The world has changed

Sekai ga kawatta

The post before this was in March of 2019. And we all know what happened at the end of 2019. Everything changed....and it actually wants to go back to being the same, go figure (I was kind of hoping for an upgrade).

One thing I do not get is the aversion to masks. They're masks, not handcuffs. Surgeons do brain surgery wearing them. They suture coronary arteries while wearing them. Do you know how tiny the average coronary artery is?

Actually, what they do is rip out an insignificant subcutaneous vein from your leg, and use it to bypass the  blocked part of the coronary artery, but still, my point that masks are totally nbd still stands.

Anyway. Blogger doesn't have iOS anymore, and some people are taking it as a sign that it's going the way of Google+, so I'm thinking of saving what I've written to...someplace. Probably going to start with saving everything to my computer. Maybe I'll merge it with the stuff I wrote in the 20th century about Battle of the Planets. Just trying to prepare for the worst.

The Pumpkin Princess goes to a private HS, meaning she didn't get in to my HS, which kind of limits her career options. Then again, it's more like evidence after the fact. She leaves the house before seven, but since she leaves with minimal drama and brings home stories about her friends and teachers, I think she's good.

The Pumpkin Prince got into the JHS-HS the Pumpkin Princess wanted to go to but couldn't. Cue family drama. The kids at school think he's a super tennis player. The kids (ok, more like their parents) at the tennis club think he's a super student. We all know what that means.

I am the shortest person in the house. I am constantly doing risk/ benefit analysis of a career change. I should probably take note from my best friend from JHS in Suburbia and start with an update of my CV.

So if you are someone who is not me and is reading this, thank you for reading, and I hope you are well (if you've not provided me with evidence that you are through different means).

Loser parent

Dame-oya

I realize I'm probably not going to win any parenting awards, but I like to think of myself as an o.k. parent. My kids wear clean (if not new or fashionable) clothes to school, carrying most of the necessary books and supplies most of the time. They eat home cooked dinners 95% of the time. They have extracurriculars and help with schoolwork. We head out to most of their school and extracurricular events.

But sometimes, I am reminded of my failures.

(Not For the Squeamish Alert!)

Like this morning, when the Pumpkin Daddy and I realized neither of us had clipped the Pumpkin Prince's toenails in, like, forever.

And yet, he hadn't chipped his toenails or torn his socks in, like, forever.

"What do you do, bite them?" the Pumpkin Daddy joked.

Silence.

"Wait, is that what you do? Bite them?"

A pregnant pause, followed by a nod.

He bites his toenails. During bath time (at least he is biting clean toenails). He can bring his toes to his mouth, like a baby (he's ten). He demonstrated (the bringing his toes to his mouth, not the biting).

When the shock wore off, we asked him to please not do it anymore.

We are considering taking him out of tennis lessons to enroll him in gymnastics classes (kidding but only partly).

Mental health

Seishin eisei (or, alternatively, just mentaru herusu)

Since I've completely fallen off the running bandwagon, and it's too cold to get back on (I can hear my Midwestern friends laughing at me from across the pond), but I had to do something, I did the Beginner 28 Day Workout Calendar on Blogilates and it was...about a million times better than doing nothing. My back doesn't hurt anymore. I'm stress eating, but all my clothes still fit.

So, since I finished the Beginner Calendar, I tried the February 2nd workout on the February workout calendar and...didn't die. The workouts on the monthly calendars are almost an hour long if you do the whole thing (the beginner workouts were more like half an hour long), which is all right on weekends, but not so much on weekdays. Still, something is always better than nothing. Some days, I do 2 or 3 videos (out of 4 or 5). In the interest of full disclosure, there are days when I don't do anything. The days I did do something, it made me feel really accomplished (like the way I did when I went running on an early workday morning).

Also...kinda sorta still meditating. Doing Simple Habit and some You Tube guided meditations. I like The Honest Guys, but only the short ones (10 minutes or thereabouts).

Taking my medication. For the first time in my life, I'm constantly on medication. I'm on an antiarrhythmia drug. It's the mildest one. I'm also on meds for my pollen allergies. I keep forgetting to take them. Fortunately, this will never prove lethal.

And...still kinda sorta bullet journaling. I don't do the cute doodles (because I can't do cute doodles, because I don't have that kind of talent) but I did toss in a little bit of calligraphy using 100 yen shop (Daiso) calligraphy pens and masking tape. Just a monthly calendar and the daily logs, with a touch of calligraphy, highlighters, and Post-it Notes. Nothing Instagram worthy, but I think it helps keep me from forgetting things...

