The rest of the day was encompassed with some teen drama with D15. At the end of the day, I told Aaron I couldn’t wait to go to work so I could sleep, and IL6 offered to go into his room with me so that I could take a nap on his bed. He took my nap really seriously, because after getting up at 8:45 to tell dad and M12 to take their meds, I came back and sat on the bed with my head in my hands. After a minute or so, IL6 said “mommy, why aren’t you sleeping?” 😊

Wednesday

Wednesday we had D15’s intake for therapy.

Then we went to the pharmacy and tried to pick up IL5’s prescription. The pharmacy said they didn’t get the script from the doctor. I said “That’s odd. This is the second time they’ve said they’ve sent it, then it didn’t get here.”

I messaged the doctor and said their script didn’t make it, again. And could they send a sample to the office nearby so we wouldn’t run out, as promised on Monday by the provider.

The patient care coordinator said they never sent the script, and they didn’t send the sample because the script was now sent. But that is exactly what the provider said on Monday “I just sent it now, it wasn’t sent before.” I have 100% faith they sent it all three times, and that their system is glitching and not sending it and that now I will run out of the med because the patient care coordinator didn’t send the sample to the nearby office, as the provider promised.

After school, I took IL5 to McDonald’s for a playdate. He really enjoyed himself. Immediately upon returning home, dad took us to Olive Garden, but my sleeping disorder hit on the way to Olive Garden, and I fell asleep in the car. I could hardly keep my eyes open during dinner, plus the ice in my drink made me cold.

Upon getting home, I fell asleep again until it was time to work. IL5 joined me and played on my phone. At work, I immediately pulled the blanket over my head, did some last minute stuff on my phone, stuck my head out, and slept soundly until 6am.

Thursday

Thursday was wonderful – I had zero appointments. I could have used it to get lots of stuff done, but I caught up on letters (I had 6 this week), used my Groot wax seal Santa got me, and I read. In the evening, IL6 went to Cub Scouts and checked in his Pinewood Derby car. Then he made a cute card for me. He even wrote “I love mom” on it with hearts he drew himself. (That reminds me, he’s been getting hearts with “E(2) IL6” written in them, lately. I asked who E(2) was, but all he said was “I think E(2) loves me.” I should see if I can get hold of E(2)’s mom for play dates. Right now, he has 3 friends – triplets – S, E(1), and M(2).)

Oh, and IL6’s med was there. (Blush)

Friday

Friday morning, I started at work, hearing that my aunt was in the hospital with sepsis. She’s 86, so it’s not a good sign. However, they cleared it up by the end of the day and sent her back to the rehab facility. She does have multiple organ failure, though, so she has been put on hospice starting Saturday. Dad and I were already going to visit her this weekend, so we decided it was a good idea to go despite the recent hospitalization.

I took IL6 to an appointment. I meant to take him to a second appointment, but when I got there it didn’t exist. 🤷‍♀️

Aaron and I went to the gym to weight lift and walk on the treadmill. Then Aaron cooked chili, and I sat with IL6 in his room.

Reading to myself

• The Mystery of Exploding Teeth, by Thomas Morris
• Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi
• Beyond these Walls, by Tony Platt
• Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull
• Mahabharata

Reading to IL5

• Golem’s Game, by Nick Eliopulos

D14 reading

• Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger (I’m reading this to her)

Aaron reading

• The Fury of the Gods, John Gwynne

Media Completed

In this amusing bit of nonfiction, Morris includes stories about weird medical incidents throughout the centuries. The stories were short, and well-researched. Some of them seemed a bit unlikely, but he admitted that although he got the stories from medical journals, the stories may not be true. I enjoyed reading this.

Penelope is given a saber-toothed cat for a pet, but has a lot of difficulty controlling it. A cute story that IL6 liked.

This is the penultimate book in the Stonesword Chronicles. Our intrepid Minecraft players must face some challenges alone. IL6 is enjoying the series.

News

Saturday

Saturday flew by more quickly than expected. I got a slow start to the day – getting nothing done before our weekly Skype call with my mother-in-law. After the call, I put some chicken chili ingredients in the crock pot. IL6 wanted to “make something with sugar as an ingredient.” So we made a chocolate cake. I wasn’t expecting it to turn out well, since I was letting IL6 be imprecise with the measurements. But it actually turned out really well!

I then went to the gym and had a relaxing 2.5 mile-per-hour stroll on the treadmill (so enough to get my pulse up a little, but I could still type on my phone).

After a short nap, I made a meatloaf in the instant pot. I’m still trying to figure out how to use the instant pot, so it took some troubleshooting to figure out that my problem was that I needed water to build pressure.

Then I cross-stitched and read while sitting in IL6’s room with him. Aaron and dad watched TV. IL6 and M12 watched YouTube.

I lost 1.9 pounds this week, but I gained 1 pound last week so I’m still on track at an average of one pound a week. I have 8 pounds to go to get to the weight I was when I met Aaron (my next goal). Maybe 2 months?

Sunday

Sunday, I went to church with dad in the morning. In the afternoon, M12 went to band rehearsal and D15 came back from her mom’s. In the evening, Aaron and I played LEGOs with IL6.

