Friday miscellany: Random injuries

Well, it’s been a week. The upside of my news compartmentalizing (10-15 minutes per day, combined with donating to organizations that are doing something) has the upside of making me read more. I finished Pure Colour, and am now reading Checkout 19. I’m not ready for novels with much of a plot yet, though I suppose I will get there. I’m also almost done re-reading Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (I read this at night before bed).

I recognize this renewed interest in reading (in this case, in addition to my structured Shakespeare reading project) from early 2017. This was, not coincidentally, when my now 7-year-old had just turned 2. Space does start to open up. We are all sleeping better. It does make a difference.

So I’m well-rested, if other physical things seem to be falling apart. In August 2020, I got a root canal. The experience was not as bad as billed, but that tooth continues to cause trouble. I bit down on a piece of chicken on Tuesday this week and a piece of my tooth came loose in my mouth. It seems I will be getting a crown for it, so the dental adventures continue.

Then yesterday morning I was walking between the dining room and the family room and managed to slam the swinging door on my middle finger. It hit right on the nail and the pain was so intense that I suddenly felt nauseous and then tried to make my way to my bedroom to lie down and made it as far as the hall when I became too dizzy to stand up. So that was kind of exciting. Twenty-four hours later it’s just an ugly but small bruise. I’m not sure why I had such a system-wide reaction.

Fortunately, a few more pieces of the home project are coming together. Theoretically, the new oven gets installed on Monday. Fingers crossed as this date has moved several times. To celebrate, I will be experimenting with muffins. I have this idea that muffins and fruit will be a slightly more healthy breakfast than waffles and fruit (or occasionally Lucky Charms and fruit when we’re out of waffles) which is what the kids are currently eating. I think my 7-year-old might even eat banana-bread style muffins. If I don’t mention the word “banana.” I will admit that I have been watching the videos from the “Dougherty Dozen” (a family of ten kids) — the mom posts videos of her from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. batch-prepping and cooking breakfast, lunches, and dinners for her brood. She has got quite a system!

Speaking of big family systems…This weekend required some fairly intense plotting out to make sure that everything people wanted to have happen could happen (per the planning post..the future is never entirely knowable, but most likely this weekend’s intentions will come to fruition). One child has three performances of a play (tech crew!) Another wants to see Batman. Another wants to go skiing. My husband wants to go to the gym and I want to run. There are two tennis lessons, a birthday party, church, and a Boy Scout meeting. We plan to go to the Philadelphia Auto Show. This was a hit for everyone two years ago, which is interesting to think about. That was one of the last events that happened before everything shut down.

Now, two years later exactly, it’s all opening up. The kids’ schools went mask-optional on Monday. All of us who can be vaccinated are vaccinated but we also just learned that we won’t have to worry about uploading that information into an online system for an upcoming trip — I feel like hours have just appeared, so maybe I’ll do something fun with this time dividend.

I hope everyone has a restful and adventurous weekend — they can both happen. Do you have a book you’re planning to read?

Photo: Spotted in the yard! Spring is coming, even if it was 20 degrees this morning.