#thankfully today wasn't an 11 hour day like yesterday

[ofsnarkandmagic]

Not sure if I'll be up at midnight or not (been up since 5:00 AM because I had work today), but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy and safe 2025! This year was mainly a good one, and you all here have made it even more so; the ones that really did know who they are <3 Here's to another year together, as corny as it sounds, Twins' mun

[anamoon63]

Hi guys, I am writing this in case anyone wonders why I have been kind of MIA lately. No, I haven't forgotten you, but I have had a difficult week, more than a difficult week, I have been through a real ordeal. Where or how it started it's a long story which I don't have the time or the energy to tell, so I'll just share a brief chronology of what happened during this past week.

Friday May 3 - I turned in my finished work and set out to do my sims posts, play and rest for the weekend since more work would be coming my way on Monday.

Saturday May 4 - My husband came down with the flu, I spent most of the day with him in the emergency room.

Sunday May 5 - I spent it taking care of my husband, who fortunately no longer had a fever. I barely slept two hours at night giving care and medication.

Monday 6 May - My birthday, we couldn't go out for dinner as usual, so we celebrated at home.

Tuesday, May 7 - My son comes down with the flu, too, another afternoon in the ER and sleepless night caring for him and bringing down his fever.

Wednesday, May 8 - My son starts to feel better, and begins to recover very quickly. I start working on the following translations, at the same time I take care of both my husband and my sick son, do food, laundry, order home medicines, and all kinds of small chores, including disinfecting things. It's like going back to 2020.

Thursday, May 9 - My husband no longer has a fever but does have a cough that won't go away and minor problems with his asthma.

Friday, May 10 - Mother's Day, my son was feeling fine, my husband still had a cough, and had a doctor's appointment at noon, when he returned, we celebrated at home just like on my birthday, I spent the rest of the day working, and juggling a thousand other things. In the evening my daughter started to feel sick, but still no fever.

Saturday, May 11 (yesterday) - My daughter woke up with a fever, another visit to the ER. She was prescribed flu medicine, painkillers and rest, and sent home.

And that's my odyssey so far. On top of it all, from Wednesday through Saturday we were in the middle of a heat wave with temperatures of 37ºC with real feel of up to 45ºC; at night we get a "cooler" temperature of 29ºC. So imagine a person with a fever of 38 ºC and with this heat, obviously it's not of much help.

Surprisingly, I haven't gotten sick so far, but I'm not claiming victory. I have been taking care of my family for a week, sleeping two or three hours a night, getting up at different times to check on them, or give them medicine. I don't have time for getting sick! Lol. Thankfully, everyone is better and last night for the first time in a week I was able to sleep straight through. Honestly, I don't need many hours of sleep, but I am routinely and usually I am in bed a 11 pm and up at 8 am every day, so all this did upset my sleep cycle a little bit.

Anyway, that is the reason why I wasn't here much, since the whole day I was too busy, and at night I was so tired all I wanted was to go to bed. I apologize if I've fallen behind on your updates, I'm not ignoring you in any way, I just didn't have the strength or the time, not even to play The Sims. If I did, it was just a little free play to distract myself.

Last week I told you that I was juggling a lot of things, well now I have even more things, lol, at times I feel really exhausted, and even a little cranky from lack of sleep, the first few days my feet and legs hurt so much from going back and forth, but I'm fine, healthy, and in good spirits. Today I believe, as never before, that the universe does not send you more than you can handle.

At this point my family is already in recovery, if I don't get sick too, it's likely by I'll be able to get back to my simming routine. Now, if I do get sick, I hope to recover as quickly as the others. Whatever happens, I'll be around. Know that, even if I don't comment, I read you, and I am with you, especially with those who are going through difficult times of any kind.

Ok, I said to myself this was going to be a short post, but I made a wall of text instead (for a change). My apologies if it's written in a sloppy or confusing way, I just wanted to write it quickly to let you know where I have been and what has been going on with me these days. I hope you are all well, please take care of yourselves, health is a treasure that can be lost at any moment, the flu is a nasty disease, we must never let our guard down and forget to take the necessary measures to prevent it.

Last, but not least, I want to thank all of you who have mentioned me, tagged me, sent me asks and/or stars to my inbox, commented and/or liked what few posts I could do these days, I appreciate it very much and I'll try to reply to you as soon as I can, though I've fallen so far behind that I don't know if I'll be able to find your mentions in my notifications. In any case, thank you very, very much to all of you for thinking about me in my absence. 💗 I'll see you soon, hopefully, with more sim adventures, stay tuned!

[pbandjesse]

That's the end of my big market weekend! And it was really a great time. Today was a little harder, I felt a little more defeated easier when I wasn't making sales as quickly. But it was still a really productive and lucrative day.

I slept alright last night. I woke up a few times but no nightmares. I told James they should sleep with a teddy bear because their mouth keeps opening while they are sleeping and I don't like it and so they could use the best to keep their chin up. Which is how I sleep with my bear. And I think it worked. Though it has us in a fit of giggles for a little while there.

I woke up a little later then I originally planned but it actually was the perfect amount of time. To get ready. And then to have breakfast. James used the last of the persimmon to make crepes. And they were good. We hung out on the couch for a few minutes. And at 10 we were off.

We had to go to the craft store to get more paper bags first. I read James this insane story about a husband requesting to take a "gaycation" and we were basically in hysterics and we keep quoting the story. I was in a really good mood and I felt happy. It was a happy day.

After the craft store we took the tunnel and went to the museum to print some cards for my table. I was slightly nervous about running late but we weren't at all. We were late to being extra early. And would only be regular early when we got to the parking garage around 11.

The security guard went to let us in but discovered he had locked himself out. Oops. So we had to go to a different door. And went to get set up.

It didn't take long. I had the few bears I made yesterday to close up and got those on the table pretty quickly. I made sure to go around and say hello to other vendors. Kind of get a vibe on how people did yesterday. And they did really well! It was really encouraging to hear others doing so well.

Right around noon when everything officially opened up I went and bought a few small things. Two gifts. A pair of earrings for myself I saw yesterday. It was nice chatting with the people I was buying from. There was some excellent energy today.

But not as many sales. It was a little frustrating after having such an easy time yesterday. Way more parents telling their kids they already have to many stuffies. And a vendor a few spaces down had a free toy box, which I felt like (possibly) didn't help.

I did have some great conversations and lots of people saying lovely things about my work. I had lots of people taking my card and wanting to inquire about commissions and classes. It was still nice. Even if the sales were slow.

It took almost 3 hours before we got $100. But thankfully the last three hours would go a little better. Eventually bringing the weekend total to $1k! Incredible. I am so wildly proud.

I also felt really loved when people came to see us. Jules from the museum came and bought a bear. And she is such a social butterfly and knew some of the other vendors and there was screeching and hugs which was so cute to see. And around 230 Callie came to visit. She would walk around the market for a bit and when she circled back James would go for their own walk and she chilled with me. And we each worked on our own projects and talked a little. She is working on a lino print and I continued to sew. I totally finished 4 frogs today and finished the sewing of 8 bears. It was very productive.