Really, the only interesting thing that happened had to do with the laundry. In October, I bought a bunch of 5T pants for IL6. A week or so later, all but a couple were missing. We decided there was a missing laundry basket and looked and looked for it. Finally, we bought some more 5T pants. Fastforward to Sunday. I was putting away laundry and discovered a bunch of 4T-5T socks (which had all been decommissioned months ago), as well as some 4T pants (also decommissioned months ago). I realized that somehow, without us knowing how, the missing laundry basket with all the missing 5T pants (plus some small stuff that got through at that time) got reintegrated into our laundry when D15 sorted the last gigantic pile of laundry. So now we won’t run out of pants, at least.

Monday

Monday, Aaron and I ran a bunch of errands. They had accumulated over the past two weeks while IL6 was home. We had so many, we didn’t finish them all. Then I went to the gym.

At home, I cooked bacon (IL6 had requested some the day before), washed the skillet, cooked 3 pork chops for M12’s dinners this week, washed the skillet, was about to cook some shrimp in it, but decided I was done with cooking for the day.

In the evening, I read to D15 while M12 was at Boy Scouts.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a long day. For about two months, I’ve had trouble with my eyesight, and I recently noticed it was just in my right eye. That was stressful, because I wondered if it was something like a cataract. But I was mostly thinking I would wait until my next eye exam to get it looked at unless it got significantly worse.

Then, Tuesday morning, my eye started stinging and suddenly the vision got really bad. As I was driving home, several floaters appeared. That was stressful, combined with the vision issues, so I called opthamology when I got home they had an appointment available in 20 minutes, and it takes 20 minutes to drive there, so I took it.

Then dad came out of his bedroom and veeeeerrrrry slooooooowly told me that he was going to my sister’s tonight, and could I fill his pillbox before I left? Argh! So I filled for Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning as fast as I safely could, then rushed out the door with Aaron.

There was no need to rush, because the doctor kept us waiting for an hour. When she examined my eye, she said the eyes were dry and that my right cornea had a harmless condition in which it was bumpy instead of smooth. That would make the dry eye impact the right eye more than the left eye. She told me to take tear eye drops 4-6 times a day.

She also said she saw floaters in my right eye, but it otherwise appeared healthy. She said I’m a bit young to start getting floaters, but that it was harmless if it was just the “jelly at the back of the eye.” Of course, she doesn’t know that it’s the jelly, but it sounded like a reasonable suggestion. She wanted me to come back in 4-6 weeks to check the status of my floaters.

Aaron drove me home, since I couldn’t drive with my eyes dilated. We stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings on the way home.

Another stressful thing that happened: dad let my homeless nephew J20 into the house at 2am Tuesday morning. They trashed the kitchen, ate our frozen pizza, Texas toast, 2 Tupperware containers of spaghetti, and left a brand new package of frozen fries out to thaw. (Aaron later found two heaping plates of food set out to spoil, so they didn’t eat all this, they only cooked it.) They crashed in the basement, scaring M12, who thought we were being robbed, and scaring D14 when she got up in the morning. They broke the light in the laundry room (though it was probably from the 1950’s and was on its way out, anyway). They stole 3 of D15’s chargers, including the one for her school iPad. Luckily, they left the iPad.

Then in the evening, some unrelated stuff that I shouldn’t share happened, but it was also stressful.

Wednesday

In the morning, I took M12 to a doctor’s appointment. Then I ran some errands with Aaron, made some phone calls, and wrote a letter. Aaron installed new lights in our laundry room and closet so that we had strings on our lights again.

One of the errands we ran is to run to the post office and tell them that our mailbox lock is jammed. They told us it was probably frozen, and to spray deicer in there. We sprayed a whole bottle in. No luck. We tried a hair drier, no luck. I had put our mail on hold so we’d have access to new mail, but they delivered yesterday’s anyway. So we have 3 days of mail stuck in the box.

Thursday

Thursday I went to the gym and spent a couple hours cleaning. I cooked swordfish for dinner, and took D15 to Joanne Fabric to get some yarn for her blanket for IL6.

When I opened up the oven after preheating it to 400F for 20-30 minutes, I found the well-cooked pizza that J20 and his friend left sitting, uncooked, in the oven when they were here.

Friday

Friday I took IL6 to meet his new therapist (for his fear of pooping), and we both liked her. Then I took him to speech therapy. After that, dad, Aaron, and I ran some errands and went to lunch. We got the mailbox lock ordered – it should come in next week. In the evening, I cooked salmon, then Aaron, D15, and IL6 cleaned IL6’s room.

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

• Mahabharata
• Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull
• The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by E M Anderson
• Mr Ballen podcast
• The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth, by Thomas Morris

Reading to IL5

• Diary of a Roblox Pro: Monster Escape, by Avi Avatar
• Never a Doll Moment, by Andres Miedoso
• Hold on to Your Heads, by Andres Miedoso

D14 reading

• Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger
• Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kid

Media Completed

Ari Avatar is dared to go into an abandoned warehouse and discovers a monster. Not too clever, but IL6 liked it.

