A fun and adequately productive day to myself

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Yesterday I drove the kid to school and T. to work and had the house to myself. Woo hoo. By the end of the day I got that completely new character to level 65 and most of the way through the first two zones of the expansion. I also sent a few emails, edited a document, and more or less stayed on top of things at work (although I did put several minor tasks off until this morning). 

Late in the day I ran a couple errands, to the hardware store for a bungee cord to hold up some Christmas decorations, plus some grocery shopping. I did this on foot even though I was short on time; more on this later. I met the kid and T. at school on schedule. Dinner was balsamic beef tips, beets, and leftover cauliflower.

Putting the kid to bed was hard. She can't fall asleep on her own, it took her a while to fall asleep with me there, and her mother gives her melatonin when she asks for a sleep aid but I don't like to. Not sure if I'm being reasonable or not but I didn't feel like doing the research at 9 last night.

Exercise

I haven't got much exercise over the past month or two for a lot of different reasons. We were traveling, I was sick, someone else was sick (so I didn't want to bother them and/or wanted to save my time and energy for taking care of the kid), the weather was too bad to bike, and so on. It really got noticeable yesterday. I don't feel too bad about yesterday itself, since it was effectively the launch day, but still. I made a point to do those errands on foot even though I had procrastinated long enough that I was in a bit of a rush. Walking seems like the bare minimum and I'm tempted to just walk a loop of a couple blocks today, but it's raining...

Launch day

Wordle 528 3/6

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Slow day yesterday. We drove the kid to school. A new request came in and it was minor enough that I could send it out for approval before the end of the day. I had a couple meetings. No technical difficulties in the first, but they caught me by surprise in the second one. It was the weekly repeat of this, with the same issues - maybe my computer doesn't like the host's computer?

Getting the kid was uneventful. Dinner was pork chops, cauliflower, and applesauce. 

Warcraft

Yesterday was the launch of Dragonflight, the new WoW expansion. I didn't mention it here before but I really completely finished my goals for Shadowlands. As I said here, I've been playing new characters a lot lately, both because the event makes it easy/fast and because nothing else was particularly important. 

The launch was at 6 PM EST to be exact. I didn't try to play then, partly because the family dinner and general real life comes first, partly because I expected it to be a mess. They usually are. I was right. My previous main was on a big server but I couldn't even log in there. I have several alts on servers that are normally "low" population but yesterday were "medium" or "high" and I could log in, but the new stuff was glitchy. Eventually I gave up on all my existing characters, found a server that was labeled "low" even last night, and created a completely new character. Not how I planned things and not sure I'll stick with it, but at least I got to play a little last night.

Friendsgiving

Wordle 527 5/6

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Yesterday I didn't feel like making a fancy breakfast and didn't really have any options, but it was still a weekend, so I walked to the bagel shop for breakfast. 

Most of the time when working at home I've been sitting in the same dining room table chair I sit at for meals, but I've noticed recently that it's getting uncomfortable (and even T. noticed). She checked freecycle and found something suitable, so yesterday I drove across town to get it. 

In the afternoon we went to a "friendsgiving". T. wasn't sure about going due to illness but eventually decided to. When we got there, we found out there was a mixup about when it started - we thought it was 3 but it was supposed to be 5. I wish we were right; an earlier start and end would have been better for us, and it's simply hard to find the host's house in the dark. 

The food was good and the company was fun, but more for T. and the kid than for me. The kid was the life of the party, despite or maybe because of the fact that she was the only person there under 40. While everyone else was talking about football or which Congressmen they had met, she was drawing portraits of people and climbing the walls. I managed to make small talk, but by the time we left, a little after 9, I was definitely tired.

Lots of questions

Wordle 526 4/6

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Breakfast yesterday was simple: eggs, toast, and the leftover pancakes. The original plan for the day was Christmas decoration, but T. was feeling a little under the weather, so getting the kid out of the house became a higher priority. 

I made the kid go to the farmer's market with me. While there I noticed my credit card was missing. A little detective work later and I figured out I had left it at the takeout place the day before. Shit! At some point I still need to call my credit card company and see if anyone had used it. So anyways, the kid and I went to get it.

