Hibernator (Rachel) the first

IL6 selfie


M12


Aaron


D15


Freyja


Puck


Sake


Polyphemus


Hero

Hi! I'm Rachel! 45 year old caregiver, mom of 3, furnom of 5, reader, D&D player, cross-sticher, and pen pal (of 30). My kids are IL6 (son), M12 (stepson), D15 (stepdaughter). I also live with and care for my dad, who is mostly independent, but needs some help due to health issues and dementia. I read just about every type of fiction, though about half of it is fantasy. I read nonfiction - generally with an academic leaning, though some other types, too.

Reading goal - 150 (that will be hard to reach)

In 2024 I read 109 books

January Books
1. Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett
2. Diary of a Roblox Pro: Monster Escape, by Ari Avatar
3. Never a Doll Moment, by Andres Miedoso
4. The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher, by E. M. Anderson
5. Hold on to Your Heads, by Andres Miedoso
6. The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth, by Thomas Morris
7. Penelope Rex and the Problem with Pets, by Rex T Higgins
8. Golem's Game, by Nick Eliopulos
9. Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett
10. Day of the Night Crawlers, by Troy Cummings
11. Frantastic Voyage, by Jim Benton
12. Dog vs. Strawberry, by Nelly Buchet
13. Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull

Year total
3 Adult Book
8 Children's
2 Middle School / teen
1 Nonfiction (to myself)
4 Fiction (to myself)
3 Audiobook
2 With-my-eyeballs (to myself)

February Books

14. Eggasaurus, by Jennifer Wagh
15. Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi
16. Hidden Gem, by Linda Liu
17. Mahabharata
18. Here Comes Teacher Cat, by Deborah Underwood
19. We Are Growing, by Laurie Keller
20. Beach Bummer, by Ryan T Higgins
21. The Leaf Thief, by Alice Hemming
22. The Kiss Box, by Bonnie Verburg
23. Jo Bright and the Seven Bots, by Deborah Underwood
24. The Fran With Four Brains, by Jim Benton
25. Attack of the Shadow Smashers, by Troy Cummings
26.Human Acts, by Han Kang
27. March Book One, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell
28. The Frandidate, by Jim Benton
29. Time to Clown Around, by Andres Miedoso
30. Pigs Make Me Sneeze, by Mo Willems
31. The Ravenswood Witch, by Jenni Keer

Open for business!

>4 The_Hibernator: Yay! I am glad to see you back for another year!!

Hi there!! Love all the pics up top! You do have a full household. : ) Here's to books and happiness.

Like Kimmers, Rachel, I really enjoyed your photo gallery topper and especially the first one which has character to burn.

I will try to keep up this year my friend.

Welcome back, Rachel! Unfortunately, LT’s wiki system is down, but I’ve got you on my list to add to the Threadbook once it’s back up.

Here's the New Year's readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/366980

Happy New Thread!

Thanks all!

Let's resolve to do this more in 2025.

Happy New Year! I've starred your thread and hope to actually visit sometimes. I can't believe IL is 6!

Happy 2025, Rachel

Final 2024 count 109 books.

68 Children's read to IL6
8 nonfiction
22 fantasy/sci-fi/horror

Happy New Year Rachel!

Happy New Year, Rachel! You are one busy woman! May your household thrive in 2025.

Thanks Rhian and Gail!

>18 The_Hibernator: I am incredibly busy, but that's ok.

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

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

Media read from:

The Week 59 minutes
Mahabharata 20 minutes
The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher, by E M Anderson 36minutes
Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull 31 minutes
The Witch Get Witcher, by Andres Miedoso 40 minutes
To Bee or Not to Bee, by Nick Eliopulos 65 minutes

Media finished:

The Witch Get Witcher, by Andres Miedoso
To Bee or Not to Bee, by Nick Eliopulos
The Week

Time reading: 251 minutes

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Rachel. Happy New Thread. Love the family & kitty toppers.

Enjoy your 2025 reading!

Happy New Year, Rachel!

Happy New Year, Rachel!

Happy New Year, Rachel. I can't believe how fast the kids are growing!

Happy New Year to all of you, too!

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

Media read from:

Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull 13 minutes
The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher, by E M Anderson 60 minutes
Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett 23 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 96 minutes

Happy New Year and happy new thread!

>28 foggidawn: Thanks foggy!

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

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

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

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

Media read from:

Mahabharata 59 minutes
Mr Ballen podcast 51 minutes
Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett 38 minutes

Media finished:

Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett

Time reading: 148 minutes

>30 The_Hibernator: Ugh how infuriating of the asbestos people! And also losing IL's jacket and hat!!!

>31 norabelle414: Yeah. It is. But what can I do?

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

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

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

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

In the evening, I read and cross-stitched.

Media read from:

The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth, by Thomas Morris 31 minutes
The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher, by E M Anderson 83 minutes
Diary of a Roblox Pro: Monster Escape, Avi Avatar 22 minutes
Unicorn and Yeti: Cheer Up, by Heather Ayris Burnell 5 minutes
Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull 56 minutes

Media finished:

Unicorn and Yeti: Cheer Up, by Heather Ayris Burnell

Time reading: 197 minutes

Happy new year and new thread!

>34 banjo123: Thanks Rhonda! You too!