James was so super helpful and supportive today. I could tell they were trying really hard to be supportive and present. They also went and got us lunch which was very good. I was trying very hard to feel happy. My back was hurting pretty bad when I was sitting, and my feet hurt when I was standing. But I was still happy.

I enjoyed people watching. And thinking about how to optimize my work the next few months when I'm not doing markets. I am growing a baby and I am hoping that I can still sit and see when she's here. But I also want to make sure I have a good backlog. It was funny seeing that I had almost every single plush I have with me today. It also makes me want to reassess the studio and how things are organized because I know of can be better. So I will start thinking through that ASAP.

The day was winding down. James told me I needed to make $10 to average $500 each day of this market. And there were a few people I was so sure we're going to buy something and they didn't and that was a bummer. But right before we started closing up someone bought a print and pushed us to the goal!! It was super exciting and I just felt so relieved.

It didn't take long to pack up. I have a really good system and not to many things that need to be put away. I made sure to find the organizer to say thank you for having me. And her and some of the other people from the organization were having a toast so I took some pictures for them. Told them how happy I was and how this was the best/most profitable market I've ever done. And that I am having a baby and won't have another (probably) until after she's here. So this was a wonderful market to go out on. I may still go to that Thursday night farmers market but still. A great way to end the season. Hugs all around.

Me and James walked to the parking garage. I got turned around and took us the wrong way and James teased me about how I can never find the car. But we found it and loaded up all my stuff and went home.

I got a little car sick. Super annoying. I had felt mostly fine all day!! Why was I so nauseous. It made me very upset.

But I was okay. When we got home I changed into soft clothes so James could take what I wore to add to the laundry they wanted to run. We had frozen pizza for dinner. And I played animal crossing for a bit. My stomach still hurts and my back hurt. James would come lay with me and press on my back which helped a bit. But eventually convinced me to get off the couch and go take a shower and that did help.

But I am very tired. And I feel all dried out. My lips are dry. My skin feels tight. I changed my navel ring to a long bar but I will probably have to switch to the soft bar I got for pregnant belly. I am getting really round in the middle. Which is exciting but also. I am slightly afraid that my belly button is going to tear open somehow. So far my stretchmarks are just light and I have been lotioning consistently. But still. I'm scared for my skin. I am keeping an eye for sure.

Now though I am in bed. I think I will get up and pick some outfits for the next couple days. We are going to stay in a cabin this weekend so I will just pick for the next couple days before I pack for that. James will finish the laundry soon and come lay in bed with me and we will sleep.

We have an OB appointment in the morning and then we might go to the new Wicked movie in the afternoon. I think it sounds like a lovely Monday.

I hope you all have a good night's sleep. And a good day tomorrow. Until next time! Goodnight

[littleharpethcrossfit]

Sunday, 10 December, 2023.

A cold front roared through the area last night bringing us heavy rain and deadly tornado's just North of Nashville. It was much colder for our workouts today, with a breezy 40 degrees that felt like 32.

Thankfully Armando wasn't too hungover and distraught from the Army/Navy game yesterday to lead us in a fun mobility session.

Warmup:

25 Synchronized Pushups with Larry as our leader. The females voices chatting away over on my left were a sure sign that some were faking this warmup.

Strength

Push Press: 5 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 5 70 to 80% For All

3 Second Pause At The TOP Of The 5th Rep Each Set.

Armando=175 Warren G=155 Ed=135 Larry=135 (all) Nathan=125 Dana=115 Coach/Dyer/Elisa/Tim=95 Warren A=65 Jordan/Taylor/Linda/Kayla=55 Emily/Shannon=45 Emma Kate=32 Big Lew=DB's Robert=didn't post because he wasn't the heaviest. Angel/Alicia=did it

WOD

Every 3 Minutes X 7 Rounds

Rest In Time Left-Over

( 155 / 135 / 85 )

1 Barbell............. 1 Weight

12 Deadlifts

9 Hang Power Cleans

6 Push Press

SCORE: Slowest Round

I'm not posting this. Many of you didn't keep track. Many others just guessed. Robert was a DNF so he didn't post anything. It's on What's APP of you care to look.

Cool-Down

Run / Jog / Walk The Arboretum 1.1 Mile Loop

On Each Of The 5 Grey Plastic Benches, Do

15 Supported Inclined Pushups

15 Supported Inclined Air Squats

Easy-Peezy

Note:

The girls always participate in the extra credit Arboretum antics that I put on the board. The guys seldom do, although 3 of us guys did after the 0730 session. I can't explain it, although I have heard that girls get hormonally synchronized for certain activities (Alicia told me), but I'll leave that right there.

Robert's Daughter Taylor came and brought 2 Samford friends with her. The Butler's were having some huge Hoo-rah at 6224 yesterday, and that's why we got to enjoy the presence of the girls. Taylor/Jordan/Emma Kate all were great sports in spite of the weather and Coach calling Jordan "Shorty" and Emma Kate "Bean Pole". They all got nice LHCF jersey's.

Today was Shannon's Birthday. Typically the girls always stage a birthday celebration but they didn't for Shannon. I suspect there is a large degree of envy and jealousy because Shannon looks so hot (new RED yoga-pants today!!) for her age (Armando said "38"), and she is married to the handsomest and strongest drug-free Mexican currently attending LHCF. So there !!

Only 11 more days until the Winter Solstice; after-which our daylight hours slowly get longer. My Daffodils are aware and are already poking their brave little Spring sprouts above ground. Unfortunately for outdoor CrossFitters, warm weather lags significantly behind the return of daylight hours, so we have 3 more months until Spring-Time officially arrives. If you are curious as to the astronomical reasons for the "Warm weather lag", ask Timmy. He will be authoritarian giving you his latest conspiratorial theory including exactly when the oceans will begin to boil.

Anybody who can drag Cherrita back to LHCF will get a renewal of their Lifetime LHCF Membership. Perhaps if I don't declare my undying love every time she comes she won't be scared off again.

Tuesday at 4 PM

[lifewritteninthestars]

Some days are just really, really good.

We took down our bedframe yesterday and have a floor bed now, so Baby C can roll around to her heart's content. That involved also relocating some furniture and doing some long overdue deep cleaning, so the bedroom is a delight to be in right now. We spent a long time today laying on the bed letting Baby C play and roll. This was after a fun ride on her dada's shoulders and getting to look in her favourite mirror!

After all of this, we went to the grocery store. Baby C likes going shopping with us, especially when she can be carried in arms instead of pushed in her stroller. She's a great sport about it even when it's boring, and she mostly just stares at everything and takes it all in. Seeing errands like that through her eyes, and taking a wander through the toy and craft supplies section to look at things that she may want someday, make it much more fun. I'm always wondering what she sees and what she's thinking about what she sees.

This evening, while GK played a game with a good friend, I decided it was the perfect time to read to her.

Baby C is at the stage where books are more delightful chew toys than anything else, so reading involves a lot of slobber and wrestling to turn the pages, but I find it very calming in a way. I just love talking to her, but I'm somebody who can go hours without saying a word; it gives me things to say when I would otherwise be silent.

