Hormone therapy rant

 Ever since the FDA removed the black box warning on menopausal hormone therapy, LOTS of women of a certain age have been prescribed estrogen patches. SO MANY WOMEN are wearing patches, in fact, that MANUFACTURERS cannot keep up. YOU GUYS. Ugh.

If you are someone like me who is SUPER SENSITIVE to hormonal shifts, this especially terrible. Not only do I need a patch to feel human, I also really only like ONE PARTICULAR PATCH. You might think that as long as I get a patch with my prescribed dose of estrogen, then I would be good, since, medically, the patches are all the same, right? WRONG. Different patches have different kinds of adhesive and absorb differently. When I tried the Sandoz generic, my symptoms all came rushing back. My dod said I'd level out in 1-2 weeks, but, right now, most pharmacies are only filling one month of patches at a time because of supply chain issues, and they are filling whatever brand they can get. So this means, every 4 weeks, I need to plan 1-2 weeks to adjust to a different patch since I can't know which one I'll get and then start over every month? WHAT. I would be more willing to  deal with a switch if I were getting 3 months at a time.

I spent 2 hours going from pharmacy to pharmacy last week trying to track my brand down (I have found that it is better to speak to someone in person, and women pharmacists-- especially women my age and slightly older-- are more knowledgable and sympathetic about the situation and also more willing to dig around in their computers for a bit longer). NO LUCK. 

I asked my bro friend Chat to look around on Reddit and tell me which patch was most like the one I love, and he was like sorry dude. There are no matches. Well, there are matches in terms of shape and size, but even the one that look alike make women feel different. BAH.

Finally, I called my OG pharmacy back and asked for the name brand version of the patch I love. The bad news is that is costs $250 a box and my insurance will not pay for it. The good news is that no one else is dumb enough to pay that kind of money, so there are plenty in stock.

(I thought about the tip in the NYT article above to get a bigger dose and halve or quarter the patch, but the one I like is teeny tiny, so this seems hard. I could get a dedicated patch cutter cricut though LOL/not LOL)

(Also that tip is bullshit and not something middle-aged men would have to do if a hormone therapy were prescribed en masse for them. Factories would, like, retool overnight to make their patches, and docs wouldn't be like oh whatever, just quadruple your dose and then divide it by 4 and you'll be fine probably. Waiting at a CVS counter the other day, I saw a WHOLE SHELF of testosterone in various delivery methods. Boo hiss.)

Switching generic patch brands is not like just getting the Target brand generic ibuprofen when you usually take the Walgreens brand-- I wish it were!

Also did my yearly mammogram-- so many middle aged delights.

Season 3 is a MINI SEASON: It's Welcome Week, betches

 You know what you guys??

This next 12-day slog? Is a MINI SEASON. Welcome week (which has expended to Welcome TWO Weeks, thanks to the growing realization on campus that incoming graduate students need to learn how to teach before the semester begins) has ALWAYS been a difficult epoch in our lives because it is the one time when both if us have the same busy schedule but we still also have FIVE KIDS to deal with. Phew!

Of course I had to go to WW as a grad student, but I had Harry so late into my career that is was NBD and I barely had to be on campus. I just brought him with me, breastfeeding and all.

The first year I had my current job was 2008, and Jack was a bebe and we had a former student who was the best nanny ever and also, I was in my role as interim while I finished by PhD, so the stakes were lower (and probably higher, but I was ignorant). My most vocal complaining was 2012 when we had a mere 3 kids, and WW was only a single week. My parents came to watch Dorothy ON CAMPUS in 2013 because I had not ability to bottle feed her, so I needed them to sort of hover near my classroom. I was full of complaints in 2015, even though Ben handled the kids. LOL to 2016 me marveling about 3 days in a row of work, but by 2021 I was thrilled be on campus (with matching kn95/Rothy's even). I have literally no idea what we did with the kids in 2022. Left them home? But Minnie was so little? Ditto 2023. Ben WFH all week in 2024, and last year, that also seems to be the case. 

This year, it is dance tryout week, so Harry is driving the carpool. Cooper is working at the pool. Minnie is Harry's responsibility, and Ben and Jack are in Peoria, Ben because he works there and Jack because he is getting read for the speech team season.

