News

Saturday

Saturday was our newly minted monthly day of cleaning. We’re going to pick one day a month where we focus the whole day on cleaning. We made less progress than I expected when I originally made the plan – I somehow imagined a sparkly clean house – but we worked hard and I got the upstairs more in order and he got the downstairs more in order.

As for dad’s plan to come on the half marathon, he backed off, saying I made it clear I didn’t want him to come. But it was still easier than I expected to talk him out of it. Partly, I think it’s because he timed himself walking 3 miles and discovered it takes him 2 hours. I don’t think he believed me when I said that earlier. I did offer to take him on a 13 mile walk in October where Aaron could pick us up if we needed rescuing. He didn’t seem that interested. 🤷‍♀️

Sunday

Sunday was fun. M11 came back from camp. D13 came back from her mom’s. I worked. We watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, and then D13 and I went to Barbie in the theater. That was bizarre.

Monday

Monday we had two appointments – one for me, one for D13. Then D13 and IL4 made slime and chocolate chip cookies, while I dyed M11’s hair green. IL4 slept through his penultimate soccer game (the one on Wednesday will likely be cancelled due to heat, so it was probably the ultimate soccer game). I coached anyway, and picked up IL4’s participation medal. M11 had Boy Scouts and worked on the Signs and Signals merit badge.

Tuesday

Tuesday was busy. I went directly from work to M11’s band orientation, from there, we went to his middle school orientation. We had a short break (in which we sorted out the school supplies), and then went to an appointment for M11 and an appointment for D13. When IL4 and Aaron got home, we went with dad to Red Lobster.

Wednesday

Wednesday went ok in the end. I went directly from work to work, and was supposed to go directly from there to pick up IL4 for an appointment. But my client’s son came back a half hour late, so Aaron had to pick up IL4 and we met at the doctor’s office with about 10 minutes to spare. M11 later had a rehearsal for his upcoming cabaret.

Thursday

Thursday was tough. IL4 had an appointment with his GI specialist, who says she doesn’t think his impaction is cleared out properly. We now have to check him into the hospital and have a tube down his throat which drips something into his gut to soften his stool.  On average, this takes 1-2 days. This sounds like an ordeal for him. 😭

Friday

Friday, IL4 had feeding and speech therapy. Both therapists said he did great. M11 had tap dance. Then the older kids went to their mom’s for the night, and dad and I sat and watched the entire first season of Stranger Things in one sitting. 😱 That wasn’t in the plan for the evening. Dad just kept watching and I knew he’d stop if I went to sleep. I wanted him to enjoy himself.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 letter Michigan
• 1 letter Washington
• 1 letter Georgia
• 1 letter Oklahoma

Reading to myself

• Great Courses: Confessions of Augustine, by William R Cook & Ronald B Herzman
• The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, by Howard Pyle
• Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari
• Educated, by Tara Westover
• How to Read the Bible, by James Kugel
• Great Mythologies of the World, by Various Professors
• Bible
• Mahabharata

Reading to IL4

• Robo-Rabbit Boy Go!, By Thomas Flintham
• Attack of the 50-ft Cupid, by Jim Benton
• Super Rabbit Boy’s Team-up Trouble, by Thomas Flintham
• Unicorn and Yeti: Friends Rock, by Heather Ayris Burnell

M10

• Working on Signs and Signals Merit Badge

D13 reading

• Skandar and the Phantom Rider, by A F Steadman
• Stellarlune, by Shannon Messenger

Aaron reading

• The Dragon Republic, by R F Kuang

Media Completed

Franny is back, this time trying to make Valentine’s Day cards. Her new dog, Igor, accidentally manifests a gigantic cupid, and they have to team up to get rid of him. Cute and funny.

How bizarre. How bizarre. How bizarre.

News

Saturday

Saturday was fun. Aaron and I had a 4.5 hour D&D session followed by a date – Mexican food and a local tavern within walking distance.

Sunday

Sunday was family day (Aaron’s choice of what to do). We ate pizza and watched Grey’s Anatomy. IL4 told me he wanted to be a chef when he grows up.

Monday

Monday was another good day. Dad, D13, M11, IL4 and I went to the Mall of America. All 3 kids bought some LEGOS. For IL4, it was his first set ever. D13 helped him put it together later. Then, D13 accompanied me to soccer to help wrangle IL4 if he ran off while I was coaching. But IL4 was well-behaved and  played pretty well. I think he was tired from the trip to the mall, though. M11 was at acting class and the Boy Scouts.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a calm day that I mostly spent working. M11 had swim lessons. Then my friend Liz came over and we watched Doctor who and cross-stitched.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, IL4 stayed home with a slight fever. I had been going to run a bunch of errands, so this was very inconvenient. However, I did manage to get some housework done while he was watching TV. D13 had her orthodontist appointment and got a whole bunch more Invisalign trays.

Then after Aaron got home, dad and I went shopping for school supplies. I started out in a bad mood, because dad spent the entire drive to Target claiming that anyone can walk a half marathon. Even he could walk a half marathon. (Untrue. He can walk 3 miles and then sleeps the whole next day) and that he was doing 13 mile walks since he was 8. That was in response to me telling him I was going to walk a half marathon in September. So much for support in my weight loss journey.

Then the shopping itself was horrible. They are very specific at this school about what color highlighters and notebooks and folders the kids get, and everything had been picked over – presumably by other people needing very specific things. Like a red, grid-ruled composition notebook. SERIOUSLY?! Is that to keep it straight from all the other grid-ruled composition notebooks she has?

I had to buy a pack of 15 variety color chisel-tip highlighters to get one orange, blue, and yellow. I had to buy a pack of 10 variety color fine tip highlighters to get one yellow one. I was livid. Now I’m going to have to figure out what to do with all the extra highlighters (not to mention the added cost). $200 down, I left the store and gave up on my previous plan to also go grocery shopping. I needed to be home. Luckily, my lovely husband went out and got the groceries for me.

