A Week in the Life - Day 8

Mark's Version


TUESDAY - 6:45 AM

Today is trash day and we are also attending a very fascinating presentation at the college, so I need to get up a bit early to make sure I get done with the hospital in time. It's cold so I work quickly with the trash, but it's not as bad as it was yesterday. Things go pretty smoothly and I'm out the door without a hitch.

7:40 AM

I arrive in the exam room ready to work. It looks like a pretty light Tuesday so I shouldn't have any problems getting out in plenty of time. For once my initial thoughts are entirely correct. I didn't have any major issues. I didn't have anyone complaining about anything. I just did my work and got out. I've learned not to question days like these. It's like the universe is throwing me a freebie. I hope this is a repayment and not a prepayment.

8:30 AM

I make it to the gym in record time and I'm so early it's a different crowd than usual. Today there are a lot of third shift workers just getting off and hitting the gym before going home. There are also a lot of retired folks exercising. It's not too crowded so I get my first pick of equipment and use the treadmill for an hour.

9:40 AM

Before heading home I hit the store for a few things we need. Everyone is finishing up breakfast and making sure we are ready for a presentation at the college. While I make some phone calls and catch up on some emails, Stacy shows the kids some of "The Goldbergs." It's the Halloween episode, complete with quotes from our own Halloween evening. The funny thing is, just in recounting how things were "when we were kids," we hit all the highlights--examining candy for razor blades, crazy people who injected candy with drugs, x-raying your candy at the hospital on November 1. The kids thought it was hysterical.

After the show is over I show everyone a short video highlighting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, starting with Abraham and finishing with the U.N. establishment of the physical country of Israel. The kids have heard all of this before in some form, but it's a good reminder before leaving.

10:30 AM

What can I say about the presentation? I will say that we are so incredibly fortunate to have a gem like this college in our town. The population of our township cannot be more than a few thousand people, but we have a great liberal arts college that brings a lot of outstanding lectures and presentations throughout the year. This one is put on by a religion class studying Judaism. There is a middle-eastern lunch followed by students sharing stories about six individuals, 3 Jews and 3 Palestinians, highlighting the human side to the conflict in Israel.

Before leaving we compare heights. Max is catching up!

First of all, lunch is fantastic. Chicken kebabs, hummus, na'an, dolmas, tabouli, chickpea salad, tzaziki sauce, baklava (which I don't eat because it's way too sweet), and other stuff I'm forgetting. The nice things about these posts is that Stacy and I recount slightly different details of the exact same thing, so somewhere in all of this you'll get the total details. Anyway, we load up our plates and head in to the chapel where the presentation will be.

A full plate

Oooh! Surprises in layer 2!

As we're sitting there eating, music is playing while slides are projected with images of Israel. There are pictures of Jews praying at the Wailing Wall and Muslims at a mosque. We see the Dome of the Rock and pictures of Solomon's original temple in Jerusalem. Pictures are shown of the lush green hills outside the walls juxtaposed against the ancient city. It's very relaxing to eat and prepare for what should be a very good presentation.

All of the presentations are done by students in the class and are very interesting. Each one of the individuals they discuss have dedicated themselves to peace in one way or another. There is an Israeli soldier who has united veterans on both sides of the conflict. Another ex-combatant has joined those injured through the years, whatever country they support. There are mothers who fight for peace after losing children. The stories are very touching and our kids have things that they take away from each of them. We all marvel that people who are descended from the same ancestor can continue such hatred, all in the name of religion. It's sad on so many levels.

12:15 PM

We get home and jump into a flurry of activities, mostly relating to being ready for our afternoon write-in. Max has some computer issues that I attend to; Kate writes furiously like her fingers are possessed by some unseen force, guiding her process; Stacy realizes that since I'll be working when the write-ins starts it would be more economical to get a ride from the Johnsons rather than pay the meter twice when I get there, so she hurries to arrange the ride; and I help everyone individually take the General Orientation Test for the Special Olympics.

 1:30 PM

I start in the office with my smoking patient, who is finally done smoking. It took most of the two weeks to do it, but she did it. This is especially gratifying for both of us because she recently had a mastectomy for breast cancer and really didn't want to add lung cancer to the list of things she'll deal with in life. I also take care of some routine aches and pains, which in the end represents the vast majority of what I treat with acupuncture.

2:00 PM

While one patient is on the table I bathe the dog. Scout is not happy.

2:30 PM

While my last patient is on the table I clean the bathroom after bathing the dog. That's the usual routine.

3:00 PM or so

I gather my things and head downtown to the write-in. This one is at a different coffee shop, partly to change things up, but also to accommodate one of our NaNos who lives downtown. This place isn't quite so conducive to writing, so we mostly talk, write a little, talk, brainstorm more story specifics, grab some dinner, and talk. Christie is working tonight so we take the Johnsons home afterward. Tonight is the first night for the Special Olympics bowling activities and we really want to go, but we also are feeling a bit overwhelmed and over-stimulated right now. We decide that we could go for one game, just so we can meet the coach and athletes. We really do love being with all of the Special Olympics athletes.

At the write-in. Nice photography, Max!

5:45 PM

It's off to bowling for us. It is a flurry of activity when we get there. We recognize some of the athletes from going to volleyball a couple of weeks ago, but there are a TON of people there. We eventually meet the coach and he tells us to jump right in and encourage the athletes. Max and I stick together and Kate and Stacy head over to a group of girls. It's a lot of fun to cheer them on and joke with them and help them get up at the right time. One of the athletes really takes a liking to Max and even headlocks him and gives him noogies now and then. It is really cute.

7:00 PM

We get home and settle in to do some writing, but end up not getting to much. Stacy is feeling really tired and allergy-ridden. I'm feeling a bit off myself, almost like I'm on the verge of getting sick. We decide to have a low-key night and watch a couple of shows before bed. "The Goldbergs" warms us up and then we watch the newest episode of "New Girl." Then it's off to bed at a reasonable time.

Stacy's Version

7:00 AM

I wake up. Our stupid neighbor puts his dogs out at all hours and then does who knows what while he leaves them outside and they bark nonstop. They were at it this morning. 7AM isn’t too ridiculous, but he’s done this at 4AM as well.

I can tell my sleep is shifting earlier – I told you those hours we were writing about in the first few posts were really, really odd! I mean we’re night owls, but that got ridiculous. Also, it should be noted that I hate naps. I know that most people love them, but I don’t enjoy them at all – I don’t like sleeping in the day and I don’t like how I feel afterward when I do. It is very rare for me to take a nap.

I cuddle with Scout for a bit – I love, love, LOVE cuddling with her. She is super sweet and super snuggly and warm. She’s a sweetie – we love her! I read a bit and get up and get ready.

I think about these posts and all the little things we do all day that we don’t always document – putting dishes away, answering the door, getting packages, running upstairs and downstairs to get stuff or put stuff away, dealing with allergies, filling the dog’s kibble and water, getting water, reading, errands, exchanging texts, etc. There are so many little things that make up portions of our days.

