We’ve got some big things coming up, so I thought I’d do a quick “little things” blog post first. Here are some of the things going on.

Dogs

Last weekend E agreed to dog-sit for a friend/ex-co-worker/teacher who was going out of town for the weekend. The original plan was that E was going to stop by their house a few times a day to walk the dog and feed her, but then we got a HUGE snowstorm prediction and all the weather warnings, so I asked if we could just have the dog at our house for the weekend. It went well, but I won’t be taking any more dogs from now on. Jasmine, already afraid of dogs, spent the weekend hiding, even though Bella was a complete angel to her. Eve tried to bring Jasmine to the laundry room a few times so she could eat and use her liter box, but she peed on Eve. Twice! Not sure if it was fear, age, or just a very full bladder. Either way, not fun. Bella was a nice, chill dog, but also guarded her food and Huxley’s water. She tore apart some his toys and sat on our laps while he stared us from afar. I think neither of the pets were happy, even though our visitor was a very nice doggo.

Snow

We got A LOT of snow last weekend. The reports said 24″ fell in about 12 hours. More snow than we’ve had all winter. It would have been amazing in December. Less amazing in March. I was supposed to work on Saturday, but the boss closed the library. Thankfully!! We all stayed home and watched the snow fall. It was lovely.

Sunday was beautiful. Sunny and clear. My co-worker who was supposed to work on Sunday was 100% snowed in (he lives out in the boondocks!) so I agreed to work instead. It was actually a pretty nice day.

Blood

This is a silly thing to write about, but here we go. Last summer E had bloodwork done that showed she had low iron and B vitamins. The doctor recommended supplements. We bought a bottle of each, she took them for a few months and decided they didn’t work, and the bottles have been sitting there ever since. So a few weeks ago I decided to add them to my daily pills. I used to take B and D (?) vitamins daily, but stopped at some point. Anyway, I decided to sign up to donate blood again, curious if the iron supplements would help. The past two times I’ve tried to donate blood I was turned away because my iron levels were too low. This time… success!! Mostly. I signed up to do the “power red” because successfully did that a few times many (many!) years ago, but my iron was too low for it this time. Apparently you need more iron for that then you do to donate “whole blood.” My levels were good enough for “whole blood” but not “power red.” So I did that. The folks there told me I was a fast donor too. Apparently it only took 4m25s to fill the bag. They said that’s good. *shrug* The technician did an excellent job with the needle! Got the vein first time and didn’t even leave a bruise!

Life

My brain is juggling a thousand balls lately, trying to keep my April plans in order. I’m soooo grateful for the ease of my new job. I’ve started doing more, but not too much, and feeling very appreciated there. Plenty of flexibility to deal with life as well. I’ll post another time about the eclipse! It may be amazing, it may be gridlock for days, it may be a total dud. Time will tell.

I went to the high school talent show last night. It was fun. I sat with a few other mothers, and Eve. Tonight I went to the theater with some other friends. We saw a play called “The Play That Goes Wrong.” It was HYSTERICAL! If you ever have the chance to see it, I’d highly recommend it.

I feel like there was something else I wanted to write about, but it’s slipping my mind right now. Maybe I’ll remember another time. Or maybe it doesn’t really matter anyway.

This evening I:

1. discussed the definition of “done” with the middle teen (hint: homework is not “done” if you just have a plan to do it on Thursday and haven’t actually DONE it), discussed why failing grades are not ok, and dropped hints about the consequences that will be forthcoming if said grades do not improve soon;
2. discussed with the oldest what tomorrow’s town ballot will look like, researched several ballot questions, and made a plan to take him to vote;
3. and delicately broke the news to the youngest that her bestie and her new brother (along with two other people) are at a fun event tonight and that, although she wasn’t invited, it might come up in conversation at their DND game tomorrow.

Calm and chaos looks a little different with teens (more emotional, less rambunctious), but it’s still there!

Hi. It’s me. With kids growing and doing their own teenage things and all, I have less adorable kid things to post about. So, here’s a post about me. Maybe.