So, I'm doing yoga and meditating and medicating and journaling. I'm like an employee in a Silicon Valley startup the company is trying to squeeze out every bit of performance from.

(Except Pilates isn't yoga, and PopPilates isn't really Pilates. And meditation on a 5 minute app is probably limited in its power. And the medication is for allergies...)

Currently loving this sheet mask. A part of me thinks that all I'm getting is a heavy dose of hyaluronic acid, but it leaves my skin feeling...springy? And the sensation stays even after I've washed my face the next morning.

Really getting slammed at work. So maybe the (not) Silicon Valley Startup Interventions are helping me stay sane improve performance? We shall see.

I can't believe it

Shinjirarenai

Happy New Year! And, long time no see.

(Apparently, this phrase has racist origins.. It mocks the way Chinese people trying to learn English speak. But I'm just going to leave this here because it will fade from use if it is meant to with or without my help, like "uppity" and "gypped.")

I'm getting slammed at work. I think my current work environment is where I can do most good in this world, so I'm staying for the time being, but if I leave, it is because the universe and the powers that be could not appreciate and respect the good I was doing for the world and not because I didn't want to do my part to help the world. (And how much does that sound like "I didn't mean to be racist?")

I've stopped running. I'm starting to have problems with my back again (I used to, but I didn't when I ran semi-regularly) so I need to do something. Running is probably the best combination of core and cardio, but it isn't compatible with my current work schedule.

For Christmas, we had a KFC roast chicken and a cake from a local bakery (yes, with strawberries), got some additional stuff from Costco, and I made a mushroom dressing (it's dressing if it's a side and stuffing if it's actually inside the bird, right?) and the Pumpkin Granny brought some fresh vegetables with dip and sautéed vegetables, and we were good to go. For New Year's, I wasn't in the mood to cook anything. The Pumpkin Daddy's friend brought us homemade mochi and we had that in the ozoni, and the Pumpkin Daddy ordered a three-tiered osechi box from 7-eleven.

The New Year Holiday has come and gone. My Holiday Resolutions were cleaning the kitchen fan and counters, decluttering the bathroom cabinets and a drawer or two of my clothes, and a couple sessions of exercise. Keeping it realistic and low key and all that. I cleaned the kitchen fan like I do every New Year Holiday. This year (last year?) I used hot water and washing soda. Doing my part to save the environment, I guess. It worked just as well as any cleaner I've ever used, and it was a little cheaper. And I chucked some old lotions and other items from the bathroom. And I did three Blogilates videos. Didn't get around to the clothes culling, but that's one I can do any day of the year.

Speaking of decluttering, I am in disbelief that Konmari has her own Netflix show. Wasn't Hoarders enough incentive for people to part with things they didn't need?

Long time, no see

Ohisashiburi

I have clearly not accomplished all my Golden Week goals, especially not the one about exercise, and (less importantly--or would that be more?) the one about Tiny Vader.

Life is all right. The Pumpkin Princess is having fun in JHS which is unexpected and really nice (I hated that JHS). She is in the percussion section in band and loves it. Midterms and finals have come and gone. Results were very, very slightly above average, which, if continued, aren't going to leave her as many career choices as she wants (Actually, her current career of choice is Disneyland Cast Member, which would sustain the standard of living she wants if our family home were within commuting distance of the place. Which it isn't.). The Pumpkin Prince is...a boy. He breaks things. He forgets things. He's all right with it. He's all right with himself. 

Bullet journaling continues, and is helpful, when I journal. When I'm really, really busy, I don't even have time to check/ update it, which means it doesn't get the chance to be helpful. Which means I need to do it more religiously, I guess? I've been doing it on a notebook I got at the 100 yen store, but after four months of it, I decided to get a bigger (A5) notebook with a nice cover. We'll see how I do with the bigger notebook.

I am still bulk cooking over the weekend for weekday breakfasts and lunches. I haven't bought an unplanned work lunch in over four months. I think that's pretty amazing. One unexpected problem is that I keep forgetting how much cash I (don't) have in my wallet. Thank goodness for free ATM fees at 7Eleven for people who get paycheck deposits at my bank...

Meditation...I don't know. I keep falling asleep. I never had trouble sleeping to begin with. I don't know if it makes me more productive or forgiving or whatever.

