Hibernator's New Reads

Hi All! My name is Rachel, and I've been a member of this group for, I don't know, a long time.

I have three kids: IL2, M8, and D11



and three cats: Myra, Hero, and Puck



I "take care" of my 80yo dad, who demands on having a little more independence than he really should have



and my nephew J16, who currently lives with my dad and also demands on having a little more independence than he should really have (as seen in this really old photo back when he smiled and looked at cameras)



and my husband Aaron, who is teaching himself how to crochet.



I currently work as a PCA and am trying to get an Amazon book reseller's business off the ground. That will include both thrift-storing for books and online arbitrage.

Reading goals this year: I have failed at any sort of organized plan year after year, so this year I will focus on reading books I already own, but keep things open to read whatever floats my boat. Right now, I will try to read my BIPOC books. I will try to be present on LT more this year, and include thoughts on the books I'm reading in my weekly updates.

Personal goals this year: Take dad on daily walks, as he keeps having incidents when he walks alone. Decide between ADU, assisted living, or supporting dad at home in the long term (we have to start thinking about building an ADU soon, if that's the decision). Try keeping up with a pen pal. Finish my first scrapbook.

Work goals: Hold down two PCA jobs and get book-selling business up and running.

Books Completed in December



Books currently reading as of December 28th

With Aaron:


Audiobook:


With kids:


Physical Book:

Lovely to see you back for another year, Rachel.

>2 The_Hibernator: Thanks Paul! I'm glad to be back, and looking forward to catching up on your thread (or do you have 2 already).

>4 The_Hibernator: Hahaha no don't worry I am only about 50 posts in!

Welcome back!

>6 drneutron: Thanks Jim!

Dropping a star, Rachel! Lovely photos - thanks for sharing.

>8 Crazymamie: Thanks for dropping a star Mamie! I'll stop by your thread soon.

Welcome back! Hope you have a great year of reading.

I look forward to hearing what you think of Mexican Gothic. Looks interesting.

>11 justchris: I loved it! Unique setting, but rally captured the spirit of a gothic romance.

Hi Rachel! Happy new year!

>1 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel. I’m trying to teach myself how to crochet too. Well, I knew how to do it when I was about 11 but I seem to have forgotten along the way! One of my Christmas presents is a granny square blanket kit that I anticipate will take some time.

Hi Rachel, happy 2021. I'm ignoring the raggedy edges of That Year Which Remains Unnamed.

>1 The_Hibernator: I love husbands who teach themselves how to crochet! :)
Hi again, here I am out of the gate strong leading into 2021, hoping to be a true thread-hopper this year.

Rachel, you might want to take a look at Blake Knoblock's YouTube arbitrage ideas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et6qfH7ctaM&ab_channel=WalterBlakeKnoblock

He's been at it as his sole income source for all ten years I've "known" him on Twitter and YouTube.

>10 thornton37814: Thanks Lori!

>11 justchris: Hi Chris! It's pretty interesting so far. Just the right mixture of gothic romance and novel idea.

>12 drneutron: Agreed, Jim!

>13 cbl_tn: You too, Carrie!

>14 SandDune: That sounds great, Rhian. Good luck. I always wanted to learn to knit or crochet, but right now I'm using my down-time (audiobook time in the evenings with Aaron) to work on the scrapbook. I have a lot of pictures to get through. I found a stash when mom passed.

>15 richardderus: Yes, Richard. This was a stressful year, and I'm happy to feel like we can start afresh.

>16 LovingLit: I used to be a thread-hopper Megan, and am going to try to be one again. It is good to feel social, and I think that has fallen to the wayside lately. Yes, my husband is pretty cool. He's working on a unicorn for D11 right now.

>17 richardderus: Thanks Richard, I'll take a look at it. :)

Best wishes for a better 2021!

>19 DianaNL: Thanks Diana!

Normally, I would post updates in the current year, but I'm just going to move on to 2021, since I'm tired of 2020.

Wow, already New Year’s eve! I hope everyone has a good one!

This blogging week began with Christmas on Friday, which was very relaxed. The kids were at their mom’s this year, and since IL2 had no idea when Christmas was, we didn’t bother doing anything special for him. We had roast and potatoes for dinner.

We opened presents with the kids on Sunday. M8 got some footie pajamas and a Swiss Army knife that he was thrilled with. D11 got a doll dress sewing kit that she loved. And IL2 got some Duplos train tracks, among other toys he loved.

IL2 has begun his potty training by being put on the potty a few times a day. He hasn’t peed yet, but he seems to enjoy sitting on it, and tells me when he’s all done. On Christmas, I opened his long-legged, long-armed onesie to discover he had no diaper on under it. We looked and looked for the ditched diaper, but no luck. Finally, I asked IL2 where it was and promised I wouldn’t put the dirty one back on. IL2 got up, walked to the TV, and pulled it out from behind. He must have hidden it there intentionally!

M8 has told me (not for the first time) that he no longer believes in the “Jesus-God” because he believes in the Greek gods after having Percy Jackson read to him. I suspect this is more about interest than belief (he went through a period of interest in Jesus, too). I suggested that if he was going to learn about pagan pantheons and explore his own spirituality, he should try learning about some of the other pantheons, too. I have ordered him a book about Norse gods, and decided the next book we’ll read together after Fablehaven is Riordon’s Magnus Chase books.





Aaron finished his crocheted Cthulu, and has started on a unicorn for Deirdre.



D11 finally got her first set of high heels – ordered for her birthday by her mom, but not arriving until this week. She’s been waiting impatiently for them to arrive. She got two pairs from her aunt Eleanor for Christmas, but she grew a foot size since the beginning of the school year already, and they were ordered in the wrong size. (I had no idea D11 had only been wearing over-sized snow boots for weeks and that we’d missed a leap in shoe size.)



Aaron and I discussed building an ADU for my dad with an architect. I’d formerly contacted 3 architects – one never responded, one turned me off right away, and the third (this one) has been pretty good so far. We discussed putting the ADU behind the garage or under the deck. It kind of puts the shed in an awkward spot, and I guess it’s movable. The architect is now drawing up rough scetches of his ideas.

Happy new year!

This has been a tough year for everyone. But our family, for the most part, ended up doing well.

IL2 learned to walk, talk (sort of), and now sits on the potty.

M8 graduated into the 3rd grade, learned to program (a little) at Code Ninjas, and passed two levels in swimming. He is now a Bear Scout. He was diagnosed with an eating disorder, ARFID, which explains why he didn’t respond to standard eating therapy methods (they don’t work with ARFID, and actually make things worse). Now that we have switched to feeding him 6 times a day he went up from 3rd percentile in BMI at 6 to 47th at 8! Yay! I’m so proud of both him and us.

D11 graduated into the 5th grade, passed two levels in swimming, joined a swim team, and joined band (flute). She was diagnosed with a learning disorder, and will FINALLY get the help she needs in her writing. She really blossomed this year, learning how to control her anxiety and really maturing emotionally.

I read a total of 50 books, including a whopping total of 19 books that weren’t board books. I plan on getting that up to 75 next year by adding in graphic novels. My mother passed in September of a fall off the front stoop. I worked most of the year as a PCA for a quadriplegic man.

Aaron taught himself to knit and did an amazing job of tearing down our retaining wall and building a new one. It is beautiful.

I wish you a Happy New Year. May it be better than the old one.

Hope 2021 is kind to you!

Happy reading in 2021, Rachel!

And keep up with my friends here, Rachel. Have a great 2021.

Happy New Thread, Rachel. Happy New Year! Glad we are turning the page on that one. Love the family toppers!

Hi Rachel and Happy New Year!

Love your topper photos.

>21 The_Hibernator: IL cracks me up. Hiding his diaper behind the TV.

>22 The_Hibernator: Fantastic news about everybody in your family.

Thanks Barbara, Chelle, Anita, Paul, Mark, and Karen!

>22 The_Hibernator: Love all the photos up top and the updates. I am so glad to see you posting here! I hope you find the time to continue the trend--as usual you have a lot going on. LOL I can't believe IL is two already and that D11 is loving high heels!! : ) Anyhow, here's to a happier 2021.