After that she had a playdate planned with a friend. There was a little downtime in between in which the kid entertained herself and T. and I cleaned and did laundry. Her friend came over and they played here for only a few minutes before the parent of another girl, H., texted and suggested we meet up in the park, so we went to the park. They had fun for a while before H. invited the kid and her friend to her house. I walked her there and then went back home to help with the decorating. 

Dinner was baked potatoes and steak with a teriyaki sauce. Fancy-sounding but not really. 

As I put the kid to bed, she got snotty and rude, more than the usual bedtime resistance. When I convinced her that as punishment I wouldn't read to her, she broke down crying. She was jealous or insecure (my words, not hers) about how her friends are older than her and growing up faster and know about all kinds of things she doesn't. Examples given: Sailor Moon, puberty, Zelda, and Mean Girls. Growing up is hard, huh? So I viewed this talk as adequate apology/explanation for her moodiness and read her a book about where babies come from.

Not much to say considering when I posted the previous

Wordle 525 5/6

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After that post, we just relaxed. I took the kid to the playground across the street. Normally we would both have taken her to gymnastics class, but T. wasn't feeling well, so I drove her there alone. We were surprised to find the place closed for the holiday. Whoops! Should have planned better. We ran a quick errand and got takeout for dinner - from the usual place, but home earlier than usual.

Thanksgiving

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Made pancakes and bacon for breakfast yesterday, a little more rushed than usual. Then we finished packing for a trip to T.'s cousin and his family for the holiday, in Richmond. We started driving around 10:30 AM. We made good time, about 2 hours, maybe because we almost had the express lane to ourselves. 

The dinner was good. Lucky us (or good planning to see family at a moderate distance, or lazy); we brought wine, crackers, cheese, and a pie, but nothing laborious. After stuffing ourselves, we went on a short walk around a nearby park. Then back to their place for dessert.

In the evening we played card and board games. It was fun. There was at least one we're probably going to buy ourselves. The kid got to stay up late doing so, until almost 10 PM - late for her. She, T., and I all went to bed around the same time.

I got up at 6:30, after an uninterrupted night or very nearly. I have no idea why I sleep better away from home but T.'s snoring probably isn't it. Maybe it's too bright in our bedroom?

We had a simple breakfast, a leisurely morning hanging out (I played chess with one of the cousins; I lost, but it was a closer/better game than any I've had since I was a kid), and a lunch of leftovers. Started driving home around 1 and got here around 4. Not as good as driving there but not as bad as it could have been.

A half-day for us, no school at all for the kid

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Yesterday I did the biweekly report - schedule changed due to the holiday, of course - while the kid was home because she had the day off school but we didn't have the day off work. Meanwhile the kid just read or watched TV. T.'s workday was similar. Not great parenting or professionalism, but it was only a half-day right before a holiday. As usual, one of the reports came in late, but we had them all by noon. 

T. logged off around then and took the kid to the park. I had lunch, did my due diligence on the last of the report (and played a little WoW), and logged off about half an hour after her. They came back right around then for snacks. 

Shortly after that we all went out again. I took the kid to a park a little bigger and further away than the one across the street, and T. kept walking to a pharmacy to get her flu shot. While at the park, we saw a kid in the t-shirt of the kid's school, so the kids played and I struck up a conversation with her mother and exchanged phone numbers. Maybe they'll have another playdate at some point. After that we got pastries at a nearby bakery. 

The kid's usual guitar lesson went well enough.

Dinner was grilled cheese and a tomato soup. Easy and didn't generate leftovers for once.

Checking in on the alcohol

Last night I had a beer with dinner. Between this and today I have also had two Manhattans. I haven't kept careful track but I'm pretty sure that's it. I'm a tiny bit relieved I was able to do so, that it wasn't harder. Maybe the difference is simply that this time I tried cutting back, I told T. about it.

The day wasn't as bad as it sounds

Wordle 522 3/6

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I don't want to complain about getting it in 3, but my 3rd guess is a more common word than my 2nd, and uses more letters...

Yesterday I drove the kid to school, despite her cough and sniffling, and T. to work, and had the house to myself. 

Work was OK for me. The team meeting went well. The day didn't go well for someone else on the team, though. Something important was on its way to us and we only found out about it by accident late last week, and we still don't know why it's important, or some details about the process. I like to think I helped a bit but he still has a lot of work ahead of him. We really need to keep people from doing things like this.