Thursday

Thursday was busy. I went almost immediately from job 1 to job 2. Then I directed M11’s packing for camp until.Aaron got home. D13 and I were meant to go out to eat and then to Feed My Starving Children, but after dinner she said she might be getting sick, so we went home.

Then, the most awful thing happened. My dad, who really, really wants me to know how easy it is to walk 13 miles, has decided he may just go on the race with me. He made me show him the webpage for the walking half marathon and insisted that he could definitely do it in 8 hours. It takes him 2 hours to walk 3 miles, and then he sleeps for the rest of the day and the next day. So, uh, no. Not only is he physically incapable of walking a half marathon, even if he could walk it, he’s too slow to do it in 8 hours. I just wanted to listen to my audiobook while getting in a good walk. If he comes along, my registration money is wasted, because we won’t finish, and I lose the opportunity to listen to an audiobook while walking. Not to mention potentially dealing with a medical crisis.

Friday

Friday was exhausting. After work, I took IL4 to speech, out to lunch with my friend Liz, and to feeding therapy. Then I took M11 to tap, went to Target to pick him up some supplies for camping, then drove him 45 minutes each way to camp. D13 was picked up by her mom at some point during the day, but I did not see her nor have any interaction with her all day. Dad is still talking about going on the walking marathon.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 letter California
• 1 letter Virginia
• 1 letter Maine

Reading to myself

• Throne of Glass, by Sarah J Maas
• Educated, by Tara Westover
• Death with Interruptions, by Jose Saramago
• Cursed, ed by Marie O’Regan
• Loki and Sigyn, by Lea Svendsen
• How to Read the Bible, by James Kugel
• Bible
• Great Courses: Saint Augustine’s Confessions], by William R Cook & Ronald B Herzman
• The Well-Educated Mind, by Susan Wise Bauer
• Zombies vs Unicorns, by Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier

Reading to IL4

• Super Narwhal and Jelly Jolt, by Ben Clanton
• Super Rabbit Boy World, by Thomas Flintham
• Unicorn and Yeti Cheer Up, by Heather Ayris Burnell

D13 reading

• Stellarlune, by Shannon Messenger
• Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson

Aaron reading

• The Dragon Republic, by R. F. Kuang

Media Completed

This is the second Narwhal and Jelly book, and it’s just as cute as the first. In it, Narwhal and Jelly decide they will be superheros and help the sea creatures.

Death takes a break from taking lives as a thought experiment. Chaos ensues. Wow, this book was clever, funny (in a dry way), and definitely interesting. I have only read one other book by Saramago, and I remember loving it, but I think this one was even better.

Celaena is the world’s best assassin until she is caught and thrown into a prison camp. But then the crown prince comes to retrieve her so she can battle people in an attempt to become the king’s champion. However, things become comex when the other competitors start dying. This was a fun first book to a teen fantasy. I’m not huge of love triangles – I find them to be an insipid plot to lure girls who don’t know any better into thinking their sexual desirability is an important part of who they are. So, I have a negative bias that comes forth in the rating. Story-wise, I’d say it was some pretty good fluff, though.

Cursed is a pretty good adult fantasy anthology that has a theme of curses. Most of the stories in it are very good. The only reason for the mediocre rating is that I personally don’t like short story anthologies much. I prefer more character and plot development than a short story is able to include. I listened to this as a way to engage one of my clients during downtime.

Exercise

News

Saturday

Saturday was the full day of our tent camping trip (IL4, Aaron, and me). We slept in, cooked sausages for breakfast, played in the playground, hiked about three fourths of a mile, cooked burgers, and had a fire. IL4 was a little grumpy before passing out in the tent, tightly clutching a random piece of bread, but he otherwise enjoyed himself.

Sunday

We broke camp pretty quickly Sunday morning because neither of us had any caffeine left. Plus I needed to get to work. But then we all had dinner together and watched Grey’s Anatomy (season 1) as a family.

Monday

After D13’s morning appointment on Monday, I bleached M11’s hair and dyed D13’s (black) and IL4’s (blue) hair. IL4 then wanted to dye my hair red, but I told him that I didn’t have any more bleach, and D13 said my hair would have to be brown. IL4 went into the kitchen and dumped the cocoa down the sink, trying to prepare some brown dye for me. Apparently he didn’t notice my hair is already brown.

Later, I coached soccer. I let IL4 sleep through the game because he was probably tired after being jacked up all day. M11 had acting class followed by Boy Scouts.

Tuesday

Tuesday, D13 started a culinary class through the school district. She made some pasta. I tried going on a walk with dad, but he had difficulty after climbing down a steep hiking path and had to crawl back up. So we went home. It was about three quarters of a mile round-trip. M11 had his penultimate swim lesson, and then the family ate out at Outback.

Wednesday

Wednesday, D13 made egg rolls for her culinary class. They were delicious. Later, IL4 played soccer. He’s getting so much better! He actually runs around after the ball, and even got in the knot of kids trying to kick the ball a couple of times.

Thursday

Thursday D13 had her last culinary class, where she made cookies.