Happy New Year to you and the whole family

Happy New Year, Rachel. I hope 2021 is a great year for you. Maybe we'll even be able to have a meet up!

Dropping off my and wishing you the best of new years in 2021!

Happy New Year, Rachel!

Thanks Kim, Jim, Beth, Roni, and Nora!

Today I'm hoping to get some housework done as well as watching some videos about online arbitrage. I am feeling unmotivated though! I might just read. 🤣😂

My condolences on the loss of your mother. It's great you're exploring options for the ADU for your dad. I hope the architect comes through for you. My brother and I are trying to convince our dad to leave his apartment and move in to the basement suite of my brother's new house. But that would require moving away from his siblings to be with his grandkids, not a tradeoff he's willing to make yet.

Great to see and hear how your family is doing. The kids are lovely. The crochet Cthulu is adorable.

Good luck with your reading goals this year! Hopefully we all do better this year and 2020 becomes a distant memory in so many ways.

Happy New Year, Rachel! I love the pics of all your beautiful family and I'm looking forward to following your reading again this year.

>36 justchris: Hi Chris! Thanks for the condolences. It was a sudden loss, so stressful. But she had Alzheimer's and we were hoping that when she did pass it wouldn't be long and drawn out like many Alzheimer's patients. At least it was fast and relatively painless.

I hope the architect comes through, too. I'm feeling positive about him right now. I always thought it would be hard to get my dad to leave his home because he's always been the type to ignore health problems. However, he is ready to feel safe, which is nice.

>37 streamsong: Hi Janet! I wasn't much of a poster last year, but I hope to be better this year. Last year was stressful for everyone.

Happy new year, Rachel. I hope your reading plans all come true!

Wow. Cthulhu's just wonderful! And the milestones the kids are passing, well, I can remember when they were dreams!

It's so good to know when good souls are doing well.

>39 Carmenere: Thanks Lynda! You too.

>40 richardderus: Yes, Richard, the kids are doing so well. I'm proud of them.

This week I finished Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia. In it, a flirtatious socialite visits her cousin, who claims her husband is trying to kill her. Moreno-Garcia keeps the reader on her toes with a creepy gothic vibe and a relatable protagonist.

Reason for reading: This was for a book club that I never ended up joining. But it fits well with my desire to read BIPOC books this year.



I also finished Trapped, by Kevin Hearne. In this fifth book of the Iron Druid Chronicles, Atticus works desperately to bind Granuaile to the earth as he struggles with interruptions. It wasn’t as great as the first four books. It continued the storyline, but at a slow pace, and had very little action.

Reason for Reading: This series was first suggested by my friend Nora. I started listening to the first book with Aaron 3 years ago, and have continued since then.



I finished reading Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead, in which a slave named Cora escapes Georgia on a locomotive in a literal underground railroad. It was very creative and interesting, but I was left wondering why Whitehead chose a locomotive for his story. There was one rather obvious hint (and I probably missed others along the way):

“Lumbly’s words returned to her: If you want to see what this nation is all about, you have to ride the rails. Look outside as you speed through and you’ll find the true face of America. It was a joke, then, from the start. There was only darkness outside the windows on her journeys, and only ever would be darkness.”

Reason for reading: I have wanted to read this book since it came out. This year, I am trying to focus on reading BIPOC books.



I also read the board book Nerdy Babies Rocks, by Emmy Kastner. It was cute. I really like the series.



Right now, I am listening to 1984, by George Orwell with Aaron. I’m reading Evicted, by Matthew Desmond. I’m listening to Invisible Man Got the Whole World Watching, by Mychal Denzel Smith. Aaron is reading Keys to the Demon Prison, by Brandon Mull to the kids.

Family Life

New year’s eve started out well, with M8 cleaning the kitchen because he left his socks on the table, and D11 cleaning the livingroom because she left her socks on the floor. Then, they both left for their mom’s. Aaron and I stayed up till midnight. We listened to Trapped, and watched Supernatural. I also cleaned purple crayon off the walls, gift of IL2. A wet rag dipped in baking soda works wonders. My favorite part of the night was when IL2 joined me in cleaning the walls. He ran to the kitchen, grabbed a wash rag, dipped it in my bowl of baking soda and rubbed it on the wall. 🤣😂

Once 2021 hit, we could start making purchases for our Amazon reseller’s startup: Hibernator’s Library. (We wanted to wait for 2021 for tax purposes.) Our startup is running!

I decided to take up cross-stitching as a hobby, mainly only for use while I’m listening to Aaron read to the kids or to the audiobook I’m listening to with Aaron. And maybe when my Monday client is watching TV. It’s not something I’ve ever tried before, so hopefully I’ll enjoy it. Here’s what my first project is supposed to end up looking like:



Here’s the progress I’ve made so far:



I also found some old CDs of pictures of J16 when he was a kid in my mom’s stuff. I think I’ll make a scrapbook for him some day. Here’s my favorite so far:



D11 took her Red Cross babysitting class last Thursday, and I immediately found someone on a Facebook mom’s group who was willing to pay $7/hr for an 11 year old to watch her 3 and 6 year old girls. It’s not a lot, but I figure once she gets a reference or two we should be fine.

On the night of the attempted coup, D11 made a cake. That’s her unsure face, but she did a really good job. Apparently the gigantic bottles of alcohol I bought when I was stressing about the coup is in the background. Oops. 🤣😂 I have a mess to clean up this morning.

Ugh. Right now I have the kind of headache where my eyes water and nose runs and throat hurts and my baby's had diarrhea all over the couch and I soooooo need to clean it up but ohhhh, my head.....

>43 The_Hibernator: Yikes! I hope you and baby are both feeling better.

>42 The_Hibernator: I am sure the cake was tasty. And gotta love Baby Groot. The opening scene where he's dancing is the best part of the second movie. And that's a fantastic photo from bygone days.

So did you enjoy Mexican Gothic? Would you read something else by Moreno-Garcia?

>44 justchris: Hi Chris! Today my headache is gone so far. (I've been awake for 10 minutes.) I feel a little light-headed as if I'm just about to come down with a headache, so I'm not sure if I'm fully recovered yet. I'll take it easy today. I'm hoping the headache was stress and not illness. It's nice that it's Sunday so I have other people around to help me watch IL2.

The cake was very good! It was a fantastic first try, and she was proud enough to eat the entire cake the next day when we were having a family movie night.

Mexican Gothic was really good! It started off a bit slow, but I think that's the nature of gothic romances. If you want to read a GR, then you need to work with the build-up. It's simply part of the genre. I think I've been spoiled by other genres in which the action is in the first 5 pages. She did start building up the character-development right away, page one, though. If you like gothic romances or slight genre-bending I think this is a good book for you.

Alway enjoy hearing about your life and your reading.

I did end up with a headache yesterday, too, and today I'm weak, short of breath, and have a cough. Still convinced it's stress. Politics are really killing me right now. As far as I know, no exposure to COVID. I have a stupid COVID app on my phone - presumably it tells me if someone else with the app tested positive and was around me. If course, anyone who bothered downloading the app would not go out with COVID, so what's the point?

>46 magicians_nephew: Thanks Jim! Good to see you hanging out on my thread.

I'm sorry you're not feeling well, Rachel, and do hope it's 'just' stress. There are certainly enough stressful things going on now, aren't there?

>48 karenmarie: Stress is better than COVID! My stress is the same that is affecting the majority of people in the US. Nothing particularly unique to my situation. Luckily everything is good with the family.

>47 The_Hibernator: Sorry you're not feeling well! I've been having stress related issues as well, though mostly in my back. I tried giving up coffee last week to see if that would help me sleep better but of course it just gave me a headache and made me sleepy in the morning (but still not in the evening). Now I'm testing out an every-other-day coffee schedule.

Not sure if your COVID app is the same, but the one we have here in Virginia would alert everyone I came into close contact with in the 14 days *before* I tested positive. So I wouldn't know that I had COVID at the time I came into contact with them. I've never gotten an alert from the app but it does tell me every Sunday that I have not had any exposure notifications in the past week, to remind me it's working.