9:00 AM

Kate is up. She got herself up and ready. She usually volunteers on these mornings, but she called the library yesterday to let them know we had something going on. We both got breakfast and talked and wrote. Max got up and ready. I showed the kids an episode of The Goldbergs, because it was the Halloween episode and made jokes about stuff we just told them regarding candy in the 80s. I’m enjoying that show more and more. It’s got nostalgia, details, fashion, humor, and heart. They get a kick out of it – probably not as much as Mark and I do, but they enjoy it.

We then watch a video about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We’ve discussed this before, so this is a refresher. We get our things together and head over to the college. It’s about 5 minutes from our house, if that. I love college towns and walking around campus!

10:45 AM

We arrive at the chapel and there is a big, beautiful spread of Middle Eastern foods – falafel, tabouleh salad, balela (garbanzo bean salad), an amazing red pepper hummus, delicious tzaziki sauce, seasoned pita bread with sea salt, chicken kabobs, stuffed grape leaves, spanikopita, baklava (we all passed on that), water, and iced tea. I might even be forgetting something. It was a fabulous and delicious lunch – honestly some of the best Middle Eastern food I’ve eaten. And yes, I’ve eaten it several times before this. If it’s ethnic food, we’re all over it.

The Chaplain greeted us and we took our loaded plates into the chapel and ate while we enjoyed student lectures about stories of 6 people – both Israeli and Palestinian and both male and female – who have been directly impacted by the crisis there. Every presentation has a power point presentation along with it with visuals and quotes. There was a Q&A afterward as well.

The stories are all amazing and several are quite touching. During one of them, I was struck by how a mother opened her mind as the result of seeing what her child was doing with his life. She changed her beliefs and ways for the greater good. It made me think of older generations who are so set in their ways and believe that they are right and that they automatically know more than their children do, not even opening their minds to the possibility that their children may very well know more.

It also made me think of myself as a mother and my relationship with my children. I learn from my kids all the time. I listen to them. I often change my opinions based on their thoughts and what they say and what they teach me. Who am I to think that I know more than they do?

I love homeschooling. This is just one of many reasons why. It’s mid-morning in the middle of a week and we can take our kids to a great college presentation, complete with an amazing spread of food, and learn more there than we could in weeks of textbooks or classroom work. I love, love, love it!

One of the slides from one presentation

12:15 PM

We get back and check our messages. Because we were one of the first 10 people to sign up for our CSA (community-supported agriculture) again, we have won a $20 gift card to use at the organic farm for produce or meat from their grass-fed animals.

There is also a message on the machine from this morning – a buddy of Max’s called to invite him over to play. That’s another thing – there is a misconception that home-educated kids are lonely and unsocialized. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are with friends almost all the time! Remember, other homeschooled kids are also home during the day. We get together to play and learn and do stuff . . . A LOT.

Max calls his friend, who is in a chatty mood. Another stereotype bucked. Max and his buddies talk more on the phone than Kate and hers. He is setting up a D&D afternoon for this week with 4 other kids. It sounds like they can all come, so it looks like we’ll have a house full of boys later this week having grand adventures!

Max is a GREAT storyteller and adventure leader. He is almost constantly playing adventure games, doing choose-your-own-adventure stories, playing D&D, etc. He often has an entourage of boys all around him all laughing and yelling out ideas and choosing adventure paths. It’s so fun to see.

I play with Scout and write a bit more. We have another write-in today, so I figure if I can get caught up on this, I can work on my novels at the write-in. Mark and I are behind on our word counts. The kids are not. Go figure.

Oh, the kids started keeping gratitude posts for the month of November. They’re really fun/cute. Be sure to check out their blogs!

1:00 PM

Mark is handling a call from the hospital. He gets off the phone and we all take more tests for our background checks/approval to work with the kids in Special Olympics. Our family started volunteering with them this summer. We did a whole slew of background checks and safety quizzes and reading about ways to help keep the athletes (and us) safe. The organization has added even more safety quizzes and things – a big, recent overhaul (I suspect the Penn State scandal has something to do with that), so they’ve asked us to do one more test online.

We unload the dishwasher and clean up a bit. I read more. Kate practices violin. Max reads a Lego magazine. I think about what we’re doing this afternoon and figure out it makes more sense for us to catch a ride with the Johnsons to the coffee shop (a different one this time) than to take two cars since Mark is working for half the write-in. They readily agree to take us. Whee! THEY LIVE HERE NOW.

2:05 PM

The Johnsons arrive and the kids and I pile into their car. With Mark working this afternoon for half the write-in, us going with them allows us to not have to feed the meters for two cars. Christie is going to eat and leave us there to go to an appointment and then work. Mark is working and then meeting us at the coffeeshop more than halfway through the write-in. We wave at Scout who is watching us at her window. She is so cute!!

2:20 PM

We arrive at the coffeeshop and our friend Roselle greets us animatedly. She’s happy we’ve arrived and we’re happy to see her, too. Christie has lunch while she’s there and then she’s off to an appointment and then to work.

Theoretically, the rest of us are staying to write. All of us write some. Some of us write a lot (Kate). We’re all highly distracted. The food is good, though, as is the company. Just not the best writing session for most of us. The internet wasn’t working – in a way, that’s good (less distraction).

5:00 PM

We pack up and talk with Roselle a bit and then take the Johnsons home. We get back to our house and have about 15 minutes to see Scout and catch our breath before we’re off again to the next thing.

6:00 PM

We arrive at the bowling alley to volunteer with the Special Olympics. We’ve already helped out with volleyball. Now it’s bowling season. It is a PACKED house and the athletes are always a lot of fun. Kate and I work with a team of three girls – one is the self-appointed leader, another sort of does her own thing, and a third is the leader’s sister – she is unhappy tonight and keeps crying. French fries make her happy and seem to motivate her. At one point she is so mad that she bites her own hand really hard and then spends the next 20 minutes or so pointing at it to let us know that it hurts. We help all the girls fill out forms. And in between all this, they bowl.

There is a LOT of high-fiving at all Special Olympics events. LOTS. Mark and Max work with some of the athletes we got to know at volleyball. They’re all so happy to see us and we’re happy to see them. You can’t help but feel happy around them all. There is lots of teasing, smiling, laughter, cheers, and high fives. They’re such great people.

At one point, during the one girl’s second meltdown, her sister and I went over to get their “brother” – a caregiver and college student that helps out their family. He came over and helped her calm down and then I saw his eye catch Kate and he suddenly became very interested in her, asking her name and becoming seemingly unaware of me standing right next to her or anyone else around us. I interjected and said, “I’m Stacy,” but he didn’t hear or see me at all. He asked Kate if she’s in school and she responded that she homeschools. He then asked what grade she’s in. “8^th,” she replied. He seemed surprised and suddenly remembered to go back to his own bowling lane. Aaaaaacccckkkkkkkk!! I tell Mark that story when we get home and he swears.