Plus, we have some great books for her. Goodnight Moomin is one of my favourites! I was fortunate to receive a lot of good books from my cousin (she gave us the Jane Eyre counting book pictured in the photo) that her kids have outgrown, plus some classics from my own childhood, a few from my childhood librarian friend, and others that I've picked up on my own (like Moomin). I don't want Baby C to have so many toys and clothes that she gets overwhelmed, but books are so fun and I loved having my own little "library" as a kid so hopefully she feels the same!

Baby C is asleep on my chest in the family bed right now, although I'm almost positive she'll wake up for an hour or two sometime soon. She does more nights than she doesn't, these days. We'll have some cuddles, some playtime, maybe a little baby massage, and eventually I'll be able to help her back to sleep. It's tiring, but worth it. I'm usually not asleep by then anyways, so it doesn't make much difference to me in the long run to work with her rhythm for now.

As for myself, while I wasn't able to work as much as I would have liked today, I found myself really enjoying the downtime. I was able to do some dishes and make dinner, but mostly I just spent my free time reading. I just finished Teach Your Own, by John Holt. It was an intense read for me - I realised some things about myself and my own difficulties as I was reading his words about how children look at the world can appear to some adults as a learning disability when it's actually coming from a logical place that just doesn't match our adult norms.

I also learned about the homeschooling laws for our state, which are thankfully pretty relaxed. A notice of intent at age 6; a test at ages 9, 11, 14, and 16. No required record-keeping, but I will anyways, in case we move, or the requirements change, or Baby C wants to go to college and needs to assemble a portfolio. And also, just because why wouldn't I keep records of my daughter's growth? That's treasure, to me.

[modestcatholiclife]

What to Do For Lent?

My post last week left off on a more melancholic note. Thankfully, I've been blessed with a much better week this week.

It was my brother's birthday on Thursday. He is 11 now. Due to his school and my work, I wasn't able to visit him until this Sunday but I was able to get him a present (money has been tight lately so I wasn't sure I'd be able to). My fiance came along with me and gave him a present too which I really appreciated.

Speaking of my fiance, the two of us took our drivers knowledge test this past Saturday and I'm pleased to say that we both passed! We both have our learner's licence and will hopefully start learning the basics of driving soon enough. I don't want to put this off for too long.

Divine Liturgy was lovely as always. This week we were at St. Volodymyr's. The parish community here is mostly older folks, with some younger families attending from time to time.

For Christmas Eve last year, one of the older couples invited us, along with another of the couples and one of the women to a traditional Ukrainian Catholic Christmas Eve feast. It was honestly so amazing and really made us feel like part of the community. When we were at Divine Liturgy yesterday, the wife of the couple who hosted Christmas Eve gave me a booklet she'd made herself discussing the traditions of the feast, the foods typically served and recipes for them, as well as some Ukrainian Christmas carols. I absolutely love it and can't wait until I can put it into practise next Christmas season!

As for today, I had my second appointment with my new psychologist. This time the therapy dog was there! She's a six year old Labrador (I think) named Blossom and she spent most of our appointment sleeping but I love her immensely. I also got a start on writing up a new budget in the lead up to getting my first pay of the year. I'm a little apprehensive of how my grocery budget will change now that Meatfare has come to pass. I will be giving up meat for the entirety of Lent and I'm not sure how I'll fare with it. I'm trying not to go too hard with my Lenten fasts, since this will be my first Lent, but I'm feeling confident about what I have so far.

Here is what I'm planning to do for Lent:

Give up meat - I have an incredibly high metabolism and struggle if I don't eat well consistently so I won't be fasting from food as a whole.

Give up coffee - people who have given up coffee have expressed noticeable reductions in anxiety levels.

Give up coke - I'd say soft drinks in general but I only really drink coke. I usually only have it when I'm out but I think I'll be swapping it out for fruit juice/tea for Lent.

Give up my laptop - it's a major distraction for me and I live very close to a library with free to use computers. If I desperately need a computer, I can go there.

Give up wasteful social media usage - I'll be using it to keep in touch with friends since usually I'm very bad at answering messages, but no scrolling for me. It absolutely saps my productivity.

Take up daily cleaning - I'm thinking a solid hour each day would be good, with possible Sunday exceptions. My apartment is getting a little out of hand and this would help me get back on tol of everything. If I somehow can't find something to do, I have my bike in the garage that needs to be fixed. The front wheel is loose and a lot of it is rusted.

Mostly, I just want to stay productive with my prayers and spiritual life as a whole, as well as with life in general. I still have a week to finalise what I'll be doing and plan my meals for that time. I'd love to know what everyone else is doing for Lent! I'll also be including pictures of two cats I met this week!

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

[keichanz]

I remember you mentioning that you lived in north NY. The snow was brutal, you okay in your neck of the wood?

oh my friend. it's been rough.

we got hit with a literal blizzard last week and got hammered. it started friday night and it got so bad the governor issued a state of emergency for ny. driving conditions were horrible with whiteouts and ice and a travel ban was issued for the entire weekend. snow drifts got up to about 10 feet tall and there were fatalities in various counties because emergency vehicles couldn't get to people in distress fast enough from the awful road conditions. even snowplows couldn't work fast enough and some of them got stuck. the ny state thruway shut down all the way to pennsylvania. my entire town pretty much just shut down - stores closed, small businesses closed, events cancelled. granted since it was christmas weekend a lot of them were closed anyway, but the major stores like walmart and target which usually just closed early were closed completely until tuesday. power outages everywhere with thousands of people going without heat or power for several days. thankfully i never lost power, but i did lose my internet friday night around 6:30 until about 11:45pm (trust me i was NOT happy) and i guess it was like a statewide internet outage because i wasn't the only one. that really sucked, but if there was one thing good that came out of it was i got some writing done without vr or social media to distract me lmao.

and if that wasn't bad enough, on sunday about half an hour before i was gonna leave to drive to my parent's house for christmas - the driving ban for my county lifted that morning thank god - one of my water pipes underneath my house burst and i got a leak, so i had no water. had to call my dad, who drove over and confirmed the leak, and since it was christmas no one was available to come that day to fix it. so i had to turn off my water to avoid a ridiculous water bill and then i went without water for four days. i just got it back yesterday morning and lemme tell you, you really don't know what you have until it's gone.

so yeah. it was pretty brutal. we're in the process of slowly recovering tho. the roads are much better, pretty much completely cleared, and the temperatures which dropped to about -10F in some areas with the windchill a chilly -40F, is steadily increasing. it's gonna be about 47F today and tomorrow almost 60F. so now we're having a heatwave to counteract the awful weather last week and no one is complaining lol. it's like mother nature's like "sorry for the shitshow last week here's some warmth with a side of flash flooding enjoy."

but anyway. that's how my christmas went and how my week is going lol. thanks for the message anon and checking in on me :) as you can see i survived the blizzard of '22 and everything is almost back to normal.

much love ❤️

[pbandjesse]

I could feel better right now. My stomach hurts. I feel so dehydrated even though I keep sipping water. I just had kind of a rough day.

I didnt sleep amazing. I woke up a lot and had weird dreams. So when my alarm went off I told James I needed to sleep more and gave myself an extra hour. It helped a little but pretty quickly it would fade and I would feel bad again.

I tried really hard to be positive though. James left me breakfast so after I got dressed I warmed that up. And packed a little lunch. I had some juice but it didn't make me feel much better.