>50 norabelle414: That's probably true Nora. It would notify people that I'd been around in the last week, I imagine. I guess that makes it more useful. 😊 Mine just has a notification about once a day saying that it's checking exposure.

There will be tremendous anger.

>52 The_Hibernator: Justified. Among 45's supporters because their bluff is being called; among his detractors because it came to this.

I hope you're both feeling better.

Yup, stress. I just happen to have a cardiologist appointment this week, but am not looking forward to telling him about the loop de loops my heart was doing while watching the DC riots.

>53 richardderus: Lol. The anger wasn't as tremendous as expected.

>54 streamsong: I'm feeling much better. I hope your cardiologist appointment goes well. I know how stress can affect health!

Hi all! Hope you had a great week. Due to politics it was a stressful one for us. Aaron and I had a hard time concentrating on things that needed to be done. I was feeling so sick with a headache and other symptoms over the weekend, that I was almost worried I was coming down with something nasty. But in the end we survived.

I finished listening to Invisible Man Got the Whole World Watching, by Mychal Denzel Smith. In this memoir about what it’s like to become a black man in the age of Obama, Smith confronts issues about gender, sexuality, patriarchy, and mental illness through the lens of black America. I felt his discussion was well-articulated and was a good book for people who are unfamiliar with the topic, but his arguments about race weren’t particularly new for a well-read individual.



Family Life

Well, I gave up on my first cross-stitch attempt under an onslaught of criticism. There were two major problems that I’m aware of. D11 pointed out that she didn’t think there was enough space for the entire pattern. I was going to try anyway because it was a close call, and I HAD measured. Second problem was separating the floss. In theory, DMC floss separates into 6 strands but I could only get it to separate into 2 strands. If I separated it more, it just turned into fluff. So I used the entire piece since the pattern said to use two strands. Apparently that was the wrong choice. So I’m going to retry with one of the strands (which is, in theory, actually 3 smaller strands. Here’s where I surrendered project attempt 1:



The kids were not impacted by the attempted coup on the 6th. I did explain what happened the next morning, and by an hour later D11 had forgotten we’d talked about it. The kids ended up starting school 18 minutes late the next day (I was out for a moment and expected their alarms to alert them of the time.) I jokingly told the kids to tell their teachers that their dad was distracted by the attempted coup, and M8 actually did that! 🤣😂

On Friday night, we decided to destress by having a movie night. We watched Die Hard and Terminator 2. M8 loved Die Hard and D11 loved T2. M8 used an oven for the first time that night. He wanted more baked fries, and I told him he could have them if he baked them on his own. So he did (with a little assistance). I wasn’t even tempted to run up behind him and yell “DON’T BURN YOURSELF!!!” unexpectedly, as I am when D11 sticks something into the oven. (Mind you, I’ve never done this, I just feel tempted to sometimes.)

I have mixed feelings about the impeachment. I like the idea of him losing his ability to run again, but I feel that if it’s just a token impeachment, it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars. However, we celebrated the potential downfall of Trump’s aspirations at a second term with s’mores and a movie night. We watched Encino Man.







Found this on the livingroom floor the next morning:



Apparently someone was eating floor crumbs?

D11 had her very first babysitting job this week. 4 hours at $7/hour. She enjoyed herself, and was really excited. She also has two other people interested. Maybe $7 was too little of a charge? We’ll work with it until she has some references, though.

Hi all! I hope you had a good week! We did in this neck of the woods.

This week Aaron finished reading Keys to the Demon Prison by Brandon Mull to me and the kids. It is the 5th book in Mull’s Fablehaven series, in which a sister and brother must save the world after discovering that their grandparents run a preserve for fantastic creatures. It was a fantastic completion to the series.



I also finished listening to Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo. This is a coming-of-age story of a Latina teen who struggles with how her sexuality fits in the world and in her family’s religion. It was all beautifully composed in slam poetry. I highly suggest the audiobook. This book has been sitting in my Audible library for a while, and I decided to try it out since I’m planning on focusing on BIPOC books this year.



I am currently reading Ring, Shout by P. Djeli Clark and listening to Lakewood by Megan Giddings. Aaron is reading The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan to us. And Aaron and I are listening to 1984 by George Orwell.

Family Life

Over the weekend, I picked up an extra job as a PCA for a woman with ALS. It makes my schedule even busier, but gives us that extra financial oomph we’ll need to get through the startup of our book-selling business.

We are really enjoying the business so far. We shipped out our first major load of books this week, and bought plenty more for resale. Now we’ll see what kind of money we can draw in.

I made the (?) mistake of looking into BSA for Deirdre. Mostly, I thought that it would be more goal-oriented and activity-focused than I’ve noticed Girl Scouts being. I’ve been going through a Journey with D11 and her cousin O11, but and it’s positively boring! No wonder her troop hasn’t completed any Journies or gotten any badges! Anyway, her Girl Scout troop is dissolving at the end of the year, so I suggested D11 think about BSA instead. She is very goal-oriented, and gets a lot of pleasure out of achieving her goals – being in a group that provides many opportunities for earning merit badges would be enjoyable to her.

I told her I’d look in to BSA if she’d like to try it out. She sounded interested in earning badges, so I found a troop. The activities sounded really fun – they went skiing this week, but invited D11 to join them in rock-climbing and archery at Base Camp next week. I hadn’t meant for her to start right away when I looked into it, and now we have to figure out how to pay for BSA if she wants to join. Oops.

As I’ve mentioned, we have been considering building an ADU for dad to live in when he is unable to live alone. Now that I have an estimate from an architect, I’m wondering if the same amount of money could be spent on buying a larger house in our same school district, and what that would entail. I just want to look at all the available options, which habit is the bane of my existence. I contacted a couple of realtors to see if I could find one who was willing to give me honest answers to my questions on the topic. One of them did a beautiful job of answering my questions, and she will be coming to look at the house next Monday to see what she thinks.

>57 The_Hibernator: Those books sound wonderful.

That's a lot to navigate. Good luck with all the researches. I'm the same way. Big decision? Let me explore it from every conceivable angle! I'm glad you've found realtors that you can talk to who feel reliable to you.

Let me know Rachel if there is anything I can help with the bookselling. There are markets here and in the UK that may be open to you.

It is really likely and depending upon COVID restrictions that I will return to the UK for good in July.

Looks like you have a lot on your plate again this year, Rachel. I had to resort to Google to figure out part of what you were doing as I'd never heard of an ADU before. Not sure if they are a thing here.

I'm not quite a full month late, but happy 2021, Rachel.

>58 justchris: Thanks Chris. Yes, this is a lot to navigate. We are getting our house ready to sell at this point, which is a huge amount of work.

>59 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul! I will most certainly let you know if I think of something you can help with. :)

>60 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg! I decided to sell our house and get a bigger one instead. An ADU just seemed like a lot of work.

>61 bell7: I'm always a full month late, Mary.

Alright. I'm trying to decide whether I should put ALL my updates in for people who REALLY want to keep up with my life, or just the most recent. I guess I'll put them all, and you can read whatever you choose to read. :)

WEEK ENDING IN JANURARY 29, 2021

Hi all! This week was stressful as it had a lot of events that just piled together.

Monday, I had an 8am doctor appointment, and needed to pick up some medicine (as well as milk and juice, which we were out of). I didn’t have enough time to pick it up till after my work ended at 11pm, though. So I had to make a midnight run to the pharmacy. Normally, I would have just slept in the next day, but the Minnesota Department of Health had a 1-day lottery for a vaccine for 65+ residents, so I got up at 5am to sign dad up for it (only a 1 hour wait in queue).

Wednesday was dad’s dementia assessment. I didn’t realize how much I was dreading it until it happened. Sitting there in front of him telling the doctor why I was worried about dad’s worsening behaviors since his TIA four years ago was hard. Dad does not agree with my assessment of his behavior. But he was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment in the end, so it could have been worse. We’re hoping this is a single drop from the TIA and not a continuous decline.

Aaron was very understanding of my difficulties this week, and got some important work for the book-selling business completed without me, which was kind of him.

