Thursday, March 25 2021

Dear Journal,

Oof. This morning is a struggle - I feel like there isn't enough hot coffee in the world right now to keep me interested. As I was getting ready for the day, Ziggy met eyes with me before sprawling out on my side of the bed, almost like she was taunting me. Haha - I get to keep sleeping, you have to get ready for work, she said in her own way. I'm not going to lie, I envy the dogs' morning routine. Imagine if all you had to do in the morning was get out of bed, take a big pee outside, scarf down some breakfast, and then trot upstairs back to bed. That would be a pretty good life.

I'm tired today, but don't worry about me, everyone. I'm a professional. When it comes to mornings like these, it's all about having a plan to look forward to for when you finally reach the finish line. Here's my plan:

First, we dress down today - about as casually as we can get away with. I have lots of zooms today, so I can't just outright wear pajamas. But we can do something sneaky like a plain t shirt and pajama pants, and these pajama pants will serve as a constant reminder of the evening we have planned.

Secondly, we order food. We've been holding it down all week with homemade meals. We're going to grill tomorrow, but tonight the combination of an evening Hawks game and a long stretch of meetings up until five make for the perfect excuse to order out. When Marissa comes down the stairs I'm going to pitch that we put our food order in early - around lunch time. With some calculation, we can rig up this evening so we can nap up until our food arrives and have it plated just before the puck drops tonight at seven. A nap, hot take out, and a hockey game. I think that's enough to keep me motivated today.

Sip. How are you today? What's keeping you awake? Do you have anything you're looking forward to at the end of the day, or will just knowing tomorrow's Friday be enough?

I'm a little tired today, but I think that's definitely my own doing. It's been a busy week. Yesterday I spent most of the day swerving in and out of zoom meetings and slack messages. I had lots of chores to catch up on in the evening. I made a little progress, but as the oven clock creeped closer to our hard cut at 11 PM, I decided to shift my focus to French toast. Using an old baguette we bought earlier this week, I whipped up a quick batch. I used the prettiest pieces to make a surprise over-the-top evening dessert for me and Marissa to share. I planted a scoop of icecream on top, drizzled it with chocolate syrup, and dusted the plate with powdered sugar. Do I regret that we finish the whole thing in seconds before we even thought to take a picture? Not really. With a snack like that - a cold scoop of icecream sliding around on a warm piece of french toast - stopping to take a picture would just cheapen the experience. I left the leftover pieces to cool on a plate, and they're waiting in the fridge for Rodney. He's in for a good surprise when he wakes up expecting to find his usual bowl of dried cereal.

I stayed up a little late too. I sacrificed some sleep in order to reclaim some down time. Marissa and I stayed up for a little bit upstairs, working on the computer. I finished my drink and hacked a bit on the new cookbook website.

Yesterday was a good, full day. Work was busy, but we got a lot done. We made some spaghetti for dinner. In the evening we jumped on our standing Zoom appointment with our college friends. It was a slow night - the only other people to join were Lauren and Eric with their new baby Jason, but it was a nice opportunity to dive deeply into our mutual hobbies without worrying about a packed zoom room. We talked hockey with Eric. We were grateful he was available to explain some changes they just made to the NHL lottery. "It was pretty much because of Detroit," He said. "They finished dead last in the league. The really needed a good draft, but they only got like fourth pick."

And with Lauren, we discussed exotic pets. "Sometimes I convince myself that I want a parrot," said Marissa.

"Oh, parrots are too much work," Lauren sighed. "They're basically like toddlers that can fly, and I decided that I didn't need that."

"I'd kind of like a tarantula," I butted in. "Do you think I could handle that."

"Oh definitely," said Lauren. "Tarantulas are great pets, as long as you don't mind feeding them live crickets."

"I keep telling Alex that I'm nervous about having a tarantula around two boys," said Marissa. "I feel like at some point they're going to, you know, prank mom by leaving it my bed or something." A fair point - if we had a tarantula, that does sound like something we'd do at least once.

Rodney wiggled his body behind me in view of the camera to draw everyone's attention. We gave him the floor for a minute to show off some of his k'nex creations. Earlier that day, Rodney has succeeded in luring me into his room during quiet time to help with his airplane.

"I'm building a REAL airplane," said Rodney excitedly. "These are the wings, and these are the wheels, and this is the puh-peller." To demonstrate, he held the flimsy frame around his waste. The puh-peller was attached to a small motor that he controlled with a little switch in his hand.

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great Thursday, everyone.