I drove to camp. And very quickly started to not feel well again. But it also makes me feel stupid. I don't want to have to keep asking to go home. I want to be able to work. But when there is nothing for me to do I just feel miserable.

There were positive things today though. It was my dad's birthday! He's 70! Incredible. And it's my parents' wedding anniversary! They got married on his birthday so that he wouldn't forget. And it's Friday the 13th. And the start of my 13th week of pregnancy! Which means baby is now a peach! Or a kiwi. Depends on the app you check.

I tried to let those things make myself feel better. But it was hard. I would had some things to do though which was something. I spent a few hours going through all the private schools in an hour radius and finding emails for history, science, and social studies teachers. This turned out to be a ton of work because not every school has a very good website design. It was hard to actually get emails. But I got a really good amount and I was happy about that.

I would also work on my alphabet drawing. I made files with every letter. So that's started at least. And I would send some emails and poke around online.

I had lunch around 11. I told everyone about our appointment yesterday and seeing baby flip around and stretch. It was nice to talk about it.

I wasn't feeling great though. And went up to arts and crafts to take some materials to put away. And spent a good amount of time laying in the hammock. I just wasn't feeling good. But I wanted to stay until at least 2. I laid in the hammock for a half hour. Just trying to feel better.

Eventually I went back to the office. And Heather had two tasks for me. Finally. And I would spend time researching private schools in York that we can email. And updating the email blast with the more accurate Native American Field trip stuff. But then I had stabbing pains in my boobies and was just like. Okay I'm done. And said goodbye.

I stopped at 711 and got a snack. And only got stuck in some traffic for a little bit. And was home right after 330.

When I got back here I was excited that my package had come. I purchased a baby carry wrap. Which not shocking is way to large on my torso but is perfect for James. I didn't realize that its flame pattern in one side and crane patterned on the other. Really cool.

I laid in bed for a long time. I didn't really leave bed for the whole evening. I would lay down and wait for James to come home. And when they did they had a gift for me too!

They got me the special Japanese Calico Critter seals!! I was so excited. They are so soft and I'm excited to add them to the doll house.

James would try on the carrier. And we found a tutorial video on how to wrap it but our guess ended up being correct. James would practice with a weighted plushie. I thought it was so sweet.

James made us dinner. I had a quesadilla and a hashbrown and a scrambled egg. Which was probably to much food because I feel all swollen now. But thankfully I didn't feel nauseous. Just swollen and not great. I'm glad that eating is easier. Everything doesn't go to a pinpoint and I think I'm going to black out. I am thankful for that.

I took a shower and washed my hair and gave mostly just been laying down. James has been hanging out with me. Sweetp too. He wants to lay on my stomach so much and we have to keep blocking him from doing so and he doesn't understand. My poor baby.

I am really hoping I can sleep easy and feel better tomorrow. We have the market all morning and then we are having dinner with Jules, that girl I met a few months back. I am hoping to just sleep all afternoon and be in a good mood for that.

I hope you all had a good day. Wish my dad a happy and healthy birthday. I love you all. Goodnight!!

[canaryatlaw]

okay, well today was interesting. I had court at 11, but managed okay sleeping in until then. court was fine, the other side wants to go to hearing and I don't think it'll turn out well for them (lawyer seemed slightly exasperated that his client wouldn't consider settling) but hey, if that's what they want that's fine with me. did a variety of little things after that, including discussions about the client situation I've been stressed about the last few days that pretty much went nuclear today, and we made the final decision that we're withdrawing from the cases, which I feel bad about because I do believe in one of them, but this shit was way over the line, and I'm mostly relieved that I don't have to deal with this shitshow of a situation anymore. but yeah, it kinda sucks all around. our afternoon meeting ended up just being us chatting about different stuff for like half an hour, so that was fun at least. I presented two cases that were both absolutely batshit, so we're going to be taking those. the court portal we use to see past cases and records has been down the last few days, so we accepted pending checking that, and for one of them my work buddy was just like "okay well unless she's like a murderer we should take the case" 😂 and I think that's pretty accurate for the fucking nuts situation. so yeah, that was good at least. easy end to the day workwise, but when roommate got home we discovered that our blue apron box was not in fact in the lobby (I hadn't gone down and checked because my legs are still shaky from taking public transit home yesterday, ugh) though it had been marked as delivered. some investigation later, we discovered it was in the lobby of the building connected to ours that we have no access to (it's one building, but two entrances and 4 different address numbers) so we rang the buzzers a bunch of times and nobody came out, so we ended up taping a note to the door like HELP US GET OUR FOOD BOX PLS and thankfully someone texted a few minutes later and we were able to get it. I should mention this all took place during fairly heavy snow, so we were both pretty wet by the time all of this took place. oh well, at least we got it. had a chill night, didn't make a meal since we had leftover pizza from yesterday to eat. roommate went to bed a bit early because she wasn't feeling well, so I just chilled and watched the olympics, mainly for the figure skating. I'd already seen the results posted on twitter so I knew what was going to happen, but really watching it was something else. I've felt badly for Kamila Valieva since the whole doping scandal started because I highly doubt it was her choice to do any of those things, and now her dream she'd worked so hard for was in jeopardy. but watching her have an absolute breakdown after making a bunch of mistakes and ending up finishing 4th just off the podium, while she was getting scolded by her coaches while she was uncontrollably sobbing, and for all of it to happen with a camera in her face and millions of people watching....it was all just incredibly heartbreaking to watch, I was crying right along with her. It's really just so difficult to watch, and it makes me really mad to see how she was mistreated by the adults in her life that put her in this position. I also felt bad for the girl who actually won the gold medal, Anna Shcherbakova, for being essentially ignored by everyone afterwards and kind of forgotten about when she just made an incredible career achievement...that sucks. So yeah, the whole thing was just incredibly upsetting to watch, and I super hate that she was put in that position by the adults in her life. that really sucks. sigh. anyway. When it started to get late I showered and started getting ready for bed, and now I'm here. Office in the morning, super packed day- two cases at 11, motion up at 12, then a 2 pm hearing that I fully expect to take all afternoon if not longer (my question doc with the answers filled in is a whopping 13 pages, so), so that's gonna be a lot, and I should be getting to bed now clearly. Goodnight

friends. Love you lots, happy Friday.

[pbandjesse]

I'm back at home. And I'm glad that I came home because it's nice to take a real shower and wash my hair for real. Taking a shower up camp is never going to be exactly correct.

But it was a pretty good day even if my neck was still bothering me and I was pretty tired. Last night I did stay up until around 11:00 but I slept until 4:00 before I woke up. I was pretty cold and ended up having both fuzzy blankets and both of my rumple blankets on the hammock with me. And that kept me pretty comfortable but it was shockingly cold last night. And even when I woke up this morning it was still pretty chilly.

When I got up I took some time to try to feel clean. I feel like I wake up and I feel like sweet smelling. Like sickly sweet. And I don't know why that is. It makes me nervous though because of the concern about prediabetes. Is that a side effect of that I have no idea. I need to look into it but I don't like smelling sickly sweet so I did my best to get cleaned up and then got dressed and actually had to wear my fleece for most of the day cuz I'm so chilly.

