June 24, 2022
1. Equal parenting: I take the hit the first day a kid’s sick because I roll with the initial punch more easily. PiC then takes sick time to take them the next day(s) once he’s had a bit of time to adjust.
2. This is me being hopeful: we’re meeting a potential dogsitter for Sera this weekend. They’re a really long haul away, so I’m really not looking forward to that exhausting back and forth but cross your fingers that she’s as good for Sera as I hope she can be?
Challenges this week:
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June 17, 2022
1. I submitted a whole sheaf of FSA claims all at once to create a nice future dopamine hit. (The original plan was to submit it and forget it but darn I keep going back to see if it’s been approved. Tell me to ignore it now please!)
2. JB’s summer care is run by a childcare facility under their normal programming so I think/hope it’ll also qualify for FSA redemption. We’ll find out! Especially since we thought that $5000 dependent daycare money would be easily used up by Smol by this time in the year, but we currently don’t know when Smol will be able to enroll.
Physically been a rough week after an emotionally rough…. Feels like forever?
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June 10, 2022
Heck of a week.
1. We brought home an armload of clothes to donate. JB even liked the one thing I picked for them which was a surprise.
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June 3, 2022
1. Given the state of the world, it almost feels wrong to find things to be glad of but I know that we need to. So! I’m very grateful for having help this week. in COVID times, I get to feel human and patient twice a year, when we have this kind of help. This reminder from Mary Oliver’s writing is very apt.
2. A dear friend sent me a handful of sewing supplies and it’s amazing.
3. I’m afraid to get my hopes up but there was a suggestion that we might have under-5 vaccines by the end of June? Maybe?
I need to decide where to donate. This latest string of mass murders has me feeling stymied, like there is just no hope left. There must be, I am just having trouble finding it.
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May 27, 2022
1. We had an abundance of plastic containers from our Hello Fresh experiment days. While we had to recycle some to make space, I keep finding new uses for the remainder. Reusing perfectly good containers makes me very happy, as does finding that we have containers the exact right size for a thing I need.
2. Despite his own exhaustion, PiC took the kids out for a few hours on Saturday so I could rest and it was the best I felt all week. Not having to be up and parenting or talking was such a relief.
I am absolutely sick over the constant stream of horror that is life in America. This latest school shooting where the police did absolutely nothing to protect the children being slaughtered, for an HOUR, isn’t even a surprise. It’s heartbreaking and sickening but not a surprise. I hate all of this. I hate that we don’t take domestic violence seriously. I hate that we ignore the links between DV and eventual mass shootings. I hate that the NRA has a stranglehold on the politicians who could do something about this but definitely won’t.
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May 20, 2022
1. I don’t know if you remember but last fall, I was stressed. And one night, since fabrics were on sale and I needed a project to distract from the horrible stuff going on with COVID, and work, and our stress-faces at home, I bought 16 yards of fleece. That’s right. 48 feet of fleece. You’d think that at some point I’d do the math and realize we were about to be eyebrows deep in fabric but nope, that didn’t dawn on me until the fabric arrived and one of the designs just shipped on the roll. I’d bought so much they chucked the whole roll into a shipping container and called it good. I made four blankets of various sizes and designs for ourselves, and now I’m in the final stretch of my Stress Case Fabric Adventures. I think these last 9.5 feet will make one more blanket for a nibling and a pillow.
2. I MADE A ZIPPER POUCH!! Zippers were going to break my brain but fixing one mistake after another, texting my sewing sisters, on Sunday, I managed to complete a whole functional zippered pouch! Yes, you can buy all kinds of pouches but the sizes I need are really quite expensive. This cost $7 for a yard of fabric (which will yield 2-6 pouches depending on sizes) and $1.50 per zipper. The learning curve was a heck of a thing and it’s very clearly amateur work but it’s for personal use so that doesn’t matter.
Help this family seeking asylum
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May 13, 2022
1. There’s something incredibly satisfying about putting my stationery box in order. All the cards are neatly ordered with their envelopes now.
2. I got to spend a few minutes on my sewing project this week. With a lot of luck, maybe I can spend some time actually sewing soon? Perhaps?
3. Any night we can get everyone in bed before 8 am is an excellent night. It’s rare but we had one of those this week.
Challenges this week: I’m begging the universe to let this sleep regression end. Please please please let us sleep through the night and until a decent hour.
Under five vaccine. We need an effective under five vaccine!!
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