My expectations for the first week:

Laundry is going to be a shit show

The house is going to be NOT CLEAN when I get home

Sunday will be a huge cleaning and errand day, and nothing house-related is so urgent that it can't wait until Sunday

Food this week:

Sunday: BBQ chicken sliders with cauliflower and corn

Monday: Chicken noodle soup with crusty bread and roasted borccoli

Tuesday: Tacos with fajita veggies (zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, onions) on the grill because raw produce is poison RN

We are going to have leftovers Wednesday and Thursday and whatever Jack wants for his last dinner home before college (he's gone with Ben from Tues-Thurs, comes home Friday and works his last shift and the pool and then goes back for official dorm move-in on Sat) on Friday. We already bought burgers and buns for Saturday and have frozen fries and those Chef Hack Costco frozen veggies to go with them because we knew if we didn't plan something for Saturday we;d have takeout, after eating out all day in Peoria.

Treats this week:

Kind bars in my fave flavor

Lisa Gardner on audio for my drive

Brand new weekly planner just waiting to be planned in

Minnie Marigold is SIX

 Ok, so, we have like fifteen 6-year-olds coming to the pol tonight to celebrate the big Min, and... it's going to rain. YOU GUYS. There is no plan B, currently.

GAH.

I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, can we all just marvel at the fact that our pandemic baby-- shortened to panda baby, then lengthened to Min Min the Panda Baby-- is SIX YEARS OLD?

She is such a delight. I can't even articulate all the ways she makes our days brighter and lighter and more delightful.

She and I baked her cake from scratch, and it was quite the collab.

Here are a few more pics from a perfectly low key bday at home (shout out to Ben for coming home early to be there when she woke up even though it is his absolute bananas season)

And here are my 5 favorite pictures of Minnie as a five-year-old. Because! 5 is a big year. Minnie went to kindergarten, started reading, lost a couple of teeth, traded dance class for a competitive swim team (that she had to try out for!), became a regular human who can play board games and talk about current events, started keeping a diary, learned how to dive off the board-- the list is endless.

Last bedtime before the big 0-6

School pic, a classic

Cutest family pic, too

Dance pics, of course

Calendar dramz

 Turns out, if you want your planner routine to do all the things for you, you have to USE YOUR PLANNER. SO WEIRD, right? 

Engie came to the pool with me so we could talk about a book we both read, and we started also talking about the Pop Sugar reading challenge, and you guys! I check in with that challenge shortly before the start of each new month when I fill out my paper monthly planner, something I started doing on SHU's recommendation to see all of my work days at a glance so I could tell how much deep work time was available to me each month. 

But! 10 days into August, and I had not even cracked that guy. SO, I did my monthly lay out last might and noticed important things. Like, for example, Harry's move-in day is when I have a dentist appointment AND a video visit with my doctor. Grrrrrr. That's because Harry's move in day is NOT a weekend day at all-- which is something I could have known from the Google calendar, but is the kind of thing that really only sinks in for me when I plot my month on a grid. GAH. (I put it on the cal for 8/29 even though it was 8/31, and he said 8/31, but I just assumed that was a Saturday and didn't really check which is on me but also would not have happened ON PAPER)

(Also, maybe I should do the Pop Sugar challenge tracking digitally next year-- this year I am going old school with a print out...)

(Also also, I usually plan the upcoming month with my Friday weekly planning on the last Friday of the current month, but I have not really been doing my Friday afternoon planning because I am usually at the pool on Friday afternoons and I cram the weekly spread layout into another time slot-- but apparently the August monthly overview sesh got lost in the shuffle. Blah)

(I have been way better about using a planner this summer than previous summers, and things have been smoother because of it, work included, but I need to reschedule my time next summer knowing that the when and how of my nitty gritty planning schedule need to be adjusted, not just ignored).