I did sleep in a little bit later than I had planned but there was nothing I needed to do this morning so it didn't really matter. Once I did get up I went for a little walk but I found no mushrooms. I didn't find much of anything interesting. I just kind of walked around and enjoyed how cool it was. I went to Pat the goats but they smelled sickly sweet too. Which makes me think it's just me. Something was stuck in my sinuses. But we try our best.

When I got back to the art building I had a yogurt. And made sure everything was already heard the day. Got the hot glue guns plugged in and then it was just waiting. For my last talk to bar group.

Anton was back and he was very helpful. He also was very cold. So I let him use my sweatshirt but I wore yesterday. And thankfully it would warm up within the hour so both of us were fine. He had accidentally slept through his alarm yesterday and then once his family realized he was still home they had him help his aunt move and her new house and he was just very busy. But it was nice to have him back and have the help but he did a disappear a few times today for meetings without telling me. And it's fine but he's 16 and I don't want to be responsible for losing him in the woods.

Top bar did great. Like they always do. And then we were waiting for the pioneer boys but they didn't come. Because it turns out that they are no longer coming on Wednesday mornings they're always going to come on Thursday afternoons which I hate but it's fine. It's six kids it's not like it's a huge deal it's just I don't like having programs that late. But I'll do it because that's the way it is and I don't care that much it's just a little annoyance. At least it's Thursday which is the day I stay over anyway.

So we had a random break hour but because we didn't know the boys weren't coming we didn't really treat it as a break. Louisa came and hung out with us and me and her looked through my outfit photos and I told her about different clothing I had and where the pictures were taken and then we sat outside and looked at pictures of art on my phone and just talked about nonsense until it was lunch time.

Lunch could have been good. But it was not good. They had grilled cheese and we thought they had tomato soup. But the grilled cheese was on wheat bread which I do not like. They only used one slice of cheese which made it very thin and then it was not tomato soup it was just marinara sauce. I still ate it but it wasn't great and I really just wanted to go lay down. So after we had food and we chatted for a little while. Especially staff who still sits together. I went back up to their building and I closed the doors and locked them and turned off the lights.

I had a great time sitting alone for an hour. It was quiet and cool and I was very comfortable in the hammock. But my neck was still hurting me and honestly I was hoping that stretching would make it better but it wasn't helping as much as it really should have. Honestly now it feels a little bit better after I did a lot of stretching this evening but it is very frustrating how much it hurts. I'm glad I'm going to the doctor on Monday and I'm going to say something. I don't know if this is a time where I meet with the doctor but it's fine all still make sure they make a note of it. Along with my wrist.

My afternoon groups were nice. Anton would come back and then leave for a meeting again but then I thought he was missing and it was a whole thing but it was fine. My groups did good. We struggled to clean up but not shocking. And I enjoyed my half hour break outside. I did have to stop and fix some of the hammocks because they are getting really beat up. The one is definitely going to be trash after this year but I'm hoping that the other two will survive a little longer. It's just getting shared a lot and I have been leaving them outside which I know is a bad idea because of weather. But I've been lazy about it and that's really my fault.

The stockade boys would come on time which was very surprising. And none of them really wanted to do anything. Which is fair but I made them at least make bracelets. And they were sweet boys. I taught a few of the counselors how to make circle loom bracelets and I worked on my sewing. I am on row 12 but did not get the chance to finish it today because I had to cast some metal for one of the counselors yesterday who did not work. But it came out really nice today so I'm really happy and I hope that she loves it.

But back to my sewing I'm really excited about how much progress I made. I'm hoping that sewing the actual long rose together now will not take more than the next week. And then I can do any finishing work after that in the last week of camp because there's only two after this and I'm really hoping to be done this blanket before camp is over. I really love how it looks though and I'm excited that I have this one and I'm hoping to start another one soon. The next one I want to have larger squares and then I would like to make a few small pieces because I want to start thinking about Christmas gifts and I would love to make some pieces for Christmas so I'm hoping to get to the craft store to buy way too much yarn but it's for good and I'm happy about that.

The end of the day could not come quick enough. My last half hour felt like a million years but I had Anton and Alicia in the art building sweeping and getting everything ready for tomorrow while CJ was cutting cardboard for me. She had to take a vow of silence today for a secret society thing so she was always just writing a notebooks to communicate which I thought was very funny. But I'm very excited for her because it's something she's excited about. And I love CJ so I want her to be happy. Even if I do not understand the secret society.

And at the end of the day I said goodbye to everyone and went down to the office to check in. I wanted to talk to Elizabeth and Heather about my worksheet that I worked on yesterday which I'm still really proud of and told them my next steps. There was a typo in one spot so I wanted to fix that and then I was chatting with them and I went outside because there was something in the AED that I wanted to get. Specifically the AED box that we don't keep The actual AED in. And of course the AED was on top of it and when I opened the box it fell and it broke my fingernail backwards. And it mostly embarrassed me because I'm afraid that I broke something very expensive but mostly it was just scary. And I totally that we need to build some kind of hook to keep it on there because keeping it on top of the box is not safe. Yes ideally it would go inside the box but it's too big. Mostly I was just embarrassed.

I left after that making sure that the building was closed up and then I was on the road. But I wasn't in a rush to get back to the house instead I took myself to Hunt valley. There was a bunch of construction around it and I got a little confused so I parked in the far away parking lot and walked over to the shopping center and decided to go to five below first. Where I didn't find any of the stuff that was actually looking for but I did get new black nail polish which I was out of and then some fun candies and a chapstick that smells disgusting. I was very disappointed in the chapstick but everything else was fine. And then I walked over to Chipotle where the man was very nice and I got exactly what I wanted and I wasn't missing anything which was a nice change of pace because I feel like the last couple times I've gone to Chipotle It has been very disappointing. I walked all the way back to the back parking lot and ate half of my bowl in the car. And watched a video and once I was done I drove home. And there was almost no traffic so I got back here around 6:00.

When I got back I parked and brought my stuff inside. I was very happy to see James but they said I looked visibly tired. Which was fair I was very visibly tired. A few times today kids were asking me if I was okay because I seemed so down. But mostly it was just cuz my neck hurt. Even Elizabeth asked if I was okay and when I gave her a thumbs down she was very concerned. And like emotionally the day was fine My body just hurts. And I'm a little burnt out and I'm glad that I talked to Heather about my start date for being full-time which is going to be the day after Labor Day. So I will have two weeks off. It's going to be great.

James would help me lay out my rows so that we could pin pairs together so that it would be easier for me to figure out when I'm going to be sewing and then we talked about stuff and they told me that the missing package from yesterday showed up which I'm thrilled I have no idea what the package was but that had really upset them so I'm glad that a neighbor just took it by accident. And then I set myself up in the bathroom because I wanted to dye my hair.

I don't normally dye my hair during summer camp because I go swimming a lot but this year I haven't been swimming as often and even when I do go swimming there's only been two times where I put my head underwater. So I decided that this would be good for my mental health and I would just make myself feel a little bit better.