Around midday I went to the hardware store to get a bolt to fix the office chair.

Around 2:30, we got a call from the nurse's office at school. Oh well, at least the kid made it through most of the school day before being overwhelmed by nose-blowing. I went to pick her up and got a pie T. had ordered from a fundraiser on the way. I worked a bit more after I got back and the kid wasn't too disruptive. After that, she practiced her guitar. Then I took her to the park as a reward for good behavior. Not that going to the park around the corner is that big a deal, but on the other hand I was doubtful about her going to the park if she's too sick for school.

Dinner was spaghetti and cauliflower. After dinner we played "no stress chess" before putting the kit to bed.

Sick of parenting

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Yesterday the kid was sick so we kept her home. It wasn't that straightforward. A covid test was negative, so we weren't worried about anything serious, and it wasn't a great day for either T. or me to have a kid while we were working. But she was definitely coughing and had a runny nose and it didn't seem like allergies. We actually started driving to school before we were convinced that she was too sick for school. 

She behaved okay. I don't want to complain about a 7-year-old failing to keep herself productively and unobtrusively occupied for eight hours straight. It's just that we both had meetings scheduled for the afternoon, by which point her patience was running out...

Late in the morning I took her with me on a few errands. The FedEx center for a financial thing, the grocery store, and the library to return some books, and to get some new ones for her. 

At 3 T. had a job interview and I had a meeting, so naturally, the kid was hungry. I tried to make it very clear that my meeting was less important than T.'s and the kid should see me if she needed anything. She decided she could get herself some water... from T.'s glass, but T. didn't want to share when the kid was sick, so that was disruptive. I tried to help but was distracted by my own meeting, which I was trying to actually participate in, but had technical difficulties with. In hindsight I should have let people know I wouldn't be attending and waited on the kid hand and foot, but that wouldn't have been fun for me...

After we were done work, the kid practiced her guitar grudgingly (she accepted that she had to do it, but she was so congested, it was genuinely harder than usual for her to do the singing), T. took a nap, and I made dinner. It was a stir-fry, beef and mostly broccoli. An awesome recipe for the sauce if I may say so myself. Before I put the kid to bed we played chess with this beginner's rule set we have. She won. I have to stop going easy on her.

A scout activity and playdate should make parenting easier than this

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Yesterday I made scrambled eggs and home fries for the first time in a while, due to my illness and various other schedule disruptions. I missed it. But the kid didn't. She doesn't like home fries at all or even scrambled eggs all that much. Normally when we have those, she has leftover pancakes from the day before, but Saturday I didn't make those. It drove her to tears. I apologized because, OK, I guess I should have made plans clearer, but I still think she was a bit overdramatic... so she had a tiny bit of scrambled eggs, and cereal.

A little after noon, we dropped her off at the National Air and Space Museum with her Girl Scout troop, and T. and I drove on to the suburbs to do a little shopping for presents. Two books as birthday presents, one for a friend of the kid and one for the child of a neighbor, and cloth napkins, spontaneous Thanksgiving presents for T.'s cousins. She likes gift-giving. 

When we picked the kid up from the museum, we also picked up two friends of hers. The plan was a playdate, just them watching Addams Family Values or another age-appropriate movie. But the guests thought it was more interesting to play with the kid's cash register and give each other math lessons than watch the movie. I thought it was weird but didn't want to say they weren't allowed to do something educational and had to watch TV... unfortunately our kid isn't as good at math as the other two, so she felt left out and cried, and I encouraged them to play something else. They were still having enough fun that they made saying goodbye hard, though.

Dinner was supposed to be a stir-fry, but despite all the shopping recently we're out of soy sauce, so instead I hastily made chicken and opened a bagged salad.

Exhausting physically, relaxing mentally

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Yesterday, instead of the usual pancakes and bacon, we had eggs and bacon, and a big cinnamon roll from a school fundraiser. Then we started the laundry. Later in the morning we walked to REI for a quick errand - my boot laces had broken last spring and I hadn't found or gotten around to replacing them with laces of the right size until now. Afterward we took the kid to a nearby park she liked for about half an hour. 

After that, a friend of hers came over to play. They got antsy in the house, so I walked them over to a park. I guess they could have entertained themselves better, they kept on wanting to play hide and seek with me and hide together, but there weren't behavior issues.

