Valentine

–The worst of the tyranny of Shopkins may be over, as Isobel has discovered an become immersed in a new obsession, and it’s something with which many of you are already familiar: the mobile game Neko Atsume. Roughly translating to “Kitty Collector”, this game allows you to virtually become my Mother. I had been playing the game very sporadically, and when Isobel found it on my phone she was immediately hooked, which is why if you text or call, you might not get a response for awhile, even though the text recipt is clearly marked “read.” Sorry about that! I’m not trying to be an ass! At least, not any more than usual. Over the five-day weekend she logged in a lot of time alternating between playing the game on the phone and reading up on a rare kitties FAQ on the tablet. It’s actually given her so many opportunities to practice her reading skills I really didn’t mind. And she didn’t look at it like homework. Those FAQs were not primer-level reading, either. When she came upon a word she didn’t know she did her best to sound it out and use context clues, and rarely did she ask for help. Also, I can’t be mad at her liking a game which is basically a sim of my life growing up with my Mom, who has elevated the act of cat collecting in to an art.

–Every so often my stomach tortures me by rendering my entire body useless until about noon. This past month is one of those times. I had my appointment with my specialist and even the nurses were surprised at how bad I looked. Turns out I also have some funky bloodwork, so I’ll be going back to the doctor at the Cancer Center. I saw him before I became pregnant with Elias, before the layoff, because things were kind of weird then, too. I don’t have cancer, or anything like that (most likely) but he’s a specialist we need in our circle of trust to try to figure out what the heck is wrong and what we can do about it. I also have to get a gall bladder sonogram, which is just preventative, since my sister and I think an aunt had theirs out. I’m not having problems yet, thank the Sweet Babby Picard Jesus, but I’m sort of feeling like my doctor betting on it falling apart based on previous experience with my body. At any rate, I really hope they can tell me if my gall bladder is a boy or a girl during the sonogram!

–Isobel desperately wants some Neko Atsume toys for her birthday, but they are not sold in the US as of this writing, and the ones that I’ve found online via ebay start at about sixty bucks a pop, and they are really small toys. Isobel is totally going nuts for them because they are adorable, so after constant pestering on her part I made her a little Neko Atsume Snowball plush toy. She made some toy accessories to go with him and I made a little video of the cuteness. A couple people have asked me about it on FB and IG, so I’ll be making a tutorial for it soon. It’s easy-peasy, no sewing required (though it can easily be done with sewing, too).

–It was a busy five-day holiday weekend for us. I got to watch my cousin’s beautiful children on Thursday and the weather was so perfect we were outside nearly the whole day. I’d watch them more often, if I could, if I was healthier, but I’m happy for the time I do get to spend with them.

–Our local university, Stan State, held an annual Science Day for families, and we were excited to go. Anthony had already signed up to attend an organizers meeting for Bernie Sanders in Stockton, so I asked if the Waltons wanted to go with me, because I knew I’d need back up with the kids. And because I love being with them, natch. The kids had a blast and it exceeded my expectations of awesomeness–and I thought it was going to be really awesome. We were there a few hours and still didn’t see or do everything, by far, and they could have easily stretched it out into two days. Some highlights were seeing how excited Isobel was when she found out they had a MATH ROOM (“A whole room for math! WOO HOO!”), watching the kids use pipettes, hearing Kingston say, “You know, guys, science is actually pretty cool,” and watching Isobel’s flashing sneakers light up from a static electricity globe. We got to tour the greenhouse, and I now desperately want to go back with my big camera and without my children.

–I was well enough for a leisurely family nature walk on Valentine’s Day, so we took the kids to the Trans California Pathway and then hung around and explored some fields on campus. It was lovely and relaxing. Afterward, I wasn’t up to cooking, but the last thing I wanted to do was brave a restaurant on Valentine’s Day, so we got sandwiches and cheese and chocolate chip cookies from the deli and went home and watched movies. I feel asleep at 7 pm on Valentine’s Day. It was very romantic.

—Here is an adorable video of Elias shushing us whenever we say, “Ninja, go!”

Scrapbook: Zozo in the Wild. My adorable 30lb lumpus.

FF: Putting on the Green. My love letter to the internet.

Little Broken Heart’s Love Song Playlist. Stef and I let our forces combine and create two awesome love song playlists.

Snapshot 02.12.16. It was a great week for tacos.

“Claudia [Kishi] was revolutionary in a way I didn’t even comprehend at the time.” POC Destroy Science Fiction! is a special issue of the Hugo-winning magazine LIGHTSPEED, 100% written—and edited—by POC creators. I am support and am very excited for People of Color Destroy Science Fiction!

On Oprah, Weight Loss, epiphanies & some more shit I’ve never said out loud before. Some brilliant writing by a brilliant woman.