Desmond and Andres visit Desmond’s grandma’s house, where they encounter a houseful of creepy dolls.

To her surprise, Edna discovers she’s the chosen one. She has to leave retirement to save people from rampaging dragons. So cute and funny.

Desmond and Andres go to a thrift store to buy a raincoat. There, they get attacked by a headless mannequin. I’m sad to say this is the last published Desmond Cole book as of the beginning of 2025. IL6 will be so disappointed.

News

Saturday

Saturday I woke up feeling dizzy and nauseated. I’m not sure if I had a stomach bug or was stressed about some unknown factor. Norovirus is going around the area, but if that’s what I had, it was a very mild case.

I had promised my dad I’d take him to Barnes and Noble to buy a calendar, so we all piled into the car because I thought it would be a nice way to get IL6 out of the house. But he threw a temper tantrum in the store because we didn’t buy him a toy. Then we stopped by Best Buy to pick up a new laptop that my mother-in-law bought as a Christmas present since mine finally bit the dust. I had thought getting up and moving around would shake the sick feeling (it would have if it were stress), but I felt downright miserable on the car ride home.

At home, I slept about 3 hours, and ended up feeling groggy, but not miserable. I listened to an audiobook while cross-stitching, and then read. IL6 snuck his way into staying up late by starting to play with his LEGOs right at bedtime, making me feel bad to stop him. Sneaky sneak.

Sunday

Sunday I woke up at 5am (after falling asleep at midnight) to discover that my dad hadn’t come home. He had gone out with my sister the day before, and not come back. I texted him, as he often texts at 5am. No answer. I checked that his pill box was still on his dresser (as an indication of him planning to stay at my sister’s). It was there. He needs to take his meds on time or his stent will clot, potentially leading to sudden death. I knew he wasn’t in a nearby hospital, because I’d be getting updates from them on my phone. My mind was going over all the reasons for these events, and I couldn’t fall back to sleep. Then I got hold of him at 9. He had stayed at my sister’s house. He’d taken just 24 hours’ worth of meds with him. And he forgot to tell me.

About this time, IL6 got up and immediately started playing with his LEGOs. That took a few hours of Aaron putting a set together and then me playing with his little LEGO guys and bosses he’d built. Then IL6 played with the Switch for a few hours. (That also takes a lot of parental attention.)

I tried to bully through what felt like a cold and fatigue. But really my only accomplishment (with Aaron), was to get the basement shifted around for the inspection of the new electrical panel. Other than that, I read and cross-stitched.

Monday

Monday morning I had a video appointment with IL6’s doctor. I’d made it over a month ago to discuss testing IL6 for auditory processing disorder. We agreed eventually that we would get him tested both for auditory processing disorder and autism, as both of those could lead to difficulties speaking.

Later in the morning, I took dad to his last cardiac rehab appointment before “graduation.” We’re both excited to be done. We had another appointment in the same (rather far away) area, so we went to Perkins for lunch, then to the audiologist for a hearing aid adjustment. She turned them up 5 decibels and now he cringes when IL6 talks.

I sat with IL6 in his room until dinner, during which I continued setting up my new computer. Then shrimp for dinner, crafting with IL6, and more sitting in his room (this time reading).

Tuesday

Tuesday I went to the gym with dad – he signed me up for 12 weeks of personal training, which will start next week. I guess it’s probably a good idea to learn how to lose weight.

Later in the day, I checked things off my to-do list, as well as going out to lunch with Aaron, dad, and IL6. I got the basement tidied for the work this week, and got some work done in the livingroom. IL6 and I made a toilet monster out of pipe cleaners and duct tape. In the evening I read. At 10, IL6 and I started a readathon for 2 hours. We finished 2 books.

Wednesday

Wednesday I slept until 2 because I had forgotten to take my evening med the night before and went into withdrawal. Soon, the kids got home from their mom’s, and we all opened Christmas presents. Then they played the Switch, and Dad, Aaron, D15, and I went to Red Lobster. In the evening, I read.

Thursday

Thursday started out with a call from the asbestos removal company – they were supposed to come on Friday to remove our tiles, but had to move it out to the following Thursday because they didn’t plan well. Which is infuriating because we had it scheduled out months ago. And because we’ve already taken out our plumbing, so that means we’ll have 6 people and one bathroom for AT LEAST a week longer IF the people who are drilling can reschedule easily. And because D15 can’t sleep in her room till it’s done. And because the other people were supposed to come and drill on Monday, and now we have to move them. And those people never called me back about rescheduling, so I have to call them again. These asbestos people will not be getting further business from us.

Then, I went by the school to pick up IL6’s jacket and hat, only they didn’t have it. You see, on the last day before winter break, I brought IL6 back to school after an appointment, but the classroom was at lunch, so the administrative assistant said IL6 should stay in the office till the class was done with lunch. So IL6 took off his jacket and hat and sat at the table with the duplos. Then they didn’t bring his jacket and hat back to the classroom with him. So I stopped by to check the lost and found, but it wasn’t there. IL6 was really sad to lose that hat.

