A ridiculous Wednesday

 On Wednesday last week, Ben was out of town; I had to teach and go to meetings all day, and Jack had final exams he could not miss. SO OF COURSE WE HAD A SICK KID. 

Minnie woke up at 11:39 pm on Tuesday (about 45 minutes after I fell asleep, so I was in deep deep perfect sleep) inconsolably crying that her ear hurt. 

I was not surprised by this because she'd had a yucky cold for a few days by then. Snotty nose on Saturday. Snotty nose and a cough that seemed to require an overnight humidifier on Sunday. Super snotty nose on Monday morning-- so snotty that she stayed home from school even though she didn't have a fever because wiping her nose made her cry. She was fine on Tuesday, though, you guys! So fine that she went to school and  dance and was 75% less snottty.

Honestly, she looks a little sick in that picture, now that I think about it.

Anyway. 11:39 on Tuesday night. Sobbing kid with an ear ache. Me, barely awake and very slow moving. I gave her some Tylenol and put her back to bed. She was in my room again before 1 am, saying her ear still hurt. I brought her in bed with me and was basically just like oh that sucks go to sleep. This was not super effective-- GO FIGURE-- and we were both kind of hot even though it was so so so so so cold outside. We tossed and turned for over an hour before I realized I needed to do something. I got us both a t-shirt instead of our long sleeved pajama shirts, turned down the heat, turned on my ceiling fan, opened a bedroom window a crack, and removed one of the quilts from the bed. Then I gave her a heating pad for her ear and turned on Kids Baking Championship which neither one of us had ever seen but are both hooked on now.

I fell asleep sometime right before 2:30 and woke up to my 5 am alarm, which Minnie slept through (she told me later that she watched 2 episodes of the show, and I was for sure asleep before they revealed the very first challenge). I slept for like 4 hours total, and it really sucked. I did yoga, ran on the elliptical, walked the dog, and tidied up the house. I called the triage nurse at our HMO to get in line for the scheduler to call me and get Minnie in to be seen, and I started to make a plan to go to class with a sick kid. 

I made it through the onslaught of the morning, got dressed in a black sweater and white tulle skirt with black hearts (I LOVE wearing a favorite outfit every Wednesday, and I really meant to take a picture), and fielded a call from our doctor's office scheduler. She offered me a 9 am urgent care appointment or a 2:30 pm pediatrician appointment, I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE 2:30, but I thought 9 am would be perfect-- office right by campus, 55 minutes before my class. And! I figured any provider could look in Minnie's ear and write a script for amoxicillin, right?? (Minnie has notes in her chart after a previous terrible urgent care situation when she was almost hospitalized for pneumonia to be scheduled ONLY WITH PEDS PROVIDERS, but she's so much older now and it was just ear pain and blah.)

ANWAY. Let me just tell you that Minnie didn't get (the correct) meds until FIVE THIRTY just moments before the pharmacy closed for the day and she was in pretty significant pain/discomfort for over 24 hours. The upshot was that the urgent care provider told me exactly how much tylenol and ibuprofen she could take (more accurate than the box range) for maximum relief-- very handy.

Lesson learned-- I will always schedule with the pediatrician, even for ear pain, even if the appointment is later than I had hoped for.

Bonus, though! Minnie is a delightful audience member in lecture. My class is in this really cool free standing movie theater where the WI Film Festival screens some of its titles, and while the seats are plush and cozy, they are also kind of small. Minnie spread out at a table in the very back and had that cool little writing tablet above, some markers and coloring books, and a giant pad of reusable vinyl stickers (I linked the bundle she has-- the playhouse one is a super giant hit-- but they also have other themes that are less stereotypically girly and these things are amazing for keeping kids quietly engaged) and was a happy little clam the whole time. I also packed a bag of random snacks and included a pair of scissors in her snack pouch so she could open stuff herself (pictured: that same set up at dance)

She told me after class that she perked up when I talked about Harriet Tubman (brief reference to the naming of the second wave feminist org the Combahee River Collective) and MLK (brief reference to the general imagery in his speeches mirroring a move from light to dark) and Barack Obama (aside about his 2004 keynote speech for John Kerry) because she KNOWS ALL ABOUT THOSE PEOPLE FROM SCHOOL, and I was impressed that small mentions caught her ear.