Friday

Friday went great, I got all my weekly house cleaning goals done (thanks to Aaron, who scrubbed the bathroom floors), and took IL4, dad, and Deirdre for a walk to the library. IL4 picked out a lovely book in cybersecurity. Then we picked up M11 and went to Perkins. By the time we got home, IL4 was asleep, so dad, D13, and I ran errands so IL4 could sleep more.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 letter Massachusetts
• 1 letter Texas
• 1 letter Pennsylvania
• 1 letter Maine

Reading to myself

• Throne of Glass, by Sarah J Maas
• Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
• Mahabharata
• Mr Ballen Podcast
• Loki and Sigyn, by Lea Svendsen
• Educated, by Tara Westover
• How to Read the Bible, by James Kugel
• Bible
• Death With Interruptions, by Jose Saramago

Reading to IL4

• Super Rabbit Boy vs Super Rabbit Boss, by Thomas Flintham
• Robo-Rabbit Boy Go, by Thomas Flintham
• Bad Guys: Intergalactic Gas, by Aaron Blabey
• Henry Heckelbeck and the Haunted Hideout, by Wanda Coven
• Unicorn and Yeti: Sparkly New Friends, by Heather Ayris Burnell
• Unicorn and Yeti: Fair and Square, by Heather Ayris Burnell
• Stinky Cecil in Operation Pond Rescue, by Paige Braddock

M10 reading

• Working on Cyber Chip for Boy Scouts

D13 reading

• Unlocked, by Shannon Messenger
• Stellarlune, by Shannon Messenger

Media Completed

The Good Guys Club blast off into space to find the evil Dr Marmalade. This is another hilarious installment. I love these books, and so does IL4.

In this installment, Henry is looking for a hideout for himself and his friends. But he gets more than he bargained for when he finds out the hideout is haunted. This is a cute book that IL4 enjoyed.

In this 1959 thought experiment, scientists use surgery to make a mouse named Algernon intelligent. The success is so great, they try it out on a man with developmental disability, too. When Charlie becomes a genius, the way he interacts with others and the way he understands their intents often made me wish he had remained the way he had been. This book was ahead of its time in demonstrating that people with developmental disabilities are just as much people with a quality of life as those without a disability. (In fact, I think there are still people who don’t see that to this day, as some of the choices on who gets a respirator would show during the pandemic.) I was surprised at how little cringe the book had, given that it was published before deinstitutionalization and the use of person-first language. Yes, it did use terms that were politically incorrect, but that is to be expected based on the publication date. Overall, I would suggest this book to just about anyone, teen and older.

This is a cute graphic novel about some pond creatures that go on a mission to stop construction of a road over their habitat. It was perfect to read to a 4-year-old, with adorable pictures, humor, and a good story.

In this second installment of 13th Street, the cousins Malia, Dante, and Ivan are joined by two new adventurers as their school bus is kidnapped into 13th street. They must vanquish giant fire-breathing ferrets to return home. This was a cute mini-chapter-book which occasionally congratulates the reader on how many words they’ve read.

Exercise / Weight Loss

News

Saturday

Saturday Aaron, IL4, M11, and I went to a party with Aaron’s college friends. It was an outside party, and I followed IL4 around as he entertained himself with various toys, LEGOs, and, his fallback favorite, tape. He and M11 were disappointed 4.5 hours later when we left, but I was hungry and Aaron volunteered to leave.

Afterwards we went to a nearby Mongolian Grill that we both love, but is far from us. I thought IL4 wasn’t going to let us eat because he first didn’t like the look of the place, next wanted to sit in a different spot, and next wanted fries. We should have gone to McDonald’s first. That was our bad. But we managed to get him to quiet down and stop running away.

Sunday

Sunday I spent a good 3 hours cleaning, went to a production of Little Mermaid with D13, and went to dinner with Aaron. M11 went to Build-a-Bear with my dad.

Monday

Monday I made some delicious taco soup for Aaron’s lunch and finished my deep clean of the livingroom. M11 and IL4 each had an appointment, and D13 had 2. Afterwards, M11 and I took IL4 to the library using the stroller. Then, when I was dropping off M11 at acting class, IL4 fell asleep and I decided not to wake him up for soccer.

IL4 has decided my best friend Liz is henceforth his best friend. I can have M11. He wanted to send a letter to Liz, since I was writing letters. He wrote his name (ok, it was supposed to be his name, though it was missing a letter). Then he cut out the L stuck it in an envelope, and licked it (despite it being a lick-free envelope). I expected something more substantial than one letter when he said he wanted to send a letter. Then he freaked out because he didn’t like where I placed the stamp.

Tuesday

Tuesday I was worked on housecleaning some more. D13 had an appointment and M11 had swim lessons. I cooked some Jambalaya for Aaron’s lunches so he’d have a litte variety.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, after I finished job #1 and job #2, I coached soccer. IL4 did amazing! For him, I mean. He happily went on the field and actually ran around chasing the ball.

Thursday

Thursday I saw very little of the kids. I went almost immediately from work to work. Then I hung out with my friend Todd. I talked for a while with my sleep specialist, who suggested I stop driving altogether, and call insurance to see if I could get rides for the kids and myself to appointments. I guess I can try that out, but it doesn’t sound very convenient.

Friday

Friday was a relaxing day. After work, I had an estimate to remove the second tree in our back yard. M11 went to tap. Aaron, IL4, and I went to a local county park for IL4’s first tent camping experience. He loved the first evening.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 letter Virginia
• 1 letter Pennsylvania

Reading to myself

• How to Read the Bible, by James Kugel
• Throne of Glass, Sarah J Maas
• Educated, by Tara Westover
• Bible
• Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes

Reading to IL4

• Unicorn and Yeti: Fair and Square, by Heather Ayris Burnell
• Super Rabbit Boy’s Team Up Trouble, by Thomas Flintham
• Super Rabbit Boy vs Super Rabbit Boss, by Thomas Flintham
• Bad Guys: Attack of the Zittens, by Aaron Blabey

M10 reading

• Working on presentation for Cyber Chip for Boy Scouts

D13 reading

• Legacy, by Shannon Messenger

Aaron reading

• A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T Kingfisher

Media Completed

In the fourth Bad Guys book, our fearless friends (you can tell they’re fearless from the cover) battle hoards of zombie kittens. It was hilarious as usual. Perfect for IL4.