IL6 was sent home from school early with an elevated temperature, headache, sore throat, and cough. When I got home at maybe 11, he had a fever of 103.something. So I gave him a Tylenol. At about 4, I checked his temperature again, and it was 103.9. After some hemming and hawing, Aaron and I took him to urgent care. Three hours later, we had a tentative diagnosis of “flu-like virus.” He was tested for strep (negative), flu, and COVID.

In the afternoon, so after IL6’s first temperature and before his second, I took dad to his “graduation” from cardiac rehab. So, yay! That’s 3 fewer appointments a week I have to go to.

Friday

I took a break on Friday. I wrote a letter and took a nap.

I went to the gym and had my first meeting with my personal trainer. We discussed that I didn’t need to lose weight as long as I lost fat, but I would assume I could be in good physical condition without being almost bariatric, as I have been a good weight in the past.

I also read the instruction manual of my new instant pot that Aaron got me for Christmas. I used it to cook our salmon in 42 fewer minutes than it usually takes me. That was fun. Saturday, I will try out meatloaf.

M12 tried out his new drone that he got from Aaron for Christmas. He really enjoyed it. D15 went to her mom’s house for the weekend. IL5 learned to play Mario Kart.

In the evening, I read and cross-stitched.

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

• Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett
• Mr Ballen Podcast
• Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull
• The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher, by E M Anderson
• Mahabharata
• The Week
• The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth by Thomas Morris

Reading to IL5

• To Bee, or Not to Bee, by Nick Eliopulos
• I’m Your Biggest Phantom, by Andres Miedoso
• The Witch Get Witcher, by Andres Miedoso
• Diary of a Roblox Pro: Monster Escape, by Avi Avatar

D14 reading

• Counting by 7’s, by Holly Goldberg

Media Completed

This is another installment of the Desmond Cole series which IL6 loves. Excellent, as usual.

And another installment of the Desmond Cole series. IL6 loved this one as well.

The fourth book of the Stonesword Chronicles is about our group of Minecrafters trying to find yet another piece of their friend. Cute book in cute series. IL6 is enjoying it.

The witches fight some vampires that are trying to take over Lancre. Funny, as most Discworld books.

News

Saturday

Saturday was a good day. Dad and I went to the gym. Aaron, IL6, and I went to get IL6’s Christmas presents to the kids and a turkey for Christmas.

Aaron took out the carpet in D15’s room. We ran into some problem when we found out the pad was glued to the asbestos tiles. Then dad went down there and ripped it up, anyway, before I could ask the advice of the asbestos removal people. Now we have 1 broken tile, as well as some pieces of wood nailed along the sides of the room that we will have to remove. I want to wait until I call for advice before those are removed, though, so I’m not going to tell dad it needs to be done. I’m not sure that after the broken tile and removing the wood the room will be safe for D16 to sleep in, so I’m hoping I can get the asbestos removal people to come early – before she gets back from her mom’s on the 1st of January.

After that, I cooked dinner and read.

Sunday

Sunday, we had a laid back day. Aaron, IL6, and I went to the zoo. We stayed for quite a while. IL6 even wanted to see some outside animals, but the walk was too far so we turned back. We’ll have to go back with a wagon. I cooked shrimp for dinner, and then IL6 and I sat in his room.

Monday

Monday I had an appointment with a dietician. It was actually quite helpful. I found out why I could never meet the grain goal from MyPlate. I thought “1 serving” was about 4 times more than it is. I may start keeping track of my food groups again. We’ll see. Then I took dad to his cardiac rehab appointment.

On the way home from cardiac rehab, my nephew J20 called dad. Apparently, he’d been kicked out of his homeless shelter (hotel), and had 1 hour to get out. We went to pick him up. He may be sleeping on the streets, now  I can’t have him overnight at my house any more, because he’s too disrespectful.

Aaron got some bad news on the job application front, and so he was feeling a bit glum.

I cooked chicken for dinner, and got some reading done. I’m now 10 pages from the end of a 675-paged book, and I’m really excited. I have my next book all picked out.

Tuesday

Christmas eve went well. Aaron and I wrapped our stray presents. Aaron picked up a few groceries to get us through Christmas. I finished my 675 paged book that I’ve been reading for months! I attempted to sew a patch on M12’s sash, but couldn’t remember how to tie off the end. I tried and tried in frustration. Then I finally used fabric glue to secure the end. Go loose now, bitch!

IL6 and I baked cookies. He spilt some of the liquid part of the cookies, so the dough was very crumbly. I had to squish the dough into hard little spheres in order to bake them.

In the evening, dad, Aaron, IL6, and I went to Applebee’s. Because everything at Applebee’s is ridiculously high calorie, I ordered a french onion soup and a house salad. (I ate Chipotle for lunch, which sounded more delicious at the moment than any high-calorie food at Applebee’s.)

IL6 put out all 6 cookies and milk for Santa and one baby carrot for the reindeer. I had to go to work in the evening, so I couldn’t steal any of Santa’s cookies. Hopefully they were yummy!

Wednesday

On Christmas, I got home from work at 9:30, and IL6 wasn’t awake. In fact, he slept in till after 10. He loved his presents and books (mostly his presents, he would have liked the books better if he weren’t getting presents).