After volunteering there, we come home. I was feeling overstimulated even before we went bowling, so I really was desperate for some quiet now.

7:30 PM

I change into comfy clothes and settle in for a quiet evening of reading and writing. I’m having wicked fall allergies these days – moldy leaves? And sudden movements make my nose itchy or cause an all-out sneezing fit. I try to read and write, but my head is super fuzzy from all the sneezing, itchiness, watery eyes, tissues, and generally trying to breathe.

I’m fuzzy on what happened the rest of the night, since my allergies were so horrible. I tried writing for a while, but gave up at some point. We got the kids to bed, watched an episode of the Goldbergs (this show is really growing on me, plus they played a cool Run DMC song at the end), watched the new New Girl, and hit the hay early. I read for a bit and slept hard.

***I think we’re going to take a break now from doing these, since we’re behind on our NaNoWriMo word count. These have been SUPER fun to write. And we’ve loved hearing from so many of you.

This morning, I woke up between 7 and 8 and got up and ready for the day. I feel pretty fuzzy – one of those mornings where I’m allergy-ridden, exhausted, out of it. I ran out of hot water, the toilet clogged, and everything is messy and I’m too out of it to care. We have a lot of full days ahead:

Today, we have a presentation we’re attending all about the middle east puzzle. Coincidence that it’s around the same time as yesterday’s presentation. This one is being offered by a completely different university.

Tomorrow is a full day of violin, tae kwon do, friends, “Run, Jump, Play” class, delivering dinner, and more.

Friday, Max has a D&D group meeting here in the afternoon and then at night, we’re hosting 4 more couples for a Newlywed Game Night! We’re all super excited for that.

And this weekend is the kid-literature festival. We've been waiting for that for months!

So in between all that I’ve listed, we’ll be reading, watching documentaries, studying,  and, of course, writing our NaNoWriMo books.

Mark and I are doing some gratitude posts as well as some other things here, so we’ll be posting!***

A Week in the Life - Day 7

Stacy’s Version

7:30 AM

I woke up and laid in bed for a while. Mark got ready for work and kissed me. I thought I’d try to get a few more winks. I’m sleeping better these past couple of days.

You know those weird dreams you sometimes have when you sleep a bit longer after initially waking up in the morning? Yeah, I had one of those dreams. A family we know that sort of made themselves unwelcome in our homeschool group after a series of treating people badly (super uncommon in the many years of the existence of our homeschool group) was out trick-or-treating and they left a biscuit on our doorstep. Utterly random.

9-something AM

I got ready for the day and checked email and texts and such. I could hear the kids getting up and ready and setting up for their weekly D&D (dungeons and dragons) game. Every week, a bunch of kids come over and they play for a couple of hours in the morning. I love having older kids! They totally set up, take care of themselves, and clean up afterward. I like their friends and I like having a home where their friends are always welcome.

I usually get things done while they play and I always get to enjoy a lot of laughter and strategizing and funny voices coming from the dining room. I love it! One time, I told the kids to come in their pajamas and I made them all breakfast while they played. It was so much fun. I seriously love motherhood.

The kids and I eat breakfast before everyone arrives.

10:00 AM – 12 Noon

The kids’ friends show up and they play D&D. I read, write, and text back and forth with Mark. He is working and going to the gym this morning. We talk all the time, so I think texting is one of the greatest inventions ever, because we get to talk even more.

We usually go to Yoga on Monday mornings (I meet him there with our mats) after he’s done with work, but today we’ve decided to go to tonight’s class instead. I like how I feel better when I do yoga at night. I think it mellows me out too much in the morning and then I feel strangely unsure of what to do next all day. This past week, our regular teacher was sick and we had a substitute – it was the kids’ teacher and I loved her class! Instead of using the regular yoga pose names, she had creative, visual names for them and we did yoga as she told an unfolding story. I responded so well to her method. It shouldn’t be called “kids yoga,” because adults like it, too!

Mark and I both write and talk when he gets home and then I get ready for the day. We keep talking and we also all grab a little something for lunch (no one is that hungry) and Mark cleans up the clinic some before his afternoon appointments. I send some texts – my best friend growing up has texted me about books. We often talk back and forth about books we like and we have similar tastes. She has just finished Eleanor & Park and loved it. My friend Sherri asked about the surprise party – I tell her to check the blog as it’s too long to text, but I tell her it went VERY well. My friend Kristie texted and it sounds like she’s having a rough day. I text myself with story ideas multiple times as I get ready (that shower inspiration!).

Mark and I come up with some fun ideas for “school” this month, too. I say school, but really it’s life. Life is learning. And it’s fun!

Before the kids leave, Mark shows a couple of them our game closet. I wanted Will to see it, as he and his family love games and we have a ton of them. We want to have them over for dinner and games soon. They’re from a fun family of 5 – an older sister and 4 rambunctious boys. The older two are teens and they come over for D&D and a lot of the teen activities at our house. The younger two come over to play (battle) in the backyard with Max and to play D&D where Max is the DM (dungeon master). Their parents are super nice, too. Anyway, the kids are excited to come over and play more games together.

We talk a lot at lunch about learning, openness, friends, attitudes, food, fun, reading, books, you name it. I tell our kids that I love that they have good friends.

1:00 PM

Mark goes into the clinic and I finish up getting ready. I’ve come downstairs multiple times to write things down. My mind is racing with ideas.

The kids blog some gratitude posts for a while and I help them find videos or with some impromptu grammar lessons and writing in general. I also do some writing myself. And ugh, my inbox is piling up. It’s good, just challenging.

After a while, the kids and I take a break and we cuddle up on the couch with blankets and a book we’re reading together. We’re finishing it by this weekend, when we meet the author and he signs our book! So far the book is really enjoyable. We laugh out loud several times.

Good books and good hot chocolate

Mark comes out of the clinic to make us some Ghiradelli chocolate mocha hot cocoa. He tops it with whipped cream and caramel sauce. Delicious! The kids and I cuddle and read for quite a while. I LOVE OUR LIFE!!

The dog is the best cuddler!

 We take a break right about the time that Mark has a break in the clinic. He comes out and the mail arrives (so of course the dog flips out) – surprises for Christmas that Mark keeps hiding from us. Max challenges Mark to play his character’s ghost on Mario Kart Wii. Mark attempts 3 times. I sit down to see if I can do it (I think it would be awesome if I could do it in one try!) and we see that I’m unable to as I have a ton to unlock (again) since our old Wii got fried and we had to buy a refurbished one and transfer everything. Some games didn’t transfer our accomplishments, so we’re starting over again with that stuff. I played one circuit, but it didn’t unlock the course I need to beat Max’s character’s ghost, so I stopped playing so the boys could go back to playing together.

