March 18, 2022
1. It continues to be the little things. I figured out my egg peeling problem had nothing to do with my cooking and cooling methods but rather my cracking method. I went back to my original thousand taps to crack it all around method and we’re all clear now.
2. Speaking of good and eggs, Bentocart menu options were too limited. Either the menu items weren’t appealing or they were wildly overpriced. We tried Good Eggs this week instead.
A friend shared this fundraiser: Help House Two Native Elders Part 2
Challenges this week: talked to JB about our family’s experience as refugees, to help them understand the situation many people globally face.
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March 11, 2022
1. I had a massage on Friday that really helped my muscles loosen up and bonus didn’t have a massive pain rebound afterward. I still needed to lay down and rest more than half the day Saturday and a few hours pm Sunday but that’s still a bit of improvement.
Challenges this week: everything.
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March 4, 2022
1. Donated to support HIAS’ Ukraine crisis response.
2. Donated to World Central Kitchen to support feeding Ukrainian refugees.
3. Went down this list of how to help and support Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion.
4. Donated to OutMemphis to support the Alternate Spring Break that helps trans people with name changes.
5. Donated to Project C.U.R.E. to supply humanitarian assistance, medical supplies and equipment to the people of Ukraine.
6. Donated to Equality Texas.
7. Donated to the Young Center to help support unaccompanied and separated children facing deportation. No children should be forced to face legal proceedings alone and yet our system does this to them.
8. Supported a friend’s crowdfunding to escape Arkansas.
9. Once in a long while, Smol has a looooong nap. Sunday morning was one of those days. I did some work AND laid down for a little bit. I’m generally primed for missing out on rest because babies have a sensor to wake up the minute a mom’s head hits a pillow but today allowed for some leisure. I also didn’t work that much, just enough to set up my other time zone people in order for their Monday, and started backing up my files to my external hard drive. Since the external hard drive is massive, I’ve decided that instead of trying to only replace the changed files, I’ll copy over the full set of files on a semi regular basis without worrying over the duplicates over time. I have so much space on there, it shouldn’t matter. After several versions of back ups, I’ll delete the oldest ones but I don’t need to waste time on that for a long while.
Challenges this week: Not sure it needs to be said? Ukraine. Attacks on trans kids and their families in Texas are already starting to result in investigations of parents (though a limited stay on that specific one was issued), the situation in Kabul is terrible, the GOP continues to attack all kinds of right including reproductive rights and voting rights.
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February 25, 2022
1. I’d forgotten how I once dreamed of horses. I wanted my life to revolve around dogs and horses. I devoured every story I could, Misty of Chinoteague, The Black Stallion, series of girls and racehorse books that I can’t remember the title of now, to the real stories about Man o’War, Secretariat and Seabiscuit. Watching a short clip of Secretariot brought tears to my eyes remembering how much I loved riding and grooming horses. Watching all of Secretariat’s Triple Crown races turned me into a faucet. I am grateful that my parents indulged paying for my riding lessons if I could get a ride there. I wonder if I can ever do that again.
Challenges this week: So many terrible things happening in the world. Gov Abbott is trying to attack trans kids in Texas, Florida is putting kids at increased risk of abuse, abortion rights are under fire everywhere, and now Russia invading Ukraine. It’s all awful.
Rabbi Danya calls us to action.
Urge your lawmakers to support the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA):
Monday, the Senate has its first vote on WHPA (the Women’s Health Protection Act), the bill that would legalize abortion federally even if SCOTUS overturned Roe. It has already passed the House.
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February 18, 2022
1. We get one week of summer a year and this was our week! Actual sun and heat and a light breeze: pure heaven. We got to spend a lot of time in the yard with Smol without having to bundle up in four layers, wash Sera, sit in the sun and read a book.
2. For the first time in the ten(?) years I’ve had my ibotta account, we bought a thing that had an actual bonus attached! It was for a $1 back for buying any brand seafood!
I’ve only been redeeming receipts for ten cent rewards in all this time so I haven’t even cashed out once. It’s a real bummer compared to other people’s earnings and I’ve been tempted to abandon it but I’m at the $16.50 now. I figure I’ll stick out until I get one $20 redemption and then I’ll close my account.
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February 11, 2022
1. We managed things so that PiC got an outing both Saturday and Sunday morning to work out and I got 4-5 hours of daytime rest on both days. It wasn’t easy but it was doable this weekend and we both got what we needed for once. We traded the kids during that time and everyone got fed. Win all around even if it wasn’t easy.
2. Our local dim sum place started serving dim sum again! We splurged on a wide spread of dishes and enjoyed every morsel. Even Smol Acrobat got in on the dining delight. They ate up almost an entire steamed pork bun before moving on to the other yummy things in my bowl.
Challenges this week: I needed all that rest because I had a massive flare up that took the form of “molten lava replaced my marrow oh joy”.
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February 4, 2022
1. I’d been hoarding my Bing points. I normally redeem for Target gift cards which either cover Lakota Giving or diapers, both of which are eminently worthwhile, but I’ve been in need of a dopamine burst that hit differently. And here it is! We were not going to do our normal Lunar New Year feast with friends, and I was a little sad about that, but mostly realistic that I simply did not want to make the extraordinary effort to make it happen. There’s a very popular place nearby that does Asian BBQ foods that’s a huge pain to buy from. You can’t call in an order, they rarely pick up and if they do pick up, they may not fill your order for hours. Also: we were gifted Doordash gift cards for the holiday. For the sake of the businesses, and our pocketbooks, we do pickup direct from local restaurants as much as we can but there are many days where we can’t deal with the pain of running out for another thing at the end of a hard day. We hoard Doordash money against serious need. (We have a lot more of those than we’re willing to admit and we should do better on that front.) But this is one way we can win win win: a combination of my points redemption and their gift card = a big order from this restaurant. This will supply some delicious BBQ for our Lunar New Year dinner so we don’t have to waste hours of energy fetching it and I will be able to freeze a few portions of it for future dinners when we are on the ropes. It’ll wipe out our reserve but I think it’s worth it.
(After the fact: the delivery was botched but we got part of our order and that was yummy!) (more…)