Then Aaron set up the switch and put Mario Maker 2 and Kirby and the Forgotten Land with IL6. He also put together one of IL6’s LEGO sets for him.

I cooked a feast – turkey, au gratin potatoes, and brussels sprouts. It all turned out well. The au gratin potatoes had better have turned out. I lovingly spread cheese sauce on each slice of potato.

I spent the rest of the day chatting with Aaron.

Thursday

Wednesday, dad and I missed his appointment because he wasn’t awake when I got home, and he only had 15 minutes to get up, dressed, and ready. (That takes at least an hour.)

So I found myself with extra time. I’d like to say I spent it well, but mostly I wrote letters and relaxed. IL6 played on the switch. Aaron had two interviews.

After Aaron’s interviews, he and I took IL6 to an indoor park, which he really loved. Then we picked up dad and went out to eat.

At night, about 10 minutes into my 20 minute drive to work, I suddenly realized the gas tank was on E. I had another 10 minutes of driving before getting to work, and there were no gas stations on the way. I was very flustered. As I approached the turn for the gravel road (which veers sharply diagonal back in the direction I came), a semi passed me, so I didn’t stop my car in quite the right spot to get on the road. The road is white. The snow is white. I drove into the field (which is about a 3-foot drop). I’m lucky the car didn’t roll. Thinking as quickly as my flustered brain would think, I decided not to take my foot off the gas, lest I stop in the snowy field and get stuck.. So I kept driving parallel to the gravel road. Eventually, the field went flush with the road to the point where I could get back on.

Friday

Friday I had a pretty productive day. I cleaned, wrote letters, and ran an errand. Aaron and I took IL6 to the library. The last several hours I spent sitting in IL6’s room with him. I got a bunch read at that time, as well as some cross-stitch.

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

• Mr Ballen Podcast
• The Unlikely Retirement of Edna Fisher, by E M Anderson
• Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
• Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett
• Mahabharata
• Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull

Reading to IL5

• New Pets on the Block, by Nick Eliopulos
• The Show Must Demon, by Andres Miedoso

D14 reading

• Counting by 7s, by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Media Completed

In the 4th book in the Stonesword Saga, our brave troop of Minecrafters needs to go on a mission to fetch a mooshroom. Yet another enjoyable book for IL6.

In this intelligent and humorous book, Sapolsky discusses the biological (and some environmental) controls of our social/antisocial behavior. I love Sapolsky’s dry sense of humor and all the interesting discussions in this super long book. Some of the neuroscience was a little over my head – he did a good job explaining it, but then I was expected to remember details later in the book which I did not remember. However, I got along pretty well despite that.

Desmond and Andres sign up for a school talent show. It’s all good until a demon enters stage right. As always, IL6 loves these books.

News

Saturday

Saturday, Aaron and I played D&D and then dad, Aaron, D15, IL6, and I went out to Red Lobster. I fell asleep putting IL6 to bed again, but this time roused myself suitably to finish the book we were reading.

Sunday

Sunday I went through the day exhausted. It started with church with dad, followed by the gym. Then we found out my computer finally went kaput, and we discussed whether to buy another one with Aaron unemployed, since we need two computers for D&D on every other week. We decided against it, and for me to do D&D on my phone. Yuck. We also discussed whether to cancel the basement work (except the necessary electrical work). Dad offered to loan us the money interest-free, and we felt compelled to take him up on the offer to avoid floods at snow melt (if we get snow).

D15 played D&D on Aaron’s computer. I took IL6 to the library, which was fun because we were the only ones there for the first half hour. (I have an after-hours pass because I’m an awesome patron.)

Then I went downtown to pick up M12 from his mom’s. I took IL6, and we listened to the music he got at the library. (This week was Rolling Stones – better than the death metal he chose the time before.) M12 was not impressed with the Rolling Stones, but dealt with it politely.

After that, Aaron took M12 to band and I sat in IL6’s room with him from 4:30 pm till bedtime at 9pm. I started by writing some letters, but then realized i finally had time to catch up on sleep that I seemed desperately to need. I slept from 5:30-9:30, and felt very much refreshed. Besides waking me for a snack or milk occasionally, IL6 was good with this plan.

Monday

Monday I took dad to his cardiac rehab, then Hero to the vet for her annual. She’s lost a pound, so yay! After much procrastinating, Aaron and I agreed that we had nothing interesting to write about the two of us in a Christmas letter, and decided to skip it altogether. Maybe next year I’ll only write about the kids. Then I read to D15 as she cleaned her room. She packed up 4 boxes of books and two medium garbage bags with trash. After this experience, she may throw out her trash instead of leaving it on her floor.

Tuesday

Tuesday I took dad to the gym for his personal trainer workout, and I stayed on the treadmill for 45 minutes. Then Aaron and I cleaned the basement and moved stuff out of the way of where the workers will be in a couple weeks. D15 continued cleaning her room. IL6 played with LEGOs. My friend Liz came in the evening and we watched Doctor Who with D15 and Aaron. Meanwhile, IL6 dumped all his cars out on the livingroom floor, then ran around with a light saber yelling. Later, I helped D15 with a homework assignment.

