Day Off

The kids have today (Friday) off due to district teacher training. They also have Presidents Day off on Monday. Gonna be a long weekend, both good and bad.

I had my regular doctor checkup yesterday. Anxiety meds and self-care behaviors are effective, I get to go to the lab for some routine blood tests (lipid panel, blood glucose), and I got a referral to a pulmonologist to be assessed for sleep apnea. He also advised me to cut down the amount of carbs I eat, eat more vegetables, and get more exercise. Ha!! He didn't ask me ONCE about what I normally eat or exercise. He also recommended fish oil supplements because, um, I can't even remember.

Bathroom remodel is going well. Tony is grouting the tile today. I like this construction company. So far their subcontractors have been quiet, friendly, respectful, completely on time, and totally dependable. They take extra measures to protect our floors and bedroom from construction dust and then spend the last 20 minutes of every day cleaning up after themselves...sweeping, vacuuming, and storing all equipment in a tidy manner in the bathroom. They don't smoke, they don't swear, and they don't play loud music. So, so different from the other contractors we've had: windows, kitchen remodel, door installation.

Alex has a few hours of street driving done. He's getting better. It used to take us 10 minutes to get to the store. Today, it only took 6. I usually get there in 5. It's kinda fun to have a buddy to run errands with again. Well, it got better once we purchased a few "Student Driver" magnets for the car. The first week, without the magnets, some folks honked at him and some sped past him in a huff. Folks have been a little kinder and given him a wider berth since we put on the magnets. Thank goodness. 

Robert has a pull up bar in his room. He's doing pull ups every day and LOVING it. He likes to see himself getting progressively stronger. He also had a couple programming victories this week. I know he's speaking English because I recognize all the words he's using, but I literally understand only 5% of what he's telling me. 

James helped me a lot today with prepping our new doors for painting. He helped me tape the edges, then he filled all the nail holes with wood putty on his own while I put topcoat on the stained thresholds. The smell of the polyurethane topcoat reminded me of woodshop in middle school. I really liked woodshop. Urbana Middle School doesn't have a wood shop :(

Matthew brought home a chapter book from school that he's SO excited to read. It's about a cute little magic bunny and his quest to protect a magical key. There's "chocolate" in the title, too, so there's that to look forward to. He read the prologue and got even more excited. He insisted I read it, too, which I did, and my internal reader was gagging on the sweet, sappy language and rolling her eyes at the overdramatic tone. Matthew is a sweet, innocent, tender-hearted kind of soul. To each his own.

I'm remodeling my garden space, upgrading the chicken coop, and getting seeds planted indoors. The chicks have entered their awkward phase. They're kinda ugly, but still friendly and curious :)