At 2:39 PM, I get a text from Dave. He is excited about the meal he’s making for us tonight (as are we). He was telling us about it yesterday and today he sent me this text:

“I’m fixing us an awesome dinner with lemon, honey, garlic, ginger, olives, pine nuts, saffron, cilantro, and lots of other yummy stuff.” Oh yeah, we love co-op.

We also call Kirsten since today is her actual birthday. It is also Mark’s mom’s birthday. It is also Kate’s backward birthday. So many things! We all have fun passing the phone around and talking to Kirsten. Again I say, I like our kids’ friends.

At one point while reading the book together, it mentions bacon-wrapped shrimp. I remark that that sounds good and then begin to wonder what we’re having for dinner tonight. Then I remember that tonight is the Johnson’s night to bring dinner and that they’re bringing us something very yummy – lemon saffron chicken (it has lemon, garlic, honey, green olives, pine nuts, cilantro, etc.) with garlic couscous and roasted vegetables. We are excited. We love co-op! We usually have group violin tonight, but we’re skipping it tonight while Mark and I go to yoga class. This past week, Max played at the Johnsons’ house while Kate attended group – that was a big hit!

Also, I think I’m trained to look for food in books since our grown-up book club is all about books AND corresponding food. We have great discussions and then we enjoy great food.

I spent more time writing this post and then stopped because I caught up to this point and it is now 3:42 PM.

5:10 PM

The past hour and a half has been spent blogging, commenting, playing games, talking, and laughing. Our kids are writing gratitude posts on their blogs this month (seriously, go check them out – they’re fun!) and we’re all having fun writing them, reading them, and commenting. I love the variety of personalities in our family.

I’m getting a ton done when I recognize the time and we hurry and set the table. Dinner arrives and oh is it delicious! I can’t say enough how much we love co-op. Christie and Rich are delivering tonight. It always varies who delivers to whom. It’s an added fun surprise! Rich is telling our kids stories and totally cracking himself up, which I find totally hilarious. When he really gets going, you can’t even tell what he’s saying - his eyes get small, he cracks up, can barely breathe, and starts crying. When people laugh like that, I always get a kick out of it, even if I have no idea what they’re saying.

5:46 PM

So, Max just randomly came up to me, hugged me, and said, “I just want to tell you that I appreciate everything you do for us and I love you.” I love that kid!! He does this. He always says what he thinks – positive or negative. He is honest and filterless. He is so great about taking time to express gratitude and appreciation. He’s such a great kid.

6:00 PM

It’s getting darker earlier. Mark and I have yoga class tonight and we were going to leave the kids home, but last minute called Johnsons to see if they could go over and they jumped at it! I’m so glad they live close by!! All kids were absolutely ecstatic. We dropped the kids off there and said, “This is nice!” and Mark and I were off to yoga class.

6:25 PM

Mark and I arrive at a very full yoga class – almost 30 people. I like taking yoga classes together. Even though it’s mostly chill and meditative, we giggle sometimes. And during some of the laying down poses, I even sneak my hand into his. Namaste.

7:45 PM

Class is over and we high tail it out of there. Mark takes me home so I can use the bathroom and then goes up the street to the Johnsons’ house to pick up our kids. Scout is happy to see me but cries until everyone gets home.

8-something PM

Everyone is home. We talk. We write. We read. We talk more. We text people. Kate and I really want to watch a Gilmore Girls episode since we only watched two on Saturday. Also, my MIL’s birthday is today and she is having donuts, which makes us want donuts. So Mark goes to get some at THE BEST DONUT PLACE EVER (and any of you who have ever visited us can attest to that fact) and Kate and I start a non-Saturday Gilmore Girl episode. So rebellious! Mark gets back with donuts and he and Max play a round or two of Munchkin.

9:45 PM

We do “gratitudes and hopes” and hugs and kisses and the kids are off to bed. I read for a bit and Mark tries to call his mother for her birthday. He tries two different phones and leaves a message. We talk a bit and decide to watch a Goldbergs episode since there’s nothing else to watch and because we like that show okay for the nostalgia factor (go 80s!) and then head to bed early. Mark’s working early tomorrow morning to be back in time for all of us to attend a luncheon/lecture at the local college about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We like going to things there now and then. It keeps us sharp!

Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl is absolutely taunting me. I’m reading books with the kids, we’re all doing blog posts, we’re working on projects, we have activities, we do fun things, we’ve got stuff to do, WE ARE WRITING NOVELS, and this book is sitting here saying, “Read me. Read me.” I give it a loving look as if to say, “I know. Soon.”

Mark is on the phone with his mother for her birthday. This may be a good time to look for my missing book. Yeah, I continue to obsess.

He talks to her for a bit. Then we watch more of The Goldbergs – hilarious. It keeps getting better. It was a Halloween episode and they mentioned x-raying candy, which is so funny because we had JUST told our kids about how people felt about trick-or-treating in the 80s. Ah, the 80s. How I love the 80s.

11:30 PM

Off to bed. Goodnight!


Mark's Version

MONDAY - 7:15 AM

No problems getting up this morning. Maybe the time change will do me some good. I let out the dog, finished putting up our wall of gratitude, and hung the NaNoWriMo poster for 2013. A quick shower later and I'm out the door. It's only 27 degrees out, but even the ice is hiding because my windshield is essentially clear.

8:00 AM

I arrive at the hospital and get to work. It looks to be a very light morning today--mostly chart work, which is not uncommon for a Monday. I usually see the patients admitted to the hospital on the day after their arrival, and not as many patients are admitted to psychiatric facilities around here over the weekend. Having tried to discharge patients from the medical hospital during residency I'm well acquainted with this fact.

The extended unit has next to nothing to do, except for trimming a diabetic patient's toenails. The nurses won't do it because of the poor circulation in diabetic patients' feet. If there is any nicking or nipping it could lead to infection, which won't heal as well, etc., etc. So, I get to do it. It's not as nice as when the podiatrist does it, but I'm not half bad. A coat of nail polish would make it look even better, but let's not get crazy.

Most of the kids I see today are well-behaved and it's a very easy day. I did have to clarify an order for an ankle brace for a girl who sprained her ankle over the weekend. They needed to know exactly how long she needs to wear it. Three days for now seemed reasonable so that's what I wrote. On my way out of the hospital I followed this patient to the inpatient schoolroom. She hopped and skipped the whole way. I'm thinking she may not need that brace. Oh, and incidentally, she is the one who likes to swallow things.

9:20 AM

I am already at the gym. I told you this was a short morning. I do my typical Monday morning routine--30 minutes on the weight machine circuit followed by 30 minutes on the treadmill. I'm feeling like I need to push things a bit so I up my speed on the treadmill. By the time I'm done my legs are rubber and I'm ready for a break. I take a shower, drink some water, and head home.