Dinner was spaghetti and green beans. Easy enough.

And after that, I took the kid and her friend across the street to a scout ice skating event. It was fun. The kid fell a lot but her more experienced friends were helpful enough.

So as the title says, this was as much walking as any day since Spain probably, plus ice skating, but in the end I was just supervising the kid. (She and her friends were annoying in age-appropriate ways but there were no major issues. Can't complain.)

I'd feel like an asshole complaining about this

Wordle 518 4/6

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The day before yesterday, we had planned to make cinnamon rolls for a teacher appreciation event yesterday, but forgot. Yesterday T. got up just a few minutes after me and made them. I had thought about doing so but didn't get around to it before she did. 

That teacher appreciation event went well enough, but I scraped my finger opening a package of donuts. 

When we got home, the cleaner was there. T. had put off scheduling her at my request because earlier wouldn't have worked well. So yesterday we were working around that, and everything is now just a little bit out of place. 

Work wasn't as busy if it were a Friday of a biweekly report. But I got reminded to send a reminder about a SOP I was waiting for approval of and didn't want to leave that waiting any more. And that technical thing with a time limit was more annoying; I had to enter a long URL into a link field manually through a cumbersome process. 

At the last minute before getting the kid, I felt I was overdue for a shower and took one. That wasn't why we were late getting her to gymnastics class, though. While she was in there, T. and I ran a few errands.

We had pizza for dinner. The kid's friend from across the street joined us. The girls had fun but were not very civilized dinner companions. (I.e. a lot of "poop".) T. and I were at our wit's end by the time we brought her home. As we did, some neighbors were having a screaming fight. They've done that before at midnight. Doing it at 8 PM is annoying in a different way.

So as the title implies, I was grumpy all day, but couldn't really complain because it was all either objectively good but inconvenient stuff, or even worse for someone else than for me.

Leveling alts

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Hard word. Good for me.

Yesterday I biked the kid to school. It felt good to be back in the saddle and doing something physical, even if the kid is getting big for it and it was almost freezing outside. 

Work wasn't too busy, other than one meeting in the morning. Worked on that technical thing with a time limit due to the license and fielded some random questions. 

In World of Warcraft I've been spending a lot of my time on new alts (the new class, and also some completely random characters just to take advantage of recent increases in leveling speed) and the pre-patch event for the upcoming expansion.

Once or twice in the past few days/weeks, we picked the kid up from after-school care about half an hour earlier than the last minute, and she was mad at us because we took her away from playing with her friends, so we made a point of getting her later yesterday. We picked her up 5 minutes earlier than the last minute, and she was mad at us because all her friends had already left. She wasn't the very last kid there, but she wasn't having any fun. So maybe she's just going through a grumpy phase...

Dinner was an improvised chicken teriyaki stir-fry. The kid liked it more than I expected. Personally I could have used more spice. But it was easy, which is always nice. During and after that we listened in on a school board meeting just to stay aware of what's going on.

Slow day

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And then there's games like this, where I make two obvious guesses and get it. Go figure.

Yesterday we drove the kid to school. I considered biking, but... not yet. Maybe today.

And then, the day was boring for me. T. had some important stuff going on and I tried to be more unobtrusive than usual at the time. I sent a few emails, answered a few questions, and generally was available at work, but didn't have much to do. 

The kid's guitar lesson went well. As usual, we got cookies there, but I think mine was too much sugar or something. I had a bit of an upset stomach over dinner (fried rice and leftovers).

Weird Tuesday

Wordle 515 X/6

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Stupid. Note to self, when I have _A_ER, get more letters before trying to guess it. 

Yesterday we drove the kid to school, I dropped T. off at work, I went to the grocery store to return these stamps, and I had the house to myself. One meeting for work in the morning, which went well. A little after that an "urgent" request came in which I volunteered for, and based on the little information we had seemed to be my responsibility anyways. I planned to work out, and got fully ready, including changing clothes, moving furniture to make room, and spreading out a mat, but at the last minute, I got a call with details on the task. Ugh. So much for working out. In hindsight it was more of a technical thing than a documentation task, but I made progress on it. If this sort of thing becomes common we'll have to get/change some software licensing, though. One meeting in the afternoon I only had to listen in on.