It was sort of a happy accident that I had her with me because my weekly TA meeting for my huge class is kind of cramped in my office (the 4 of us absolutely max out my seating), so I moved it to a conference room to accommodate our visitor, and it was so pleasant that I scheduled the conference room for the rest of the semester.

Minnie expressed a desire to "get my Starbucks on," so we went to the student-staffed one in the dorms. Minnie also got to live her dream of touching a food robot, and I checked my fancy Wednesday coffee off my list.

Minnie was thrilled to color diligently on a rainbow of paper from the copy room and work on homemade valentines for home while I plugged away at my computer for the rest of the day, and she already had a packed school lunch, so it was easy peasy.

Even her increased OTC med doses eventually wore off, and there was a gap before the next round kicked in, so she was ready to relax with a heating pad and more baking show after the dive/dance run and a frantic trip to a different HMO pharmacy at closing time for the correct antibiotic (shout out to a very excellent and efficient doctor).

Bonus for us! Jack was home early from finals and brought his final exam cookies from his culinary class (Ben's mom showed him how to make them over Christmas) and they were SO GOOD.

When her pain reliever kicked in again, Minnie began the elaborate process of turning the pages she colored in my office into water color, something she had been talking about all day that ended up using up about 10 dish towels but made her extremely happy.

I was loopy from lack of sleep by the time Dorothy and Cooper finally got home. Dorothy had homework, so I made her a 9pm dinner and then napped on the couch until she told me she was going to bed. Cooper was asleep at the other end of the couch, so both of us zombie walked to bed around 10. No fun movie night or reading, but, all in all, a pretty relaxing evening. 

On an exercise note: I had time to lift weights in the evening, but I just did not even feel like it. I think on future Wednesdays, though, I can definitely make it happen. I was lucky to make my 60-minute minimum dog walks for the day because OMG I WAS DRAGGING as you might imagine.

I did finish this book after dinner, and it was a treat-- I highly recommend

February Ins and Outs + January Goal Post Mortem

 

February goals:

Schedule at least one fun thing every week. So far I have a pedicure (I bought this polish, which is the most perfect combo of 2 favorite shades), coffee, lunch, and 2 date nights on my monthly spread

Get my hair trimmed, and get Dorothy and Minnie's hair trimmed, too. Ugh. We are switching salons and stylists, so this one is kind of a pain. ALSO we have zero free time after school, and our weekends are filling up.

Finish prepping CA260 for the semester. Maybe a reach goal, but it wold be great to feel like I have the whole class ready.

See all of the Best Picture Oscar movies, plus the Kate Hudson and Rose Byrne movies so I can see everything in all the major categories before the Oscars. We are almost 1/2 way through the best pics with the middle 3 kids and hope to do a family Oscar pool/viewing party.

Buy Dorothy's bday presents, and start buying Easter basket stuff. She sent us a list, so I feel like this project can really start. I am also thinking the bunny might bring spring shoes...

Make sure every kid hosts at least one hang at our house. It feels like it's our turn in all contexts.

Sign up for Crazylegs and start an 8K training plan. I am the queen of the 12-minute mile, but I really want to finish in under an hour and plan to reward myself with a post-race bloody mary.

Buy pillows before they are gone from Costco's seasonal offerings!! (They have a $20 2-pack of "hotel pillows" whatever that means that would be totally great for Ben's shams)

Decide when and where we are celebrating Jack's high school graduation

January goal check:

Apply for 2 jobs ✅

Join a gym 🟡 I did not do this, but I do not know if I want to do this. Cooper's dive team has started training twice a week (outside of their FIVE PRACTICES) at a gymnastics place doing strength and trampoline and conditioning, and his tourney baseball team has started practicing. This means he has MORE THAN 7 sportsball practices of some sort a week, and I have Apple Fitness, a bunch of different weights, an ellipitcal, and a love of jogging in the freezing cold.