10:40 AM

I pull up to the house and there is a bike on the porch. Monday is Dungeons and Dragons morning at our house. I walk in and see Kate, Max, and 4 other friends sitting around the dining room table, completely immersed in their adventure. It is great to see them being so creative and having so much fun. Stacy is working on some blogging and so I sit down and finish yesterday's post. I upload pictures and the video from the party and get ready to make the post live. Of course, before doing any of this I acknowledge Scout, who is sitting on the sofa with her tail wagging side to side. It is a sight to behold. It's like she's preparing for liftoff. Where else do you get that kind of greeting.

12:30 PM

No one is very hungry so we all eat a light lunch. Salad with avocado and Swiss cheese for me.

1:00 PM

My first patient arrives. I have a light afternoon where I will see a patient for quitting smoking, a woman with chronic neck pain and headaches after an auto accident last year, a low back pain patient, and a man with recent neck pain. One woman tells me that after three treatments on her feet her nerve pain is all but gone. That wasn't even the first issue that brought her to see me, but I started treating her feet in the last month.

2:30 PM

I take a break in the clinic about the same time that Stacy finishes reading with the kids. We have a fantastic event that we are attending this Saturday and we want to be sure to prepare. There will be a number of authors who write both children's and young adult literature at a conference. We'll get a chance to hear them speak and then to meet them as well. We have a number of their books and have been working through them.

We noticed that Kate has grown, yet again

Max is anxious for me to play Mario Kart so I can try and beat his time on one of the time trials. I am unsuccessful. He is really fast on that track! He tells me how to unlock some other characters and vehicles so I work on that while he cleans up a bit. After that we race through a circuit. During this time I remark that our life is good. What other job would let me take a break in the afternoon and play the Wii with my son? Not many.

Stacy and I hang out and chat while she eats a snack and while I wait for my last patient to arrive. It's a little gloomy outside and we're all feeling a little tired. I'm now not so sure I like the time change. I'm feeling fickle today.

4:35 PM

My last patient arrives so I get him started on the table and then finish writing this post. In fact, it is now 5:05 PM and the music tells me it's time to remove the needles. I've got all the music memorized to a point. There's something comforting about being that familiar with what I'm doing. For every 10 patients that come in with routine issues, I get one or two that have very unique problems. It works out well.

5:15 PM

The Johnsons bring over dinner--lemon-saffron chicken with garlic couscous and roasted vegetables. There is a whole bunch of delicious going on in this dish. I don't even know exactly what seasonings are in there, but they all go together so well. Have we mentioned how much we love co-op?

6:00 PM

We're taking our last yoga class tonight and the kids get to play at the Johnsons while we're there. We love having them so close so we can get the kids together like this. We'd been doing our yoga classes in the mornings but it is especially nice to get to stretch and relax at the end of the day.

8:00 PM

I pick up the kids from the Johnson house and head home. The kids are happy after having hung out with them and we're happy after our yoga session. Since we had such abbreviated dates on Saturday night the girls decide to watch an episode of "Gilmore Girls" and Max and I play Munchkin, a super fun role-playing type of card game. I also make a last-minute run to the doughnut shop for an evening snack. It is my mother's birthday today and Stacy had been texting her. Apparently she had doughnuts for her "cake" today so they sounded good. I get down to the shop about 10 minutes before it closes and realize I've left my wallet in the van. Luckily I had a lot of change in the car so I slap two handfuls of change on the counter and say, "You're going to hate me." She does not and we count out the money together.


After the kids go to bed Stacy and I start catching up on episodes of "The Goldbergs." It's the Halloween episode and the mother mentions x-raying all of the candy at the hospital before the kids eat it. We both bust up laughing because on Halloween we had just told the kids about how they used to do that in the 80s. Anyway, we enjoy an episode and a half and I also talk to my mother for her birthday. The time change means I catch her as her evening is beginning and ours is beginning. After phone calls and TV we head to bed. It's a bit earlier than the past few nights, which is good because we need to catch up on sleep.

The dog also does a great job relaxing

Stacy got a great picture of our sweet Scout

The burning bush in front of the house--fall is wonderful!

A Week in the Life - Day 6

Mark's Version


SUNDAY - 8:00 AM

Today is the day. Kate has been planning a surprise birthday party for her BFF, and unbeknownst to her, her BFF has been planning a surprise half-birthday party. They are both here at our house today, at the same time. Neither one knows that it's a dual party so it should be a great surprise. We've been so on the go that we haven't had a chance to completely prepare before today. I put cupcakes in the oven (made from a box mix) and start cleaning.

10:00 AM

Since it is 11:00 AM biological time, people start stirring. It's time for all of us to get our days going. Stacy talks with the mother of Kate's BFF to finalize a few details and make sure that between the two families we have everything we need. I get "fake ready" (wash my face, brush my teeth and hair, put on deodorant) so I can run to the store for the last minute items, but it turns out we've got it all covered. We all get ready, do the last-minute cleaning, go over the specific times we need to do everything, and generally get even more excited for the parties. Kate is super excited about surprising her BFF. We are excited to see how the dual surprise goes.

12:45 PM

I run out to buy a ton of tacos from Taco Bell, since tacos are the BFF's favorite food. I only hope I get them and get home without being seen by the BFF and her family since they will be arriving at our house soon. "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" is on NPR. I'm not usually in the car on the weekends so I don't hear this program, but if you are a current events junkie, this is a great show. Very clever and very funny.

1:30 PM

The BFF arrives with her mother and some of her siblings. We're going to set up for Kate's surprise (and also her surprise) while the moms and daughters go get frozen yogurt. Once they leave I tell the BFF's siblings that this is a dual surprise. Up until now they thought this was all for Kate's half-birthday. They are extra excited and jump right into the decorating. In no time flat we have everything set up. Guests start to arrive and the energy cranks up like 14 notches. There are several friends who have never been to a surprise party so this is a big thrill. The largest challenge will be keeping all of them quiet and calm before the door opens. Once all the guests arrive I send a text to Stacy to let her know the coast is clear. She sends the final reminder to take pictures of the decorations and to get the video camera ready. It was already covered, but I know how excited she is, too.

2:00 PM (or so)

The doorbell rings, Max hits the music (Kate cued up a Taylor Swift song to an exact spot with special meaning), Scout goes absolutely crazy waiting for the door to open, and in walk the girls. "Surprise!" Neither girl is overly impressed because they are waiting for the other to jump back, scream, and cry in utter and total surprise. They look at each other and exchange surprises, "this is for yous," and puzzled looks. Everyone in the room is laughing and pointing to the two banners on the wall: Happy Birthday, and Happy Half-Birthday. Once everything dawns on the girls, they both laugh and give us all the response we were looking for. It was a great reaction from two fantastic friends.



The party goes well with lots of games, food, outside play, music, and laughing. Halfway through, the BFF's father arrives with more food (pizza) and the two youngest siblings. The girls have both done a great job planning the whole party, including checklists and everything. The adults serve and try and maintain order.  We do an adequate job, and then breathe deeply once it's all over. The BFF hangs out after the party to help clean up.

