Saturday cleaning, ear piercing

I got into my bed Saturday night, intending to warm up and then get back out to write in my journal. Well, I never made it out! Too warm and comfortable.

Today was a big day: Inga got her ears pierced! She's the first sibling to do so. We went to our local tattoo/piercing shop, which looks super sketchy but comes well-recommended. The piercing guy has been doing it for 19 years and, as you may guess, has tons of piercings and the most enormous ear gauges I have ever seen. He was super nice and the process was quick and not too painful. Ivy came along to watch.

The aftercare has changed a lot since I had my ears pierced when I was 9! No more spinning the earrings 2x/day, no more cleaning with antiseptic solution. Just salt water & soap cleaning 2x/day.

We had a Freeze Family Cleaning in the morning and finished deep cleaning the kitchen, except for the fridge. We'll do that a few days before we leave.

In the evening we toured the big historic estate right off our back yard, Lane Place. It was built by the Lanes (hence the name!) who were close friends with Abraham Lincoln. 

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Cold cat & DIY winter cat shelter

Temperatures have plummeted, with a high of 24 F (-4 C) and tonight's low at 17 F (-8 C). Our kids have been very concerned about our friendly wild cat. So this afternoon, we decided to build her a winter shelter. Inga came with me to the store--at which point I realized, "Huh! I guess it's Black Friday!" We bought an insulated cooler and straw. That's all you need!

It's very easy:
1) cut a hole in the cooler with a large coffee can (about 6" across). I heated the can over a flame and then melted my way through. I had to reheat the can several times. It's the easiest and cleanest way to make a perfect circular cut.
2) Duct tape around the opening to cover up any sharp edges
3) Fill with straw (NOT hay!) and nothing else. No blankets or towels.

I ran several other important errands today, reminding myself why I really do not like winter. The wind was blowing and it was snowing and I was definitely not warm enough in my winter coat.

Dio, Inga, and Eric went clothes shopping to look for some essentials, like pants and athletic shoes. Zari watched Doctor Who with her friend.

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Mulch party

We "volunteered" the kids to help us lay all of the mulch. With very minimal grumbling, they all helped and we finished it all in under 2 hours. We also swept the front porched, picked up branches, pulled some final weeds, and picked up all of the stray bricks and organized them into a brick pile.

I'm glad we finished in the morning because rain arrived after lunch and hasn't stopped yet.

We started a new series: "Only Murders in the Building," which is really fun.

We headed to the university indoor track for a Freeze Family Soccer Game. I got coaxed into joining (a bit reluctantly--I'm the odd one out with zero soccer skills).

Ivy came down with a fever this evening. We gave her hot honey lemon tea, a hot bath, and then tucked her into bed. She's determined to be better tomorrow since we're driving to my sister's for Thanksgiving (about 3 hours away).

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I went on my morning walk with our walking group and it was cold! I had a hat, scarf, and gloves but should have worn thicker gloves. It was cold enough that I was too wimpy to redo my scarf, even though that would have made me warmer in the end.

I worked on Portuguese and Spanish translations of our breech book (no, I am not translating, but I am taking the chapter translations and putting them back into the book publishing software and doing all of the formatting). I did a lot of German chapters a few days ago.

We did our annual fall mulching today. We have about 1/3 of it spread and the rest to do tomorrow with the Freeze Family Team. Because there is no school!!

On Ivy's suggestion, we watched "And Then There Were None," a 3-part mini series. I love the somber cello theme, always sinking back to a low C.

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Clean house

We cleaned the house to get it ready to show to a prospective renter. We think we'e found someone, which is a great relief as we're leaving in 2 weeks. I love having a clean house. Ahhhh.

One more day of school and then we are on holiday for 5 days! I foresee a lot of cleaning and packing in our future.

Eric sent me some videos and photos from the weekend tournament. Enjoy seeing Inga score!

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What the Arcane?!

We finished the final episode of Arcane Season 2. The 2nd season was great and also a bit mind-blowing and also a bit hard to follow. We're left with so many unanswered questions. I feel like the last episode was a bit abrupt, given the multiple story lines they were trying to wrap together.

Ivy and I finally finished her third goddess artwork--an ocean goddess. Now we have fire, earth, and water.

Inga had 4 games over 3 days this weekend.
Friday: tied 2-2 (Inga scored one and assisted the other)
Saturday 1: lost 3-2
Saturday 2: tied 1-1
Sunday: lost 5-2, Inga scored both goals

We did a kitchen deep clean yesterday, plus window washing. With our departure date only 2 weeks away, we have lots to do!