Run up hills (seek out hills; pick up the pace on the way up): FORGOT THIS ONE. ❌

Buy Vday gifts for the kids and stuff to send to Harry ✅

Explore more blogs to find designs I really like ✅

Open my book project and decide if it is still alive ✅

Decide on dates for Ben and Dorothy's bday celebrations ✅

Look for Apple Watch sales for Ben ✅

Become a mini-expert on the AI academic landscape 🟡 I am not a mini-expert by any means, but I did attend a panel the other day.

January: What I Read

 

SO MANY AUDIO BOOKS THIS MONTH YOU GUYS because I have been in Avonlea. I bought 6 of the Anne books in a bundle and then had to buy Anne of Windy Poplars a la carte and will be treating myself to Anne of Ingleside as soon as I am done with Anne's House of Dreams. Ingleside and Windy Poplars were written after the others, so they are not in the common domain and not usually included with Green Gables, Avonlea, The Island, Rainbow Valley, and Rilla of Ingleside. I didn't even count the 5.5 I have finished in my total this month, but I am happy to say that I eliminated about 80% of my doomscrolling and replaced it with Anne and Kids Baking Challenge.

Because! The world is fairly horrible to engage with right now. I mean-- if you think domestic politics are horrifying, just peek at foreign relations for a second, and you are going to need smelling salts. Besides Avolnea and the intense inward focus of a good yoga practice, the only thing that makes me feel better is my favorite protest chant which is my sort of rosary these days-- the people united can never be defeated.

(Also, if you are also bereft at the death of Catherine O'Hara, I suggest a little Waiting for Guffman and also THIS episode of Wiser Than Me, which is really a podcast you ought to listen to anyway.)

ANYWAY. MY JANUARY READS in order form least to most favorite. Also! I have moved to  Storygraph, and I only have like 3 friends, so plz join me.

All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell: This was weird, and I liked it a lot-- a general overview of death and dying and our cultural rituals. **audio

Everyone in the Group Chat Dies by LM Chilton: I liked this well enough to finish it, but only just. **kindle

Bad Tourists by Caro Carver: A decent thriller. **audio

Greenwich by Kate Broad: A great, quick read. **kindle

The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling: She is also Rachel Hawkins, and she smells as sweet by either name. **audio

A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction by Elizabeth McCracken: I love these kinds of books on the craft of writing, and this one is particularly good.

Aint't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton by Martha Ackman: This was terrific, and the pictures in the middle were fabulous. Dolly Parton is our generation's Mozart.

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman: YES. Read this. Charming and delightful.

This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through US History by Beverly Gage: You had to figure a book about the US as told through our geography by a Pulitzer-Prize-winning Yale historian would be awesome-- and you would be right. **2026

The Last Session by Julia Bartz: This was weird and wild-- a great thriller to pass the time. **audio

Yearbook by Seth Rogan: We listened in the car on the way home from HH, and it was hilarious. **audio

A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst: THIS IS WILD. Ben and I would have died almost instantly. Def within the first 3 hours. **audio

 There Is no Place for Us: Working and Homelessness in America by Brian Goldstone: YES YOU SHOULD READ THIS RIGHT NOW. I think it is better than Evicted, and that book was great. Really hits home the lingering effects of the panny.

Fun for the Whole Family by Jennifer E Smith: Oh, please treat yourself to this family saga. Lauren Graham reads the audiobook, and I definitely cried. **audio

The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O'Neill: LOVED THIS-- definitely for fans of Mary Beth Keene. **kindle

Dog Show by Billy Collins: My brother sent me this poetry collection, and I adored it so much I helped Jack cut it into an 8-minute program for poetry reading on his speech team. **2026

Inhale, Exhale by Nicole MacPherson: YOU GUYS. This book is every bit as wonderful as you have known it was going to be from the first second you heard it was coming into the world. **2026 **kindle

5 on a Friday: From my camera roll

1. A kindergartener with a snack to share

2. Two bros with the same stylist

3. Best friends having a nap

4. Silliest thing I have seen at Costco in awhile

5.  An old fave sign that popped up in my FB memories

how was I so young and gorgeous just 10 years ago? sob

This post is really only about Minnie, but I did throw in an aside about Dorothy and Cooper

 

I felt so RUSHED this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We didn't even light the menorah one single night. Wait no, that's not true. We did light it one night-- the night of our annual sibling gift exchange-- but it was WAY past sundown. I didn't have my holiday ish together enough to ebven buy candles!