I signed up for a personal trainer this week. I have been feeling pretty crappy about my physical fitness lately. My new job is less stress, but also gets me WAY fewer steps each day! Lots of sitting on my butt. So I’ve gained even more weight. And my sciatic pain is starting to return. 😭 Between that and the spare monster truck tire around my midsection, I think I’ve lost control of my physical situation. So, I emailed the gym (that I rarely go to) and asked about personal training. They set me up with a trainer who goes by they/them and looks like they would fit in just fine with my teenagers! I haven’t decided yet if that’s good or bad. LOL. I had my first session yesterday and they were very nice. It sort of felt good to be back in the gym again, but also was way embarrassing. I scheduled another session for tomorrow. I gotta get my shi!t together before too much longer. I’m not getting any younger. That said, I’m several glasses in to a bottle of wine at the moment. So…. 🤷🏻‍♂️

On other fronts, work is going well, though still pretty boring. People gush about how great I am and how much they love having me at the library. I’m happy for the change of pace and more flexible schedule. Definitely miss the kids and friends at DBS though. And I’d love to find a middle ground on the pace of things. Not too slow, but not as fast as school either. The “Goldilocks Zone” of employment responsibilities. LOL.

I’ve been parenting teens lately. One is struggling with life and failing multiple classes because busy work is boring. Not wrong, but not ok either. He got fired from his job for just not going. He’s excited for an FRC event this weekend, and I was really hoping he’d get his butt to school this week so I didn’t have to think up any consequences (like missing the FRC event!). Thankfully he did! The other one is a tidal wave of emotions. We were at the doctor the other day and got a low dose prescription for anxiety meds. So far, no change. (but it’s only been a few days) She completely fell apart this afternoon and couldn’t bring herself to make it to work. I literally drove her there and we sat in the parking lot for 10 minutes while she cried and talked about how horrible her job is and what an rough life she has. I wanted to scream, “KIDS THESE DAYS!?!” but I didn’t. Instead I bought myself a bottle of wine. Sigh.

The third kid, really the first kid!, is so far away that I don’t see his ups and downs anymore. He is super busy with school and music, but he’s always happy to have family chats and will be coming home for a week next week. I can’t wait to squeeze him again. He loves me and I love him and I love that he loves me. I’m a lucky momma. 💗

I guess that’s enough rambling for tonight. I just tried to find a good photo to add to this post, but all my pics lately are quite boring. Sigh.

Anyway, that’s all for tonight. Love you all! 💗💗

Hi all. Happy February! It’s been awhile, so I thought I’d pop in and post some updates, in no particular order.

New Car

The old Ford Focus Electric (2014) drove it’s last mile two weeks ago. The battery was holding less and less charge, but we were getting by and it was keeping the teenagers close to home. :) One day they were trying to get somewhere and the car gave an error message saying “Stop Safely Now” and wouldn’t drive. A little Googling that evening taught us that the error message is an all encompassing message Ford uses when there’s an issue with some system or another. The only way to fix it is to get it to a shop and have them “hook it up to the machine for diagnostics.” Unfortunately we couldn’t’ drive it to the dealership, though fortunately it was stuck in the garage and not on the side of the road. I paid for a tow truck to take it to the mechanic and two days later was told that the high voltage cables that run through the car in a sort of haphazard way (just that particular model, others are done better) are corroding. The estimated cost of the repairs was $4,500! I asked what the alternative was and they said I could pay to have it towed back to my house and pay the $800 diagnostic fee!! Ha! I said aw hell no. I ended up selling the car to the dealership for the price of the diagnostic bill and walked away from the whole thing.

The following week, after juggling three busy lives with just one car, we went car shopping. I took the kids since it’s primarily for them to drive. We ended up getting a 2020 Chevy Bolt that was part of the battery fire recall. The work has been done so the car is safe, but because of that it only has 3000 miles on it and is in like new condition for a used car price. VT also has great incentives to buy electric vehicles, so I basically got it for about half price. More than the nothing I was currently paying for the Ford, but overall not a bad deal, IMHO. Eve loves the car and has named it Leda, after a dnd character. She even jazzed up her key fob with a lizard and some flowers.

Photography

My library, in conjunction with a local photography club, runs an annual amateur photography contest each year. There are different categories people submit to, including an Under 18 category. My co-workers told me that they hardly ever get many submissions in the Under 18 category, so I took it upon myself to fix that. LOL. I emailed the local art teachers I knew and the tech center that has an awesome graphics program. I also sent it to Eve, her friends, and some other people I know. We got more Under 18 submissions this year than ever before! 😁 Eve submitted two photos and even won an Honorable Mention in the Under 18 category. I was not involved in any judging, btw, and names were all on the back so the judges didn’t know who the photographers were while judging. There was an opening reception with awards ceremony that Eve and I were going to go to, but on the day it felt too much like work and she didn’t want to go anyway, so we skipped it. Her print is hanging in the gallery with a ribbon on it though. So that’s kinda cool.