I brought the other kids to play indoor soccer at the university. I walked around the track and had a brief nap on top of the high jump mats.

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We had snow all day, enough at times that it was more blizzard than gentle snowfall. We don't have good winter gear any more, which was a bummer when Ivy wanted to play in the snow. We're usually gone before any snow appears.

Eric's brother happened to be near Inga's scocer practice; he lives on the other side of the country but was in our state for work. So they got together during her practice and then went out for dinner afterwards.

I've been cold much of the day, staying close to the radiators, snuggling up to hot packs, and wearing sweaters. I have become such a wimp compared to my Minnesotan childhood!

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I finally got the videos from Saturday's indoor games edited!





It snowed this morning. SNOW! It didn't stick at all but still...we're supposed to get more tomorrow.

Our electricity in our garage is all hooked up and all utilties are buried. The back yard is a muddy mess but the excavation company will come back in the early sprint to re-grade and then plant grass seed. With the new electric service and a 50-amp charger, we can now charge our car fully in just a few hours, rather than a few days. Woohoo!

Dio and I went on a late night grocery run as we were out of most things. I "volunteered" him to come with me. But it was fun because we stopped by a shoe store and found him a pair of shoes (not buying them yet). I then looked online and found the same shoes at an outlet store with free shipping for about 40% less.

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"I'm so bored"

While Inga and Ivy were gone at soccer practice this evening, Zari and Dio and I were sitting around without much to do. I was done sitting in front of my computer. I didn't have an interesting book to read. I had done some sewing earlier on but was sewed out. We were all very bored. We looked for a movie to watch but never settled on anything.

The other thing of note today was big excavations taking place in our back yard. We're bringing water/sewer/electric/internet out to our carriage house (which eventually will have a 1 bedroom apartment) and burying the utility lines at the same time. "We" = a company as this is beyond my scope! We'll also be able to charge our car in the garage overnight, rather than it taking several days.

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I still haven't gotten to editing the soccer videos from yesterday. But that's ok--we did other fun things today. I made our usual pancake breakfast this morning and sent the family off to church. I stayed home and did some sewing and baked loads of sourdough bread.

We watched one more episode of Arcane--wow!--and now are waiting until the next 3 are released next weekend.

I made 15-bean soup for dinner. Then we went to the university indoor track and played soccer and basketball.

I've been helping Zari reserach scholarships to apply for. There are so many random ones where you write an essay on some topic they assign. While they might seem small, they would go a long way if she chose to study in Canada, where tuition is 1/10th or 1/20th of what it is in many American schools. Suddenly $500 here or $1000 there becomes a HUGE step towards covering tuition!

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Eric, Ivy, and Inga had an early start for a Saturday, leaving at 7:45 am for a soccer practice an hour+ away. Mid-afternoon, they had 2 back-to-back indoor games, which I went to as well. I appointed myself the videographer and captured all 8 goals scored between the two games: 4-1 and 4-3. Inga scored 5, Ivy 1, and another teammate 2.

I put Zari and Dio to work with some deep cleaning indoors and the final raking outdoors. Ivy and Inga will have their turn tomorrow.

Inga is at a sleepover with a friend and soccer teammate.

I have loads of videos to edit so for now, here is Ivy's goal. She hit the top crossbeam and it bounced in. Beautiful.

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Art fair

We had a grand total of 8 minutes to visit the local art fair between kids getting home from school and leaving for soccer practice. Ivy was sad not to have more time, but at least we got to admire all the kids' artwork. (Ivy and Inga don't have art class this semester).

Zari had a drawing of Ivy and a photograph of me.

Dio had a silly ceramic mug.

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Rain today. The leaves have mostly all fallen and now it's depressingly gray and brown everywhere.

I shuttled kids around a lot today, due to the rain and Zari having a Rotary Club lunch a few miles away from school, plus an evening athletic awards banquet.

Ivy and Inga had indoor soccer practice, which feels super luxurious as it's here in town! No driving an hour+ each way!

I've got a day full of meetings tomorrow. Yay me. I don't mind them per se, but sometimes I just don't want to be on yet another zoom meeting!

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More milestones!

As a new parent I always thought of milestones as something for little children (first teeth, crawling, walking, getting rid of diapers, riding bike, swimming...). It's fun to realize that "big" kids still have milestones, too!

Zari passed her driver's license test this morning with only one error (stopping at a green light while turning left). Otherwise her examiner praised her for having "excellent technical skills." Eric and I have been swapping stories about how both of us failed our tests the first time so it was amazing that she passed on the first go!