Wednesday

Wednesday I found myself with extra time because dad cancelled his cardiac rehab. Instead, Aaron and I ran errands. Then I went to the dentist. We ate fried chicken for dinner, then I sat in IL6’s room with him for the rest of the evening. Aaron joined me so we could talk.

Thursday

Thursday I had an appointment with my bariatric doctor. She suggested I meet with a dietician to make sure my restricted diet is getting the right amount of nutrients. She also suggested moving the light box farther from my face to help me not go hypomanic. (Unfortunately I left the box at work, and then called in because of the blowing snow on the gravel road, so I don’t have it Friday – Monday, and I skipped Thursday because I was losing sleep.)

Then Aaron and I met again with the intake specialist at the place I want to get therapy for IL6. His ADHD diagnosis was changed from “unspecified” to “attention and hyperactivity combined” (I already knew that, but the diagnosis is nice, I suppose.) He was also diagnosed with trauma (because of the pooping pain), and we will attack his anxiety about pooping from that angle. That seems a lot better than the approach his last therapist has used, which was “let’s relax and talk about pooping in the toilet” (he simply won’t talk about it). IL6 misses that therapist a lot, but possibly because of her magnetic tiles. Occupational therapy was suggested for IL6, but we already have an OT intake scheduled at another clinic (in January). Two other programs were suggested, one that will be a 6 month wait, and should only be done if little progress is being made. The other program was to discuss what other resources might be useful (that will be right away after IL6’s report is filed). I didn’t expect that much support for IL6, but at this point I’ll take it. This advanced school/clinic may be exactly what we need despite the wait lists.

After that, Aaron and I ran an errand and had lunch together. (We were celebrating his upcoming second interview.) Dad took us to Olive Garden for dinner. Then, Aaron, IL6, and I had a slumber party in his room, complete with a pillow fight.

D16 is worried about a speech coming up on Friday, and is stressed about her room having been emptied for the basement work. We had the electricians out on Thursday and Friday to move the circuit breaker to a safer (dryer and up-to-code) location.

Friday

Friday morning, I picked up IL6 from school and took him to speech therapy, only to find out it had been cancelled, and I either wasn’t properly told, or I didn’t take it off my calendar. So, instead, I took IL6 to McDonald’s and had lunch. Then I took dad to cardiac rehab.

In the evening, M12 and D15 left with their mom and IL6 and I went to a party at his school. He didn’t find the party very interesting, so we came home and sat in his room for the rest of the evening. To my shock and awe, Hero came and sat on my lap for a half hour. I don’t recall her ever, in almost 8 years of life, sitting on someone’s lap. I got photographic evidence.

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

• Mr Ballen podcast
• Return of the Native, by Thomas Hardy
• Mahabharata

Reading to IL5

• Mobs Rule, by Nick Eliopulos
• Mermaid You Look, by Andres Miedoso
• A Troll Lot of Trouble, by Andres Miedoso
• New Pets on the Block, by Nick Eliopulos

D14 reading

• Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger (with me)
• Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Weight loss

X – 51.1 lbs

Media Completed

Mobs Rule

Desmond and Andres go to the aquarium and wonder why everyone is getting mesmerized by a song. As always, IL6 loves Desmond Cole. It’s his favorite series.

This story follows two cousins in a small town in England. The two each marry unfortunately, and they must navigate their poor choices. The beginning and end were long, but I rather liked most of the book. The ending surprised me, though it shouldn’t have.

Desmond and Andres discover a troll in a forest as they are trying to photograph birds. IL6 loved it.

News

Saturday

Saturday we celebrated IL6’s birthday. He opened presents (magnetic tiles, a toy crane, books, and LEGOs). We went to Olive Garden for his birthday meal, then he played with each toy. D15 helped put together the LEGOs before Aaron and I played with the little LEGO men with IL6. And, of course, we had cake. It was a cyclops with a cupcake eye. I cooked some jambalaya for the upcoming week and tried a new Brussels sprouts recipe (it was yummy).

Sunday

Sunday was a busy day. I got IL6 up at 6am, as he requested. This time, I carried him to the livingroom, dropped him on the couch, forced him to remain sitting, and pried his eyes open. After all this, I said “It’s 6 o’clock!” Suddenly his eyes snapped open, and he was really happy to be awake.

I went to church with dad at 8:15, then to the gym afterwards. I took M12 to Michaels to buy Christmas gifts for IL6 and D15, and then to Kohl’s to get a sweatshirt. I took dad to Barnes and Noble to buy a calendar for M12’s Christmas present.

After those errands, I was exhausted (mainly from not getting enough sleep), so I took a nap. While I was napping, M12 failed to go to band for the second week in a row. (He may get kicked out). I had reminded him earlier in the day, but I’m still sort of blaming myself.

I cooked shrimp for dinner and exercised on the stationary bike after dinner. Then it was time to put IL6 to bed.

Monday

Monday I had a lot to do because I was behind on all my goals due to the fluctuating mood of the past weeks. It started with a 2.5 hour intake appointment for IL6’s psychology clinic. And after all that talking, we didn’t finish, so there will be a follow-up appointment next week.