(You may notice in that picture that she’s going by the name Eno now. I’m trying to adjust to that, but it’s not easy. She hasn’t asked anyone to call her that, but she’s been using it when she signs up for things. Her friends still call her E and I’ve been slowly moving from Eve to E.)

Dean’s List

Lex and Alan both got an email saying Lex made the Dean’s List for the fall semester. For some reason I didn’t get the email. 🤔 The bill comes to me though, so I guess all is good. 😄 Lex said there are a lot of people on the list (over a thousand, I think) but also acknowledged that college courses are much harder than high school courses and seemed proud of himself for earning that recognition.

Murder Mystery

E and her buddies went to a Murder Mystery event organized by my fancy new library. It was a teen program, so I wasn’t involved, but I helped promote it to my teenage crowd. LOL. They had a BLAST!

Jobs

We’ve had some job changes around here as well. Eve had been looking off an on for something for awhile. She has particular places she will and won’t work, so the process took some time. Last week she got hired at Old Navy as a sales clerk. She went in on Tuesday for her first day. She said it was really good. She was supposed to go back on Thursday, but had an emotional breakdown that day and called out sick. Sigh. Her ups and downs are coming fast and frequent these days. We’re working through those together and may enlist advice from the doctor soon too.

R went to work today and came home half hour later, shortly after posting on Instagram that he got fired, but got a cupcake to go, so all is well. Sigh. He made it clear to his boss and everyone else that work is a low priority for him, and he regularly skips work for no real reason, and he always shows up late. He has a loose grasp on time. No one was really surprised by the firing, but I think he was surprised that they actually did it. He got himself some takeout and went to a friends house for the evening. He’s going through a lot these days so maybe he’s better off not having a job for awhile anyway. We’ll see.

My job is going well. Not fired yet! I’ve been picking up responsibilities and finding myself bored less and less often. I organized a program about AI a few weeks ago, and I’m starting a Sci-Fi book club in March. So far the responses has been overwhelming! One lady checked out the book and came back a week later saying she loved it so much and “just can’t wait until March so we can discuss it!” I’m also running a weekly tech drop-in program that has been gaining in popularity. I now have people waiting at the table for me each week when it begins. I got a (contracted) six month raise recently and was surprised that I was at six months already! I’ve been hanging out with friends from DBS sometimes (dinner and lunches here and there) and while I love hearing the stories and miss (some of ) the kids, I’m regularly reminded that I made the right choice to switch jobs. (Remind me of that in two weeks when the kids and all my teacher friends are on vacation and I’m still working!)

Road Trips

We have a busy weekend coming up. R is off on a road trip with a friend to “visit a college” (ie: visit a friend in college and eat tons of chicken wings and maybe watch the Super Bowl). E, Simon, and I are going to WPI to visit Lex and watch a bball game. Well, really to watch the pep band at the bball game!! I’m excited to give my boy a big hug!! I miss him. 💗

I found out literally just now that Lex’s Winter Percussion Group will be performing on April 7th (HBD Dad!!) at a school right near where Eve and I will be heading for a college tour. We’ll be doing a several day road trip to check out four colleges in April. Lex’s group will be performing the day before her first tour. I’m THRILLED that that dates/locations line up so well! Yay!

Welcome to a whole new year! We celebrated New Year’s Eve in the usual fashion, plus a few extra people. We had games and Cheetos (both puffed and crunchy!) and the NYC ball drop. Then at 12:10 I kicked them all out! LOL. I actually let the ones who live here, plus one extra, stay. I went to bed eventually and they went to bed much later than me. A good night was had by all. :)

Here are my accomplishments for today, the first day of the new year:

• Sleep late
• Take a shower
• Complete about one third of a really hard Thomas Kinkade puzzle while watching The Queen’s Gambit in the background
• Bring those that wanted to join me to “A Forest of Lights” at VINS.
• Order and pick up pizza
• Eat
• Get myself in bed at a reasonable hour (that’s a goal anyway, not sure if it will actually happen)

That’s it. That has been my day. And I am loving every minute of it! It was weird going back to work for a few days between Christmas and New Years, but as I sit here today, remembering previous years and seeing what my teacher friends are posting on social media and text convos, I’m feeling totally at peace. I LOVE that I can enjoy my time off and not have to do work today to prepare to go to work tomorrow. Instead of the usual back-to-work anxiety, I am feeling at peace with my choices, knowing that the work will be at work and I don’t have to think about it at home. Instead I can while away the day doing puzzles and not much else. Enjoying the final day of this vacation and first day of this new year. I wish others could have that same peace in their careers.

Happy 2024. May your year be peaceful and full of good fortune.