Steps

News

Saturday

Saturday was my big day. I had signed up for Mud Girl, which is a mud race for women of all shapes and sizes. I was feeling a bit anxious when I woke, but I forced myself to go anyway. And I made it! It was 3 miles with 17 obstacles. 4 of them I couldn’t do – two required more balance than I have (one was a tight rope) and two of them were impossible to do alone. Yes, I could have asked for help, but I’m shy. Apparently one doesn’t do this race alone, though, because the photographer at the end was really confused why my group hadn’t joined me for the picture. It never occurred to me that it was strange to go alone. But I didn’t see anyone else alone. Afterwards, I was too lazy to go through the hose off and change lines, so I drove home muddy.

M11, IL4, dad, Aaron and I then went to Olive Garden for dinner. I overate my calorie budget, but I don’t do that frequently and did work out that morning, so I guess it’s ok. Aaron and I went out afterwards for a few beers (M11 successfully babysat without dad killing one of the kids) and then we watched The Imitation Game.

Sunday

Sunday I slept in – I had intended on taking my dad to church, but I was tired. I worked for a while, Aaron took IL4 to swim lessons, and then we had a family day. It was D13’s choice, and she wanted to watch Psych.

Monday

Monday started out calmly enough. I made some split pea soup for Aaron’s lunches this week and took D13 to an appointment. While I was in the waiting room, I saw a post by a blogger friend, who said she had tried Jersey Mike’s and loved it. I’d never been there before, but had just been about to go to Subway, so I decided to try out Jersey Mike’s. It was totally worth it.

Then, I took IL4 to the post office and library in the stroller. It was a beautiful day, and a great walk. We did our usual library routine – play with toys, play on computer (he drew a rainbow with the correct color order!), pick out books, run and hide from mommy while her hands are full so she needs to cumbersomely peek down every aisle…

When I had him all strapped in again and left the library, half the sky was dark and the other half sunny. I had checked the weather before coming to the library, so I was confident it wasn’t going to rain. If it did, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. The books were protected under the stroller.

Sure enough, we were dry when we arrived home. I situated IL4 in front of the TV, stuck the stroller in the garage, and brought in the books. Literally mere moments after my butt hit that chair, the front door creakily blew open (it doesn’t latch well). I got up to close it and looked outside. The wind was whipping the trees every which way.

I thought “Wow. If we had left only a few minutes later, we’d’ve been walking home in that.” Still. I just sat there listening to the thunder and watching the trees blow in the wind out the window. After 5-10 minutes, it was gone.

D13 went outside to turn the tomato plants upright (sweet girl). She popped her head back in. “Problem.” I raised my eyebrows. “Big problem.” She widened her eyes to help me read her thoughts. “What is it?” I unconcernedly asked. “The tree! Fell on the fence!”

Sure thing it had! This gigantic old tree in our backyard had a wide trunk and four sections came out, all with heavy branches. 3 of those sections fell, filling our entire yard, and some of our neighbor’s, with tree. The neighbor’s brand-new-last-year fence was crushed. I ran over next door to tell them to check on their ducks, since my tree was on their coop. Luckily the ducks were fine. The coop was really sturdy.

After that, I coached soccer and after some initial reluctance since we accidentally brought one of IL4’s frosting-“soup” concoctions in a water bottle thinking it was water, IL4 ran around on the field in his purple jersey.

Tuesday

Tuesday was hard. I came home from work to a grumpy M11. Then I had to drag said grouch to an amusement park with his sister, where they grouched at each other as we roasted in the 90 degree weather. We decided to leave early and go to lunch. But then they had a disagreement on whether it was ok to kill family if they were a zombie, and the grouchiness continued.

I had a tree guy over to look at the fallen tree. They’re coming on Friday to remove it. Then my friend Liz came over and we watched some Doctor Who. (We’re on series 6.) Then back to work.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, after job #1, I went to job #2, ran errands, then coached soccer. It was really, really hot. IL4 played on field once and in goal once. D13 came to help, since Aaron went out with his friends. I got my new glasses, but only M11 noticed.

Thursday

Thursday, I woke up slightly manic. My head was racing and it was also screaming at me. I muddled through my morning tasks at work and went to my sleep doctor for a follow up of my sleep test. The overnight one was normal – so no apnea or restless leg syndrome. The daytime one, where I took 5 20 minute naps every 2 hours, was off, though. I met the criteria for idiopathic hypersomnia because I fell asleep too fast in those naps. (Average is 8-15, mine was 5.) But she didn’t want to treat it because the treatment is a stimulant medication, which I can’t take because of my bipolar disorder. However, she thinks the drowsiness is from my medications and isn’t neurological.

On the way home, I got stalled on the busy interstate with no gas. First time I’ve ever run out of gas. Ooops. I called AAA, and let me tell you, the confidence with which he stood there filling my tank with cars buzzing by at 70mph inches from his butt was incredible.

After that, I went to get a massage with dad. I would have listened to an audiobook while getting massaged, but that day my brain was screaming at me. When that’s going on, the less outside stimulus, the better. So I just let my brain run wild while I got my massage. You know what? The massage made my mania go away. I wonder if that’s repeatable.

Aaron went to a BBQ with his friends in the evening, so I hung out with the kids.

Friday

Friday I tried to relax as much as I could while watching IL4. After work, I took him to speech therapy. We watched the fallen tree being removed. Later in the day I took M11 to tap dance. I tried to quit because I feel bad keeping the class back, but the teacher won’t let me if she has any say in it. Then I read while IL4 and M11 played in the newly cleared yard. We’re planning on getting our other big tree removed so it doesn’t fall, but they told me they’d come back another day to quote that – probably because they couldn’t get a good look at it with that big fallen tree all over our yard (it was a very large tree).