Thursday, one of the major healthcare systems in Minnesota opened COVID vaccination appointments for people over 75, so I’m checking about once an hour to see if any are open. Something tells me it’s futile to keep checking, but I would really like dad to get a vaccination.

This week, D11 started Scouts BSA (they went to Base Camp for wall climbing and archery) and swim team. She had so much fun getting out of the house!

M8 is doing a fantastic job of taking his liquid medicine! We are so proud of him. This has been such a struggle for him.

WEEK ENDING IN FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Hi all!

When my mom died in September, AIG, the company that manages dad’s annuity, canceled the payments because mom (who was the beneficiary if dad died) had passed. They didn’t pay him, and sent out a snail mail that took 3 weeks to arrive saying why they didn’t pay him. They said they needed the death certificate and forms to be filled out. He mailed those back. 4 weeks later, he still hadn’t received his money, and dad had didn’t have the patience to keep calling them without cussing them out, so I took over. They told me that he had filled out the paperwork incorrectly, that he needed to put the Jr after his name. They insisted they’d sent out a snail mail a week prior to my call. Dad filled out the forms again the “right” way, and sent them in. Two weeks later, I called. They claimed they hadn’t received the new forms. We sent them again via certified mail. I waited till they were delivered. Called. I was told that the documents weren’t in the system. Perhaps they hadn’t been scanned in yet? Anyway, to shorten the story, we STILL don’t have the money. And the person who I talked to several times simply doesn’t care. He says this is just how the system works. If you have any choice, don’t use AIG.

Dad got his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday. I had to check into his medical portal every 30 minutes for an entire day, but I snatched one up! He was so tired after the first dose that he missed two meals. I, too, got my first dose (Moderna) on Thursday. Now we just need to get Aaron and J16 vaccinated.

D11 rode horses with the Girl Scouts on Saturday. She loved it, even though all they did was ride around inside a barn. She worked on her Cyber Chip over a BSA Zoom meeting on Tuesday – it taught her how to be safe and kind on the internet – and worked on her Citizenship in the Nation merit badge in a BSA Zoom meeting on Wednesday. Her homework is to read the news 5 days in a row and do two virtual tours of historical sites. The virtual tours weren’t very informative, so I’ll go though them with her myself.



M8 went to Cub Scout Polar Camp on Saturday with his mom. He enjoyed tuning and spare time with his mom.

Our business is doing well. We’ve been selling books, and have made $9 one week after shipping the books (after all the fees). This makes me more confident that this is going to work.

The kids started in-person school on Thursday. D11 and M8 said their favorite part of the first day was school ending. 🤣😂 I imagine in-person school is hard after being able to do it at home. I’m having difficulty adjusting, too. I forgot on Wednesday evening to pack M8’s bag, and on Friday I slept in because I forgot there was school. Luckily, it wasn’t too late to get them out. M8 just wanted to get up an hour early to pack his lunch (apparently he thought it was a monumental task).

WEEK ENDING IN FEBRUARY 12, 2021

IL2 was busy this week. He started Saturday by spreading flour all over the baby safe area. He pulled it down off a counter, probably with the tippy-tips of his fingers.



It fell to 21 degrees Fahrenheit below zero over the weekend. But I took IL2 out to mall walk dad, anyway.



On Thursday, he went pee-pee in the potty! I didn’t realize kids that young could actually potty train. I’ll have to do a better job of letting him sit on the potty every two hours. But that sounds like a LOT of work.

On Friday, I called AIG about dad’s annuity. No news from “processing.” On Tuesday, no news from processing. Dad yelled. I asked for processing’s phone number. No, they can’t give that. Then processing’s email? Nope. Dad yelled some more. We got through to a supervisor later in the day. She “expedited” the process. (What does that mean? 3 more months instead of 5? Probably.) I hired a lawyer. Dad filed a fraud complaint with the State of MN.

In case you’re wondering what happened to my cross-stitch, apparently I got knock-off floss. It just dissolves and breaks if I separate it, and is too thick if I don’t. 😐 I have the real stuff now, and it works great!

D11 had a difficult week. It was supposed to be a 6 day weekend, but we found out on Tuesday that D11 hadn’t completed a whole bunch of homework problems over the first half of the semester. We started working on them, only to find out on Thursday that she also hadn’t turned in a major project that had apparently been assigned weeks ago. She had hardly started it at all. I am struggling between feeling like we should drop it because it’s plague year, or make her do it because she needs accountability. But she learns by strict rules of “action/consequence” so she’ll learn so she’d definitely learn the wrong lesson if we dropped it.

WEEK ENDING IN FEBRUARY 26, 2021

Hi all!

I’ve been ok. Nothing really new to report. Aaron has been feeling a bit depressed lately, but his med seems to maybe be kicking in. But he had his 46th birthday. D11 and M8 decorated a Cthulu cake.



This is pretty much how I felt all week:



D11 went to an Escape Room with the Scouts BSA and came back high anxiety. They got out with 50 seconds to spare. She loved it, despite the anxiety. She also went shoe shopping and office chair shopping with her own money (and money from Aunt Eleanor’s Christmas gift). She got all dressed up and we went to Nordstrom’s clearance. And she went snowboarding with Scouts BSA.



M8 has a Pine Wood Derby race on Saturday, and worked hard on his car.

IL2 began potty training again. This time, I will try not to get burnt out putting him on the pot every 2 hours. And the pediatrician told me to give him prune juice to encourage him to poop comfortably. He’s pooped in the potty twice and peed once already!



Dad is doing well. He finally got his annuity back! He feels rich now. J16 got his phone stolen for the second time. The first was a couple months ago – some guy jumped out of a car, punched him in the face, and grabbed the phone. This time, the same guy pulled up with a gun, and demanded his phone. This time was at gunpoint. J16 says he THINKS he knows the guy from elementary school, but isn’t quite sure it’s the same guy. Clearly, he’s being targeted. I also suspect he isn’t telling the complete truth about what’s going on. His story keeps changing.

And that’s about it. Happy trails!

Thanks for the updates, Rachel - I read every single one!

The news seems mostly positive although I'm sorry to hear that Aaron's been depressed. Yay for meds.

The Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts were good for me when I was a kid. City Kid that I was it was good to get into their activities and go camping and biking and doing other stuff like that. My sisters were active in the Girl Scouts and got a lot of good stuff out of that too.

>68 karenmarie: Hi Karen! Wow! Glad I posted them if someone actually read them all! Aaron is still doing pretty poorly, and has gone to visit his mom for a month. He hopes he can get out of some bad habits and form some new ones if he's in a fresh environment.

>69 magicians_nephew: D11 hasn't had much luck with Girl Scouts, but is really enjoying BSA. I think it's a great way to learn about the world and make friends. :)

Well, Aaron's gone for a month to visit his mom, so I'm alone with all three kids. That should be exciting! I decided while he's gone to try out a new intermittent fasting schedule. I've tried a few times in the recent past but couldn't get started because Aaron was around to tempt me to eat. So I thought this would be a good time to get in the habit. I have been successful with fasting in the past. I like that I can eat a full 2000 calories on non-fasting days, which reduces my temptation to cheat.

Yesterday I ate 1928 calories and went for a 2 mile walk. Today is a fasting day.

Hi Rachel! I hope the intermittent fasting works well for you. I naturally ate that way in my late teens but sadly lost the ability when I traveled with music groups in college. We stayed in people's homes and were encouraged by our sponsors to eat whatever we were served. Once I got used to eating when I wasn't hungry, I've struggled with weight control ever since.

>71 The_Hibernator: Good luck with the fasting scedule, Rachel. A month to get into the habit might work well.
Except ditching sugar and going low carbs with Frank, I have never really digged into diets. What is the benefit of this intermitted fasting?

>71 The_Hibernator: I have a good friend who has done intermittent fasting for several years and swears by it. I really need to find a method that works for me too as I am fast running out of clothes!

>72 cbl_tn: Hi Carrie! Yes, eating when you're not hungry is such a bad habit. I've gotten into it too, which is why dieting is the only way I can lose weight.