Exercise. See above. Totally slacking off. Lost, and gained back weight (my body's usual response of losing muscle, then gaining fat). I'm currently the weight I was right after the New Year Holidays. Which isn't terrible, by any means, but not as healthy as I could be.

I dumped my hairdresser (my hair salon, actually. My hairdresser left me a few years ago and I just kept going to the same salon out of habit). My new one gave me a straightening treatment, which I love, and bangs, which I am not sure about. At first, I liked them. Then I started feeling like they made me look like a 38 year-old (I say 39 because people say I look slightly younger than my age) trying to look like a 23 year-old. Then they grew (duh) and I am starting to remember why I ditched bangs circa 1998 in the first place. I'm trying to decide if I want to attempt a self-trim or if I will grow them out until my next salon visit (which will probably happen in 11 months).

Have lofty goals

Mokuhyou ha takaku

Feeling better, even though I've totally slacked off on the exercise. Meditation is...on and off. I keep falling asleep before the YouTube video ends, which I've decided is perfectly acceptable. Journaling is going well. I started mid-March and I'm on page 42. I think I'm having slightly fewer "OMG TOTALLY FORGOT" moments, but I'm also having longer periods of "OMG I HAVE TO DO XYZ AND I TOTALLY DON'T WANT TO BUT I HAVE TO AND I REALLY REALLY DON'T WANT TO BECAUSE IT'S HARD AND I DON'T WANT TO CALL THAT PERSON AND GET THAT THING THAT I NEED TO DO XYZ AND OMG I HAVE TO DO XYZ" so I'm not sure if I'm actually any more efficient.

Here is this year's overly ambitious to-do list, to be accomplished sometime between April 28th and May 6th (but I am working and the kids have school on May 1st and 2nd).

1. Wash cashmere knits: From November to February (and sometimes March) I live in Uniqlo cashmere over Heat Tech thermals (with or without a button up shirt or blouse layered between the two). I have four long sleeved pullovers, a short sleeved turtleneck, and a sweater set. I'll hand wash them with detergent for delicates. (There's just something not quite right about dry cleaning something that cost less than $100.) The laundry net will let me only dry two at a time, so I'll have to do two a day.

2. Gardening: We had landscaping done and so I don't have nearly as much space to make overly ambitious plans only to let the yard fall to a weed jungle garden. Still, I want to have nice flower pots in front of the front entrance and maybe the new shed. So, I need to:

Empty old soil from flower pots, sieve, place in black trash bags
Get new potting soil and cute plants
plant flower pots with fresh plants to last for a couple of months

3. Run at least three times: I've totally lapsed in the exercise department. Shock therapy might be necessary.

4. Color hair and pedicure: I've already bought the box hair color. Haven't decided if I'll paint my toenails my usual navy blue, or something more understated.

5. Get a repair estimate on my work bag: I bought the thing about eight years ago. It now has small rips and the edges are badly worn. I did some googling, and the company does repairs for a price, so I want to take pictures and drop them a line and see if repairs would be worth the time and money. I think the cutoff would be half of what I paid for the bag in the first place.

6. Tiny Vader photoshoot: because I want to tell the story of what became of the rose/ silky red boxers.

Meditation

Meisou

I felt really crappy this past month, so I'm trying different things to get myself out of the funk. I tried journaling again, and it's kind of good. I'm trying to get back into exercising. It's pollen season and kind of windy, so YouTube exercise videos are good.

I'm also trying meditation. I don't mean meditation like the religion I married into. That would be much too intense, plus, I can't do the lotus position (I think it's because my legs are too short).

No, I mean what the self-help people are calling "mindfulness." Before bed, I listen to one of the online guided meditations available on YouTube. I'm not sure if it actually helps me relax or sleep well, but it isn't hurting, and it's only about 10 minutes I would otherwise spend fooling around on the internet.

I'm not a religion expert, but mindfulness and meditation as defined by my (husband's) religion seem different. I can't imagine myself heading to my husband's family temple and sitting in the lotus position while the resident monk hovers over me with a bamboo sword. Mindfulness seems much more accessible with smartphone apps and YouTube and FB pages. While conclusive evidence of efficacy is debatable, it can't hurt, and it's only 10 or so minutes. Worth a shot. We'll see how it goes.

If it works

Umaku iku nara

I decided I would try journaling again. I tried it once, and it made me depressed, so I stopped, but I kept on hearing about it, so I decided to give it another try. I watched the You Tube on bullet journaling and went to the page and read all the information on it.