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

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

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

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

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

Media read from:

Mahabharata 40 minutes
Wrath of the Dragon King, Brandon Mull 42 minutes
Diary of a Roblox Pro: Monster Escape, by Ari Avatar 38 minutes

Media finished:

Diary of a Roblox Pro: Monster Escape, by Ari Avatar

Time reading: 120 minutes

Hope IL6 is feeling better. My Hubby has had a fever for over a week. Dr appt tomorrow and I hope they figure this thing out. Not Covid.

Good luck with the personal trainer! : )

>37 Berly: Hopefully it's not something like strep! That's really the reason I took IL6 in, is to determine if he had anything treatable.

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

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

Media read from:

Never a Doll Moment, by Andres Miedoso 30 minutes
The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher, by E M Anderson 45 minutes

Media finished:

Never a Doll Moment, by Andres Miedoso

Time reading: 75 minutes

Toilet monster: Flushie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Media read from:

Mr Ballen podcast 72 minutes
Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger 59 minutes
Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull 11 minutes
The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher, by E M Anderson 25 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 167 minutes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Media read from:

Mr Ballen Podcast 68 minutes
The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher, by E M Anderson 119 minutes
Mahabharata 41 minutes

Media finished:

The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher, by E M Anderson

Time reading: 228 minutes

That's a lot, Rachel! I hope your eyes feel better with the drops.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/367493

Hi Rachel, love the string of toppers. Hope the rest of your January goes well!

>48 norabelle414: Hi Nora! Yeah, I have a lot on and off, but that was a frustrating day.

>49 SilverWolf28: Thanks Silver!

>50 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg! We'll see. I doubt Johnny will be popping by for the rest of the month. He felt pretty unwelcome by my reaction. He pretended to be offended by the accusation of stealing, but it may have been his friend.

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

Media read from:

Mystery of the Exploding Teeth by Thomas Morris 43
Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull 20 minutes
Mahabharata 61 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 124 minutes

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

Media read from:

Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi 80 minutes
The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth, by Thomas Morris 40 minutes
Hold on to Your Heads, by Andres Miedoso 39 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 150 minutes

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

Media read from:

Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi 57 minutes
The Mystery of Exploding Teeth, by Thomas Morris 22 minutes
Beyond these Walls, by Tony Platt 23 minutes
Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull 24 minutes
Golem's Games, by Nick Eliopulos 26 minutes

Media finished:

The Mystery of Exploding Teeth, by Thomas Morris

Time reading: 152 minutes

Rachel, I seem to have been remiss for not posting here. I keep up with your busy life but sometimes don't have much to say. I am very glad that your vision is not in jeopardy. Those floaters are weird. They come and go for me but that's not uncommon at my tender age of 77. I have learned to not try to "bat" them away which makes me look like a crazy person. Haha!

Happy Reading and Parenting in 2025.

2 years in the making! My first cross-stitch is complete. I hope to do my second one (a baby creeper) much faster, as IL6 is excited about it.

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

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

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

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

>56 The_Hibernator: It's so cute! Great job for your first cross-stitch! Mine was definitely much simpler.

>56 The_Hibernator: Really loving the Groot cross stitch!

>62 norabelle414: Hi Nora! Yeah, I guess I could have done simpler for my first pattern, too, but I wasn't experienced enough to know what would be easy and what wouldn't. However, I finished, and it looks great! So it's all good.

>63 magicians_nephew: Thanks Jim!

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

Media read from:

Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull 25 minutes
Mahabharata 45 minutes
Golem's Games, by Nick Eliopulos
24 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 94 minutes

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

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

I read to D15 and played LEGOs with IL6.

Media read from:

Beyond These Walls, by Tony Platt 28 minutes
Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi 53 minutes
Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger 53 minutes
Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull 41 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 175 minutes

>66 The_Hibernator: Very odd school assignment, but good that it's being dropped.

>67 norabelle414: Yeah, it was very odd. 🤷‍♀️

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

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

Media read from:

Mr Ballen Podcast 67 minutes
Mahabharata 40 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 107 minutes

Wednesday we had D15's intake for therapy.

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

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

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

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

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

Media read from:

Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi 48 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 48 minutes

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

Oh, and IL6's med was there. (Blush)

Media read from:

Mahabharata 63 minutes
Beyond These Walls, by Tony Platt 95 minutes
Wrath of the Dragon, Brandon Mull 31 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 189 minutes

Notes:

Beyond These Walls
-The deaths of African Americans from road accidents is twice that of homicides, yet there's no war on automobiles
-25% of prisoners are mentally ill
-The mentally ill poor are much more likely to end up in prison than their middle-class counterparts
-High income people get very small to no prison time compared to lowincome people.
-Crime statistics report what the police respond to, rather than real crime rates, and the low income neighborhoods have more police presence
-White youths are just as likely to use or sell illegal substances or assault or rape someone than African American youths, yet 1 in 7 African American youths vs 1 in 125 white yourhs serve time in juvenile detention.
-Women suffer the consequences of their men being imprisoned both directly and indirectly. For instance, they are often forced onto welfare because of the missing men, yet are judged harshly and are less able to find a job due to welfare
-One in three African American men are refused welfare due to felony convictions, yet middle class people get "welfare" through government and employer subsidies for insurance
-Police make 3 times as many arrests for misdemeanors than for felonies (because of stop-and-frisk and illegal searches). People arrested for misdemeanors must lose time away from work and arrive on time, despite many lacking adequate transportation, to court appearances.