>73 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! Well, some people claim there is actually a weight loss and muscle-building benefit of fasting, but I don't take much stock in it. It is possible that forming a habit of not eating despite a little bit of hunger helps you feel less hungry the next day? I don't know. The reason I like the idea is that it means I can eat a reasonable number of calories (2000) on days that I'm not fasting. Dieting one day is easier when I know that I will be able to eat a more reasonable diet the next day.

>74 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Yes, finding the right diet method is hard. I've already had to modify my dieting plan twice since Sunday. But I think I'll get it nailed pretty soon. At first, I was going to try losing 2 pounds per week, as that is suggested by some dieticians. However, I found out right away that that wasn't going to meet my basal metabolic rate. So I switched to one pound per week. Then I realized that the 1000 calorie fast days left too many calories on the four non-fasting days, and I was unable to eat enough without eating while I wasn't hungry. Then I was REALLY hungry on fasting days. So I changed it again. lol

So, I've been searching for pen pals, and found a site called Pen Pal World a while back. Now I have too many Pen Pals. I have 6 letters to write. lol. Oops! I also joined a peer support site called 7 cups. In it, people can listen to each other. Plus there's a "sharing circle" where you can share with a group. It's rather addictive. I can hardly find time to catch up here and on blogs, and here I am being too social on other sites.

>76 The_Hibernator: when i was in college i had a Pen Pal in London and we wrote back and forth for many years. Remember writing on the thin "air mail" paper and using the funny Air Mail stamps to send it along.

I'm guessing Pen Pals are now more email??? so no stamps and post office runs. And the world seems smaller than it was thirty years ago. But sounds fun glad you are enjoying it.

>77 magicians_nephew: Snail mail only Jim!

>76 The_Hibernator: I do like the idea of pen pals, Rachel. I had a French pen pal from Quimper in Brittany for many years who stopped all communications with me when she married for some reason. Bizarrely so actually as there was never any hint in our correspondence of anything other than a platonic friendship.

>79 PaulCranswick: How strange that she stopped writing. Maybe she just became very involved in her married life? Or her husband thought it was inappropriate to have a man as a pen pal? That's too bad, regardless of her reason.

I'm enjoying my pen paling.

Hi all! I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted. Things have been busy. But first of all, I finished a book!

Reading Life

1984, by George Orwell – Aaron and I enjoyed this, and are moving on to Dune, by Frank Herbert.

Personal Life

Well, Aaron has been out of town for almost a month, and things fell apart. The dishwasher broke, and so did the diaper pail. Aaron came back just in time to be quarantined for COVID exposure, as M8 caught it at school. M8 was asymptomatic, and was cleared to go back to school on the 5th, but everyone but me has been quarantined for 14 days after Easter.

Despite catching COVID, M8 had a good month. He won 6th place at the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby.



D8 cooked Easter dinner. The whole thing. She worked all day, and it came out really well.



Aaron and I accepted an offer from a house-flipper a few weeks ago. It was less money then we would have received selling to a family, but we were fond of the idea of not having to fix up the house. It expires if we don’t find a house by April 15th, and move out by May 1st. Last week, we made 2 offers for houses. Neither was accepted. We’re making another today.

I finally gave up on my dietician’s plan for me – she wanted me to not care about my weight, and just eat healthy. I gained 10 pounds. So back to dieting. My goal is to lose 1 pound per week. For a total of 4-5 pounds each month. I will also get back into walking/running, since I had to give it up for the winter. I will be using Zombies, Run! to train. And I will be walking to Mordor by logging daily steps. I will follow Frodo and Sam’s path (red, then green).

losing three or four pounds a month is not doing badly

I'm glad to see you posting here again, Rachel!

I love the Walking to Mordor idea. I may have to look into that.

Speak "Friend" and Enter

>66 The_Hibernator: Love the flour spreading :) A toddler's right of passage.

>81 The_Hibernator: Dune! A biggie indeed. One everyone should read one day, no doubt. (I haven't...yet)

Great to see you back Rachel. I enjoyed Zombies Run (for the v. brief period where I ran!)

Your Easter dinner looks lovely. Congratulations to the chef.

>82 magicians_nephew: Hi Jim! Yes, I think it will be good. Usually when I diet, I lose a little faster at first, which is fine by me. I'm hoping 1 pound per week is maintainable, though.

>83 streamsong: Hi Janet! Yes, I love the Mordor idea, and it will take me a while, I suspect. I just made it past Tookland.

>84 magicians_nephew: Hi again Jim! Haven't made it there yet, lol. I have quite a way to go!

>85 LovingLit: Hi Megan! Yes, I think Aaron was more stressed out about it than I was. It was quite a mess when I got home, though.

Yes, Dune is fantastic - I read it in high school. Aaron has not read it, and it is on the NPR's list of best Fantasy / Science Fiction books.

>86 charl08: Happy Easter to you, Charlotte. I've heard Zombies, Run is quite fun. I am starting with the 5k training one, which is a prequel. Mainly I want to be able to run before I start season 1.

I can't make it around to the threads because I'm crazy busy, but hopefully someday soon.

Well, this post isn’t too far from the last post, but I thought I’d get back on my Friday post schedule.

We had big news: our offer was accepted on a house! It was in the same school district as our current house, so the kids would have been able to visit their friends. We really lucked out. But, alas, we had to fail it on the inspection. It had a furnace that didn’t quite work, multiple plumbing leaks, a small gas leak, and the water softener and water heater were mysteriously turned off for the inspection, despite the house being occupied. If they found that much wrong, what didn’t they find?

I already started packing, and I’ll continue for the sake of decluttering for house viewings, as we will be unable to accept the house-flipper’s offer (it expires in 6 days).

On Wednesday, I bought a new dishwasher, since our dishwasher broke right after we signed the agreement with the house-flipper. Aaron tried installing it, and after a close call with electrocution (thank goodness for rubber handles on wire cutters) and a minor flood, we had a dishwasher that worked as long as we were running the garbage disposal at the same time.

I wrote 1 pen pal letter, to a friend in Belgium. And I got my hair in a pony tail for the first time since shaving my head!



As for exercising, I made a 27 week daily plan on training first for my 5 k with Zombies, Run! and then for a walking marathon. The first several weeks looks like this:



The Zombies, Run! 5k training is 8 weeks long, 3 workouts a week. WK1, etc., is the week and WO1, etc., is the workout number. 5/16 is the official start date of my walking marathon training. The plan is really ambitious, so I’m not entirely certain I have made the right plan, especially since there is no plan for my upper body and abdomen. But I’ll figure out what I’m capable of with time.

As for walking to Mordor, I made it to Tookland since my last post.

I've been teaching my niece to play "Colossal Cave Adventure" a text based puzzle solving game from the 1970's or so.

Your description of Tooklan made me think of some of the descriptions of rooms in "Adventure"

"You are in a maze of twisty passages all alike"

Seriously the walking to Mordor sounds like a wonderful way to shape an exercise program and good luck to it!

Hi Rachel!

>81 The_Hibernator: Wow, sorry about M8 getting Covid and everybody but you being quarantined. I’m glad Aaron’s home, sorry about the appliances breaking. It’s never just one thing, it’s always several things.

Brava to D11 for cooking the whole Easter dinner by herself. Dieticians seem to be clueless about people who have problems with food, don’t they? Your new goal sounds more than reasonable, and good luck with Walking to Mordor.

I read Dune a long time ago. My daughter’s in the middle of reading the series now – courtesy of the books her dad bought forever ago. She spends more time on her PS4, though.

>89 The_Hibernator: Yikes to the almost-electrocution, yay for the ponytail. I’m really sorry about not getting a new house in time to accept the flipper’s offer, and hope that something comes along soon that’s even better than that one could have been.

>90 magicians_nephew: Hi Jim! I'm having a lot of fun with Walk to Mordor. I'm on my way to meet the Elves right now. Tolkien was pretty much the father of epic fantasy, so is it surprising that so many fantasy stories remind you of him? 😁

>91 karenmarie: Hi Karen! We got through the COVID thing pretty easy in my opinion. It could have been so much worse. No one even caught it from him.

You know what's funny? We got a house with days to spare!

Yes, my dietician seems clueless. I should stop seeing her.