I know you're supposed to use a nice notebook with good paper, but I'm on a budget so I got a notebook with a vinyl cover at the 100 yen shop. I saved three pages for the index and used three pages for a "future log" and additional notes, and two facing pages for the monthly log for the month of March. Then I dove in and wrote whatever I felt like. I logged things I had to do and did and other stuff that I thought was cool that I came across during the day, and whenever a question popped into my head at work, I wrote it down, and when I had a minute googled it or looked it up in the books we have at work and wrote down the answers.

I ended up with over a page and a half of notations just for today.

Somehow, I don't think it's how bullet journaling is supposed to work.

But I felt like I was getting stuff done, and I looked over the notations before going to bed, and felt really good about my day, so whatever works, right? And I felt so good that I exercised for the first time in over a month, and now I'm sore all over but I'm feeling good about it, so it's all good, right?

Lying is one answer

Uso mo houben

The other day, I took the day off to get a breast biopsy. Yes, a breast biopsy, you know, what you do when you get an abnormal breast exam and/ or mammogram and the surgeon does to make sure it isn't cancer? Yes, that. But I didn't want to deal with explaining to my husband what a Category 3 breast lesion was, and how stabbing it with a needle and sucking out some cells involved a blood-draw-caliber needle was more a precaution than anything. I don't know if he would have been "oh, ok" like he was supposed to, or if he would have freaked out like I was afraid he would. I wasn't ready for the latter. So that morning, I packed a lunch just like almost every other day the past two weeks, and left the house when I usually did. The procedure was done by 10:30, so I drove to the mall and ate the lunch I packed in the parking lot and bought a T shirt at Uniqlo (last year's shirts were on sale at 50% off and I found the discontinued color I liked) and walked around until it was time for my consultant gig. After I finished that gig, I went to Costco and the adjacent home improvement store, and then I went to Starbucks (and remembered to NOT get a decaf latte)
and did some English proofreading and fooled around on the internet until it was the usual time for me to go home.

So technically, I've lied to my husband. Oh what a tangled web we weave. At least it was a cheap web (500 yen for the T-shirt, 380 yen for the Starbucks sakura latte).

(And it was good.)

Note to self

Bibouroku

A blog post from a year ago reminded me that I was depressed this time last year. Maybe next year I'll remember this and take steps to prevent it (or at least catch it early).

So here's another reminder to myself:

Finishing a consultation gig early but not wanting to drive back to your office even though you have work to do is perfectly fine. Spending 500 yen on a Starbucks latte so you can sit in a sofa for an hour or so to get that work done was great idea. It was smart of you to remember that you'd probably never get it done at home (kids/ housework/ miscellaneous distractions, you know the drill). That's why you've packed lunches the past couple of weeks, so that you can spend that 500 yen you aren't spending on overpriced convenience store lunches on something more useful. Like sofa space away from home. Oh, and coffee.

However, in the future, try to remember you don't like Starbucks decaf lattes. Deal with the insomnia and go for the regular latte, or order one of those cutesy seasonal sweet frothy things in interesting colors. 

Oh well. At least the cup was cute.

Murder in the laundry room

Sentakushitsu satsujin jiken

I was taking pictures of Tiny Vader and Tiny Storm Trooper with their new washing machine, and the Pumpkin Prince said,

"It's Darth Vader. He wouldn't do laundry nicely."

"Oh, is that so? Well, what do you think he would do?"

"I think he would do this."

Oh dear.

"And I think there would be a witness. Hey, I think you should take the picture from above."

"Like this?"

"Yes, like that. And I think he would tie up all the loose ends."

"Like this. Oh, wait, I think he would use something better. Like this."

"There would be signs of a struggle, of course. Like this."

My son needs:

A. to watch less violence on T.V. and YouTube

B. extensive checking of his manga reading

C. intensive therapy

D. all of the above

Bare minimum requirement

Hitsuyou saiteigen



The week's make-ahead is six dishes, and one of them is steamed broccoli...I also have my usual soy eggs and shredded carrot salad. The one on the bottom left is ground pork with ginger and mushrooms stir fried in sesame oil and soy sauce. I could add a little broth and tofu to it, or maybe put it on toast with cheese for a quick breakfast sandwich.

My mom has the flu. She didn't want to go to the doctor's, which I get and would have respected if I hadn't been so sure it was the flu and I was afraid of my dad getting it. Managed to convince her let me take her to the local clinic open Saturday afternoons and have the test done and get the Relenza inhaler. The pharmacist was super nice and counseled her on how to do it and asked if she wanted to do it right there, and she did. The whole process took about an hour and a half at the local clinic and pharmacy. Mom paid 20%.