So I dyed my hair and then I got myself together while my hair was setting to work on the inside of my journal hand out for my field trip. And I'm really happy with that. I feel like maybe needs a little bit more inside color-wise or image wise but I'm really happy with everything else and I think it's going to be a really good take home object. Next I'm going to work on my intro and my closing PowerPoints. But I'm very happy with the progress I've made so far.

Once I was done I would rinse my hair out which took a while. It's a lot easier to do when it's not freezing because the water doesn't hurt my head. And I would just take up really nice shower after that and try to feel better.

And now I'm sitting here texting Jeff because she just signed all the paperwork for her house and she's in her house that she bought with her money setting up her Wi-Fi. I am so happy for her. I cannot wait when it can be me and James doing this because I'm just so proud of my friend and also jealous that she has this whole new space a new adventure. And I get to go see her next weekend and I'm so excited about that too! So I'm sitting here texting her and painting my toes and listening to James play D&D with their friends. And I just feel happy inside even if my body hurts.

I hope that you are all having a good night. I hope that tomorrow is kind to you and that the weather continues to be nice. I hope you have fun. Sleep well everybody. Until next time.

[pbandjesse]

Today was super long. I was at work for almost 11 hours. But honestly I feel great. My feet hurt a little bit but it was a really good day overall. Though some of the kids were absolutely insane. Just off the wall. I still had fun.

I don't sleep a great last night. But when I woke up and I tried my best to feel okay. It was hard. My body hurts so much. But thankfully I would shake it off pretty quickly. James made me a breakfast quesadilla. Which was very kind of them and then they said goodbye. I kind of moped around the apartment for a few minutes but I was on the road for 8:00. And I felt pretty good.

I really liked my outfit and I felt very pretty. I was in a great mood. I listen to music and I ate my quesadilla. And everything was going great until I took a turn to sharply and my sour cream bowl flew off the dashboard and got sour cream all over the seat! A sour cream disaster. So then I left the windows open in the car for the rest of the day because I did not want to smell like sour cream.

I got to work though and I had a couple minutes so I went to change my shoes and take some stuff to the building and get ready before I went to the office. I ran into Elizabeth there and soon Celia joined us. debriefed a little bit about the day and I was very much looking forward to just being at my art building. And honestly I think that's boring if you don't hurt as bad as they did yesterday because I didn't walk quite as much. I'm still a good amount of walking but it wasn't as bad.

Because I didn't have to do any of the nature stations I helped Elizabeth reset the student boxes. And while I love my co-workers they are always the best of being proactive. So while they were kind of standing around waiting for instructions I just started fixing the boxes and Elizabeth gave me a high five. Because I got them done and she was very surprised by that. I kept saying I just used my very smart brain to do things. And then we were getting ready to go to the field because soon the kids would be there.

And almost right away we knew who was going to be an issue. This group is a little bit bigger than yesterday's. And most of them were great. A little wild but overall fine. Two of the boys though got off the bus screaming. Saying horrible things. Making sexual jokes and being very inappropriate. And just being too much. As soon as they got on the field the one boy sees me standing in the middle holding one of the staffs and just screams "are you a witch!?" I was like hey! That's not very nice! Because I knew he didn't mean it in a positive way.

And I was just like Elizabeth this child is bullying me. But soon another one of the little girls that are a little alternative found me and immediately saddled up next to me to tell me that they thought we would vibe. And they were right. She was very sweet. And later in the day I would have an excellent interaction with a child that uses they've been pronouns. And they were really excited to hear about James using non-binary pronouns as well. And we chatted about how we went through that together. And it was really sweet.

And like I said overall the kids were great. I had two programs before lunch and I'm getting a little bit better about timing with this seed bomb program. Having them come all to the back works really well having the most seated works really well for an intro. We go through the steps. They make the product. We spend a few minutes letting them bake in the sun while they hang out. And then depending on how much time we had I hiked them all over camp. One group I had to take all the way to the Glen because they were too fast. And a few groups we were able to just throw them into the picnic area behind the art building. Overall an excellent day for me.

I heard it was not as good at other sites though. That there were some problems. A big tree branch fell in a child. Someone twisted their ankle. Someone else got stung by a bee. It was just a lot. But I had a good time.

Elizabeth was nice enough to not make me help with lunch so that I could have a break. Which was good because I needed a little bit of extra time to reset the art building and eat and not talk for a little while. I didn't read my book. I wanted to but there just wasn't time. And then we had to jump in into my four afternoon programs.

And they were fun. We did some walking to her homestead and I let some of them run around in the Fort and play Gaga. Some of them wanted to build on my stick fort. Which is fine except they were trying to pull live tree branches. And they were trying to swing from them. And I was like hey you got to knock that off. And so then they started kicking a sapling. And I was like okay absolutely not leave the living trees alone. And so then they start going over to this dead tree that's almost 8 ft tall and they start hitting it with sticks and kicking it and pushing it and then all together they shoved it and it broke in half and fell down! They knocked a tree down! Insanity! And we have this huge pile of full size tree logs that one of the chaperones were letting the kids climb even though I told them not to multiple times because I don't know how sturdy that is and what if it falls down and crushes your child. But the other chaperone just kept saying oh well she's so good with them. No! I'm not going to get in trouble because you let a child die. Ridiculous.

But beyond The kids getting crazy. I have some really excellent conversations with parents and I told stories and we looked at nature and honestly I had a good time. And once it was time for dinner they were fine with having an extra 15 minutes to chill. And I needed it because my head started to throb in that last hour. I don't know if it was because I was dehydrated or the sun was setting and it was in my eyes or I was just tired but I was in a lot of pain. I tried sticking my head under the spigot to see if the cold on the back of my neck would help. And it did a little. But I was on the verge of throwing up I was in so much pain.

So I waited over at the lodge with my group and I texted Elizabeth to please bring me ibuprofen if she had it. And thankfully she did and it helped very quickly. And then I was able to help scoop dinner and give seconds and I had a whole system set up with the plates and the salads. And she even think it was going to work but it did. And we all got to eat dinner as well. And there was very good lemonade. I really felt happy.

Elizabeth had to freak out at the kids a few times because they were being ridiculous. I kept saying we were going to refuse to serve them if they wouldn't stop being rude. Specifically those two boys. And then me Dachelle and Sarah were sitting in the back in the kitchen eating and talking and laughing. It was good. But once the kids were gone it was time to reset and get ready for tomorrow.

We cleaned all the tables and I let Elizabeth know some of the compliments that Morgan and Dachelle both got. We reset the student boxes and I talked to Heather and Joe for a bit. My finger split open again and so Joe suggested I put on liquid bandage when I got home. Which James did help me with but did not work very well. Maybe I'll try again later.

We were there until a little bit after 6:30. I walked to the office to take a small video for James and then dropped off my walkie and got ready to go home.

It was a very long day. But I felt good. I felt like I did my job very very well and it made me feel very confident. And it was a pretty quick ride home there was no traffic and it was after rush hour so I got home within half an hour.

When I got back here there was a very pretty blonde girl walking down the street and she looked a little confused. She stopped me and asked if I was a Mica student and I told her I wasn't, but that I have very big mica energy so I understood. She said that that was true. And I told her I went to a different art school. And she said oh okay and then she walked away. I kind of wish I would have asked her if I could still help. I hope she found what she was looking for.