I had an eye doctor's appointment at 4. It was raining, so I drove there. In addition to generally being due, my sunglasses' frame broke, so I need to replace those. The exam and picking out new glasses went well enough. 

After that I went straight to pick the ladies up. It was a little early but T. had extra to carry so she needed the car. (I wasn't sure I'd do this straight after the appointment but prepared for the possibility, if only by bringing a snack for the kid. Good for me.)

Dinner was chicken and Brussels sprouts. While I was cooking, the kid was sending GIFs to a friend, and accidentally sent the wrong one or something and got frustrated, and this triggered a truly massive, age-inappropriate meltdown. We tried to be comforting but otherwise let her cry it out. When she was finally willing and able to talk about it, it turned out she had had a rough day at school, and we also suspected she was tired.

Not much to say

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Made a mistake, but still, can't complain about getting it in 4.

Yesterday was pleasantly normal. Fall has definitely set in. The cat spent the night before last inside for the first time since last winter, and it was too cold to bike the kid to school. (Maybe if I was fully healthy, but I'm not.) Work was slow, which I'm grateful for. I went for a walk in the afternoon, and I got milk on the way home, but the main reason was simply to stretch my legs, which felt overdue.

The kid practiced her guitar without too much of a fight while I cooked. Dinner was tortellini and squash.

More normally relaxing

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Yesterday the kid came home from her sleepover around 8:30. She had fun and there were little or no problems. Around 9:30, our friend C. came over with donuts for breakfast for a semi-unplanned visit and breakfast. After that, she took the kid to church - she has been expressing interest in religion. Meanwhile I lay down again for a bit. 

At 12:45 we met C. and the kid at a Belgian restaurant we like for brunch. I had a sort of mushroom eggs Benedict and a Blood Mary. (First alcoholic beverage in over a week. Good for me.) After that, the library, and a little Christmas shopping. (T. is crazy.)

Then home. We struggled through the kid's guitar practice and the last of the laundry. Dinner was pork chops, rice, and cauliflower. In hindsight we probably could have skipped the rice.

On the mend?

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Yesterday morning, in addition to everything else, I had pinkeye. I assumed it had to be yet another symptom of the general illness I've had, but T. thought it could be separate, and after a simple breakfast at home I saw a doctor and he agreed with her. He prescribed me eyedrops for the pinkeye and two other medicines for the general illness. 

I got home from that a little after noon. (The doctor's office was on H St. between 3rd and 4th, the pharmacy was on H and 7th, and I walked home afterwards despite being under the weather. My parents expressed doubt recently about whether living in a city was worth it but I like things being in walking distance!) I lay down for a couple hours while T. took the kid to a playdate and did some shopping. I also watched a little of the Batman cartoon, since Kevin Conroy had died recently. I never watched much of that show myself, but more of the JLA shows in the same universe, so there's some nostalgia.

Later in the afternoon, the kid went to a trampoline park with a different friend. T. cleaned the car and put away the Halloween decorations. I folded the laundry and generally helped out in low-effort ways. Then we just relaxed. She was exhausted; she almost been single-parenting for the past week. 

Dinner was pork dumplings and salad. 

Last night I went to bed around 9. I got up with a coughing fit around 11 and gargled salt water. Around 5 I woke up with minor general symptoms, took my medication regimen, and lay down on the couch. So, still not flawless, but better than the past several nights.

I picked the wrong day to quit drinking

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The title is not in reference to using alcohol to cope with stress or trauma like in the usual usage, exactly. It's just that this was a week ago, but my sleep has sucked for illness-related reasons rather than being too light or anything else. Alcohol might even have had minor therapeutic benefits with a bad cold or minor flu...

Yesterday breakfast was pancakes and bacon, usual for the first day of a weekend. By 11 I was back in bed. T. took the kid to a museum all day, along with a friend of hers. I gather it went well enough. I took it easy. Slept for hours, and didn't do much even when I was awake. Laundry and a little WoW, nothing remotely strenuous.

After gymnastics, dinner was Thai takeout. Good stuff.

Last night I woke up twice, despite progress in various ways. I feel sorry for T. as much as myself at this point.

Little improvement

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Still sick. 