You can pry universal health care from my cold, dead fingers.

Planning

Keikaku

The Pumpkin Princess didn't get into that competitive six-year college prep school she wanted. I'm glad she tried. She writes better than I did at her age. I'm also kind of glad she didn't get in. She would have been blown away and gotten depressed or something. She isn't naturally smart enough to get by in that school without major effort. I think she is smart enough to get by in the best schools with major effort, but she doesn't make major effort on her own. She only makes enough effort to get by. Which is one way to live, except she seems to think she's making major effort. I am torn between trying to let her figure this out on her own, or calling her on it. I didn't while she was preparing (or not preparing, depending on how you look at it) for the entrance exam.

The local JHS where I went and she's headed is kind of boring and depressing (see also: Year of Requirement) but there aren't any major issues like violence and crime. It'll do. The area private schools are not worth the time and money. (Don't get me wrong. They're good schools. I have friends who went there. It's just that they lived a lot closer to said schools when they did, and are not worth commutes of an hour or more.)

We're talking about choosing extracurriculars that will help her get her into the school were the cool, smart kids go (i.e. the same high school as her mom.) I want to get back into teaching her English, if she'll let me. We'll see if she wants to make a major effort to get the things she wants. And if she doesn't, that's all right too. She can work on being happy with what she can get with the effort she wants to make.

Because I think in the end, that's what life is about. Being happy with the things you can get, and the things you can give people, with the effort you are willing to make.

I can't put on the underpants

Pantsu ga hakemasen




















(This is what Tiny Storm Trooper got Tiny Vader)

Three day weekend

San-renkyuu

Three day weekend!

One visit from sister and husband!

One exercise session!

One pair of white jeans taken in at the waist!

One photo session with Tiny Vader and Tiny Storm Trooper!

Two half-hour English lessons with the Pumpkin Princess!

Six make-ahead dishes!



(soy seasoned chicken breast, boiled bean sprouts, boiled cabbage with olive oil, tuna salad with carrots and dried/ rehydrated daikon horseradish, kinda sorta Korean pork stir fry, steamed broccoli. I did too many side dishes last week, so I toned stuff down this time partly to adjust for the shorter workweek. Chicken breast can either be eaten as is, added to prepackaged supermarket salad mixes, or be made into sandwiches.)

Four-day workweek!

Laundry

Sentaku

The cold soaks into my body.

Samusa ga mi ni shimiru

Too cold to run, for me, anyway. And also the Pumpkin Daddy. I stayed indoors. I did that YouTube exercise video that cased me immense pain two weeks ago once, and it wasn't nearly as bad.

I wonder what happened to the cold tolerance I had when I lived in the American Midwest? When it snowed last week, I wore my warmest down coat, a shirt, a sweater, and full length pants over thermal underwear (both top and bottom), thick wooly socks, and knee-high rubber boots. I basically chose my wardrobe to survive a three-minute walk from my parking space to my building.

Did the make-ahead thing again. Vegetables are expensive because of the terribly cold weather we've been having, so there are a lot of bean sprouts (which are produced in a factory from imported seeds) and carrots (which were probably harvested last season and refrigerated).

Kinda sorta Korean fried chicken, boiled cabbage seasoned with sesame oil, shredded carrot salad, kinda sorta Okinawan konnyaku stir fry, okara, bean sprouts seasoned with sesame oil, kiriboshi (shredded and dried) daikon cooked in dash with carrots  and aburaage, soy eggs, nappa cabbage stir fried with glass noodles, and shredded carrot stir fry with egg. (Not shown: a large container half-full of soy sauce flavored fried chicken, which was Sunday's dinner. I made extra hoping for plentiful leftovers to eat during the week, and it turned out everyone liked it so much, I ended up with a lot less than I expected. Which, I guess, is the highest compliment I could possibly receive, so it's all good, isn't it?)

The make-ahead thing at least partially fulfills my aspirations of upping my breakfast game. I throw a few items on the plate beside the kids' toast slices, and it looks like I put some effort in it (well, I did put effort in it, but the effort was made on Saturday and Sunday, as opposed to a weekday morning). The items are also my weekday box lunches and additional side dishes for the weekday dinners the Pumpkin Daddy prepares for us. I don't mind cooking, and if it means my family is eating healthier, well, then, why not?