Speaking of college move in! We got a brief reprieve on Jack's leave date thanks to his dorm room not being ready yet. He planned to move in a week early on 8/16 to be on campus for the speech team work week, but! He is living in a newly renovated dorm (because he is a kid who is ON TOP of things like housing lotteries unlike other kids I know in my house), and it just will not quite be ready that day. Instead, he is getting temporary housing and going to Peoria with Ben for work week-- then we get to go move him in on official move -in day on 8/23. Yay! More Jack! I am also excited to do the move n the big day because it's always so festive and exciting, and he can move in the same day as his roommate. Harry's freshman roomie had been living in their room for a week already for band camp, and it was weird.

Meanwhile, Harry moves in on a freaking MONDAY, which is annoying to me, but will also be fun and more lowkey because he is a junior in the dorms-- which is a thing at his school. Upperclassmen typically still live on campus, and not a ton of kids stay in Eau Claire for the summer. When I was in school, juniors and seniors lived in old falling down houses around campus and paid rent all summer long. But we were Gen X and used to our parents not knowing where the hell we were from the time we were little kids staying out til dark and hydrating with our neighbors' garden hoses. He does want to live in student apartment housing on campus next year and stay there all summer, which is not something I am prepared to contemplate at this moment-- the pool would be weird without him there is all I am saying.

Jack and me accidentally twinning at the bank-- where we went to get a credit card for Jack because I totally forgot about kids needing credit scores at some point in their young adult lives-- don't make my same mistake, sartorial or financial, guys.

Summer slide

 

We closed down the pool on Saturday, and it was lovely.

We were minus Harry and Jack, who went to a Madison Mallards baseball game/euchre tourney (Jack's bday gift to Harry), so Cooper and Dorothy both brought friends, and we ate garbage from the golf course restaurant.

After our bar trivia win on Thursday, Ben and I went out with friends for a fancy dinner on Friday, so I ate out and had drinks three nights in a row, which is not my usual style. But was fun!! Also the place has its own hydroponic lettuce supply, so I had a salad and I hope I don't live to regret it.

Less than 12 hours later, Ben and I were on a trail run. Woof.

And!! We took Jack to Costco for a stock up because he moves in to his dorm in SIX DAYS YOU GUYS OMG.

Summer 2026 went by in a blink for me. The little kids still have the whole month off, but I start TA meetings on the 19th.  Dorothy is done with summer dance try outs on the 20th, and Harry moves in on the 29th-- how'd we get here so fast?

Awegust

 

Oh, August! The kids** have NO SCHOOL this month, and Dorothy wraps up her dance team try outs on 8/20. Cooper has the entire month off from diving (new club starts 8/31), and Minnie has suddenly declared she wants to be on a club swim team, so she's doing some tryouts this month to prepare. Harry doesn't start class until 9/2, and he doesn't move in until the very last weekend of the month.

**JACK THOUGH DOES have school this month because Illinois is early. He moves to Peoria on AUGUST 16 you guys that is so soooooooon.

I have registered the 3 k-12-ers for school. We have a attended a high school sports kickoff meeting and joined the booster club (yes we did have 2 other varsity athletes. No we never did either of these things before-- Coop is ALL IN).  High school registration happens next week with a sports physical, an ID picture, and a schedule, and I assume the other schools will be in touch with back-to-school events-- because of course they will.

My summer class ends today, and we are going to spend as much time doing THIS as is humanly possible.

Yesterday was our TWENTY-FIRST anniversary and we WON bar trivia as a team of two!!

Cheers to August and onward to Minnie's 6th bday!! NEXT WEEK!!!!

Feeling funky

 Ugh I feel so scattered and crabby. I have barely been reading, and my stack of library books is starting to feel very judgy. I have barely taken any pictures, even! 

Part of it is a let down from All City-- it really was sort of all-consuming there for a hot second. 

Some of it is the change-up at Cooper's dive club and not really knowing what that experience is going to be like after 4 seasons with his old club.

Then there is just the general schedule uncertainty for fall--we have no idea what Dorothy's schedule will be, and Minnie is trying out for a swim team. 

Jack moves out in 11 days. ELEVEN DAYS. And Harry right after. And neither of them will be around to close down the pool, and that just feels wrong.

So. Anyway. That's why I have been MIA, not just the utter insanity of my schedule-- but that, too.

I need more of this:

And also this: