iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

In my shop for clothes at Costco and skincare at Trader Joe's era

Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

If your young child asks "Is Chucky real?" it is VERY IMPORTANT that you ask for clarification before continuing the discussion. He was talking about Mr. Cheese.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

I'm starting to suspect a lot of people who organize summer festivities have never actually listened to the lyrics of Martina McBride's Independence Day

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

When I was in college we hired Vanilla Ice to play a big end of semester show. As I recall he played Ice Ice Baby and the song from the TMNT movie before turning on the smoke machines we told him not to use, setting off alarms and ending the evening.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Regular reminder that cabinet secretaries are not apolitical, no matter the department, and we don't do the military profession any favors by pretending that they are.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Loving my new Garmin watch but it can be real judgy

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Kid 2 (born and raised in New England) just asked me to buy him Chicago Cubs and Bears tshirts. I must be doing something right.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Still can't go to bed before One Shining Moment even knowing it will be on YouTube tomorrow

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Well below average on amount of time it took me to remember where the bunny hid all the eggs this Easter. Above average on amount of vomit and blood but I'll take what I can get.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Having kids in the way back of the minivan is really improving the accuracy of my left-handed throwing

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Exciting mail day! I contributed a chapter on the United States, aka the one where Jess learned about the Stafford Act

A red and orange hard cover book titled "Military Operations in Response to Domestic Emergencies and Global Pandemics: Implications for Civil-Military Relations". Lindy Heinecken and Christian Leuprecht

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

I am baffled by the clothing choices on Survivor

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

This is much too late to START a basketball game

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

PSA even if your kid is old enough to not have potty accidents anymore you might want to keep a change of clothes on hand for bloody nose accidents 🫠🫠

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

The one school theme day I will never complain about is pajama day

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Some days (weeks? months?) are really hard. Thankful for kind notes from students that remind me what it's all for.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Pro tip: if you bring sweats to change into after swimming laps so you don't have to put work clothes back on to run errands, it helps to also bring casual shoes. And a hair brush. Unrelated, if you saw me at the grocery store this evening, no you didn't.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Actual thing I said to Kid 2 tonight: "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I was covered in toilet water."

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

It's a "scream sing the bridge to Death by a Thousand Cuts even though you're happily married" kind of Wednesday

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Did not expect celebrating positive strep tests to be such a regular part of parenting

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Some day I will learn not to check my phone when a sick child wakes me up early

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Lessons learned from the Blizzard of '26: - snow filled ziplocs make great cooler ice packs to save your perishables - LED beanies are amazing, as are kid-friendly headlamps - try not to have both parents get the flu immediately before a blizzard

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

I love that the thing we apparently learned from the early days of the pandemic is that it's totally reasonable to expect people to supervise their children's virtual learning while also continuing to do their own jobs

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

I am complaining about day 2 at home now that I have the flu

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Of all the days to be home with a sick kid, can't really complain about getting the one where we can watch skating and hockey finals live

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

For those playing along at home, the solution was to abandon the frozen pipe and reroute through the house creating more radiator. Did require a professional but was done in an hour.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Sooo anyone have tips for thawing a pipe in an inaccessible crawl space?

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Scotch magic tape is wonderful but Scotch gift-wrap tape is an abomination. Don't make my mistake.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Pro tip: middle of a Patriot's game is a great time to go to Market Basket

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Toddler figured out how to get a leg over the top of the crib rail send help

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Raise your hand if you drank coffee at 4pm because you knew you'd be up late working and then were wide awake past 1am and now it's the next morning and you just want to go back to bed but you can't because you have kids and a job 🙋🏼‍♀️

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

My experience with getting bangs has made me much less skeptical of people not recognizing Superman with glasses on.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Kid 1 and Kid 2 figured out how to lift Toddler out of the crib this morning. Unclear whether this will result in more or less sleep for me.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Shout out to the daycare teachers who send you a photo of your child playing happily ten minutes after they had a meltdown at drop off

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Good news: I remembered to make overnight oats last night. Bad news: I forgot salt, again 🤦🏼‍♀️

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Nothing says last day of winter break like frantically grading exams while the toddler naps and the big kids play video games in the tent that has taken over the living room

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Not the morning to discover there's no coffee in the house

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

TIL tonies still work after a trip through the washing machine

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

I have so many questions about how/where one procures these

View through a car windshield of Christmas light displays showing the Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima and the names of the military services

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

If you're ever looking for something to do in Chicago, I highly recommend seeing the U-505 at the Museum of Science and Industry. Amazing story and really well done exhibit. taskandpurpose.com/history/germ...

taskandpurpose.com

How America captured a German submarine right before D-Day

The U.S. Navy sunk many German U-boat submarines in World War II. But then they captured one, right before the D-Day invasion.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Kids think I have access to the Santa tracker on my phone because I work for the military and I'm not going to tell them otherwise

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Kid 1: If you're on the naughty list you still get presents on your birthday

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

My ongoing effort to teach Kid 1 and Kid 2 to choose and wrap gifts for others severely tested my Christmas spirit today

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

PSA fellow parents: night terrors are a thing look it up before your kid creates housewide chaos at 1130pm

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Last week the Main Street trolley drove itself off the shelf to its doom, now I finish Santa's post office only to discover this fresh Lego nightmare 🤦🏼‍♀️

The Santa's Post Office Lego set sits "complete" on a shelf. A hand holds up one gray 2x4 plate.

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

*Kid 2 looks at my sweater* Mama is that supposed to be ugly? Me: Yes Kid 2: And it IS ugly!

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Always fun to start the day with your kid crying bc you're "never" home to meet the bus since telework authorization was revoked

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Listening to the annual Poscast Holiday Draft is one of my marriage's foundational holiday traditions. Time to plan a road trip @davidmglick.bsky.social

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Jess Blankshain @profjessblankshain.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Well this is a relief after slipping to top 0.5% last year.

Spotify Wrapped: my top artist Taylor Swift minutes listened 25,889 Top 0.03% global fan

77,875 top listener of Taylor Swift globally

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Reposted by Jess Blankshain

Lindsay P Cohn @lindsaypcohn.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

The ch that @profjessblankshain.bsky.social and I wrote focuses on how the Total Force Policy affected the reserves: “Combined with the post–Cold War security environment, it fundamentally changed the way the reserve component is employed, increasing its operational use and professionalization.”

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