Hi all! I've been waiting for a convenient time on the computer to update you all, but, alas, none has come. But today, I seem to have finished all my to-dos that I can easily do from my phone, and I am sitting in the car with a sleeping baby, so I thought I'd give you an update the hard way. No pictures though, since html is hard on my phone. ETA Pictures added.

We bought a new house, with days to spare on the offer on our old one. Unfortunately, there's a gap between closings, and we are currently living (5 people, 3 cats) in a single hotel room. One of the cats is peeing on the carpet. We'll probably pay for that. We were originally intending on putting the cats in my dad's spare bedroom, but J17 stole the door to it, and sawed off the bottom, so it can't be put back on. 🤷

The second day after moving into the hotel, I left my phone on top of the car and drove off - I was so flustered by the intense change in schedule and subsequent moodiness of everyone. It was a brand new Pixel. 😭 I was without a phone for 2 days trying to replace it.

Saturday, D11 and I went out shopping, and she spent all her money on two cute outfits, a tube of mascara and compact of blush from a fancy store makeup store. Afterwards, the family went to the World's Largest Candy Store, where D11 spent $40 of money she didn't have on candy.











Sunday (Mother's Day) IL2 and M8 both awakened from a restless night with bad congestion and a cough. IL2 had a fever. I took them into Urgent Care for a COVID test. They wouldn't test M8, who already had COVID last month. They diagnosed him with neck pain and a sore throat. They tested IL2 (negative) and diagnosed him with an ear infection. They both lay in bed all day

At about 5pm, M8 awakened from a nap whimpering and shivering. He had a fever, but couldn't tell us what was wrong. (He just wouldn't acknowledge us.) I looked up the symptoms of that inflammatory disease kids can get after COVID, and sore neck and red throat were on there. We took him to the ER, where he was diagnosed with a swollen lymph node, but they couldn't rule out MIS-C. He was sent home with antibiotics. He had a fever Monday, but has been well since.

IL2 recovered quickly too.

>93 The_Hibernator: Congratulations on the new house, Rachel!

Congrats on the new house, Rachel! I'm glad M has been well getting the antibiotics, and hope that continues. Best of luck with the hotel living until the closing.

>93 The_Hibernator: That so reminded me of the horrible sleepless nights when the kids were ill as youngsters - especially Yasmyne, our eldest, who always seemed to be sick.

Congrats on the new house Rachel. I hope that you are moved in soon and the hotel is just a funny memory for the family to look back on. Will you have more space for the kids or was location the key? (Apologies if I missed this).

Hope the two patients are now fully recovered.

Congrats on the new house, Rachel. Sorry the kidlets have been sick, glad they're both recovered. It sounds very scary, though.

Thanks Anita, Mary, Paul, Charlotte, and Karen!

>95 bell7: So far no more problems with M8! We have a follow-up appointment to see if his lymph node is going down. I suspect it is, since he isn't feeling pain anymore.

>96 PaulCranswick: Paul, sorry for bad reminders?

>97 charl08: We were moving mainly to get a 5 bedroom house to fit my dad when he can't live alone anymore. We were lucky on the location, which was very close to the kids' friends.

>98 karenmarie: Yes, it was scary!

>99 The_Hibernator: Rachel, there is nothing I would swap being a parent for but it does have its moments of stress doesn't it? x

Cheering wildly for the new house Rachael Good bless her and all who sail in her.

Five of you and the cats in a hotel room sound like the basis of a good Neil Simon comedy.

>93 The_Hibernator: Sounds a lot to go through in a short space of time! Hope the new house works out well.

New (biiig) house orisons! I'm sure that, one day, the dozen-kids-and-ten-cats-in-a-hotel-room-for-a-month story will be family lore around the Thanksgiving table.

Happy May, new house, vaccinated family weekend, Rachel.

Wow Rachel, glad that the kids are all OK. That sounds scary and stressful.

Looking forward to hearing more about the new house.

You've been through a lot in a short time, Rachel. By the time you move into your new house it will all seem like a dream though. I hope that you're either in the new digs or just about to be.

>100 PaulCranswick: Same here, Paul!

>101 magicians_nephew: Hi Jim! The adventure in the hotel was difficult, but we managed. It's just a story to tell now.

>102 SandDune: Hi Rhian! Yes, it's a lot to go through, but the last few weeks for the next update was also huge. In fact, I think I've skipped some updates as well, since I wasn't easily able to access my computer, but I can write my updates from my phone. So lots more has happened.

>103 richardderus: Thanks Richard! I'm happy to say we're in the new house, even if we still have to move some stuff from my dad's house, and we still have a LOT of unpacking to do.

>104 banjo123: Hi Rhonda. Yes, it was scary and stressful, but luckily M9 turned out ok in the end. I was really worried when we had to send him to the hospital. But he may have only been whimpering incoherently because of his fever and neck pain. How were we supposed to know?

>105 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. Yes, so much has happened. We are in the new house. It's awesome. Everyone is pretty pleased with it, even IL2.

This has been a busy few weeks! Biggest of all, we moved into our new house. But the move wasn’t smooth. The day before we were supposed to sign, one of the cats (which one was a mystery) suddenly had really strange smelling pee. The same cat (presumably, and still a mystery) peed on me overnight. I figured that the cat may have an urinary tract infection, since strange peeing habits is a symptom. I figured it might be Puck, because he’d been clumsy lately. So 7am the day of the closing, I hauled Puck into our new vet. Sure enough, he had an UTI.

That day, at 8:30am, we signed for the new house. But when we went there to scope it out, the previous owners were still there. We were finally able to start hauling the stuff from the hotel to the house in the afternoon.

On that Saturday were were supposed to move the stuff from the UBoxes into our home. My friend Liz was there to babysit. My friend Todd and his friend Josh, and Aaron’s friend Katie were there to help us move. But then IL2 awakened with a fever and a cough. Liz and Katie fled. Todd and Josh braved the fever. We did get everything emptied, though. And IL2 did not have COVID.

On Monday, I started to get sick, and boy was I sick. I couldn’t even drive to get my COVID test (negative). Aaron got sick, too, but not as badly. Tuesday, we were supposed to move the stuff we’d stored at dad’s house into our house. We’d rented a truck. That was an utter failure. I tried to help, but I just made myself more sick and crashed completely for the rest of the day. We still have stuff at dad’s house.

Over the past few months, I have been bugging D11 to brush her hair. She just tells me I’m insulting her hair, and gets all grumpy about it. Finally, I asked her “do you know what the back of your head looks like?” She answered no, so I took a picture and showed her. She was horrified. Soon after that, she decided to shave her head if the stylist were unable to get the matt out.



M9 decided to get a mohawk.



IL2 sat still for his very first professional haircut.



M9 had a small birthday party this Sunday. He got a tricycle/scooter/balance bike, some Lego sets, some books, a puzzle, and a gift card to Game Stop. He had 2 friends over, and D11 had one friend over. The party theme was Minecraft.



Hobbies

I made it to the edge of Farmer Maggot’s Field in my Walk to Mordor.



I wrote pen pals in England, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Maine, and Massachusetts.

With any luck, I'll get to visit your threads when I have some "free time" tonight. I work on Monday nights, but my client sits and watches TV quite a bit, so I can do stuff during that time.

Wow! what a lot you've had going on. Glad that everyone is feeling better.

Holy cow! What a lot going on. Glad that all of you are over the sickness and that it wasn't COVID. Congrats on the haircuts--kids are looking cute!

Hi Rachel!

Hope that you're just happily busy with the new house and family.

Hi Rachel! Somehow I missed you at the beginning of the year and only recently realised I hadn’t caught up with you in a while. I read every single one of your posts and I thought of a lot to say - but it happened months ago and there are too many posts to comment on.

Congratulations on the new house! Wow, the kids are growing up fast! I hope everyone is back to full health now.

>109 banjo123: Hi Rhonda, Yeah, a lot has gone on. I think I'll try to pick back up now.

>110 Berly: Hi Kim! I can't believe how long it's been since I've been around on LibraryThing. Things are looking up for my being able to use the computer when Loki is around, so maybe I'll do a better job of keeping up with everyone.