Two great friends!

Playing Catch Phrase

Two more inches and I'd be in business . . .

Boys chowing down

Girls eating daintily

Hey, this is fun!

4:30 PM

The last guest have gone and it's just our family and the BFF (who may as well be part of the family). We clean a little and mostly get our things ready to go to a NaNoWriMo write-in at the coffeehouse. It starts at 6 but we want to get there early and get a bit more writing in, especially since we didn't do much writing yesterday. Stacy is hungry for egg rolls and Kate says she could go for a roll, so we pick up egg rolls at our favorite Chinese take-out restaurant. I walk in to pick up the egg rolls and she is surprised. "Wait. No soup today?" She knows us well. Stacy is concerned about eating egg rolls at the coffeehouse, but we're planning to get other food there so it's fine. I also run into the grocery store to pick up some poster board to make our gratitude wall. It's three days into November so we're behind. Welcome to my life lately.

5:45 PM

We arrive at the coffeehouse and start to set up. We look over and notice a nice display of books and food and realize there was a book launch there that afternoon. We go over and talk to the author, who is local, and have a great time. Like we've mentioned so many times before, the writing community is so open and welcoming. It takes us like 30 seconds to feel like old friends and to find out that he is starting a writers' group at a local library very soon. This sounds like a serious critique group so we are intrigued. We exchange email addresses and plan on getting together soon. Even though we haven't started writing, this is a great benefit from showing up tonight.

During our 4 hours at the coffeehouse, we meet up with a bunch of friends who are writing, we run into new friends from our book club and discuss the movie that is showing tonight, "Enough Said." We work on our Day in the Life posts, flesh out the rest of our characters and name them all, and get a bit of writing done on our books. Max meets his daily quota and Kate writes like 4 novels, 6 short stories, 2 manifestos, and a haiku. Well, she just writes a lot of her novel, but she could have easily done all of that in 4 hours the way her writing is going lately. I envy the roll she is on.

10:00 PM

Rod Stewart singing the American songbook is playing as the coffeehouse approaches closing time. I'm glad he's only now coming over the speakers because if he had been playing earlier I never would have gotten anything done. He does a decent job with the standards, but something about his voice irritates me. We step out into the cold--it's in the upper 20s/low 30s--and hurry to the car. We drop off the Johnsons since Christie is working tonight and has the car and we head home.

10:30 PM

Party days always mean that our eating is very off. Max eats leftover pizza, I don't remember what Kate eats, and I whip up an open-faced egg and cheese sandwich for Stacy. I don't like the smell or taste of eggs, but somehow I make pretty good eggs. We have lots of philosophical discussions about time management, achieving goals, and being our best selves. After a lively discussion we are ready to watch "The Amazing Race," one of our favorite Sunday events. It's good as always with a very fun finish. It's gotten quite late and we're all tired from all of the fun and the time change so it's off to bed.

12:00 AM

Stacy works on her Day in the Life post and I run to the store to pick up milk. When I was making the eggs earlier I realized we had like a swallow of milk left in the jug, which drives me crazy, and that's never enough for the morning. I come home, we say our goodnights and we go to sleep. There is something satisfying about  the end of a fun and very full day.

Stacy's Version

Oh, falling back is nice. I made myself sleep in today and it was good. We all slept in. I knew that once we got up, we’d hit the ground running. We may go to bed late and sleep in, but when we’re awake, we are doing LOTS of things and we go go go!

I woke up and checked my texts and talked with Mark about the nitty gritty of today’s festivities. For the past year, Kate has been wanting to throw her BFF a surprise birthday party, so I knew we’d do it this fall, as this past fall, they were in Florida.

But here’s the kicker, Kate’s BFF contacted me a few weeks ago telling me she wanted to throw Kate a surprise half-birthday party right around now, too. Neither of them knew the other was doing this. I was trying to figure out how to pull this off well – if we did it one week after another, it might look “copycat” and either girl might feel weird throwing one after having had one thrown in her honor.

But if they did it at the same time, would it work? The answer is YES and quite well, too! After talking about it with Mark and Kristie (the BFF’s mom), we all figured it would best to do it together without the girls knowing it. This took some doing and a LOT of thought and careful talking from all of us. We did it! The result today was fantastic, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

So, we got up, got party stuff together, cleaned, got ready, talked/texted a bunch with Kristie to make sure we were all on the same page with everything and that we had everything covered. That worked out AWESOME. Between the two families, we really did have everything covered and beautifully, too!

Mark baked cupcakes for Kate’s BFF and frosted them in blue (her favorite color) and with little fishes (she loves dolphins) – is he the best dad or what! The two girls had been playing a little “email game” for several weeks where they asked each other questions and they answered them. Both of them asked the other what an ideal birthday party would be and they used the notes from that to make the magic happen today.

They are both SUCH great girls and it’s such a sweet friendship. I love these two! They both made lists, organized everything, sent out invites, took care of collecting decorations, made banners, got food and drink figured out, planned games, and figured out how to pull of the surprise. It was really great.

12:00 PM

I forgot to say that somewhere in the morning cleaning and setting up, we had breakfast. We had everything cleaned up and ready with time to spare, so we all talked and typed a bit and ate just a little something because we weren’t super hungry. That time flew by and before we knew it, Kristie was showing up with her kids right on time.

1:30 PM

Kristie showed up with 5 of her 8 kids, mostly the older ones. The pretense was that Mark was going to keep an eye on them while we went on a double mommy-daughter date with our girls (Kate and Kirsten) for frozen yogurt. What’s hilarious and awesome is that both girls didn’t suspect a thing with any seemingly odd thing that was happening, because they were both so focused on throwing the surprise for the other person.

The 4 kids that stayed at the house totally helped Mark and Max decorate and set everything up (we couldn’t do too much beforehand because we knew Kirsten was coming over to get us). Kristie left her supplies and food in the back of her van and once we left, Mark and her kids went and got them.

I drove the 4 of us over for frozen yogurt across the street. We hung out and talked books and movies and waited for Mark’s text saying it was all set up and that everyone had arrived (everyone was arriving around 1:45).

2:00 PM

We left frozen yogurt and got home and rang the bell as the signal that we were there. I then used my keys to get in, because Mark was waiting with the video camera – the reactions were PRICELESS!

We walked in and everyone (about 15 or so mutual friends and family) yelled out, “SURPRISE!” Both girls smiled really big at each other. Then Kate asked Kirsten, “Did you suspect at all?” And Kirsten said, “What? This is for you!” And Kate said, “No, this is for you.” We all watched them, waiting for it to dawn on them and people were laughing.