I was very excited to see James and sweetp. And James was working on the new training videos for camp. And we sat and talked and I watched videos for a little while. And eventually I went and took a long bubble bath. James came and sat in the bathroom with me and we talked some more and had some big laughs. I'm glad they did that. We had candles and we just talked and it was really nice.

And now I am in bed. Sweetp is here and is being very cute. Soon James will join us and we will go to sleep. It's a very long day but I feel very happy. I hope tomorrow is group is as nice. And while it's going to be warm I hope it's not too bad. I hope you all sleep great tonight. And that you feel very good. I love you all. Good night.

[pbandjesse]

Sitting in James's apartment right now. I cleaned in here because every time I come here when I haven't been here a few days it seems like the whole place explodes. Every time. But it's fine. I'm having a nice day. There was a bit of a stressful moment this morning but everything has worked out since then. The morning was bad with the afternoon was good.

I slept okay. I woke up around 8 and laid in bed for a while. I was going to get out of bed at 9:30 but decided to just get up after I finish going through Tumblr. I got up and dressed. I love my makeup. There was no food I was interested in. My plan was to walk my sculpture to the dentist office and then bike down the harbor to see James before I got brunch and then went to the museum. All of that went wrong.

First off I walked all the way to the dentist office because the website said that they were open. But for whatever reason they were closed. I guess maybe there are by appointment only. And then I took the sculpture back home because I didn't want to carry it with me. And so I was annoyed and hot by the time I got back.

But I just left again to go down to the harbor. I got down there and got to say hi to James. And then I started going towards the museum. I went up to the shopping center and sat at the counter at the diner. Have a nice conversation with the guy next to me. And then I get a text from Jessica asking where I was. Because even though I asked multiple times this week what time I was supposed to be there. And was told I was supposed to be there at 12:30 because the party started at 1:30. I was apparently supposed to be there closer to 10 AM. Because the party actually started at 12 and I was supposed to be there an hour before the party began and a half an hour before the setup was allowed which was 11. That was not what I was told at all. When I talked to Jessica when she trained me on Wednesday she said to be here at 12:30 or I could even come as early as 12 if I felt like I needed some more time to set up. The schedule that was sent out so that the program are supposed to do was from 2 to 3. If the party started an hour before the program and I was supposed to be here an hour before the party that means I should be there at noon. But the email they sent out yesterday said that the program were happening until 2:30. Okay. But the schedule still said in the email that I was scheduled from 12 until 2:30. There was nowhere in any of the information I was supposed to be there at 10:30 am. No one ever said this to me and so I was waiting on my breakfast and was really really upset. Jessica text me and I told her what are you talkin about I'm not supposed to be there for an hour. But apparently the party people were already there. So I switched my food to a to-go order and got over there as fast as I could but I was still a half an hour late. I was really angry. Multiple times I had checked about what time I was supposed to be there because this was my first birthday party and I didn't want to mess it up. No one told me anything about being there closer to 10:30 or 11. So that gave me so much anxiety and I was very upset.

Thankfully the birthday party people were great. They were a lovely family and we're super understanding and seemed to really like me. But I think it affected their lack of a tip at the end of the birthday. It's fine but after being told by multiple other people that they get tips at birthday parties I was a little perturbed that my being late because of being misinformed probably affect the back. It's fine. But still.

But the birthday party was fun. I helped them set up and got everything I needed. I went and had my lunch that I brought with me from the diner. I set up the program. The birthday boy was very tall for 8 and was a real big sweetheart. The whole group of boys that was at the party were very loud but a good time was still had by all. I really wanted one of their cupcakes but I wasn't going to ask. I gave him a mini tour and turned on some machines for them. Left them in the video game exhibit before they had their lunch. Then came and got them and did the roller coaster project for about 40 minutes. Because the mom felt they were being a little bit too crazy. But that's okay. Two of the four groups actually built the roller coasters. The birthday boys groups decided to beat each other with the tracks. So the mom made him sit out for a few minutes. Still a really fun time.

Everything got cleaned up pretty quickly. They help me put the tables back and they really didn't need me for much of clean up time. So I kind of hovered but didn't want to be in the way but also didn't want them to think I wasn't willing to be there to help. But it all happened really fast and I was out of there by 2:30.

But because I had been so stressed about everything I felt bad and didn't want to go home. So I went back to the harbor and went to Marshalls. I got a new Sleeping pack for my face because I've been getting real bad dry skin again. And I got the cutest little jumper but I'm going to wear tomorrow. It's yellow and I love it so much. I went to go get James a hug at Taney and then I came home.

I got catcalled a lot on our way home today. Don't know why. But it was whatever. Had a couple conversations with my cat callers. Don't know why but I did.

Then I got home and got cleaned up. Lay down for a little while but I didn't want to be in my apartment. Someone's coming to see it at 10:30 tomorrow morning and I just felt uncomfortable. I wanted to get pizza and go sit here at James's place.

So that's what I did. I got here and I cleaned and organized. I brought one bag of stuff over and put those things away. And then I realized that my belly button ring was missing. So I went back home to get another one. It's not my favorite but it's fine. I came back here and as I was walking out my bike James rode past me and we waved at each other and said hi. He was going to his other job at the theater. But he'll be back later.

I order food and waited for it to get here. Once it did I changed and had two slices of pizza and 1/2 of a thing of mac and cheese. And now I'm just chilling. The silk that I bought for the bullet bar came so I'm figuring out the best length for that. Stretches way more than I was anticipating. But I think I have it at a good left now. Going to play around with that.

James has an overnight tomorrow but we have the whole morning and afternoon together. Maybe we'll go to the farmers market. I don't know what will happen. I just hope that it's a nice day. I hope you all sleep well tonight. Be safe out there. Good night!

[pbandjesse]

Im feeling kind of sad right now. I had a breakdown earlier over something stupid but it was just to much. I am looking forward to sleep because its just been a lot.

I had a good day today though. I slept well. My headache was gone when i got up. So that was nice. I got up at 8 and put the heat on and slept another hour. Excellent.

When I got up i made a sort of schedule. Get dressed. Go to the store. Come home and make an omelet. Paint for a bit. Watch tv. Go to work. I wanted to be eating by 1015 and I accomolished that!

I felt cute. I like my haircut a lot. I biked over to the store abd got a few things. Mostly was out for soda. I biked home and made my omelet and toast and it was excellent. And i was just on time at 1010.

Sweet Pea wanted to go outside so I let him hang out there but then I ended up forgetting about him until about 11:15 I feel horrible because he came in and he was all cold and his tail was all puffy. So I loved on him and played with him for a bit after that but while he was outside I did a bunch of other stuff.

I change my outfit because I decided I didn't want to get flour dust from the clay we were going to make with the kids today all over myself and I get dishes and then I painted for a while. It was nice. I had a really chill morning. And I just felt really good about everything. I finally sewed Pockets into my black jacket and I felt really really accomplished.

I realized that sweet pea was outside and let him in and I felt bad. So I spent a little bit of time loving him up before I had to leave for work. I bike down to the bus stop but I was pretty early. I ended up having a really nice conversation with some elderly men that were hanging out there about being short, the one guy was only five two. And about that dad and daughter that murdered that lady. And about people falling in love with people in prison and how it's not the wisest decision. It was fun talking to them it was a nice interaction.