Then, I culled my to-do list to things that really ought to be done ASAP while Aaron directed the delivery of our new entertainment center that dad got us. (Our TV is mounted on the wall, but it’s a perfect size to place gaming consoles and IL5’s LEGOs.) Afterwards, Aaron and I ran errands.

Next, I cooked 3 pork chops for M12’s week’s worth of pork chop dinners, followed by chickpea tagine (recipe provided by a friend on LibraryThing). That will be my protein-packed lunches for a week or two.

While Aaron cooked chili for dinner, I wrote a few letters – a Letter Against Isolation, 1 letter to Michigan, and 1 letter to Massachusetts. (I’m way behind on my letter-writing right now.)

After dinner, Aaron and I attended a horribly rambling Zoom meeting about D15 process to get a driver’s license. It didn’t provide much good information – look at the Schoology page, pay $400 or else she won’t get a blue card, and a couple other snippets of information.

Then IL6 wanted to sit in his room for a while, so I read while he played on my phone. (I’m also behind on reading, so that was nice.)

Tuesday

Tuesday Aaron and I took the car to the mechanic. It was making a noise because the brake calipers had gone bad and we had metal-on-metal grinding. ($1200) Then, I saw my psychiatrist. She told me I was on the maximum effective dose on both my meds, but that she was going to raise one of the meds just in case I’m an outlier on effectiveness.

Following that, dad and I went to the gym, and then Aaron and I wrapped presents. IL6 was pretty excited about the presents under the tree and really wanted to know what I got him.

Immediately upon arriving IL6 wanted to play magnetic tiles for quite a long time, then went to sit in his bedroom with me. After a while, he and I did a homework assignment in which he had to decorate a gingerbread man. He made it look like Catnap from Poppy’s Playtime Chapter 3. We put it in a purple bodysuit, claws, ears, and a huge mouth.

M12 and D15 watched videos/TV.

Oh! And we got some good news. Minnesota Care (state insurance) had rejected the kids a while back, claiming that we hadn’t given them the appropriate paperwork. Today they called us and let us know they found the information, and they found the paperwork. So we’ll get thousands of dollars refund from the various bills we paid.

Wednesday

Wednesday, I took dad to his cardiac rehab appointment, then to a sporting goods shop to buy some dumbbells. Next, I called up all the providers at which we’ve paid bills for the kids and gave them the Minnesota state insurance information. That took most of the day.

I had about 30 minutes free, so I finished up a letter to Maine, and then picked up D15 from school (it was very cold out). Next, I picked up M12 from school and cooked dinner (chicken and squash – lima beans for dad, because he’s not adventurous).

I am beginning to believe the story that oatmeal decreased appetite (“nature’s Ozempic”). I started eating oatmeal when I heard that, in spite of it not being appetizing, and my diet has been easy to follow. But Monday I couldn’t fit it in to my schedule, and Tuesday I was really struggling between meals, to the point where I was eating Doritos. So I cooked my golden potatoes early, to calm my stomach before dinner. I’m going to be more careful about getting my oatmeal in.

In the evening, the kids played computer games and watched TV. I read to D15.

Thursday

Thursday I took dad to the gym for his personal trainer appointment. Then I ran some errands, met with the electrician with Aaron, and had D15’s IEP meeting. I think we agreed to take her out of the special education class and let her have that extra elective next year. In the evening, IL6 had a pajama party with the Cub Scouts.

Friday

Friday I had Buffalo Wild Wings with Aaron in order to get out of the house and away from dad. He was being VERY rude. Then I took dad to cardiac rehab. Then I cooked salmon for dinner. I wrote a letter to Indiana, and fell asleep while putting IL6 to bed. I did not get to read to him. 😱

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

• Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
• Return of the Native, by Robert Hardy
• Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson
• Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett

Reading to IL5

• Mobs Rule, by Nick Eliopulos

D14 reading

• Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger (I’m reading this with her)
• When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller

Weight loss

Lost 1/2 pound

Media Completed

This book chronicles the Great Migration of black people from the South to the North. It follows the story of 3 migrants, with historical commentary in between. It is a really good narrative history, with lots of research. I generally read history books that are more academic, but this one was a nice change.

This book is an African fantasy about a kingdom where magic has been stolen by the royalty, and a girl and her friends go on a quest to bring it back. It was really interesting all the way through, and I am excited about the rest of the books, though the ending was a bit drawn out.

News

Saturday

Saturday, Aaron and I played D&D (we almost TPK’d). Then, Aaron played on the computer with IL5 and dad and I went to the gym. Then I got some reading done.

Sunday

Sunday, I was tired. IL5 had repeatedly woken me up overnight asking how much longer till 6 o’clock. Then in church I couldn’t stand during service. I took a nap when I got home, and then wanted to go mini-golfing (which my original plan for earlier in the day). I accidentally had us out mini-golfing when M12 was supposed to be at rehearsal for his band. 😱 The combination of the holiday weekend and feeling lightheaded totally blipped it from my mind. Later in the afternoon, I played LEGO with IL5, and then sat in his room with him for a while (since he doesn’t like being in there alone).