Both girls looked around confused and then saw the wall where both of their banners were hanging up – one that said, “Happy Birthday, Kirsten!” and one that said, “Happy Half-Birthday, Kate!” When they had first walked, in, they hadn’t noticed the other – they had only noticed the one each of them had previously made.

They looked more closely at the banners and said, “Wait, what?” And they figured out what was happening. It was a GREAT reaction! Both of them were so thrilled to do this party for the other and they were both so excited about the surprise. All the guests were pumped because none of them had ever been to a surprise party. Winners, everyone!

It was so great, because both girls FULLY expected shouts of “surprise,” but not for themselves, so seeing them piece it together was really fun for everyone. There were so many layers to keeping this secret and everyone did a great job.

Funny story: We hadn’t told Max about the double surprise (he did know about Kate throwing the party for Kirsten), not because we don’t trust him with secrets, but because we figured he’d be here for everything anyway, so he’d roll with whatever. Truth be told, our kids are extremely good at keeping secrets/surprises. We tell them all kinds of things and never worry about them slipping up or telling. They’re awesome.

Anyway, one day, I’m sitting in the living room and Max walks by and says to me, “That’s kind of funny that Kate and Kirsten are throwing surprise parties for each other on the same day.”

“Yeah. Wait, what? How did you know that?”

He motions with his head in the direction of his computer and says, “I got the email.”

Of course he did. Kate and Kirsten both invited everyone via email and he was on both lists. Hilarious. Again, I wasn’t the least bit concerned about him spilling it. It cracks me up how sincerely nonchalant he can be about things.

Mark got video of the surprise that I hope we can add to this post. We’ll post pictures as well.

Flashing back to October 19^th really quick, though – here is a chat I had with Kate’s BFF about the party:

Me: You sure you're okay doing this for her right around YOUR birthday?

You are so nice!

Kirsten: It's fine. I really want to do something awesome for her because of how amazing she is for being my bestie.

Me: Awwwww, that is so sweet!

Kirsten: :)

Me: She will LOVE it and I know she loves you.

Kirsten :I hope she does love it, and I love her too

How cute are they?!?

After 4:00 PM

The party ran late and everyone had a great time – they played games, they ate food (tacos for Kirsten, pizza for Kate), we sang, had cupcakes and cookies (cupcakes for Kirsten, cookies for Kate), took pictures, laughed, told stories . . . you get the idea. Great party.

The attention to detail on the part of both girls was so sweet and so thoughtful. Kirsten made Kate’s banner all in rainbow colors, as Kate had said in their clever emails to each other that she’d do rainbow decorations (yellow is her favorite color, but she also loves a full rainbow of colors). Kirsten baked Kate’s favorite cookies for her.

Kate also paid similar attention to detail in colors for her banner for Kirsten (we had suggested to both girls that they make banners with the other girl’s name on it – we knew we’d have to have something that showed that it was a dual surprise party) and reminded us about 10 times to make sure the cupcakes and frosting weren’t chocolate for Kirsten. Kate even made a playlist of Kirsten’s favorite song and had it cued up so that when they walked in, it blasted, “Long live!” by Taylor Swift – the part of the song they both sing out when it’s on or at the concert, etc. Love the attention to detail!

Cupcakes and cookies. Yum!

After a very fun afternoon

By 4:30 or so, everyone (except for Kirsten) had left and the girls helped us clean up. We wiped down all the tables and chairs, Mark cleaned the floors, I collected trash, crumbs, wrappings, etc. Max put things away. We got everything cleaned up pretty quickly, as there really wasn’t much mess. We’re pros at this. I’d say we have groups of teenagers at our house about 6-12 or more times/month easily. I love it!

5:20 PM

We got our stuff together and decided to go to the coffeeshop early for our write-in (scheduled for 6-9). We thought we’d get more writing done that way, but we were mistaken.

When we got there, there was an author event wrapping up – a local author’s book launch. Not being ones to pass up a chance to meet an author and talk to them, we went over to read about him. He came over and talked to us for close to an hour! Dave, Mark, and I, as well as several of our writer friends have all been looking for a serious writing critique group (as opposed to a “Rah! Rah! You’re so great and you can do it!” group). He told us about a statewide group that works that way and also told us that he is starting a local one at his library in our county. He took our email addresses and will be in touch with us about that. It was so fun to talk shop with him – agents, publishing, writing . . . there’s so much to it and so many different philosophies and avenues. It was a good conversation.

Dave showed up soon after and he talked with the author a bunch, too. Our friend Cristin also got there with her kids (who had been at the party). And Kirsten’s siblings also showed up as well. Another good group.

And while it’s not always conducive to writing, we spent a good portion of the evening talking to friends who were there that night at various times either to eat, write, or go to the movie. I love small towns!

At one point, I spotted an older couple we met at a BBQ this summer – the husband is one of the podiatrists in town (funny enough, we met him at the home of another podiatrist) and the wife is someone we talked to for a long time at the barbecue – we found a similar love of reading and books and we quickly figured out that she has read most of the books we’ve read in book club and she was desperate to find people with whom she can discuss books. She was ecstatic about being invited to our book club. She has come ever since and she is a FANTASTIC addition to the group – super excited about discussing things and asking such insightful questions and getting us talking about so many great aspects of the books. I’m so glad we’ve met her!

They were there to go to the movie “Enough Said,” which Mark and I got to see this past weekend. Great flick. We saw them before the movie and after the movie as well. When Kirsten’s grandfather picked up the kids, he came over and talked to us a bunch, too. We really like him and he loves to talk politics with us. Mark, Dave, Kirsten’s grandfather, and I stood around and talked politics for quite a while. Then the couple from earlier exited the movie and came over to talk to us. Turns out? They, too, know Kirsten’s grandfather, so we all talked together. It was so fun! Again I say, I love small towns!

No, I did not get much writing done, but we had so much fun. It’s so energizing to me. I loved that in college, too – walking across campus and seeing people I know and stopping to talk for a bit. I think a sense of community is so so so so so very important. And our local coffeehouse does not disappoint in this regard!

Mark and I named all our characters. You’d be surprised how much tangential research you can get sucked into when you look up something as simple as name ideas. We had a GREAT time and found some hilarious articles. I started in on our grown up story and he worked on our children’s book. For the first time in the past many years, the blank page intimidated me a bit. I didn’t know how to start. Plus, I’m big into first lines, so I wanted to choose something good. I started writing, but both of us don’t feel like we’re in a good flow yet. It’ll come.

The boys played games and wrote. The girls giggled lots and wrote and played games. Another good night. Instrumental music as well as Rod Stewart singing the classics played overhead. Max got his usual spritzer. No wait! This time he opted for an Italian Cream Soda. Kate chose a grilled chicken salad. Part of NaNoWriMo is getting various foods, drinks, and snacks while we write. The money we spend on books and food . . . you can tell we love both. We don’t usually spend this much at the coffeehouse in any given month, but November is special that way.

