Post-college, I often sent emails to my friends in order to keep in touch. It was a nice way to dig deeper than social media, and texting was not as easy in 2006 as it is now. I found myself spending too much time agonizing over transition words and flow, so I started just sending a numbered list of thoughts.

Let us return to that form.

One
I am trying to make my family more active, but we are a naturally inactive bunch and it is difficult. See, this is the problem with being the mom: I have to have the bandwidth to make myself more active and make my children–who seem to share my natural proclivity toward laziness–more active.

It is also the worst winter to attempt this. There is not enough snow for the good snow activities. I hate being indoors with lots of people. I am trying to come up with activities for this weekend. Roller skating at the roller rink? Bouldering at the bouldering gym? Winter hike in a nice regional park? I don’t want to do any of these things. I want to stay home and play Luigi’s Mansion 3 for sixteen hours.

Two
We need exactly one more McNugget Buddy to complete our collection. Have you heard about the McNugget Buddies? They’re the collectible offered in the new “adult happy meals” at McDonalds. We are extremely lucky and after just three family trips to McDonalds in the course of a month we have managed to acquire 6/7 McNugget Buddies. But the last one is always the hardest, the promotion is going to be over any day, and although I love McDonalds I do not love eating it more than once a week at maximum. I feel like this project is doomed for failure.

On the other hand, it’s bringing back fond memories of when my natal family tried to collect all the transformer Happy Meal toys. Those were awesome; my mom still has them and all the grandkids love them.

Three
This is my second week back at the gym, and it’s going well for two reasons. First, I am watching AppleTV’s new series Monarch and really enjoying it. Gotta get my ass on the treadmill so I can find out what happens to Cate and Kentaro! Second, I’m now going to the gym at the same time in the morning as my next-door neighbor and he always gives me a thumbs up when he sees me; it’s a surprisingly positive moment for me in a venue where I sometimes feel out of place and out of sorts.

Four
My kids are obsessed with manga, anime, and all things Japanese. I am also enthusiastic about Japanese culture and cuisine, and I still remember enough of my college Japanese to impress them so this is working out well for me. They already loved sushi, and we’re now experimenting with ramen in the meal plan. Santa brought them a pile of Japanese candy and snacks that they have been enjoying. But we finally found something Japanese they don’t like: boba tea. They had their first boba tea yesterday and did not care for it. I thought the tea itself was absolutely delicious (oishi desune!) although I could do without the tapioca pearls. Anyway, they are motivated to make themselves like it so apparently we’re going back to try more flavors.

Five
We toured the middle school where my oldest son is going next year and I am feeling much better about middle school. The building itself kind of sucked–it’s much bigger and way less welcoming than the elementary school he’s attending now. But the teachers seemed really enthusiastic and friendly. (Middle school: where the hallways aren’t welcoming, but the teachers are!) I think it’s going to go well. He’ll have to ride the bus back and forth next year, and he’ll have to learn how to move from classroom to classroom and there will be a cadre of new classmates to meet, but I think he’s ready for it.