The bus came and I got to work on time. Well I got to work early. And I spent the next hour cleaning and organizing. I returned some stuff back to the supply closet. And I talked to Tiffany about strategies for group work and choosing tables. And the general was great. So no big deal and me and chelsi have a plan of attack for where they are going to sit.

Class was fun. We have a new student to add to our other new student from yesterday. His name is Michael. He's very very nice. And it was a fun time. We had a nice drawing time in the beginning and I brought my pink Furby and batteries. And the kids were so thrilled. Because she does a lot of different things. And so they were passing around all day. Enough that her batteries died. So if I bring her again I'll have to bring her new batteries. We went outside and it was nice. Some of the girls braided my hair and it was just chill.

Dinner was fine but I dipped out to go to the classroom to start measuring stuff because we were making Salto Clyde. Devon came and helped me and he was super helpful measuring things with the measuring cup. I realize that I screwed up the salt measurement but I don't think it'll matter that much since the salt is just a preservative. And I'm going to shellac all there pieces at the end.

And they had such a blast working with Clay. I had them all come to the back of the table and we talked about best practices for how to build something out of clay. Pinch pot, coil, slab. They all asked can we do it another way. And I tried to explain to them that these are really the three ways that you can only make something. And that what they're trying to do is essentially a pinch pot and that's totally fine. But it was funny talking to her about it. And then they just went to town making this clay. Each table got their own bucket and they all mixed up together and table number three to the best and got it the quickest. Table number one had the most roll. And ended up with almost no clay advance. But thankfully I made another batch to share with anyone who had trouble. And I'm going to keep all of it and make baggies of equal amounts for each kid. They're not building till Thursday so I got tomorrow to work on that. But it was really nice seeing how excited they were to work on everything. I'm probably going to bring in some tools for them to work with but today was really great.

The kids were originally working on plastic but it was the plastic that has all the old paint on it so it was flaking all in their class so they asked if they could take the plastic off the tables. That first Chelsea said no but then we decided it would be okay as long as all the kids cleaned. And they did and they did a really good job. And then at the end we talked about sensory and how working with this clay was a sensory experience. And they said that they used almost all their senses including taste because all of them tried to eat it because it was made of flour. Which was very funny. But it was a lot of fun.

The end of the day was fine and then I got on the bus without much issue. There was a weird guy at the bus stop who was very concerned that I smiled at him when I walk past. But it was fine. Until I realized I couldn't find my bike key. Wasn't in my backpack and it wasn't in my coat.

So I get pretty upset. And when I got off the bus I don't my backpack out and it wasn't in there. So I had to just walk to my apartment. I had planned on going to James but now I was tired and it was 6:30. And I didn't want to be walking all the way to his apartment and all the way back. So I just told him I was going to come. And I was upset but it was fine. I couldn't find the spare key that I thought I had and that frustrated me. And I dump my backpack out to see if I have had missed it and realize that my clock furby was making a horrible horrible grinding sound. And this is the one I just got that I spent too much money on and that actually works. And the screen was frozen on all fives and was making horrible noises on every Saturday. And I was so upset and then I couldn't find a screwdriver to open it up. And I called James and I absolutely flipped out. I was sobbing. And I know it was because I was overwhelmed by everything I was just so angry. I was mad at myself and I'm not about this apartment. I don't want to live here anymore. I just want to move out I don't like the space I'm too cold all the time. It's too much money. And I just don't want to be here. I really feel like I can live in apartments one year at a time and that's basically it. Because every place I've lived as soon as I hit that year-and-a-half Mark I just I'm so disgusted by the space that I'm just super unhappy. But maybe it's also because when I get to that point I know I'm almost out of the apartment? And like I am dealing with moving by just despising the place I'm in? Unclear but I was really really upset. I ended up hanging up on him because I couldn't keep looking for a screwdriver to open the stupid Furby and be on the phone. So I hung up on him and I was able to find a pocket knife that had a small screwdriver I want it and was able to get the batteries out and I fixed it and it was fine. And then I was fine. I just felt super hollow inside and tired. But I wasn't upset. I felt embarrassed but I wasn't as upset as I had them. I called him back and I apologized and told him I punched a wall and split my knuckle open. And he said he would stop me from doing that in the future and that he was really sorry that he couldn't have been more helpful. My mom had also sent me a package with keychain Furbies that made me smile because she didn't have to do that and she went out of her way and it helps when I feel alone out here to know that they're back they're thinking of me. and now that everything is calm down I'm really just ready to go to sleep. don't have class tomorrow but we do have a PD at noon. I can't do anything about my Bike today or tomorrow. So we just have to wait and hope that it all works out quickly. That my bike key is just in the storage classroom and I'll find it on Thursday when we go back. Or James will have to get a bolt cutter and cut my bike off the pole. But for now I'm going to sleep. Good night everyone stay warm

[canaryatlaw]

okay let's go. today was still pretty crazy, but definitely better than yesterday, so I'll take that. my court case wasn't up until 11 and I didn't have clinic today, so I was thinking about sleeping in a bit. I think I set my alarm for 9, it must've been shut off because I then woke up at 10:45 with my phone laying next to me. lol, well at least it was good timing. so I run around for a few and hop onto zoom court. we then ended up waiting, I kid you not, 3 1/2 hours to see the judge, it was so bad, and I've been in the breakout room with my client this whole time (who thankfully is really chill and I actually went to law school with her). we made it in for the motion and it ends up being this super technical argument (like the judge left the bench mid-hearing to go look something up) but I knew we were in the right, and ohhhhh boy was the dude mad about it. So this motion was denied, but it's very possible he's going to file more in the future being that this was already his second, and he was apparently a special process server so he thinks he knows all the law and doesn't need an attorney because he's ~smart~ and watching him get angry and make shitty arguments was really funny, I just ended up leaning on my arm and having my hand covering my mouth so it wouldn't look like I was just completely smiling at that point. So after all that time, we spent about 15 minutes in court, but at least we won this round and we can deal with anything that comes after when it happens. By the time we finished there was like, 15 minutes until our weekly case acceptance meeting, so I was trying to throw together some food quickly, since if was now 3 pm and I'd only had a pop tart for breakfast so far. the meeting was slightly weird because our supervisor wasn't actually able to be there, so it was just the "kids" running the show (ngl a lot of the time it feels like my supervisor is mom and we're the children, lol), and there were a few cases that had complications that we ended up just being like we can't decide this without input from our supervisor, so those are TBD at the moment. The one case I had though was accepted, so that was good at least. I spent the rest of the day trying to address all my other cases with active things going on, and then had to spend a massive amount of time inputting info to our new timekeeping system, and by the end of that it was 7 pm, so long day. I got some dinner and just chilled for the night watching Freaks and Geeks, then to nbc news into jimmy fallon, which I've been watching the past few days instead of jimmy kimmel, but they're probably equally funny really. and yeah, from there I showered and started to get ready for bed, and now I'm here with eyes that are rapidly closing, so I'll wrap this up here. Goodnight my dudes. Happy Friday.