The kid had no school; for her, the three-day weekend was a four-day weekend. For us it wasn't. So in the morning yesterday she watched extra TV and stuff and played with herself and us intermittently while T. and I worked. If today weren't a holiday, it would have been the day for that biweekly report, so that was moved to yesterday. But every Thursday morning I have a meeting and that didn't change. So I had the meeting and S., my teammate, did the first edits, which were usually my job.

At noon, we took the kid to a friend's for the afternoon for a nannyshare. Then I did the second edit on the biweekly report and T. and I had a Zoom meeting with the architect. Progress on planning is being made. 

At around 4, I took another nap until around 6. Then dinner. T. made enchiladas. I went to bed around 8.

Still sick

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Drove the kid to school yesterday. 

Officially I worked a full day. One part of that involved finalizing a document just because I happened to get approval because the person I needed it from was back from their vacation, so there was even a task closed out and a new file added to the library, which is normally the main measure of productivity for me. But even so, I tried to relax and mostly succeeded. Still far from cured. 

The kid's school day was shorter than usual due to a dentist's appointment. Afterwards we went across the street to run some quick errands. Then home for some downtime. Then out again for the guitar lesson. It went well enough.

Dinner was spaghetti and salad. Easy enough. I put the kid to bed and went to bed myself right after. I got up several times for coughing fits and therefore medication. I threw out some that was expired and I think had lost its potency.

Not much to say about a sick day

Wordle 508 3/6

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Shortly after posting the last post, I went to bed again for about an hour. I had a meeting scheduled for 10. I had technical difficulties getting into it for some reason, but before I figured it out, I was told that the meeting was over. That was easy. 

T. had a meeting scheduled for 11, and the kid was kind of antsy, so I got dressed and took her to the park. She was kind of cranky there, and didn't appreciate me reminding her that she was sick and therefore she should not push herself too hard and stay away from other kids, but in the end we didn't have big problems.

Around 1 I lay down in bed a bit and encouraged the kid to do the same. Shortly after that, T. went shopping. Shortly after that, the kid told me that she was going to go downstairs and play some games. I checked on her soon, worried that I'd find her watching TV. But no, she was doing some puzzles. Good for her. I joined in and helped. 

I made dinner a little earlier than usual, let's say 5:30. After that I got the kid ready for bed. This is early, but it was T.'s turn to read to her and T. had a school meeting from 7 to 8, and starting to get ready for bed after 8 would have been very late. 

At around 6:30 I said good night to both of them. I took medication and was supine, with various interruptions for more medication, snoring, etc., for most of the following 11 hours.

What is sleep, anyway?

Wordle 507 5/6

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I got up around the usual time yesterday and the kid got up with me, i.e. earlier than usual. Blame daylight savings time. We drove the kid to school. Traffic was bad and the weather was nice but I definitely wasn't up for biking. 

I took it easy. I recorded yesterday as a half-day at work and spent a lot of time in bed. At least half the time, actually sleeping or trying to; the rest, reading or playing phone games. 

We happened to get the kid at the same time as parents of some friends of hers, so they got to play in the playground for a while. Dinner was chicken lo mein from a freezer kit - very easy. I put the kid to bed with minor problems. T. and I watched one episode of Jon Oliver and I took a generic Tylenol PM gelcap before going to bed myself.  

I got up at 2 for some cough medicine. I got up at 4:30 due to snoring and went downstairs.

The kid is now not going to school because she had a bad cough. We hope that we can nip this in the bud early. She has missed a lot of school lately. But I definitely couldn't go into work feeling the way I do, and she's not that bad right now but there's a good chance it's just starting.

One of the things I miss about going to an office is clarity about stuff like this. If I normally went to an office and felt like I do today or yesterday, I'd take the full day off. Maybe I'd regret the PTO spent, depending on exactly how much I had and how bad I felt, but I'd stay home and not worry about how I'm spending my time as long as it's not actually athletic. Now, though? Either way I'd be home dressed casually. Is there a big difference for my health between sitting in front of a computer typing, sitting in front of a computer playing games, or sitting in front of a TV watching it?

Or sleep, hence the title. My fitness tracker app thinks I've been sleeping 9 hours for the past few nights. Does that mean I'm well-rested? There have been two interruptions each night. I lay down for a couple hours yesterday and the day before, but I'm not sure how much I was actually unconscious, as opposed to thinking, reading, playing phone games, or other things. Is lying down a good enough approximation for sleep regardless of my brainwave activity?