Mahabharata
-Ashwathama kills the Pandavas' 5 teenage sons.
-The Pandavas punish Ashwathama

Navigating the maze of insurance for medicine and medical treatment is a night mare.

But I get tired of people who say "It's not me - it's the computer" and turn away.

Happy the drugs came in in the end.

>72 magicians_nephew: Hi Jim!

Yeah, I'm still sure it was a computer glitch. But I have it now.

Our primary insurance didn't approve it, but the secondary insurance through the state covered it, luckily

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

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

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

Media read from:

Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi 72 minutes
Beyond These Walls, by Tony Platt 47 minutes
Golem's Game, by Nick Eliopulos 30 minutes

Media finished:

Penelope Rex and the Problem With Pets, by Ryan T Higgins
Golem's Game, by Nick Eliopulos

Time reading: 149 minutes

Notes:

Beyond These Walls
-All but 3% of federal cases and 5% of state cases are settled before trial, mostly because of pressure from harried public defenders to plead guilty.
-He provides statistics to show that targeting of certain groups of people happened in the 1800's when immigrants were disproportionately imprisoned
-He compares isolation of Natives on reservations and the removal of their chilren to punitive boarding schools to modern day treatment of minority races and working class people.
-He compares the detainment of Japanese Americans in internent camps to modern day.
-His point is that this is not a new phenomenon

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

IL5 had his Pinewood Derby, and came in 39th out of 58th.

Media read from:

Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett 209 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 209 minutes

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

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

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

>75 The_Hibernator: Happy to hear they still do Pinewood Derby.

They did that when I was in Cub Scouts back in the day.

Fun and learning something too.

>79 magicians_nephew: Yup! The Pinewood Derby has been around for a while. M12 used to love it, too.

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

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

Media read from:

The Week: Agony in Los Angeles 105 minutes
Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett 220 minutes
Day of the Night Crawlers, by Troy Cummings 45 minutes

Media finished:

Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett
Day of the Night Crawlers, by Troy Cummings
The Week: Agony in Los Angeles

Time reading: 370 minutes

>81 The_Hibernator: The Tiffany Aching series seems to be the only Pratchett series that I am destined to enjoy. I am not sure why it works for me when his Discworld series does not, but there you go.

Looks like your reading year is off to a good start, Rachel!

>82 alcottacre: I'm surprised you read all of the Discworld books if you didn't enjoy them. I liked the others better so far, mostly because there seemed more jokes in them. Maybe because they're aimed at adults.

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

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

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

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

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

Media read from:

Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi 37 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 37 minutes

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

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

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

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

Beyond These Walls, by Tony Platt 27 minutes
Mahabharata 48 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 75 minutes

Notes:
-Platt compares slavery and Jim Crow laws that made it illegal to be idle to current conditions of incarcerated black people to make the point that today's conditions aren't unprecedented, as many sociologists claim.
-The "Jim Crow justice system" generally had forced labor where prisoners were often dead within 2-10 years (depending on type of labor).

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

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

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

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

>86 The_Hibernator: So sorry to hear about your aunt.

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/367914#n8740377

>87 SandDune: Hi Rhian! Thanks. It's hard. I was very close to her as a kid, though haven't seen much of her recently. It gets hard to see extended family. She has passed now, and is in a better place.

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

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

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

Media read from:

Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi 21 minutes
Beyond These Walls, by Tony Platt 56 minutes
Mahabharata 43 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 120 minutes

Notes:

Mahabharata
-Bhishma dies
-Yudhishthra gets over grief

Beyond These Walls
-A description of implementation of various government programs to study and prevent police violence and the failures of and retraction of these programs

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

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

Media read from:

Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi 70 minutes
Mahabharata 50 minutes
Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull 87 minutes
Frantastic Voyage, by Jim Benton 36 minutes

Media finished:

Wrath of the Dragon King, by Brandon Mull
Frantastic Voyage, by Jim Benton
Dog vs Strawberry, by Nelly Buchet

Time reading: 243 minutes

Notes:

Mahabharata
-Krishna and Dhritarashtra die

So sorry about your aunt, Rachel. I'm glad you got to spend some time with her recently.

Rachel, so sorry to hear about your aunt.

>93 bell7: I'm always entertained when i catch up with you, Rachel. I'm glad the kitty rescue went well. I could relate to the clothing retrieval from the various places. My oldest son was always losing something. I was a regular visitor to the school lost and found. He's in his 50s now and much more responsible. Haha.

So sorry about your aunt. I was hopeful after your message in >75 The_Hibernator: way up there. She had such a good attitude at the end. Something to be grateful for.

Wow, you escaped a possible fire with that burner being left on. And now you have a new smoke detector. Someone is looking out for you!

>92 norabelle414: >93 bell7: Thank you Nora and Mary. It is sad, but at least she lived a full life.

>94 Donna828: Hi Donna! D's jacket was totally her fault. But the office staff at the school lost IL's jacket and hat. Not saying he won't lose things when he's older, though!

Yeah, the burner thing scared me. I'm glad I was around to notice the smoke.