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 letter Louisiana
• 1 letter Maine
• 1 letter Alberta, Canada

Reading to myself

• Babel, by R F Kuang
• Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
• Cursed, ed by Marie O’Regan
• Mr Ballen podcast
• Untangled, by Lisa Damour
• Mahabharata
• Loki and Sigyn, by Lea Svendson

Reading to IL4

• Sparkly New Friends, by Heather Ayris Burnell
• Cheer Up!, By Heather Ayris Burnell
• DJ Funkyfoot: The Show Must Go Oink!, By Tom Angleberger
• Caveboy is a Hit!, By Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
• Unicorn and Yeti: Together!, By Heather Ayris Burnell

M10 reading

• Working on his Cyber Chip for Scouts

D13 reading

• Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
• Flashback, by Shannon Messenger
• Legacy, by Shannon Messenger

Aaron reading

• A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T Kingfisher

Media Completed

In this 1830’s England alternate history / fantasy, 4 students join a prestigious translation institute which uses magical silver bars that the British Empire is using to oppress people in foreign lands. It is a book about the evils of colonialism. Babel has had a lot of rave reviews, but it was just ok to me. The magical concept was novel, but there was more etymology than necessary, making the book long. I also get the point made about violence being necessary to end oppression, though that message doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t think innocent people should die, regardless of what race they are.

In this third installment of the DJ Funkyfoot books, Mr Funkyfoot finally finds a fancy employer – a famous opera-singing pig. But he is very demanding – if in a fancy way.

Eva the owl finds a lost pony when returning home one day after a storm. This is another installment of the Owl Diaries, which is a cute series for 1st graders to read. It’s a Branches book, which is meant to introduce young kids to chapter books, though these are not chapter books. They are, however, longer than most picture books, and shaped like a big kid paperback.

Exercise / Weight Loss

Weight: X – 40lbs

Another 10lbs before I surpass my next goal of weighing less than Aaron.

News

Saturday

Saturday was delightful. We got up and managed to pack and get on the road before 11am. We drove the 4 hours to Lake Itasca fairly peacefully. IL4 was really the perfect little angel the whole way. And no potty accidents. He loved our cabin, loved the vista point, and loved wading across the headwaters of the Mississippi.

D13 managed to stay dry during the wading part, but I slipped and fell in twice trying to keep up with IL4, and because IL4 was holding on to me as he made the precariously large steps between the dry stones, I pulled him in on top of me both times. When we had crossed on the rocks for the third time, there was a woman standing on the other end laughing at my plight (in a friendly way). I told her “This is why you have kids at 20 instead of 40,” and she pointed to a 6-ish year old girl and said she’d had her at 54. 😱 She totally had me beat. IL4 and I finally gave up and waded fully in to both the Mississippi and Lake Itasca sides.

Because IL4 and I both were soaked (more so IL4, because he’s shorter), we went back to the cabin after that. I took a nap, IL4 watched YouTube on the phone (but only after he made two pots of coffee and we pried the coffee maker from his desperately clinging hands to prevent a third and final pot being spilled all over the cabin), D13 put together a puzzle, and Aaron read.

Sunday

Sunday we slept in. We went on a leisurely bike ride with IL4 on a Weehoo. I’ve never seen one of these things, but it seems a great introduction to bike riding. It’s a trailer-type thing for kids, where the kid can pedal and can learn the basics of balancing. I’m thinking of buying one for us, since it would last another 5 years. My one reservation is that I’m not sure it’ll fit in our car. I think I’m going to buy one, anyway. All else fails, we’d just have to stay local.

After that, we went back to the cabin and relaxed. IL4 fell asleep. When he awakened Aaron and I took him on a hike. The map suggested the trail was about 1 mile long, but I’d say it was closer to 3 miles. IL4 wouldn’t walk, and I thought carrying him a mile was doable, but about a mile in (guessing) he really wanted us to turn around, and we seriously thought we would be closer going straight than going back. But the trail just kept going, and IL4 was getting really heavy. Finally I turned on Alltrails on my phone to locate us. We weren’t on a trail according to Alltrails, but we could see that we were finally curving around towards our origin. So we kept on walking.

Later, we had a fire and made s’mores.

Monday

Monday we packed up and drove back home. It’s a 4-hour drive, so that took most of the day. IL4 was, again, very good on the car ride, but he was very ready to relax at home when we got there. Aaron went to pick M11 up from acting – he’d been at Boy Scout camp for the week (which he loved, but got homesick) and then at his mom’s while we were camping. Then she dropped him off at acting class.

I coached soccer, but didn’t take IL4 along, since he was so exhausted from camping. Then I picked M11 up from his Boy Scout meeting, and went to work.

Tuesday

Tuesday, I worked till 9am, took D13 to the orthodontist, took dad shopping and to the vascular specialist, took M11 to swim lessons, and took IL4 to get his soccer pictures. I needed to bribe him to behave. Afterwards, I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with Aaron.

Wednesday

Wednesday after work, I went directly to my other job. Then I drove home and picked up IL4 early from daycare so that he’d have more transition time between school and soccer. The strategy worked because, combined with bribing him with McDonald’s, we managed to get him to actually play. He was disappointed that he couldn’t be the goalie every time, but he actually stood on the field and even kicked the ball once, which was a huge improvement from last week.

Thursday

Thursday I went from work to work again, with a 1 hour nap in between. Immediately upon arriving home, I took M11 to Perkins, then to Feed My Starving Children, where we packed meals. After 30 minutes at home, I went back to work. I was home for 1.5 hours total, 1 of which I was asleep.