Our local BMV didn't have any spots open for several weeks, so we went to another BMV about 35 minutes away in an even smaller town. It turned out to be a blessing since there was very little traffic and it made the driving test less stressful for Zari. I think we may use this BMV branch again for future children :)

She also received an acceptance letter & partial first-year scholarship to the University of Ottawa! This was for a program starting in January so she's not entirely sure she'll start then. More likely she'll defer until the fall. But it's great to start having options.

I love Tuesday mornings because it's the end of my 36-hour fast and it's the only day I eat breakfast. I had an absolutely delicious leftover tamale for breakfast and another one for lunch (just as delicious).

What else? Dio had practice about an hour away tonight, as usual. We all watched one episode of Arcane Season 2. It's amazing so far!

While going through my computer files, I found this photo of me and Eric when I was about 21 and him about 25. I made that costume as a final class project (it was that or write a paper--I'd much rather do a creative project!). Who'd imagine that 25 years later I'd still be using that costume?

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So cold...

I get super cold on my long fast days. It kicks in about 24 hours in and I become a Frozen Freeze! I put on the layers, snuggle up with hot packs, take hot baths...still cold.

I took Zari out driving for more practice with parallel parking and parking lot parking. Driving test tomorrow morning!

My day was fairly routine: exercise at the university (35 min elliptical + weight lifting) and then breech work.

Eric brought home dinner from a university function--tamales! I can't wait to eat one tomorrow once my 36-hour fast is done. Honestly anything would be delicious at this point.

We had everyone piled on our bed or sitting on our bedroom loveseat at some point this evening. The normal gathering spot is our library, but sometimes we shake things up a bit. I love it when everyone piles into the same room. Reminds me of living in France.

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Victory!

Dio and I woke up at 6 am for games 2 & 3 of his soccer tournament. The first one, with warmup at 7:15 am and game at 8, was overcast and rainy. I stayed in the car until the last possible moment. They won 4-1.

We then had 3 hours between games. Not enough to go home. And with the rainy weather, there wasn't much to do. We picked up some food and then drove to the next field, as the games took place in different areas. We sat in the car with the heater on, listening to the radio, reading, or just sitting and thinking.

The sun came out for the noon game, which was great. Dio's team won 1-0, leaving them the tournament champions!

Meanwhile Eric drove Inga to Cincinnati, Ohio for a game, leaving at noon and getting home close to 9 pm. So much driving for just one game, it's crazy! Although Eric says the team didn't play well, they still won 2-0.

Dio and I got home a bit after 2 pm. I was super hungry by then. I fast in some form every day, so it's not unusual at all for me to eat at 2 pm or later, or not at all. But I was famished today!

We watched one episode of Arcane Season 2. Then I went out to start a fire, but it was so windy that, once it got going, I realized it would be no fun. With gusting winds constantly changing directions, it was impossible to get close enough to enjoy the warmth.

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Eric and Inga had a marathon soccer Saturday, while Ivy and Dio had half-marathons. He left with the two girls this morning, first for 2 indoor games (they won 21-1 and 8-3!). Ivy got a ride home with a team mate, while Eric drove Inga to her traveling team game. They won 2-1 in the last minute. They got home around 7 pm.

Dio got a ride in the late morning to his soccer game about an hour away. I couldn't bring him because I had a breech live session over the lunch hour.

Zari didn't have anything going on.

Once Ivy was home, we made cookies. After Dio joined us, we finished catching up on Season 1 of Arcane. Zari is beyond excited about Season 2 coming out tomorrow.

I took Zari and Ivy grocery shopping. It went much quicker with two helpers.

Dio and I have to get up at 6 am tomorrow for...guess what? More soccer!

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Middle school musical

While Eric was at Dio's soccer game, I brought Inga and Ivy to see the middle school musical, which was at the high school so yes, we went to a high school musical!

I had several meetings today, plus my normal exercise in the morning.

I brought Zari out driving after school. We practiced parallel parking and I think she has the technique down. It helps to have a backup camera and distance sensors!

Because Eric didn't have time to make dinner, I had to do a "what's in the fridge?" meal. We came up with cabbage sauteed with bacon, roasted sweet potatoes, and stuffing mixed with some stale baguette slices. Not bad actually!

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Back in the classroom

I got to visit one of Eric's university classes (writing for video games). They're working on a narrative video games where one of the main characters is a home birth midwife. So I was the guest speaker to teach them about birth and midwifery and put a midwife's life and work into context, so they could build a realistic narrative around it. Fun stuff!