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

Media read from:

Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi 61 minutes
Beyond These Walls, by Tony Platt 28 minutes
The End of the Overworld, by Nick Eliopulos 19 minutes

Media finished:

The Leaf Thief, by Alice Hemming
Beach Bummer, by Ryan T Higgins

Time reading: 108 minutes

Notes:

Beyond These Walls

-Through the 1800's and early 1900's the working class were violently policed during labor disputes and protesting veterans requesting benefits.
-I gave up here. It was boring to read fact after fact from history without much narrative to bind it all together. The point of the chapter was lost because of too many examples and too few examples of what the examples are meant to explain.

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

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

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

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

Media read from:

Mahabharata 34 minutes
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 25 minutes
The End of the Overworld, by Nick Eliopulos 25 minutes

Media finished:

Mahabharata
We Are Growing, by Laurie Keller
Here Comes Teacher Cat, by Deborah Underwood

Time reading: 84 minutes

>90 The_Hibernator: I am sorry for the loss of your aunt.

>98 figsfromthistle: Thank you Anita.

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

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

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

Dog races the strawberry. Very cute.

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

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

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

Media read from:

Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi 62 minutes
Master of the Phantom Isle, by Brandon Mull 33 minutes
Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank 18 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 113 minutes

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

Media read from:

Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank 64 minutes
The End of the Overworld, by Nick Eliopulos 20 minutes
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 21 minutes

Media finished:

Hidden Gem, by Linda Liu

Time reading: 105 minutes

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

Media read from:

The End of the Overworld, by Nick Eliopulos 45 minutes
Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 185 minutes
Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi 106 minutes
Human Acts, by Han Kang 77 minutes

Media finished:

The End of the Overworld, by Nick Eliopulos
Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi

Time reading: 413 minutes

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/368071

Thanks Silver! I'll try to remember to pop over.

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

Media read from:

The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 66 minutes
The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank 19 minutes
Master of the Phantom Isle, by Brandon Mull 33 minutes
The Week: Shock and Awe 36 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 154 minutes

Elizabeth I covered the suspicious death of Dudley's wife.

Hope your memories of you aunt are more than seeing her ill and bedridden. My sympathies to you and your family.

I was volunteer teaching a High School intro to computers class last year and they used scratch. It's a fun language with some rough spots here and there. Hope you got your bugs resolved.

all good wishes

>114 magicians_nephew: Thanks Jim!

There are going to be shortcomings in any languange simple enough for a 2nd grader to use. But, yes, I figured out both problems that I was trying to solve. One of them was an example of the language not being versatile enough, but at least I figured out what was going wrong.

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

Media read from:

The Week: Shock and Awe 60 minutes
Human Acts, by Han Kang 80 minutes
12 Major World Religions, by Jason Boyett 13 minutes
Attack of the Shadow Smashers, by Troy Cummings 30 minutes

Media finished:

Eggasaurus, by Jennifer Wagh

Time reading: 183 minutes

Notes:

12 Major World Religions
-Says religions have more differences than similarities despite all having a version of the Golden rule
-Calls religions of the ancient Egyptians, ancient Greeks, and ancient Norse obsolete but claims to be unbiased

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

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

Media read from:

Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank 41 minutes
Human Acts, by Han Kang 62 minutes
12 Major World Religions, by Jason Boyett 36 minutes
Attack of the Shadow Smashers, by Troy Cummings 30 minutes
Mr Ballen Podcast 29 minutes

Media finished:

Jo Bright and the Seven Bots, by Deborah Underwood and Meg Hunter
The Kiss Box, by Bonny Verburg and Henry Cole
Attack of the Shadow Smashers, by Troy Cummings

Time reading: 198 minutes

Notes:

12 Major World Religions
-Says in section on Amun that beliefs about Amun merged with beliefs about Ra resulting in Amun-Ra.

In the section on Ra, it says Ra and Horus merged into a single ruling diety.

Did they all three merge? Or were there two different merges?
-In the first century, Christianity spread across Egypt. It was accepted possibly due to similarities between Christianity and Egyptian traditions: a belief in the judgement of souls and an afterlife, resemblances between the ankh and the cross, and likenesses between the resurrection stories of Osiris and Jesus.
-Egypt was one of the first societies to posit the supernatural creation of the universe, the existence of a soul distinct from the physical body, and a realm of individual punishment in the afterlife.

A squirrel wonders where all the leaves are going.

A bear is dragged along to the beach.

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

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

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

A rock discovers it’s awesome.

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

Eggasaurus Inc. misunderstands the intents of a kid.

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

Media read from:

Master of the Phantom Isle, Brandon Mull 30 minutes
The Economist: The Revolt Against Regulation 63 minutes
The Week: Immigration Offensive 44 minutes
The Fran with Four Brains, by Jim Benton 37 minutes

Media finished:

The Fran With Four Brains, by Jim Benton

Time reading: 174 minutes

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

Media read from:

Mr Ballen podcast 57 minutes
The Economist: The Revolt Against Regulation 102 minutes
Master of the Phantom Isle, by Brandon Mull 12 minutes
Human Acts, by Han Kang 62 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 233 minutes

We will take over Palestine and the Palestinians will pay for it.

I am at a loss for words. I feel sick.