Let's see if I do better on the exercise front as well!

I didn't run, again

Mata hashiranakatta

I've run 3 k in 2018. I'm seriously slacking.

We got quite a bit of snow last Monday. Then, we got a cold snap. My Midwestern friends are going to laugh at me, but here, if it goes below freezing for more than two consecutive days, it's a cold snap. I don't run when it's below freezing, especially when there is ice, but last Thursday, I said enough is enough and decided to get some movement in.

My trusty Jillian Michaels uploads seemed to have been taken offline (copyright issues, I suppose, I get it, but in my defense, I had the DVD I was watching online) and I was too lazy to rev up the region-free DVD, so I did a new video I'd never done before that had decent reviews. It was about 20 minutes long, and I got through it and it was no big deal, but I figured it had gotten my heart rate up, and some exercise was better than no exercise, and showered and had breakfast and went to work, making a mental note to check out different videos after I got home.

Things started feeling off at around noon. My glutes were sore.

By the end of the day, the rest of me was sore as well.

The next morning, I think every muscle group in my body except for my masticators were sore.

So I guess it's a good exercise video.

Being lazy

Namakeru

I have come to realize that if I don't set goals on what I want to get done for the weekend, I will do nothing beyond the minimum requirement and check blogs and social media.

The minimum requirements for weekends are:

Meal prep (3 times a day x2, unless we eat out, which we're trying to avoid, which is another post for another day)
Clothing maintenance (the Pumpkin Daddy does all the laundry, but I hand wash my bras and, depending on the time of month, cloth panty liners. I also de-pill and, if needed, steam press my sweaters.)
Makeup maintenance (washing makeup brushes, taking inventory, trimming/ tweezing eyebrows)

...which is probably a lot less than most people who have kids are responsible for on weekends.

So, I've taken to setting goals on weekends that don't have actual scheduled activities. Last weekend, I decided I would prep 5 dishes for weekday breakfasts/ lunches and sew something for Tiny Vader. I made 4 vegetable dishes and 1 meat dish, and that with rice or toast was everyone's breakfast, and my lunch for the week. I made Tiny Vader a sweatshirt gray hoodie (I'd already made him a sweater, but the Pumpkin Princess said that Vader was probably more a hoodie person than a sweater person), but then I realized it looked wrong unless he wore a T-shirt underneath, which he didn't have.

This weekend, I also prepped food. Behold, the Instagrammable enamel and glass containers on a white countertop, with filter...

...and Tiny Vader got his T-shirt. So it was a really good weekend!

Except for the notable lack of physical activity...

Yuukyuu

Paid vacation

I took the day off. I got my mammogram, which should have been annual but hasn’t been (hush!). I already know I’m going to get called back, but the breast surgeon said that it was highly unlikely to be cancer. The way the system works, I’m going to get the official phone call in about a month or two, and then I’ll go back and have it biopsied and (hopefully) get the all-clear (until next year). On the way home, I stopped at a secondhand store to see if I could find stuff for Tiny Vader. I didn’t, but I saw an actual Petite Blythe doll  for the first time, and now I understand why it took so many tries (and I essentially ended up drafting a new pattern) to make jeans for Tiny Vader. Those things have gigantic heads and stick arms and legs! They’re still cute, though.

The Pumpkin Daddy said he wanted to go to this new steak chain. I got the fleet and the Pumpkin Daddy got the sirloin. They were…all right. Nothing to write home about. I think I like Korean barbecue better than steak. Used to be the other way around. Maybe this change in preference is age-associated?

Then the Pumpkin Daddy decided he wanted us to go to the pet store and then to Costco and then Starbucks. I’d been thinking of doing stuff with Tiny Storm Trooper and Darth Vader, but then I thought it was kind of sweet that he wanted me to hang out with him even after all these years, and decided to play with dolls another day. We ooohed and ahhed at kittens and puppies. The Pumpkin Daddy wants a puppy or a kitten. I think it’s a mid-life crisis, and he misses having cute babies who think he is the coolest dad in the whole universe. We went to Costco and bought coffee and bacon and butter and mixed nuts and a plastic storage container. We ran out of time to hit Starbucks and ended up getting coffee at 7-eleven, which is all right. I’m addicted to their new lattes. They cost less than a third of a Starbucks latte, but they’re almost as good.

I went to a parents' event at the Pumpkin Princess's test prep class, and the Pumpkin Daddy cooked dinner.

Then it's back to the grind.