Monday

Monday I took dad to his cardiac rehab. Then I cooked a weeks’ worth of food for me and M12 At the same time, I called the clinic where IL5 got his OT referral. They wanted to switch him to PT, but I assured them that I wanted OT. She said she’d ask OT if that’s something they’d do, and call back. So instead of going to the gym, I had to sit next to my phone and wait for a call. But I got him scheduled in January. In the evening, I cooked chicken.

IL5 got angry in art class and threw a stool. They had to empty the classroom until the principal came and got him. He now knows that throwing a stool is not a good way to respond to anger. He was angry that his T-rex’s legs were too small. When he got home, I told him the legs were fine, it just looked like it was jumping. He yelled at me that it wasn’t jumping, then drew a trampoline and hung it on the fridge.

In the evening, IL5 relaxed with some videos. That is also what D15 did. And M12 went to Boy Scouts, or whatever they call it.

Tuesday

Tuesday, Aaron and I ran a lot of errands. We went to three different grocery stores to get the ingredients for jambalaya. We returned some Amazon-bought shoes that were way to big for Loki. We bought a cute Christmas tree star.

I went to the gym with dad. He had a personal trainer appointment, and I was on the treadmill and lifted weights with my legs.

M12 had his first jazz band rehearsal. He was worried I wouldn’t know, and would call 911 on him again (mind you, when I did that last year it was because he was specifically told to come home directly after school, and he stayed for something he didn’t know he had to do, and he didn’t call to let me know). I feel that if M12 was worried I’d call 911, he should have called me Tuesday.

IL5 wrote a letter to Operation Santa. In case you’re unfamiliar with it, USPS collects letters to Santa, and posts them on the internet. People can adopt a letter, and send a present. IL5 asked for a toy crane, a balloon for punching when he gets angry (instead of throwing a stool in art class and getting the room cleared out), and a roomba. Then he asked for a jacket, shoes, and catfood. I’m like “great, some good Samaritan is going to adopt him and think we don’t have the resources to buy him a jacket, shoes, and catfood.” 🤷‍♀️

Then my friend Liz came over and we ate pizza and watched Doctor Who. My nephew J20 was there for the pizza.

When getting ready for bed, IL5 asked if birds fart. Aaron and I decided that they have intestines and gut bacteria, so they probably fart. But it’s a good question.

Wednesday

Wednesday I woke not feeling well. I couldn’t tell if it was depression or illness. I bullied through work in the morning, and sat useless until it was time to take dad to his appointment. Aaron had to go get D15 because she wasn’t feeling well, either (which I suspect was also depression, in retrospect). I dropped dad off at his appointment. My sister was going to pick him up.

Aaron had a second interview (by video) in the afternoon, and then we went out to BWW to celebrate. After that, I took a 3 hour nap. When I awake, the kids were home, watching TV.

Thursday

Thursday, I took dad to his primary care physician. Aaron, dad, and D15 (who had a mental health day) went to Perkins while I made calls and ran errands.

Then I took M12 to his eating psychologist. She said he’d gained 2 pounds since last time, but that since starting at the eating disorder clinic he has gone from 19th percentile BMI to 16th percentile. They want him to be at 25th percentile. Now, I don’t mind him being at the weight he is, as long as he doesn’t lose weight or become thinner. So it was upsetting to hear his BMI percentile had actually gone down. But, finally, I decided that probably many boys got more muscular when they went through puberty, and M12 didn’t, because he’s naturally not muscular, so his percentile would go down without him getting thinner. So that’s ok.

Then I talked to IL5’s gastroenterologist’s nurse. She was worried that IL5 doesn’t poop every day (give me a break, isn’t every other day ok?), and IL5 has frequently been going 4-5 days without pooping (today he’s on day 6). So they want us to do a gut cleanout at home this weekend (which is IL5’s birthday). So, yay to lots of poop on your birthday?

In the evening, IL5 went to Cub Scouts and I read to D15.

Friday

Friday I took IL5 to speech therapy and then dad to cardiac rehab. Following that, Aaron and I took IL5 to see Santa. We stood in line in the cold for over an hour, but we got to Santa right before he was about to leave. Then I cooked some chicken in preparation for making jambalaya on Saturday. I promised IL5 I’d wake him up at 6am because he thinks it’s a magical time between night and morning, but despite much shaking, and moving around, and calling his name, he wouldn’t wake up. In the morning, he cried real tears about not waking up, so I promised I would force him to wake up at 6am.

Week’s Photos

Reading to myself

• The Week: Wrecking Crew
• Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
• Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett
• Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi
• Return of the Native, by Thomas Hardy
• Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson

Reading to IL5

• Who Wants I Scream, by Andres Miedoso
• Mobs Rule, by Nick Eliopulos
• The Bubble Gum Blob, by Andres Miedoso

D14 reading

• Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger (I’m reading this to her)
• Unraveled, by Shannon Messenger

Weight loss

Lost .9 pounds

Media Completed

On this hot summer day, all Andres and Desmond want is a nice ice cream cone. But the ice cream wants them, too. Cute, as always.

When a new kind of bubble gum starts circulating through Kersville Elementary, only Andres isn’t drawn in. Cute, as always.