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

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

Media read from:

The Economist: The Revolt Against Regulation 104 minutes
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 56 minutes
Mr Ballen podcast 37 minutes
12 World Religions, by Jason Boyett 39 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 236 minutes

>131 The_Hibernator: It's devastating, no matter how unsurprising. Really awful.

>133 norabelle414: Exactly. I'm still wordless whenever I think of it.

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

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

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

Media read from:

The Economist: The Revolt Against Regulation 45 minutes
Human Acts, by Han Kang 47 minutes
The Week: Immigration Offensive 78 minutes
Master of the Phantom Isle, by Brandon Mull 36 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 206 minutes

Hi Rachel, life is busy as usual for you. I love how patient you seem to be with the challenges of parenting. "All teachers gave glowing reviews"... see how your parenting skills pay off?

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/368250

>136 Donna828: Hi Donna! Thanks for the parenting compliment. I try to be patient, yes, though there are absolutely times I lose patience. :)

>137 SilverWolf28: Thanks Silver!

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

Media read from:

New Scientist: Quantum Black Hole 111 minutes
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 83 minutes
Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger 41 minutes
Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank 56 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 291 minutes

Notes: Mary Queen of Scotts acts like a petulant teenaged girl. Queen Elizabeth I is emotional, but seems much more even-tempered in comparison

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

Media read from:

New Scientist: Quantum Black Hole 14 minutes
The Economist: Scam Inc 72 minutes
Mr Ballen podcast 35 minutes
Ravenswood Witch, by Jenni Keer 64 minutes
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 15 minutes
12 Major World Religions, by Jason Boyett 23 minutes
March Book One, by John Lewis, Andrew Ayden, and Nate Powel 26 minutes
Stitch Head: The Pirate's Eye, by Guy Bass 23 minutes

Media finished:

New Scientist: Quantum Black Hole

Time reading: 272 minutes

Saturday IL6 and Aaron were supposed to go to Cub Scout Polar camp, but he had forgotten his snowpants at school, and we didn't have a spare. Not only was it snowing, but it was in the single digits temperature. So he stayed home. 😭 Aaron and I played Dungeons and Dragons, then I dyed D15's hair blue.

Media read from:

The Ravenswood Witch, by Jenni Keer 22 minutes
The Economist: Scam Inc 36 minutes
Stitch Head: The Pirate's Eye, by Guy Bass 9 minutes
March: Book 1, by John Lewis, Andrew Ayden, and Nate Powel 10 minutes
The Week: Musk's Rampage 57 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 134 minutes

Sunday....well...apparently I remember nothing about Sunday. Maybe something happened? I slept poorly due to nausea and M12 sicker than me.

Media read from:

The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 68 minutes
Mr Ballen Podcast 32 minutes
Stitch Head: The Pirate's Eye 20 minutes
Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank 37 minutes
The Week: Musk's Rampage 41 minutes
New Scientist: The Dark Side if Your Microbiome 47 minutes

Media finished:

The Week: Musk's Rampage

Time reading: 245 minutes

Sunday night, both M12 and I were nauseated - and M12 was repeatedly vomiting. In the morning, he felt fine, but I was groggy and had awful body aches. I slept all day. In the afternoon, Aaron was supposed to take D15 to her permit test, but he had misplaced her (and M12's) birth certificate. D15 was so disappointed. Then M12 became short of breath, so I dragged myself to the thermometer and took his temperature. It was 104.5. I slept the rest of the evening/night till 1am.

Media read from:

The Ravenswood Witch, by Jenni Keer 56 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 56 minutes

Hi, Rachel. Just checking in. Sorry to hear that you are sick. It has been a tough virus season. Good luck to everyone there and I hope you are finding comfort in those books.

Tuesday was a disaster at first. I had stayed home from work because I was sick, so I was there to be awakened when D15 started throwing up and got diarrhea. Then she let me know we had a leak in the basement. It was a failed pipe.

Aaron turned off the water, but then I had to take D15 to the toilet at Perkins and the gas station (2 times), and Aaron took her to the toilet at our grocery store. She threw up most of the day, and ran a 103.4 fever. M12 was also home because of his fever on Monday, and had another low-grade fever on Tuesday.

Good news: the pipe was fixed by about 11am. Plus Aaron got a copy of the older kids' birth certificates. I set up an appointment for D15 to take the permit test on Wednesday at a 48 minute drive away. It's the closest we could get. We figured she couldn't be at school, but would probably be ok for taking the test.

IL5 worked on coding a new game on my computer with my help. He's getting really good at it, considering he can't read. He learns so fast. The teacher did say he learns visually. He threw up rather dramatically at the end of the day.

Media read from:

The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 106 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 106 minutes

>144 msf59: Hi Mark! I'm better now. It only hung on through the morning, but the grumpiness from sickness stayed.

>143 The_Hibernator: Delurking to say hello. I hope everyone is feeling better and the nausea has subsided.

>145 The_Hibernator: What an awful combination of busted pipes while being ill. Not fun!

>147 figsfromthistle: Thanks for delurking Anita! It's nice to see you. I tend to lurk, too.

A young bear learns to separate temporarily from his mom.

Retelling of Snow White

Fran builds some bots to help her get stuff done.