I blame my university for not having a fall break AND ALSO the extreme lateness of Thanksgiving.

ANYWHO. I resolved that this year, I would be ready early for all of the things, and V-Day is up first. Not only do I have everyone's gifts purchased, but I also have cards and candy AND Minnie has already made her school Valentines. I even have 2 extra boxes of pre-made Valentines to take to school when I volunteer in class this week for kids who might not be planning to make them at home.

They're just so stinking cute.

She made bespoke cards for each person and wrote lobe Minnie on the back. hen she put them in little treat bags with stamps, a heart-shaped pop it for their back packs, and a couple teeny containers of Play-Doh, plus confetti. Then she wrote the recipient's name on a cute little heart tag. I love them!

Can I just say, apropos of nothing, that Santa hit it out of the park with the Barbie Dream House? Minnie has played with t every single day, and her 2 BFFs also each got one and love to go house to house playing Barbies.

It is so cold here that my tween and teen are WEARING COATS and GLOVES. Wow.

The Clorox wipes in the foreground here are perfect. Cold and flu season indeed. Minnie was delighted her entire ballet class and is thrilled to be dancing a Tinker Bell themed number for the recital.

Also thrilling? She has been nagging and nagging for a chore chart, and her dreams have finally come true. I gotta take a picture of her making her bed-- it is too much. She also insisted I add "dust" to her chart, and she uses a Swiffer duster VERY SERIOUSLY.

Her laundry folding! IS SO CUTE I can't stand it.

And she told me I could put reading on her chart and she will do it every day, but it is NOT a chore. I FINALLY GOT A READER YOU GUYS. IT ONLY TOOK 4 PRIOR ATTEMPTS.

Hey! The Reset Worked! And Then We All Got Shut In Together

 We had a HIGH of NEGATIVE NINE ARE YOU KIDDING ME on Friday,  and both  of our colleges (people in IL are big wimps-- it was not as cold there) and the kids' schools were all closed. SO COZY. But kind of killed my Friday vibe of going to campus (TOTALLY KILLED IT YOU GUYS) (AND WE HAD A BASEMENT FULL OF 8TH GRADERS which made WFH... not ideal). (And yes, my school was closed, but I don't teach on Fridays anyway and really need any work time I can get to make sure I am ready for my huge NEW class...)

Also, the reset did not totally work because when Ben came home from his conference lat on Thursday, I found his talk about AI tools very rage baity and responded accordingly. We will never speak of it again (seriously-- I cannot even with him, especially since he likes to take the opposite side of whatever I am arguing just for fun).

I wore an outfit I loved to school (and it was a perfect choice because I could lift weights in it when I got home and honestly could have also done yoga and maybe this needs to be my new standard for work clothes...)

(With slippers because it is January)

I had coffee in a fancy cup, which is as good as fancy coffee

Even though I did not read in bed (no time in the morning; too tired at night), I did read in my office and finished a book I was working through for a committee (it comes out in April and was GREAT)

I downloaded the free (with subscription) Audible version of Anne of Green Gables read by Rachel McAdams, and Minnie and I listened to it while we drove the kids to dance and diving. AND! I used an Audible credit to buy ALL 7 ANNE BOOKS!!!! I have SEVENTY-THREE hours of Anne to listen to!!! YOU GUYS!

(Minnie said apropos of nothing on Thursday I have a great imagination-- I am just like Anne, and I almost died of happiness)

We came home and bundled up and took Annabel for a snowy walk with plenty of time to stop and play

And the big kids and I watched Dance Moms and ate sour Skittles (delightful, BTW).

We achieved MAXIMUM COZY on Friday. The girls started their day with Inside Out 2 and a snackle box breakfast

With their new Disney stuffies and their dog who looks like a stuffy

Ben bravely took the first walk in NEGATIVE 18 DEGREES (the actual gd temp, not the  wimpy "feels like")

 We had a delightfully cosy trip to the library

I DID have to walk the dog a few times...

But otherwise it was all reading in blanket forts

Having a bunch of kids in the basement

And eating leftover pulled pork as pulled pork nachos-- so delish!