>111 karenmarie: Hi Karen, yes, nothing terrible has happened. Just busy. :)

>112 humouress: Hi Nina! Wow, you read all that? That shows dedication. Yes, it's hard to catch everyone at the beginning of the year.

It looks like the last book I reported reading was The Poet X a long time ago? Or did I just not post pictures? I'll report all books since then, just in case. However, IL2 just awakened, so I'll take care of that first and be back to do that. :)

Ugh, my computer is doing really weird things. I'll get back to you on this.

>115 The_Hibernator: Aha, mhmm. Sure ;0)

>116 humouress: You know me well.

Family in front of new house



My dad and his sister at her 60th wedding anniversary



Me, Aaron, and my cousin Katie



Aaron, my aunt, my uncle, me, and IL2



I finished reading Lakewood, by Megan Giddings. It was an interesting mix of social commentary and science fiction. The main character, a young black woman who was desperately in need of money, volunteers for a high-paying, mind-bending, abusive “research study.”

D11 being goth for her first day of summer school. lol!

OK, so let's see. I'll give you the short version of what has happened from May 31st till July 2nd, when I stopped writing blog posts.

House: Most of the appliances are either new-but-cheap (the drier), of questionable function (the stove), or simply not working (the dishwasher). The upstairs toilet flooded our basement. Ooops. I'll be back again... lol

>119 The_Hibernator: That is *priceless* and the future uses of it...well! Holiday cards for a start, no?

It's good to see you back, Rachel.

>119 The_Hibernator: That is *priceless* and the future uses of it...well! Holiday cards for a start, no?

It's good to see you back, Rachel.

>118 The_Hibernator: >119 The_Hibernator: Beautiful photos. Or (in D's case) atmospheric.

>120 The_Hibernator: Good luck with the appliances.

Yeah, I'll try to update a bit more before IL2 awakens:

House: Ok, so the toilet flooded the basement, which was fine, it only leaked on a ton of hand-me-downs for Loki (8 years' worth coming both from M9 and a friend). So I had to wash all that and resort it (a task which isn't completely finished yet). We took out the toilet and had a plumber in to put in a new one. However, the subfloor was rotten and he couldn't. We had some contractors in, who said they pretty much needed to put in a new floor, which would make the bathroom look pretty sloppy if we didn't take out all of the (rather ridiculously old-fashioned) pink tiles that lined the floors, walls, and vanity. We had already been planning on redoing the bathtub area so that it would be more accessible when dad moves in, so we are redoing our entire bathroom. So much for having no home equity loan! grr. It won't be worked on till November because COVID has slowed the supply chain. So we have only one toilet (downstairs) until then. Which is hard when dad's over because there's non-toddlers wanting to use it. And I'd been planning on potty training IL2, but we can't do that until we have an upstairs bathroom.

Me: I have upped the number of hours I work again. We needed the money, and I think this will help out a lot. I have started writing letters to inmates in prisons across America. Mostly people who have life without parole or are on death row. That's partly because I feel those people are more out of touch with humanity than the others (though that may be wrong). And partly because I feel like I'm less likely to be hunted down and murdered in my sleep by some released felon if they'll never be released. Selfish, I know. I have not been doing a good job of cross-stitch or scrapbooking lately because I can not do it while IL2 is around (he's too grabby) and I value my sleep right now. Still working on losing weight, though.

D11: Unfortunately pretty depressed right now. "Ran away from home," a while back. In reality, she wrote a note saying she'd run away, and hid in her closet. I didn't think of searching the house for her, so we were outside searching the back yard when she came out of her closet. She also HATED summer school. Her anxiety and learning disability were both acting up quite a bit. She made some friends, which was nice. But she is simply not prepared to be treated like a middle-schooler. I was worried elementary school was not properly preparing her for middle school because they gave her too much allowance for calming down for however long and doing whatever she wanted. They just let her sit in a room alone playing on her tablet for extended periods of time. That's not going to happen in middle school, and now she feels entitled to it. :( I dearly hope that middle school does a better job of preparing her for high school.

M9: Also depressed. Says he cries all the time. I think the move was harder on him than he claims. He ended up with the smallest room, which is a change for him, because he used to have the biggest room. He took a class a while back on how to record himself playing games for YouTube. A boring past-time in my own head, but it's what he currently wants to do when he grows up. So I'm humoring him.

IL2: Being a baby.

Oh, and

Aaron: He was pretty badly depressed for a while, but is feeling better now that we're making more money.

Hi Rachel.

Thanks for posting the update and photos. I'm sorry the kids are depressed, glad Aaron's doing better.

I hope you're taking care of yourself.

Our Library has Lakewood, but if I borrowed it right now it would just go back because I'm in the early part of a 600-page novel. I've added it to the wish list.

Sending good thoughts Rachael. You were missed around here.

Hi Rachel. I'm glad Aaron is feeling better and sorry the kids are not. I can empathise with you (oh boy, can I empathise).

Thank you for sharing all the wonderful photos and the completely honest updates. I hope the money flows in a little faster and that the toilet/bathroom gets fixed sooner than later. Miss seeing you on a regular basis, but I get it. Best wishes!!

Hi! It’s been a while, so I think I will mostly update by pictures:


That’s Myra.


That's Puck.


That's Hero.

Good picture of the kids, which Walgreens won’t print because it shows too much skin.


D11 and I had a good time going out on an impromptu date.


IL2 plays fetch.

I made some delicious gumbo.


Aaron finished one of our beds, which we’ve decided will house tulips.


We went to the park, and tired out the boys.

I started writing inmates who either had life sentences without parole or death sentences. I thought maybe they were in more need of solace. About half of them have written back. So I have many pen pals now. I’m getting letters faster than I can write back.

I took some new jobs to get myself over 40 hours a week – mainly asleep shifts. The extra money will help us pay off our new home equity loan, which goes along with our new bathroom. It will also pay for IL2 to go to preschool.

The older kids have enrolled in gymnastics.

I had a breakthrough case of COVID while Aaron and the older kids were in Oregon on vacation. I had to take care of IL2 alone while I could hardly stay awake.

Aaron and I started going out on dates. He’s also going to start Werewolf LARPing.


The Dixie fire got a mere 3 miles from my late grandmother’s house.


Loki wore clothes.

That’s it! Hopefully I’ll write more frequently now. 🤣😂

The impossible list of things that feel impossible. My list is probably a little long, but I had fun with it.

Health & Fitness

Track calories 300 times in one year
Try 25 new recipes in one year
Go without junk food for a year
Switch to “mostly” mediterranean diet
Lose 100lbs
Maintain weight at 140lbs for 5 years
Run a 5k
Walk a marathon
Run a mud race
Do a century ride
Think about posture every day for a year
Complete Zombies, Run!
Walk to Mordor
Switch from soda to tea
Go uncaffeinated for one year
Drink 1 gallon of water a day 300 times in one year

Travel / Adventure

Visit every National Park in the US
Do the Cycle America Race
Attend a Rennesaince Festival in every State
Go to all these parks in one summer
Camp in every State Park in Minnesota

Environment

Unpack house
Paint the inside of the house
Paint the outside of house
Remove rocks and make beds beautiful
Create a pollinator garden
Keep up cleaning (car and home) maintenance on a monthly basis for 12 months

Education and Reading

Complete Well Educated Mind reading list
Complete NPR 100 Best Fantasy and Science Fiction list
Read a Booker long-list before the vote
Read a book that takes place in every country
Read the Bible in a year
Read the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Read the Mahabharata
Read 50 consecutive editions of The Economist
Learn to speak Spanish fluently
Watch all Doctor Who seasons
Watch all Star Trek in order of release
Read or listen to all of my owned books
75 books in a year for 5 years

Hobbies

Cross-stitch Groot
Cross-stitch Loki
Cross-stitch Creeper
Cross-stitch unicorn
Cross-stitch Cthulu
Cross-stitch Starry Night With Tardis
Cross-stitch The Scream
Have a pen pal on all 7 continents
Write 1000 letters in one year
Make it through this set of D&D Campaigns
Have a lifetime of scrapbooks

For my Soul

Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk
Study a Sacred Text from all major world religions
Learn to meditate
Attend service religiously for 1 year

Work, Blog, and Financial Health

Pay off Home Equity Loan
6-month “emergency fund”
Debt-free for 1 year
Make 5000 views per year for 5 years
Write a review for every book completed for 5 years

I made a September – December "quarterly focus"

Health and Fitness

Tracking calories – I will try to do so every day, but we’ll call it success if I track 5 days a week. At this point, I’m not trying to lose weight, limit my calories, or change my diet. Just trying to form a habit of watching my calories.