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

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

>153 The_Hibernator: Ooh, I hadn't seen that one yet! I'll have to make sure my library has it. I love the other two in the series.

Sorry you guys have been sick, Rachel! I hope you're all doing a bit better now.

>157 foggidawn: Hi foggi! I hadn't known it was a series. Enjoy!

>158 norabelle414: We're doing better now, Nora. Though my dad was pretty sick last I saw him (I'm at an overnight shift).

Wednesday, all three kids were home sick, and dad was pretty darned sick, too. I went to the gym, but started feeling lightheaded, so I came home.

I was trying to take it easy and get the basic tasks done for the day and get a lot of reading in. But IL6 wanted to program his game on the computer, and we spent 2 hours doing that.

D15, who wasn't actually sick (she just had to stay out of school because she'd vomited within 24 hours), took the permit test in a city 48 minutes away (because that was the closest next-day appointment) and passed. Aaron took her out driving in the parking lot, but wouldn't let her drive faster than 5 mph, which I think is excessively slow, but I guess I didn't see if she was doing poorly with her breaking and steering.

Media read from:

March Book One, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell 29 minutes
The Economist: Scam Inc 73 minutes
New Scientist: The Dark Side of Your Microbiome 11 minutes
Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger 48 minutes
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 23 minutes
The Ravenswood Witch, by Jenni Keer 40 minutes
12 Major World Religions, by Jason Boyett 35 minutes

Media finished:

March Book One, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

Time reading: 259 minutes

Here's the Valentine's Day readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/368424

Thursday, I had a lot of unexpected housework to do, and felt very overwhelmed. But Aaron did the dishes when I said I was overwhelmed, so that was nice.

When IL6 got home, he wanted to play the computer game he had coded. It was 3-person, so at first M12 joined us, then Aaron joined us. After that, IL6 coded a 1-person game. All these games are pretty much identical in function, but not in appearance, so I really need to help him branch out. Not sure how to do that, though, because he is very strong-willed. On the other hand, he actually knows how to code that game with minimal assistance from me.

In the evening, I read while IL6 was at Cub Scouts, and then again in IL6's room for a quarter hour before the older kids decided to come in and either have an anxiety attack (D15), or make lots of noise (M12 with IL6)..

Media read from:

Mr Ballen podcast 27 minutes
The Economist: Scam Inc 84 minutes
12 Major World Religions, by Jason Boyett 53 minutes
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 56 minutes

Media finished:

The Economist: Scam, Inc

Time reading: 220 minutes

>149 The_Hibernator: Nice to see you read The Economist, Rachal.

I find it useful for a point of view on American politics from a slightly removed vantage point.

>153 The_Hibernator: Love this cover! Bet it was a good one

Hi Jim! Yes, some of the things The Economist says about US politics is revealing. I also like the coverage of international news in a way that helps me to understand how everything connects into a complex whole.

Yes, that book was quite cute. 😊

Friday, IL6 had two appointments in the morning. Then, after dropping him off at school, I only managed to finish a little housework before he arrived home again. He programmed a computer game for a while, then Aaron and I went out for a Valentine's Day date. I was a little concerned it would be crowded, but we went somewhere that didn't seem like it would be a popular Valentine's Day destination, and scored - we were seated right away.

Media read from:

Ravenswood Witch, by Jenni Keer 73 minutes
The Frandidate, by Jim Benton 36 minutes

Media finished:

The Frandidate, by Jim Benton

Time reading: 109 minutes

>156 The_Hibernator: I bought this one recently, Rachel, and will bump it up.

I read The Vegetarian a few years ago and thought it, well, strange.

>167 PaulCranswick: Huh. The Vegetarian sounds nothing like Human Acts. That's interesting. I should check it out.

Saturday had a slow beginning, but I perked up towards the end. IL6 wrote another program on my computer, and played a bit of LEGO. D15 relaxed, as did Aaron.

Media read from:

New Scientist: The Dark Side of the Microbiome 53 minutes
The Economist: Battle for the Pentagon 34 minutes
The Ravenswood Witch, by Jenni Keer 58 minutes
Time to Clown Around, by Andres Miedoso 29 minutes
Master of the Phantom Isle, by Brandon Mull 36 minutes

Media finished:

New Scientist: The Dark Side of the Microbiome

Time reading: 210 minutes

Sunday was productive. I got lots done on my to-do list, read a lot, and took D15 driving in a parking lot. Much to her chagrin, she missed two stop signs, so I wouldn't take her on the roads.

Media read from:

The Economist: Battle for the Pentagon 89 minutes
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 67 minutes
Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank 80 minutes
Master of the Phantom Isle, by Brandon Mull 28 minutes
The Pirate's Eye, by Guy Bass 25 minutes

Media finished:

Pigs Make Me Sneeze, by Mo Willems

Time reading: 289 minutes

My progress on IL6's creeper

John Lewis tells a couple of kids about his youth and organizing sit-ins in Nashville. This graphic novel is drawn well, and holds the reader’s interests.

Fran wants to run for president of her class, but has difficulty appealing as a candidate. So she creates a skin which changes into (and says) whatever each voter wants. Funny and cute.