Friday

Friday after work, I took the boys to get haircuts. Then we picked up dad and went to the playground. We only stayed about an hour because we got hot, and then picked up D13 and went to Perkins. Later in the evening, M11 and I went to tap dance class. I’m in way over my head, but I’m mainly there to support M11, who didn’t want to do it alone.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 postcard Pennsylvania
• 1 postcard Texas
• 1 postcard Oklahoma
• 1 postcard Michigan
• 2 postcards Virginia
• 1 postcard Massachusetts
• 1 letter Belgium
• 1 letter Maine

Reading to myself

• Remote Control, by Nnedi Okorafor
• Don’t Turn Out the Lights, ed. by Jonathan Mayberry
• Educated, by Tara Westover
• Throne of Glass, by Sara J Maas
• How to Read the Bible, by James Kugel
• Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
• Bible
• Babel, by R F Kuang
• Mr Ballen

Reading to IL4

• Robo-Rabbit Boy Go, by Thomas Flintham
• Unicorn and Yeti Together, by Ayris Burnell
• Superfly vs Furious Flea, by Todd H Doodler
• Super Rabbit Boy Powers Up, by Thomas Flintham

D13 reading

• Flashback, by Shannon Messenger
• Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson

Aaron reading

• Homeland, by R A Salvatore

Media Completed

Sankofa is rumored to be adopted by Death herself. She can kill with supernatural powers. She wanders futuristic Ghana, homeless and shunned.

This novella is another great one from Ms Okorafor, who never fails to impress me. It was interesting enough to hold the attention of myself, my husband, and my 13 year old stepdaughter as we listened in one sitting on a car ride. The character is touching. There’s not a lot of plot, but it makes up for that in unique setting.

This is a fun little anthology of middle grade horror stories. Nothing too scary. Nothing too amazing.

In this third installment of the Super Fly series, Fred and Eugene have a falling out, and Crazy Cockroach takes advantage of their distraction. This is a cute book which IL4 found reasonably entertaining, though it might appeal more to ages 5-7. I’m guessing it’s 2nd grade reading level.

Games Played / Puzzles

Steps

News

Saturday

Saturday, I had an early lunch with D13. Then the whole family went to an outdoor adventure park. M11 didn’t weigh enough to zipline, so Aaron and the older kids did the aerial course (an obstacle course up in the trees) and IL4 did the ground course. They all had a lot of fun. Afterwards, Aaron and I went out to dinner.

Sunday

Sunday, Aaron and I drove M11 and a couple carloads of Boy Scouts to camp in Wisconsin. That took a good 7 hours out of the day. After a short time at home, I then went to my sleep study, where they hooked me up with wires on the scalp, chest, legs, finger, and face and told me to sleep. Surprisingly, I slept well.

Monday

Monday was sleep study day. I was awakened after 8 hours of sleep that night (6am), and told I would take a 20 minute nap at 8, 10, 12, 2, and 4. In the between times, I paced the hallways (I got a lot of steps in!), made phone calls, and caught up on my LibraryThing threads. I rushed home after my final nap, washed the goop out of my hair, and went to my first day of PreK/K soccer coaching. IL4 seemed a bit less mature than the rest as far as listening to instructions went, but he did better than I feared. So it was a good practice. I knew IL4 was a bit behind his peers on this level, but I thought putting him a team sport might help him gain maturity.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a calm day. I worked for most of it. Then my friend Liz came over and we grilled and watched Enola Holmes with Aaron and D13.

Wednesday

Wednesday IL4 had his second soccer practice. He played at first, but got really tired in the middle and stopped playing. I think he doesn’t eat enough at school to give him energy on Wednesdays. I will start picking him up early to give him food at home on soccer days.

Thursday

Thursday, I went on a 3 mile walk in the woods with dad. He brought his walking stick and went slowly, and he made it. It took 2 hours. After that, I took D13 to Valleyfair, which is a medium-sized amusement park. She wanted to ride all the rides that M11 won’t ride. Which was all the horrendous ones. The two that were super scary when I was a kid (Corkscrew and Wild Thing) were the tamest of the rides I rode with her. There was one where we hung upside down for what felt like 10 seconds, but was probably more like 5. It was long enough for me to ponder and then say aloud “You know, this part isn’t fun.” And for the person across from me to laugh.

At the end, D13 went on a “flying” ride where she dropped from an unbelievable height in freefall, and the swung out when the cord attached to her vest tightened. She loved it, but I think the adrenaline was too much because she threw up an hour later.

Aaron, IL4, dad, and I went to Olive Garden afterwards, and brought D13 Culver’s, since she was feeling better.

Friday

Friday, after speech therapy, D13, IL4, dad, and I went to Build-a-Bear and then had hibachi at Bennihana. D13 knew what was coming, but IL4 was horrified when the chef set the stove on fire. He jumped out of his chair and hid in a corner. But I coaxed him onto my lap, and then he immediately got back in his chair and was fine. He loved it when the chef juggled the eggs and landed one in his pocket and one in his hat. He asked: “Where’d the egg go?” So the chef pulled it out of his hat. To be entirely honest, I missed where the egg went too. 😂🤣

I relaxed for the rest of the day, which was well-deserved since on Fridays and Saturdays I try to take it easy. D13 and I finished up the evening watching the new horror movie M3gan. Aaron heard what we were going to watch and quickly exited the room. He doesn’t like horror, which still makes me laugh because he agreed to go to IT when we were dating. 🤣😂

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 letter Wisconsin
• 1 letter Massachusetts
• 1 letter Maine

Reading to myself

• Don’t Turn Out the Lights, ed by Jonathan Mayberry
• Babel, by R F Kuang
• How to Read the Bible, by James Kugel
• Bible
• Cursed, ed by Marie O’Regan
• Mahabharata
• Loki and Sigyn, by Lea Svendsen
• Mr Ballen Podcast
• Throne of Glass, by Sarah J Maas

Reading to IL4

• Super Rabbit Racers, by Thomas Flintham

D13 reading

• Flashback, by Shannon Messenger
• Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson

Aaron reading

• Homeland, by R A Salvatore

Media Completed

Steps

News

Saturday

Saturday I had my D&D game that Aaron and my friend Liz are part of. Then Aaron, D13, and I watched X-files for a while.