Complete Zombies, Run! – Go on a Zombies, Run! mission 1 times weekly (so I want to be on mission 12 on my next focus update)

Walk to Mordor – It is 1,932miles to Mordor. That is 5669454 steps (according to The Calculator Site). I have started this journey before, but I’m going to start over and do it right this time. Right now, I plan on doing 50k steps a week for a total of 17.37miles.

Environment

Unpack the house – I want to have this goal complete in September

(After I have unpacked) Keep up cleaning maintenance on the house and car for 12 months – The kitchen and living room should be cleaned at least 5 times a week. The bathrooms, nursery, car, and laundry need to be completed 1 time a week. The bedroom, dining room, laundry room, and basement need to be cleaned once a month.

Education and Reading

I will rotate between Well-Educated Mind, NPR’s list, Read My Own Damned Books (including finishing series, even if I don’t own the whole thing), and just reading whatever I want. I will aim to listen to 10 hours a week.

WEM – Moby Dick, by Herman Melville

NPR – Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

RMODB – The Siege of Macindaw, by John Flannagan

Whatever – The Lost Apothecary, by Sarah Penner

Hobbies

Cross-stitch Groot – I will work on this 1 day per week

Scrapbooking – After I have unpacked, I will scrapbook 1 day per week. My first project will be to organize the pictures that I have into projects.

D&D Campaigns – Currently working on Legend of Strahd with the family

Letters – write 3 letters a day, or have none to reply to

For my Soul

Attend a mass weekly

Work, blog, and financial health

Become more aware of our budget so that we can work on paying back home equity loan

Increase hours of work so that we are able to have more cash to pay back the loan

Phew! I should include "be on LibraryThing more, and actually tell them what I've read." lol

>121 richardderus: >122 richardderus: Hey Richard! It's good to be back - at least trying to be back. lol. It's hard with everything that's going on. I'm hoping to stop by your thread and catch up a little today. :)

>123 humouress: >128 humouress: Thanks Nina! We need the luck!

>126 karenmarie: Hi Karen! Did you ever try out Lakewood?

>127 magicians_nephew: Thanks Jim! It's good to see you here.

>129 Berly: Hi Kim! One of my goals is always to come around here more. Maybe now that I have sat down and rearranged my goals, I'll be able to do that. It IS easier to get work done on the computer now that IL2 is a little older, and that's why the hiatus started. Now I'm just out of practice with keeping up with people.

Hi Rachel! I love all the pictures and the update. You always have soooo much going on.

>130 The_Hibernator: Excellent kitty pictures.

>131 The_Hibernator: Too much skin? For cryin’ out loud. D’s hair is absolutely adorable, by the way. I like seeing her smiles.

>132 The_Hibernator: Yum, and yay for the tulip bed. Good gracious, a breakthrough case of Covid. I hope you’re fully recovered. I'm glad most of the family was away, sorry that you were there alone to take care of IL.

>133 The_Hibernator: Glad you and Aaron are getting out for dates. Bill and I don’t have the distraction of kids and close-by family and are hunkering down again because of the Delta variant, so we feel that our at-home dates are keeping our relationship healthy.

>134 The_Hibernator: I won’t say impossible, but oh my! Good luck.

>135 The_Hibernator: More manageable, but oh my! Good luck.

Hi Rachel! Lovely photos; it's nice to see Aaron's sense of humour :0)

Skipping your lists because they remind me too much of mine.

Thanks for sharing the family and cat pictures, Rachel, your youngest is growing fast!
Good luck with your "quarterly focus"!

>137 karenmarie: Hi Karen! Yeah, dates. Probably where I caught COVID, eh?

>138 humouress: Hey Nina! The lists are pretty massive. But they were so much fun!

>139 FAMeulstee: Hey Anita! Thanks! I'm 2 days in and going strong on the quarterly focus! lol

Thanks for sharing all the photos.

Bummer all the things that need to be fixed on your new house. Sounds like you have a plan in place - hope they get to the bathroom sooner rather than later. I think it's wonderful that your dad is included in the plan.

But oh your lists! It's very cool to list your life goals and what you'd like to do. I should do that, too. I think the first one needs a more inspiring name - 'The Grand Plan' or 'Ultimate Bucket List' or something that doesn't sound, well, impossible.

Lists tend to make me anxious. I try to keep one in my head and start out with whatever I didn't get accomplished the day before. I can see where actively writing down big goals and steps to get there would help me a lot.

Congrats on your great start to the quarterly list!

>141 streamsong: Hi Janet! Yeah, you're right about the name of this list. :) But I was copying a trend that uses that name.

It was such a delight to make that list. Because I realized that each and every one of those goals (except maybe finding a pen pal on all 7 continents - my husband insisted I include Antarctica) are doable alone. Though the list itself is too massive for me, I suspect. But it made me think of the possibilities.

Reat gallery...good resolves...hoping that you're getting this ship aimed for port!

Hi Rachel - I hope things are going well for you and your family.

>143 richardderus: Thanks Richard! I'm doing ok on my resolves. I am working a lot more now, and have been having long-haul COVID symptoms, but they're only about once a week.

>144 karenmarie: Yes, Karen! Things are going well! Update is coming!

Hi all! Good to “see” you. A lot has happened. IL2 started preschool. D11 and M8 are doing well in school and gymnastics. I have been feeling super duper tired on and off due to the post-COVID. According to the internet (though not to my doctor) I now have long COVID.

I will update in pictures again.



Aaron started LARPing again, and part of his costume included handcuffs. He checked that the key worked before-hand, and then he put the cuffs on his wrist, when the key stopped working. I wanted to go to the store and buy some bolt cutters, but he insisted on sawing them off. He only broke the kin a little.



Puck actually sat on someone else’s lap.



We got a family photo for Loki’s preschool.



Loki loves this little old dress of Deirdre’s. We didn’t get a good photo of it, though.

My friend Raj and I went axe-throwing.



I gave up on Walk to Mordor, which was a lot of work, for a virtual tour of Ring Road in Iceland. It’s 828 miles. I want to do the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Virtual trails,

Hi Rachel! Your updates are always great to read.

Glad the kids are doing well in school. How does IL like preschool?

I’m very sorry that you’ve got long-haul COVID symptoms.

Aaron and the handcuffs. Oh my. Would trick handcuffs be an option or would that be cheating?

Very cute pic with D and Puck. Dee’s hair looks amazingly cute. I hope she likes it.

You’re good with selfies. Sweet family pic.

Axe-throwing and virtual trips to Iceland all seem par for the course…

I love your updates Rachel. Of course the key would have to stop working just then :0)

Hope the walking is going well, Rachel. I think in RL Iceland would be pretty bleak walking (from the little I've seen on TV) but I'd love to try the hot pools.

Handcuffs?

Just catching up on all the family photos and adventures. Thanks for posting!! Hope you start to feel better and good luck with all your ambitious goals!! LOL on the key not working.

>147 karenmarie: Hi Karen! IL2 is doing well in preschool. He seems to like it most of the time.

My post-COVID exhaustion seems to have cleared. I did cut down the number of hours I worked, too, but I'm happy with where I'm at for the moment.

>148 humouress: Hi Nina! Yeah, he was pretty bummed about losing his handcuffs.

>149 charl08: Hi Charlotte! Yeah, it may be bleak, but it was the right lenghth that I was sure I could finish. 🤣😂

>150 magicians_nephew: Hi Jim! Yup, I think his character may have been an escaped prisoner.

>151 Berly: Thanks Kim! Those goals are VERY long term.

Moving on to another thread. I hope to get to all of your threads soon! I'm on my phone now, which makes reading threads hard.