Or the kid. If she were three, I unambiguously couldn't work while taking care of her. But she's seven. She can happily watch TV for hours, and sometimes do a good job of entertaining herself quietly without TV. It would be unprofessional to plan on working a full day while parenting, but that doesn't mean I couldn't pull it off with just a little luck... (hypothetical, definitely not doing it today, just explaining my thought process on similar days.)

Getting sicker

Wordle 506 3/6

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Yesterday I skipped home fries for breakfast, because we had had mashed potatoes the night before and wanted to keep things simple, so we just had scrambled eggs and toast. Easy enough.

I wasn't feeling well, so I planned to take it easy. In the mid/late morning we went to Costco. After that we took the kid to a playground she hadn't been to for a while. Then dropped her off at a friend's house and they spent basically the whole afternoon together - the playdate ended when the friend's lacrosse game started, but the kid asked to join her, and her friend's mother didn't mind and it was OK with us. Meanwhile T. and I watched movies. Relaxing, right? 

Dinner was a beef and broccoli stir-fry. I like the recipe but it could have been better; we were missing a couple of ingredients.

Either I didn't do a good enough job of taking it easy, or I did and am just really sick, because I was beat by the end of the day. In bed by 8:30, which is early even taking daylight savings time into account. I got up at 2 AM because I couldn't breathe through my nose, took some appropriate drugs, and tried to get back to sleep.

Taking it easy due to illness

Wordle 505 4/6

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The usual pancakes and bacon for breakfast turned out well. 

After breakfast we got the laundry started, and then T. took the kid to the park and I walked to the farmer's marked for some groceries. Other than that I just took it easy. I lay down for a few hours in the early afternoon. The kid had a class playdate and I had planned to go but T. took her alone. I also finished the laundry and played WoW a little more openly, but still in a relaxing way...

Dinner was pork chops, mashed potatoes, and a salad. The salad green mix I had got turned out to be weird but otherwise it was fine. I put the kid to bed a little later than usual and got to bed a little later than usual, despite not feeling well, but at least I got a fairly good night's sleep.

OK Friday

Wordle 504 3/6

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Yesterday I drove the kid to school, and T. too for a parent's organization meeting. She took time off for it, I didn't, so I watched it on Zoom from home. 

The day was fine. I didn't get any exercise but I was productive otherwise. At work I had five items on my to-to list. I got four of them done and had a (sort of) good reason to put finishing the fifth off until Monday morning. I also took care of a personal call about retirement planning I hadn't got around to all week. It would have been great, if I didn't have a cold I probably got from my parents. Sore throat, fever and chills.

We got the kid to gymnastics class a little bit late, but I gather it was OK. I did a little grocery shopping and stopped by the library while she was in there. Dinner was District Taco.

Getting by

Wordle 503 4/6

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Biked the kid to school yesterday, so that was nice. 

T. went to the office yesterday, so I had the house to myself, so that was also nice. It was a normal day but I took up more space on the table and had my headphones off when playing WoW and in the meeting I didn't have to talk in. I had a second meeting, though, and my computer's built-in microphone apparently isn't as good as my headphones, so I still had to wear them for that. Oh well. I wasn't just talking in that meeting, I was basically giving a presentation, and it went well enough. Good for me. I could have got more done yesterday for work, but I figure that's enough...

I also worked out yesterday on the exercise bike. I kind of wish I had taken advantage of the free time to do even more, like biking on another errand or some upper body work, but on the other hand, who cares, anything is better than nothing. 

T. was going to a happy hour with co-workers, so I had to pick the kid up. It wasn't from school but from a Girl Scout event at a library, so she borrowed a book too, and finished reading it in the car ride home. Part of the reason I want to get her away from graphic novels and more into chapter books is they would keep her busy longer...

Out of concern for my all-too-common sleep issues, I've sworn off alcohol for one week, in hopes a literal detox will help.

Dinner was chicken with a vermouth and caper sauce and glazed carrots. 

I put the kid to bed, and went to bed myself by 9. T. followed shortly. She was disturbed by music from our new neighbors next door around 11 PM. (In their defense, they're deaf, so they had no idea it was loud.) Her snoring woke me around 4. Even so, last night was much better than the night before.

Half-parenting

Wordle 502 2/6

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Woo hoo.