I had my normal walking group and then a day of breech work.

Eric came home from school a bit before the kids got home. I was working and he was lying on the bed taking a rest. He said, "Come nap with me!" so I took my book and read next to him for a bit while he slept. Then the sleepiness became contagious and I had a short nap too.

Dio's friend was supposed to pick him up for evening soccer practice (an hour away) but he never showed up. Finally Dio messaged him and he had forgotten to comey! So I had to drive Dio last-minute, cancelling a meeting that I had scheduled. He arrived 30 minutes late but at least we got him there. He really likes his team. I just wish it weren't so far away. At the same time, Eric was driving Inga to her practice.

Zari has her driver's test next Tuesday! We are crossing our fingers that she passes but also reassuring her that it's normal to fail the first time around so not to stress too much about it.

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Lots of tears today as my children heard the election results. I don't care about party affiliation but I do care about basic humanity and decency in my leaders. Oh...and not dying of a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy! This is happening in states with strict anti-abortion laws.

I did my usual morning exercise and then breech work most of the day. I had a midday reprieve bringing Zari to and from a Rotary Club lunch at our local Country Club.

No soccer practices today! Woohoo! Eric brought Inga and Zari to pickup soccer at the university this evening.

Zari only needs 1.25 more driving hours to meet the 50 required hours! I went to schedule her test today, and the first available slot was almost 3 weeks away. I'm worried that if she doesn't pass the first time, we won't have time to schedule it again before we leave.

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Murder photos (do you get it?)

For your enjoyment, a few pictures Zari took the past few days (the Lego thing is for a class assignment).

I pushed through a few extra hours with my fast and went on my morning walk first. Then I got to eat! Woohoo! Everything is delicious after 38+ hours of fasting.

I recently did a podcast interview with Dr. Melanie Jackson of The Great Birth Rebellion. If any of you are interested in birth stuff, here's the link: https://www.melaniethemidwife.com/podcasts/the-great-birth-rebellion/episodes/2148894079

What else? Ivy and Inga had their first indoor soccer practice. I was supposed to drive Dio to his practice this evening, but the time and location got changed and it would have interefered with an evening meeting. Fortunately, he found someone to ride with. 

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It rained most of the day, so Zari and Dio got rides to school. Dio is always so happy to not have to bike.

My day was fairly unremarkable: exercise, then breech work. It's my fasting day so I sat in another room during dinner--it's too hard to watch other people eat! Ivy and Inga had practice so they were gone all evening. Dio's teammate was supposed to pick him up, but he never showed up. And Zari had a special dinner honoring the top student athletes.

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Travel tournament

Eric and Inga got back tonight from a weekend tournament in Lexington, KY. They left yesterday at lunchtime. The kids helped me with some indoor and outdoor chores (lots of leaf raking in particular) while I laid brick edging for our raspberry bed.

We re-watched several episodes of Arcane to get ready for the new season coming out, 3 yesterday and 3 today.

After dinner yesterday, we had a gorgeous bonfire and Smores. Ivy was feeling sick all day, so she stayed inside and had a long bath instead of coming out for the fire.

Today was also quite relaxed. I took Zari driving to practice the stick shift. We stayed in the high school parking lot so she could drive without the stress of other cars. She did well for her first time driving stick and only killed the car twice in 30 minutes. Although it stresses her out, it's good to at least know the basics of driving a manual transmission. I doubt I'll be able to convince her to do much more of it...but it's a start!

Zari has been enjoyed the telephoto lens she got for her birthday present. It fits on my BWB Nikon as well as her camera (my old Nikon) that is back in France. She's been taking a photography class this semester, so it's a nice fit with her interests.

I woke up at 3 am this morning from a nightmare about Ivy doing handstands and breaking her neck, paralyzing herself. Then I couldn't get back to sleep for hours. So much for getting extra sleep when Daylight Saving Time ends!

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Zari's first vote

Even though Zari is now a legal adult, we still get to experience firsts with her: her first time voting! We walked to the county courthouse together and were done within 10 minutes. What's depressing about our county is that most local, regional, and state positions don't even have any Democratic candidates. Yes, it's THAT Republican here that people don't even try to run.

Ivy and Inga had an award celebration for their middle school soccer team, and then Eric brought Zari and Dio to play indoor soccer at the university. I took a bath and read a book and now Ivy is taking a bath.

More soccer this weekend, including an overnight trip to Lexington, KY!

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