9:00 PM

That’s what time the write-in was supposed to end. Mark, Dave, and I debated whether we should stay or leave and that’s when Kate came over and said she was on a roll and could we stay. That helped us make our decision. Sure!

10:00 PM

So we stayed until they closed at 10pm. We packed up our things, took the Johnsons home, and settled in at home with snacks to watch The Amazing Race. It was a GREAT episode. They’ve had a few years of rather boring teams, but we have a lively bunch this time. I’m bummed about several teams who have already gone home and I’m not happy about who got booted yesterday, but my oh my the ones left are lively. We have people we strongly dislike as well as people for whom we’re rooting (we like the Boston couple best, followed by the ER doctors). 

Sometime around midnight or so . . . 

After that, Mark and I wrote a bit, Mark ran to the store for milk, and then we all got to bed. Fall back indeed.

A Week in the Life - Day 5

Stacy’s Version

This day is pretty easy to write about even though I didn’t keep good notes, so I’ll keep it pretty brief. We all slept in, snuggled, talked a bunch, got up, had breakfast together, got ready, cleaned up some, wrapped presents for a birthday party, grabbed a tin-of-cards trivia game for the car, etc. Mark had gone out to mail a package and while he was out, he got us all 3-inch breakfast sandwiches from Subway as a surprise. Very fun surprise! So thoughtful.

The night before, while at Wal-mart, we got some surprises for the kids – books and a magazine about books. We don’t usually get magazines, but Kate really LOVES those collector edition magazines about books/movies she likes and there was a nice one all about Catching Fire which she promptly devoured that night before bed.

For Emily’s benefit, I tried to pay attention to what we talked about today – we really talk all the time (like nearly constantly) and I didn’t take notes, but I tried to generally pay attention. I’m sure I’ll miss stuff in these lists, but here goes a good effort:

Weird dreams

Catching Fire

Classifying books as YA or Middle Grade

What readers like to read

Ages of characters that readers respond to

Our writing challenges

Our writing ideas

Friends

Approaches to work and learning

1:30 PM

In the car, we played the trivia game, which led to more discussion about many things including:

The Tour de France

Lance Armstrong

Steroids

Charities

Oscar Pistorious

Fall colors

The CA Gold Rush

Fish

Prime Numbers

Fashion Terms

Game strategies

Fountain Pens

Our friends

The drive was unbelievably beautiful – all the leaves here are fully turning brilliant, vibrant colors – reds, oranges, yellows . . . just GORGEOUS. The Amish Country is such a beautiful area, too, so the drive is lovely anyway – add the dynamic colors and it’s a sensory gift from the universe.

We arrive at our friend’s house and enjoy a lovely Lego-themed birthday party planned and coordinated by her son, whose 7^th birthday it was. He is one of the most adorable, sweetest, smartest kids and we all enjoy being around him and his family. Both of his grandmas were in town for the party – one from Connecticut and one from California. It was so nice to enjoy the day with all of them.

They had invited us to stay for dinner and we ordered in a bunch of Chinese and Thai and Japanese and it was all delicious. Conversation was great and steady all day and all night. We really enjoy these friends a lot. It makes me think of those blog memes that ask you who the greatest new friend is you made in the past year – yeah, they win the prize for sure.

Some topics discussed:

New Hampshire

Connecticut

California

Pennsylvania

Moose

Homeschooling

Unschooling

Overseas travel

France

Lisbon

Movies

Grapes

Wine making

The Foster Care system

Adoption

Newport, RI

Mystic, CT

The legal system

The economy

Texts from a Dog (hilarious website)

Philosophies

Friends

Autism

Severe disabilities

Laws

People we know

Classes we take

Games

Legos

Dogs

Work

Writing

How the semester is going for our friends, both professors

Acupuncture

Mental Health

Parenting

Learning

Reading

10:30 PM

We drove home. I hate driving at night or in the rain, worse if it’s both. Thankfully, it wasn’t raining. We talked all the way home about the party, our friends, how much our friends’ son looks up to our kids and how much we appreciate how they look out for him, politics, college, roommates, our childhoods, and religion. We also figured out how many Gilmore Girl episodes we could watch tonight (two – and oh are they good ones!) as well as Clone Wars episodes for the boys (three – and Max is sad that the series is over).

1:00 AM

Got kids off to bed. We live across from a 24-hour grocery store, so Mark went and got some stuff there before getting back, writing some, and hitting the hay. Thankfully, we set our clocks back tonight – hoping that helps correct our recent crappy habits some.


Mark's Version

SATURDAY - 9:30 AM

For once this week I actually get to sleep in a bit, so I take advantage. My subconscious tried to wake up at 7:30, but I refused to let it. After puttering around and doing some dishes I check on the kids since we were planning to go to taekwondo this morning. The kids were still sleeping and I was very hesitant to wake them since when they sleep in it generally means they really need the rest, and knowing how our sleep is so closely tied to our health, I decided that sleeping instead of going to taekwondo would be better in the end.

11:30 AM

I run out to the post office to make sure I get a package in the mail before noon. On the way home I pick up some Subway breakfast sandwiches since we are always lamenting how breakfast is so boring sometimes.

NOON

We finish up wrapping  the birthday present and get ready to go. We jump in the car and head down to Lancaster for the party. On the way down we play a trivia game and discuss topics as diverse as prime numbers, women's fashion, and fountain pens. The leaves are also a brilliant array of colors right now so the drive is great.

2:15 PM

We arrive at Jack's house for a Lego-themed birthday party. Jack is a great 7-year-old boy who adores Max. He likes the rest of us just fine, too. We had a great afternoon with Jack, his parents, Jack's friend and mother, as well as both of his grandmothers. I had a very difficult time finding all 8 of the black Lego bricks I was assigned during the scavenger hunt. I knew I was in for a treat when the first one was up on top of a picture frame and another was on top of the dining room chandelier. I needed help.

We played some games, had a lot of interesting conversations, and even got to stay for a delicious dinner of sushi,  as well as Chinese and Thai food. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

10:30 PM

We left a bit later than we originally planned, but that's OK. We had such a wonderful time. The drive home was uneventful, but filled with lively conversation. It is still date night, but there is no way that we are going to be able to do our normal 5-hour dates. We are determined to use the extra hour for sleep, or to bank it and use it to get ready for the surprise birthday party Kate is throwing her best friend tomorrow. Max and I watch the final three episodes of the "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" series. It is a very good ending, but I can tell he is quite dissatisfied. He's also sad that the series is over.

1:00 AM

I go to the grocery store to pick up a few things for the party tomorrow. I figure I'd rather have everything I need at the house in the morning instead of needing to run out during prep time. Soon after I get home we go to bed. I reset a bunch of clocks in the house, but not the kids' clocks. We'd rather that they wake up in the morning and be surprised that we rolled back the clocks rather than stay up later because they know we did. Ah, the games we play. In the end, I don't think it really changes anything, but we play the games anyway.