Blew it

W head a friends quest. I did more than half of it. My husband had two lessons to do. He forgot. It was the only time I haven’t just done it myself or set an alarm. Bummer.

But I kind of don’t care anymore. Since there’s no way to freeze the streak, so to speak, and my 99 in a row are now completely forgotten and cannot even be found anywhere, I’m pretty let down by the whole thing. And it makes me not much care about doing so well in the future. Weird, I know. But that’s how it all feels.

The company has been kind of going to crap the past couple years, anyhow, so I won’t be surprised if we end up no longer using the app at all at some point.

Well, it was fun for a long time, Duolingo, until you stopped caring about learning and cares instead about financial profits. Bummer. I used to recommend it to everyone. I rarely recommend it now.

Post-a-day 2025

Accents

I had started watching the show “The Gilded Age” a few months back. One of the things I was thinking about just now that had struck me so strongly at first was how well done the accents were for the show. They were somewhere in the 1800s US in the show, and the accents were both nostalgic for me and incredibly annoying. That early American accent has always rubbed me a bit raw. Haha It isn’t quite British, but it isn’t fully its own yet. It’s like a British accent that forgot to take its makeup off two days ago, and all the smudgy bits are still everywhere, and you can still see what makeup was applied, but the general effect has gone already. Same idea, but with an accent of an entire people.

Anyway, off to sleep before I meet my husband in a few hours at the airport. Yippee-yay!

Thank you, God. Please, keep my husband and my baby safe and make them well and whole. Keep us together as a happy and loving family, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2025

P.S. I think I actually already wrote about this, back at the time…

Positive turns

I may have encountered someone who would take up well the role of spiritual director for me. I was thinking about it all again lately, and then someone was awesome and supportive in just the right way today when I was struggling, and she also made certain statements that I do not often hear from most folks but that align with knowledge of discernment of spirits. And belief in it. That’s a big part, finding someone who truly believes in it all.

So, that could go in a really cool and awesome direction. It could also just be a standalone super positive and loving and helpful event. But it has the potential risk to be much more than that, so we shall see God’s will in this.

Thank you, God. Please, keep us safe and make us well. Please, keep Patrick safe and well and whole, especially with all of his travels tomorrow. Bring him home safely and well and happy to us each night going forward. Thank you for our home. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2025

Retreat Stress

I agreed to do this retreat with the understanding that I would be doing it with my mom. When we arrived, however, we were informed that everyone was divided into small groups and that we had to sit with our small groups the whole time and that my mom and I are in different small groups.

So, still processing that massive letdown.

My mom held the baby for about half the time, and I had her about half the time tonight. We shall see how tomorrow goes.

God, guide us clearly and always, please. Keep my husband and baby safe and well. Keep my mom safe, too, please, and heal her home and mind and body, please. Thank you for our home and family. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2025

Sleep

Dear Sleep, join us tonight, please. Nourish us well. Help prepare us to be our best selves tomorrow and each day.

Dear Lord, thank you for our home and family. Please, keep us safe and whole, make us well, and keep us together. Make your will our will. Be with us always, please. In your name, we pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2025

Bolster

Sophie Kinsella books really can be just the perfect bolster of my courage when I am struggling. Right now, “Twenties Girl” is really helping me emotionally regulate during a very tough time of life, both physically and mentally. It isn’t even about what I’m struggling with. But it’s the attitude and the mentality and the wild thoughts inside the head of the main character that make all the difference for me here and now.

Thank you, God, for good books. Please, keep us and our home safe. Help us to be our best selves each day and night, and to help one another be so. Thank you for this family and this love and this home and this life. Stay with us always. In your name, we pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2025

Improvements

The bed is still a disaster, and they gave us an extra room to use for sleeping (because my mom didn’t want to have to move rooms at 8pm[or at all, really]), but my mom is still attempting to sleep on the small part of the bed that isn’t completely a sink hole. We’re on the bed she used last night (and in which we napped after breakfast because the baby and I were ready to sleep some more, she because she’s a baby and I because I had a horrible night in the sink hole bed). But we have the room next door in case my mom realizes she can’t sleep in the bad bed after all. We shall see what happens. But I am glad to be able to sleep tonight. Yay.