Sunday

Sunday started with the realization that I was in over my head with this coaching soccer thing. When I agreed to do it, they said they would provide instruction. I figured at the very least we’d have a rulebook emailed us and a meeting about what was expected of us. Nothing like that. In fact nothing at all. And now it would appear the first day of soccer is a game? How is that even possible? IL4 doesn’t know how to play soccer.

Then I arrived at work late because I was suffering from brain fog, and somehow arriving at 12:30 became leaving at 12:30. It’s a 30 minute drive. My client bit me on my shoulder when I helped her stand up and broke the skin. It was through the shirt, but since human bites are notoriously germy, I needed to make an appointment with a doctor.

After work, we played a game if Pandemic as a family.

Monday

Monday morning started with a run to the doctor to get a tetanus shot. The appointment was pretty uneventful, as the bite isn’t infected. Then I went to the pool with M11 and IL4. They enjoyed splashing around. M11 had his first acting class, which he enjoyed, followed by his presentation on baseball at the Boy Scout meeting.

Tuesday

On the Fourth of July I went with dad to a furniture store so he could buy a new recliner. Then we went to get another massage. This one was much more enjoyable, since my back was still tenderized from the last massage, so there were only a few painful moments. I also thought to listen to an audiobook while getting it, so I had something to occupy my over-active brain.

Aaron took M11 shopping for the last of his necessities for his upcoming Boy Scout camp.

We had been going to grill with my friend Liz, but it was raining on and off, and we chose to postpone. Instead we went out to dinner. Our at-home fireworks were next. IL4 enjoyed them until about half-way through when he either got bored or scared or it got too loud. His reasons were unclear, but he wanted to go inside.

Wednesday

Wednesday I went from work to work, with only a scrubbinging of the kitchen floor in between. I watched Lucifer at home while Aaron went to M11’s playoff game. Unfortunately they lost, but that means we can do the aerial course on Saturday (when the final playoff game would be if they’d won).

Thursday

Thursday M11 and I had a D&D oneshot. We both enjoyed ourselves. Afterwards, M11 went fishing with a guy a met on Facebook. He had offered to help M11 catch a fish, clean it, and cook it for his merit badge. They didn’t catch anything, unfortunately.

Friday

Friday, IL4 had speech therapy. Then we relaxed the day until M11 and I had our first tap dance class. Afterwards, M11 told me my dancing made him feel a lot better about his own. Then M11 had a meeting with his Scout master and reached the rank of Scout!

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 letter Wisconsin
• 1 letter California
• 1 letter Maine

Reading to myself

• Babel, by R F Kuang
• Mahabharata
• Untangled, by Lisa Damour
• Throne of Glass, by Sarah J Maas
• Loki and Sigyn, by Lea Svendson

Reading to IL4

• Unicorn and Yeti: Friends Rock, by Ayris Burnell
• Super Rabbit Boy vs Super Rabbit Boss, by Thomas Flintham

M10 reading

• Leather-working merit badge pamphlet

D13 reading

• 57 Bus, by Dashka Slater
• Nightfall, by Shannon Messenger

Games Played

Exercise / Weight Loss / Sleep

News

Saturday

Saturday Aaron and M11 went to a tabletop D&D session and D13 and I watched Catching Killers on Netflix.

Sunday

Sunday M11 volunteered at a potluck with the Boy Scouts and then worked on his scout rank. IL4 slept through his swim lesson. I worked. Finally, M11 had a baseball game which got rained out.

Monday

Monday D13 had an appointment, IL4 had special education, and M11 got grounded for a rather ridiculous lie to get out of taking a shower. I was super productive, though I had hoped to take IL4 to the bike park to start learning to ride a bike, but he refused to budge and I figured he’d not enjoy himself out of spite if I took him against his will. At the end of the day, I went to my first overnight shift at my new job.

Tuesday

Tuesday was quite the day. I’d spent all night at work (asleep till 6am). Then I drove the 30 minutes to my other job. I was there an hour and a half early, so I took a nap in my car, slightly disrupting the life of the woman whose house I parked in front of. I worked there until 3:30pm, and then drove M11 directly to swim lessons, where I paced in the lobby to get my 5000 steps in. I finally had a reprieve from 5:45pm – 9:15pm, when I left for my next overnight shift. But it wasn’t much of a reprieve because M11 likes playing with IL4 at eardrum-shattering volumes when he’s grounded.

D13 and M11 went to a movie while I was at work – Elementals. (M11 isn’t allowed to come into thr livingroom when the TV is on, nor play on his tablet when he’s grounded. He can still text on his phone and leave the house.) M11 got heat exhaustion on the way back, and D13 had to text a friend to bring him water.

Wednesday

Wednesday after work, dad had an appointment and then he and I went to get a massage. It was a deep tissue massage, and I had a lot of knots, so it was actually rather painful. Then I took M11 to his baseball game.

Thursday

After work on Thursday, I took my friend Todd to a food shelf. Then I took D13 to a doctor appointment.

Friday

Friday I decided to take the day off so I spent most of the day just relaxing with IL4 and the kids. I tried to get IL4 to go to the library or pool or even out with Aaron for lunch, but he seemed to be in a rotten mood so I let him stay home. Hopefully next week will work out better.

IL4 had speech therapy. He’s working on his L sound and his he and she. I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with Aaron for lunch. At the end of the evening M11 went to his mom’s, Aaron playing this video game, and D13 and IL4 made a chocolate cake. IL4 wanted to know whose birthday it was, so D13 just said they were celebrating Polyphemus’s birthday. (Our kitten.)