Hi Rachel. It sounds like everyone is recovering from their various illnesses. You've had your hands full! I am trying to stay home more as there are so many germs in circulation. I missed church yesterday but went to the Missouri State women's basketball game. We have a great team this year so there is lots of energy at the games. Yes, we won. ;-)

Stay well and try to stay warm. We are expecting another winter blast here tomorrow. I'm glad to have lots of books at my disposal.

Monday was another productive day - the second really good day in a row. In fact, I feel like since I started taking 90 minutes to read a news magazine daily I have actually become more, rather than less, productive.

The kids had the day off school. IL6 programmed a new game and played LEGOs. D15 and M12 watched videos. Aaron, dad, and I went to the gym for an hour, then Aaron and I ran a couple of errands. I also got a bunch of reading and some cross-stitch in.

Media read from:

The Economist: Battle for the Pentagon 73 minutes
Mr Ballen podcast 34 minutes
The Week: Collision Course 29 minutes
Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger 45 minutes
The Ravenswood Witch, by Jenni Keer 60 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 241 minutes

Monday was exhausting. Immediately after returning from work, we jumped one of the cars. Then I woke M12 and D15 to eat and get ready, respectively. I took care of some stuff with IL6. D15 and I went to her appointment. Immediately following that, I took M12 and IL6 to the library because M12 needed to do his homework from all the school he missed last week. I played with IL6 for about an hour before he picked books. He ran in the library repeatedly, and I didn't stop him.

Then I went to the pharmacy to pick up dad's meds, and ended up stuck in the line for 20 minutes because the pharmacist was at lunch. I loaded dad, M12, and my pill minders, only I was missing two meds, and I thought I'd ordered them last week, but apparently I didn't confirm. Then M12 wanted McDonald's, and I felt that I should get it for him because D15 had had a Jersey Mike's sandwich earlier.

Finally, at 3:30, I had a break and was able to look at my personal goals, which had been ignored all day. But I was too stressed to do them, so I wrote a letter, cooked dinner, and played LEGO with IL6 for 35 minutes while the food was in the oven. I was beat at the end of all that, so spent the rest of the evening talking to Aaron before going to work again.

Aaron, did entertain IL6 for about an hour on his computer game, which gave me time for the pill boxes, but mainly because I reminded IL6 that he hadn't played on dad's computer for a while.

Media read from:

The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir
Mr Ballen podcast 38 minutes 61 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 99 minutes

Wednesday was a great day it was Aaron's 50th birthday. After an hour at the gym, he and I had a date. While on our date, he got a job offer! And a good one, too. 😊

I spent a good chunk of time reading in the afternoon, and then when IL6 got home, we all went out to family dinner for Aaron's birthday. Then Aaron and I chatted while the kids played on screens. M12 was actually playing with a friend on a computer game, which is a new activity for him. I like the social aspect of that.

Media read from:

The Ravenswood Witch, by Jenni Keer 49 minutes
The Economist: Battle for the Pentagon 103 minutes
The Week: Collision Course 22 min

Media finished: none

Time reading: 174 minutes

>179 The_Hibernator: Congrats to Aaron for the job offer!

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/368676

>180 foggidawn: Thanks foggi!

>181 SilverWolf28: Thanks Silver!

Thursday I woke a little light-headed. I don't think I was sick, I think I was just burnt out from trying to catch up after getting behind while I was sick the week before. But because I couldn't stand very long at a time, I just spent the whole day reading and doing just the basic things that needed to get done. IL6 programed my computer with me for a while in the afternoon.

Media read from:

12 Major World Religions, by Jason Boyett 60 minutes
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 56 minutes
The Economist: Battle for the Pentagon 15 minutes
The Week: Collision Course 104 minutes
New Scientist: Our Quantum Future 39 minutes
Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank 62 minutes
Master of the Phantom Isle, by Brandon Mull 21 minutes
Ravenswood Witch, by Jenni Keer 33 minutes

Media finished:

The Economist: Battle for the Pentagon
The Week: Collision Course
The Ravenswood Witch, by Jenni Keer

Time reading: 390 minutes

Friday, I took IL6 to two appointments, then drove dad to the gym and picked up my niece and nephew from school. Later, dad took IL6, Aaron, and me to Red Lobster. Afterwards IL6 and I played Luigi's Mansion and Aaron gamed with his friends. M12 was at scout camp, and D15 was with her mom.

Media read from:

A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett 96 minutes
Master of the Phantom Isle, by Brandon Mull 36 minutes
Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank 27 minutes
The Pirate's Eye, by Guy Bass 31 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 190 minutes

Saturday Aaron and I played D&D, then we played Luigi's Mansion with IL6.

Media read from:

Mr Ballen podcast 33 minutes
The Bubble Gum Blob, by Andres Miedoso 22 minutes
12 Major World Religions, by Jason Boyett 30 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 85 minutes

Sunday I cooked a turkey dinner for Aaron's birthday. (It had been intended to be cooked on Thursday, but I made a mistake ordering the brine, so we cooked it on Sunday, instead.) My friend Liz came over for dinner to celebrate. I invite my friends over for Aaron's birthday. That's how I roll.

