19 NOV 25
A slosh of rain left in the night reveals a full box of kosher salt on the patio table soaked through amongst bottles of food coloring in primary colors... “Yali?...” // “That was me actually”... sometimes Patience follows big-brother footsteps... I forget to ask what this particular experiment was intended to prove however because...
...while Oxbear and Yali leave for play therapy...
...Patience and I are scooting back for another volunteer shift where arithmetic sheets need stapling and paper fastener brads need splitting...
Some hours later while Yali and Patience sit down to their own arithmetic sheets... and I realize someone has been busy soldering holes into the mechanical pencils...
...Puck is hustling in and out of the kitchen door clattering tools in the carport trying to reinstall the sunroof on the Lincoln which is... of course... not cooperating...
But nothing eases frustration like trying to annoy siblings... so he's soon back indoors attempting to convince Yali to swallow a pack of Orbeez to see what happens... “Come on Yali... it's just like candy...”
“HAHA!” is Yali's reply as he begins inexplicably slamming Patience's plush panda repeatedly into the door in some kind of one-sided smackdown...
And Patience is calmly stirring the Oobleck that somehow survived the weekend until Puck walks over to dump a cup of cold coffee on top of it with a smile of complete satisfaction at his antics... though Patience is entirely unmoved by this display of disruption and continues stirring the goo to see what happens next...
But math is still waiting so they reluctantly watch Puck disappear to his room while Yali returns to practice dramatically “dying” after every incorrect math problem...
As it always happens... we're back at the studio for Patience's big dress check for the Oireachtas next weekend... but there's a problem and her dress hem is still too short... after some creative problem-solving by the studio owner and some texts and calls... and some bussing back and forth and back and forth again... Patience has rented a spectacular black velvet and gold embroidered custom-designed four thousand dollar solo dress to wear in Milwaukee... **nervous nibbling of fingertips**...
And home to plate hot meals late while Yali expresses his new horror film ideas in creepy detail... “I need white face powder and a green clown wig Mom... let's look on Amazon for those things okay?”...