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 letter Mississippi
• 1 letter Oklahoma
• 1 letter Maryland
• 1 letter Texas
• 1 letter Michigan
• 1 letter Pennsylvania

Reading to myself

• A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by Ursula Vernon
• Babel, by R F Kuang
• Educated, by Tara Westover
• Loki and Sigyn, by Lea Svendson
• How to Read the Bible, by James Kugel
• Untangled, by Lisa Damour
• Mr Ballen Podcast

Reading to IL4

• Into the Wild, by Doreen Cronin
• Unicorn and Yeti: Friends Rock
• Unicorn and Yeti: Stuck with You
• Super Rabbit Boy Blasts Off, by Thomas Flintham
• Super King Viking Land, by Thomas Flintham
• Robo-Rabbit Boy Go, by Thomas Flintham
• Unicorn and Yeti: Cheer Up, by Ayris Burnell

M10 reading

• Working on leatherworking merit badge
• Working on baseball presentation to BSA

D13 reading

• Nightfall, by Shannon Messenger
• Bus 57, by Dashka Slater

Media Completed

Cross-stitch

Exercise / Weight Loss

Weight: X – 38lbs

News

Saturday

Saturday, M11 went fishing with the Boy Scouts and caught a fish. He wasn’t very clear about how big or what kind. Aaron and I played D&D, which was a heavy role playing day (something I like, but doesn’t excite Aaron). Then M11 and I went to Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse in the theater.

Sunday

Sunday I worked with my new client for the second time. This time she was awake for a little while, and I started listening to a full-cast Jane Austen collection on Audible with her. She seemed to enjoy it, but it was hard to tell. IL4 had swim lessons, and M13 had a baseball game.

Monday

Monday was Juneteenth, so Aaron had the day off. After D13’s appointment, the family went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch then to the Reptile and Amphibian Discovery Zoo. The kids all loved the Zoo. Then we played a game of Carcassonne. IL4 did not participate in the game, despite me picking a game he could somewhat play. M11 had a Boy Scout meeting later in the day and Aaron gamed with his friends.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning, I had my first couple hours of training at the house I will be working overnight at. I met the man I’ll work with, a lovely elderly man, my coworker, and supervisor. I have to train in-house for 30 hours before I can be left alone with him.

The new stove and microwave were delivered, and they’re both delightful. Dad is very pleased with the stove – he says it’s much easier to cook his oatmeal (which was very difficult on the other stove).

M11 had his first summer swim lesson, and graduated to Red Cross level 4. M11, D13, my friend Liz, and I had a cross-stitch party. The kids love cross-stitch, and I finished Groot’s mouth.

Wednesday

Wednesday D13 had a doctor appointment early in the morning. Then I ran errands with my dad, went to Perkins with him, and walked with him to the post office and library. Later, M11 had a game, which they did great on.

Thursday

Thursday started with another appointment for D13 and band for M11. I then worked on creamy corn stew for Aaron (which I didn’t finish because I was too tired by the time the crock pot was done).

I had an appointment with my sleep doctor to discuss the at-home sleep test. I had been hoping I would be diagnosed with sleep apnea, because that yielded an easy solution to my excessive daytime drowsiness. But, alas, I don’t have sleep apnea. The doctor said the next step is to do a 24 hour sleep test, where I go in in the evening to sleep. Then I stay into the next evening, being prompted to take a 20 minute nap every 2 hours. Sounds delightful, if it were at home. 藍 I suggested that maybe my excessive daytime drowsiness wouldn’t happen that day, as it only happens about once a week. She said she thinks I’m tired all the time, I just think that’s normal. But isn’t it? I mean, everyone’s tired all the time. It’s a fact of life. She says it’s not normal with 8-9 hours of sleep every night (which is what I get.) So they should call me in a couple if weeks to schedule something, which I’m guessing will be months out, but I’m not sure.

After the doctor appointment, I went to work with my new daytime client. It was low-key. We listened to Jane Austen Audio Collection for a while, the listened to music for the rest of the time. I wrote two letters and got some reading done.

After work and dinner (I cooked chicken) Aaron and I watched a couple episodes of Supernatural while D13 babysat. Then I fell deeply asleep at 8:30, because I was feeling excessive drowsiness and staying awake was becoming torture.

Friday

Friday started out with speech therapy, then a doctor appointment for IL4. He has graduated on from working on his v’s to his L’s. The doctor determined that he has not gained back all of his 3 pounds lost during that 3 day illness a couple weeks ago. He still has one pound to gain back.

After that, D13, M11, IL4, and I went to the pool. They seemed to really enjoy it, though IL4 threw a few mini temper tantrums and one large one. We left after the large one.

Aaron, M11, dad, and I went to Outback steakhouse for dinner.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 letter Pennsylvania
• 1 letter California
• 1 letter Washington

Reading to myself

• Untangled, by Lisa Damour
• Babel, by R F Kuang
• Jane Austen Collection on Audible
• Mahabharata
• Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by Ursula Vernon

Reading to IL4

• Unicorn and Yeti: Together, by Heather Ayris Burnell
• The Bad Guys in the Furball Strikes Back, by Aaron Blabey
• Unicorn and Yeti: Cheer Up, by Heather Ayris Burnell
• Unicorn and Yeti, Stuck With You, by Heather Ayris Burnell
• Society of Substitutes The Zoo Switcharoo, by Alan Katz
• Unicorn and Yeti: A Good Team, by Heather Ayris Burnell

M10 reading

• The River of Wind, by Kathryn Lasky
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer

D13 reading

• Nightfall, by Shannon Messenger

Media Completed

Games Played