Oh, I got really ill today. Lack of food, lack of hydration, and lack of cool air all but really hard around 1pm, and I could barely stand up or walk or talk. I was woozy and struggling to function and keep my eyes open, even. But my mom drove us around the corner quickly to a restaurant, a lady inside – not the first one who totally ignored me as I waited by the sign that said to ‘Wait Here for Assistance’ – understood the urgency when I asked if they had orange juice and if I could have some now, and I was able to sit at the counter, drink the OJ, set my cheeks on the cool countertop, and then out a cool paper towel on my neck that the lady then brought me. It all helped. I didn’t feel great, but I felt functional again, and so went and sat at a table with my mom and baby, and we ordered and ate lunch. I ate a lot and felt much better over the next hour or two. I felt normal probably after the food had digested enough to give me the missing nutrients.

So, we know that I can’t start tomorrow with the crappy hotel breakfast again. But that’s good information to have. Haha. Now we won’t rely on it or trust it.

Silly anecdote resulting from all of that: Because I wasn’t okay after the midday Mass, my mom told me just to get into her car, even though we had driven separately. I was worried about my car, since I had parked in a gated area for the church’s parking. I thought they might lock the gates after a while after Mass. But I also identified that it was not a good idea for me to drive at the moment. So, after we finished eating and I was starting to feel okay again – and I cannot emphasize enough how horribly unwell I was – I wanted to get directly back to my car. Naturally, my mom had totally forgotten that my car was still at the church. We went back – and we’re talking about a distance of about five blocks here – and, sure enough, the gates were shut and my car was the only one left inside. It looked like there might be a sensor for cars to exit, but we couldn’t find a way inside, even on foot, even through the church. Everything was locked up and everyone was gone. Fortunately, it was early afternoon on a Tuesday, so someone answered at the nearby church offices, and someone came by to open the gates for me to get the car. However, it all just felt so silly, having my car locked up at church. Haha. It also felt weird to say, honest as it was, that we had had a sort of medical emergency. Because we had. It seemed mostly like I had had low blood sugar, and the heat was just exacerbating that. But it was no joke, and we were worried for my well-being. Fortunately, my mom and I both know me and both know symptoms of all sorts of things to be able to tell that food and drink would be the most likely help for what I was experiencing. (If you ever have low blood sugar in a bad way, juice is the fastest way to kick it up in a hurry. It doesn’t maintain well, since juice is so high in sugar, but it will give a spike to blood sugar quite quickly, as was the case for me today.)

Thank you, God, for the love and family of today. Please, keep my husband and baby and mom safe and whole, and make them all well. Please, keep us together as a family. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2025

Holiday

Well, it hasn’t been a bad as it could have been, but it still hasn’t felt like much of a holiday.

God, help us to heal and release and relax, please. Keep my husband and baby safe and well and whole. Thank you for these gifts and blessings. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2025

Twinsies

“Hi, Baby! We got like the same haircut!” That was husband to our baby girl just now. He then added that she only needed a mustache to match him.

Just a few days ago, I actually did a little photo shoot with her in which she wore a pilot outfit and a fake mustache to match my husband (he’s a pilot, she looks just like him). It was wonderful and hilarious. Guess we can do another round with them in it together, now that his hair matches hers!

Thank you, God. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2025

Exercise

Maybe my husband and I could work out together tomorrow, trading off our daughter with each set. So that we both benefit from the exercise, but still get to spend time together. Maybe.

We shall see.

Post-a-day 2025

P.S. There were a lot of events today. I enjoyed myself at them all, really, though I was quite tired. The first was the most wholesome, and it filled me with something I had, for the most part, been missing lately. That was wonderful. I didn’t want to leave. Haha. The second one relieved some wonders and considerations, satisfied some questions and relieved some concerns, which was good. And the third was simple and tiring, but nice and positive for the family, and my baby won the costume contest I had hoped for her to win. So, the last part was awesome. Anyway… yeah. Good day. Thank you, God. Keep us safe and well, please. Amen.