Media read from:

New Scientist: Our Quantum Future 49 minutes
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 68 minutes
Mr Ballen Podcast 100 minutes
The Economist: The Would-be King 18 minutes
The Pirate’s Eye, by Guy Bass 26 minutes

Media finished:

New Scientist: Our Quantum Future
The Pirate's Eye, by Guy Bass

Time reading: 261 minutes

Monday I took M12 to an appointment, and then took IL6 to an appointment. After that, I let D15 drive. She got on the streets for the first time today, and didn't run any stop signs. I was still feeling the never-ending tiredness I've felt since being sick two weeks ago, so I rested for a while, then read to D15. Then I talked to Aaron till it was time to go to work.

Media read from:

Mr Ballen Podcast 27 minutes
Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger 39 minutes
A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett 20 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 86 minutes

IL6 was so excited when we found out we missed a Desmond Cole book when we read them all. In this one, Andres is afraid of clowns.

Gerald starts sneezing and thinks it’s Piggy making him sneeze.

When a young woman is running away from the law, she stumbles into a mysterious man who pretends she is his wife to keep her safe. This book was great with a bit of a surprise, though the big reveal was obvious from the beginning.

Congrats to Aaron on his job offer! What a birthday gift!

>188 The_Hibernator: Your cross-stitch is looking so cute!

>195 norabelle414: Thank you for both Nora! I'm working really hard on the cross-stitch because IL6 is eager to get his creeper.

Tuesday after work, I almost immediately took D15 to her appointment. Then I ran some errands, worked on my to-do list, and read. In the evening, Liz came over and the family ate pizza and watched Doctor Who.

Media read from:

The Economist: The Would-be King 123 minutes
Mr Ballen Podcast 34 minutes
A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett 41 minutes
12 Major World Religions, by Jason Boyett 34 minutes
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 52 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 284 minutes

I see you are reading a lot of magazines lately. I cancelled a lot of subscriptions long ago because I could not keep up with the reading. There is something wonderful about receiving a magazine. Now I think I want to subscribe to a few. How do you like the New Scientist? Is it similar to scientific American?

Anyhow, I hope your week is going well.

>198 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita! Yes, the magazines take a lot of time, but I think I get a lot of benefit out of them.

New Scientist is aimed at scientists whereas Scientific American is aimed at lay people who are interested in science. That said, I think New Scientist could be enjoyed by someone who has a basic understanding of science. I'm not sure, because I have a degree in science. The physics and technology articles are all over my head.

Wednesday Dad and I both had a personal trainer appointment at the gym. I let D15 drive again - she successfully backed out of the driveway, drove around the side-roads, and pulled back in the driveway. Speed while turning needs a lot of work. After dinner, I read to D15, then went in early to work.

Media read from:

The Economist: The Would-be King 89 minutes
March: Book 2 by John Lewis, Nate Powell, and John Aydin 84 minutes
A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett 46 minutes
12 Major World Religions, by Jason Boyett 45 minutes
Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger 34 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 298 minutes

Here's the next readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/368860

Thursday I relaxed. I took a nap, went to lunch with Aaron, and even watched a little TV. Aaron took D15 to get a henna tattoo. IL6 programed the computer and then went to Cub Scouts. M12 played a computer game online with a friend.

Media read from:

Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 41 minutes

Media finished: none

Time reading: 41 minutes

Friday, I went directly from work to two appointments for IL6. Then Aaron and I ran some errands (our last weekday of running errands before he starts his new job). In the evening, dad treated us to Outback Steakhouse.

Media read from:

A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett 86 minutes
The Economist: The Would-be King 49 minutes
12 Major World Religions, by Jason Boyett 18 minutes
March Book 2, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell 15 minutes
The Week: Maga Military 12 minutes
Franny K Stein: Bad Hair Day, by Jim Benton 28 minutes

Media finished:

March Book 2, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

Time reading: 208 minutes

Saturday I went to Olive Garden with Liz, M12, IL6, and Liz's nephew. Later Aaron went to a board gaming party with his friends. I read to D15, and Aaron made pancakes for dinner (because IL6 wanted something "healthy").

Media read from:

A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett 72 minutes
Master of the Phantom Isle, by Brandon Mull 36 minutes
The Week: Maga Military 97 minutes
Neverseen, by Shannon Messenger 42 minutes
Chomp of the Meat-Eating Vegetables, by Troy Cummings 39 minutes

Media finished:

Chomp of the Meat-Eating Vegetables, by Troy Cummings
The Week: MAGA Military

Time reading: 286 minutes

>169 The_Hibernator: Curious to know what computer languages you son is programming in. ? How old is he now?

>205 magicians_nephew: Hi Jim! He is 6. He programs in a visual (block) language called Scratch, that MIT designed for kids. He can't program anything complex. Mostly he just makes things move around on the screen - randomly or by pressing keys. I'll have to introduce the code to make a pong game. See if he'll diversify.

Sunday D15 played D&D and made some eggrolls. M12 had band rehearsal.

Media read from:

The Economist: The Would-be King 26 minutes
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Allison Weir 58 minutes
The Economist: The Don’s New World Order 36 minutes
The Week: In From the Cold 28 minutes
Master of the Phantom Isle, by Brandon Mull 30 minutes
The Ghost of Grotteskew, by Guy Bass 37 minutes

Media finished:

The Economist: The Would-be King

Time reading: 215 minutes

>199 The_Hibernator: sounds like my kind of magazine. I also have a few degrees in science so it should be a good fit for me.