Tuesday: homework 5

It was a normal day.  I went out to lunch with Natalie, which was really nice.  The only thing of any note is that I finished a rewrite of homework 5.  I've needed to rewrite this homework for several semesters but have just kept putting it off.  So hurray!

Monday: snark

I've been trying to get an account set up under our trust.  It's been a bit of a battle with a lot of automated responses.

So Friday I sent an email instead of trying to use the messaging system on the website.  It was all of about three sentences: 1) I submitted an application on this date.  2) It's been longer than expected.  3) Can you please tell me the status?

Today I got a response.  "Sure, we can help.  When did you submit your application?"

I snarkily responded with, "per my first email, it was on this date."

Then they told me what was missing on the application.

I am about two poor interactions away from moving my business somewhere else.

Sunday addendum: Bruce

The middle name Bruce runs in the family, and I know that Great-Grandma told me in the past where it came from and I couldn't remember, so I finally asked her.

She said that her husband had a good friend in Ohio, where he grew up, named Bruce.  He was a banker.  Her husband wanted that middle name for their son and so she went with it.  It kind of seemed like she was glad he was involved with the naming of their son, but she didn't directly say that so I might have been reading into things.  It also didn't seem like she ever met this Bruce.

Sunday: normal

 It was a pretty normal Sunday.  We helped out with nursery at church and there were a ton of kids, but they were pretty good.

We visited Great-Grandma and painted some new rocks.

Saturday: rock climbing

Isaac had a local rock climbing competition today.  He was in the intermediate level, which was definitely more challenging.  

This route was his favorite.  It took him a ton of tries to get to this position, but he got it!  There was a tricky bit at the end too, but he got that on the second try.  There was a lot of cheering; the route was located in a less busy spot but a lot of people he knew were there at the same time.

This route was also tricky...again for two reasons.  The first was the start - it was a jump on the wall.  Secondly, it was in the middle of two sideways routes and Isaac had a hard time being able to start the route at a safe time.  Once the gym had emptied out a bit it was a bit better, but he still only had two good tries.

We came home and I fell asleep on the couch.  I really didn't do much work today.  We built Lego sets in the morning, I cleaned a box from the basement, helped Joshua with a few things, did lunch, and then went to the comp.  It was lovely.

Friday: not a snow day

The morning started out with this lovely text.  Our kids were in school, but I understand wanting to take the week off.  Only one day of school is a bit weird.

A cardinal came to the birdfeeder today!  I usually get sparrows and juncos, so I was very excited for the cardinal.

I spent some time cleaning the storage room, as is my goal on Fridays.  Today's goal was to get some easy stuff out of the basement.  I also put a few things back in the right place: gift bags had fallen out of their spot and tissue paper was out of its bin.  It wasn't super long, but it was still something.  Some of the stuff needs to be cleaned and will be put back in, while some of the stuff will need to temporarily go back in because that's where donations are kept.  By taking some of the stuff out I was able to put some suitcases under the shelves and free up more floor space.  Hurray!  I also brought all of last week's books to the bookstore, so they're out of the house!  I think next week I'm going to do the same thing; there are still a few obvious things that could be removed.

Ben and Isaac went to play Magic tonight, so Joshua and I had our normal night too.  It's nothing special, but he really seems to enjoy them.  We played two games, had some screen time, and he got hot chocolate with a candy cane.

Thursday: snow day 3

Although this snow day wasn't called until 5:30am, it was still the right choice.  The snow was rather drifty, but the end of the driveway and road had 6-8".  Driving wasn't terrible, but it was far from good.  Only the very major roads were plowed this morning.

So work went fine.  I finally picked up groceries and a minute before I was going to leave Isaac texts to ask if I'm going to get groceries.  I mention that I'm at the store, and he sends me a kitten licking an ice cream cone.  So I went back in to get ice cream.

I also text him that I was unable to find a kitten in the grocery store, so I wasn't able to fulfill his request.

When I get home, Joshua and Ben were playing outside.  Ben dealt with the driveway and then stayed outside to help make the snow sculpture the kids continuously work on.

Isaac wanted to go somewhere, but we settled on a short ski trip around the neighborhood together.  It at least got him out of the house for a bit.