Yesterday the kid was still feeling a bit under the weather, but didn't seem too bad and we can't keep her home forever, so we drove her to school instead of biking to stay warmer. Traffic was bad but we made good time. 

Work was fine. Not too busy. Made progress on one SOP and got ready for an upcoming presentation. 

Around 1 the school nurse called us. The kid was complaining about ear pain. So I biked over there, gave her medicine, gave her the choice about going home or not, and she opted to go home. She snacked and talked about math with us for a bit. Around 3 we asked her to entertain herself quietly because T. had a meeting, and I used the time to get a few more things done too. She wasn't horrible about it, but she wasn't as great as Monday or Tuesday either...

At 4 I logged off and took her to the park, and not the one across the street, so it was a bit of a walk. Good for both of us. (My exercise is pretty pathetic these days. Unfortunately I forgot to track both the bike trip and this walk on the app. If there's no record of exercise, does it really improve fitness?) At around 5, T. met us there and drove us to the kid's guitar lesson. There was spare time, and the guitar class is near her school, so she got to play with friends there anyway. There was a substitute music teacher because the usual teacher was sick but it seemed to go well anyway. 

Dinner was tortellini and brussels sprouts. Not my finest work but it was easy and fast. While T. put the kid to bed, I did a little thinking and organizing what we have for the home renovation plans. 

I got up around 3 AM this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Not in bed with the snoring, not downstairs on the couch. It's annoying, obviously tiring, and a little concerning.

Weird Tuesday

Wordle 501 5/6

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Kind of feel like I should have got it in 4, but I just couldn't think of the word.

Once again, the kid was home sick. She entertained herself very well. So well that I almost feel bad about not making her do something more productive or edifying than simply reading or playing with her toys/dolls. She slept in a bit, played, and read to herself in her room for most of the day. Meanwhile T. and I worked. I had one meeting. T. had several.

My parents came over a little after noon and just hung out and talked. We covered school issues and the home renovation plans, among other things. Around 3, my dad and I walked to the store for a little shopping, and the kid and my mom went to the playground. While I cooked, we all watched part of Hocus Pocus 2. My parents hadn't seen the first one but seemed to enjoy it anyway. Dinner was rosemary beef tips (easy from Trader Joe's), and a salad and mashed potatoes, both provided by my parents. We said goodbye to them shortly after. 

As for Warcraft, Tuesday is usually the heavy WoW day, but I almost didn't play at all yesterday due to the family stuff. I'm moving from frustration to apathy on those last three Fated Heroic bosses. I still enjoy the game, but not the raid and maybe not the character I've made progress so far on. If I really cared about this, I would have worked harder on it earlier. 

EDIT: Just an hour after I posted this, I joined a pickup group that got two of those three bosses down with little difficulty. Surrender is freeing or something? I still have one boss to go, but I really don't want this to expire when I'm this close...

Best sick day ever

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I logged on for work around 6:45 yesterday, letting myself sleep in just a few minutes. The kid got up around 7:30, likewise roughly normal. She felt OK and got ready to face the day peacefully enough. She got to watch a little TV while T. and I worked and we waited for my father to show up. The kid couldn't go to school today due to illness, so instead she spent the day with her grandparents. That was easy!

Work was fine. Turned around a document, i.e. got it from the subject matter expert, made the minor necessary edits, cleaned it up, and sent it to one of the approvers. Also did the usual post-biweekly-report stuff. One meeting scheduled but I wasn't needed and it started while the kid and my dad were here, so I skipped it. 

In addition to work I did a little cleaning and folded my parents' laundry - they had used our washer/dryer the day before. My parents got here with the kid at around 4. They had played all day, and the kid had napped a bit in the car while my parents ran errands - win/win.

Pizza for dinner. Then, of course, Halloween. It started with the neighborhood tradition of a party in the nearby park for the kids, including music and a candy slingshot. (It looks kind of dangerous, but as long as they don't hit the 3-year-olds who crowd the launch area, it's fine.) Then we took the kid and her friend from across the street trick-or-treating, and were joined by some more neighborhood people. We went longer than ever, despite the kid being sick and the weather being drizzly. (Her friend really enjoyed the double meaning of "under the weather".) The kid was whining by the end of it, justifiably, but she still resisted bedtime when it was time.