You don't want it. I edited some of the info on my friend who died of Covid. I was concerned about revealing too much and violating her privacy. It was much worse than I shared.

We've saved gift bags from Amazon over the last few years, so now I have a big supply of them. I will probably make some bags this year, too.

I was really hoping for a monolith tie-in. And yes, I was expecting something like "...and then I opened up the cat carrier, and found 18 socks in there!"

It really is horribly sad. She didn't want to die. She wasn't "ready" to go; she fought to live every step of the way. She wanted to go home and finish raising her kids. She loved her life with her family. This is so unfair.

Thank you. I wish I had a good update to give. Michelle's family made the decision to discontinue life support today. Her lungs were sustaining damage while on the ventilator, but were not healthy enough to discontinue the ventilator. She couldn't come off it nor could she stay on it. The palliative care doctor helped them to come up with a plan to let her pass without pain. She's leaving behind a husband, 2 teens, and a really great cat, plus so many friends that loved her.

Oh no. 😞 I am hoping he pulls through!

I never get hot flashes during the day, but I get them bad at night now. It doesn't impact my sleep, but I hate waking up sweaty and gross. Blanket weight and what I wear to sleep do not seem to make a difference. 😠

My friend Michelle is not doing well. Her husband updated that the prognosis is very poor. She is on 100% oxygen, but is only able to maintain 87% oxygen saturation. Most recent imaging shows her lungs have severe scarring and are unlikely to heal any further. She is having trouble moving CO2 out of her body. When they have tried to decrease her sedation, her bp shoots up to 230 (sorry, I don't know the diastolic value). On top of this, she has a bacterial pneumonia. Because of this combination of issues, she is not a good candidate for the ECMO. The doctor said that he's seen people come back from this situation, but not often. She has been declining a little each day for the last several days. Her kids and husband are going to be allowed to see her briefly tomorrow. If you have any prayers left, Michelle's family could use them. They need a miracle. 😢

When she got married. 🙂 She's been married 35 years? 40 years? In general, she's a really calm, mild person. Very little ruffles her feathers or gets her worked up. I've only seen her angry once in my life.

1) Probably in late February. I don't remember exactly. 2) Same answer as #1 3) There's an Indian restaurant in San Antonio I would love to go to. 4) No, because we're far from most restaurants. The drive time makes it a chore rather than a treat. 5) There are some small restaurants here that closed down, but to be honest, they were struggling before the pandemic.

Yep! It's just a waiting game now. I expect that by this time next year, most adults in the US will have been offered the vaccine. I don't know exactly where the trials are at for kids, though. I think Pfizer has a trial going for kids 12-16 right now, but I'm not sure. I have questions about how we get undocumented people vaccinated, too. We can't simply shrug and act like it's not our problem.

The expectation is that Moderna and Pfizer will seek Emergency Use Authorization within the next few weeks. Depending on how organized the roll out effort is 🤨 limited groups of people may start getting vaccinated very late December, early January. Both Moderna and Pfizer will continue tracking safety data on all trial participants for "awhile, (probably 2 years). They cannot submit for full FDA approval of either vax until they have at least 2 months follow up of all trial participants. There are certain benchmarks the vaccine trials have to meet before they are considered "complete" and final data is submitted. In the trial group that received the vax, none of the participants came down with severe Covid. There were 11 cases of severe Covid in the placebo group. Btw, my aunt does not work for Pfizer or Moderna, so I have no "insider" info on either vax, just the perspective of a very experienced scientist from this field.

I'm sure everyone has read about the Moderna vaccine by now. My aunt (immunologist with decades of experience working for big pharmaceutical labs) emailed me about it. She is VERY, VERY EXCITED about this vaccine. She said she read through all the data that has been released so far and says the safety data looks excellent. My aunt is a completely unflappable person; she gets excited about nothing. I can remember exactly two times in my life when she animated about anything, lol, and this is one of those times. Her words were "Sign me up!" and "There is an end to all this!" I thought that might give a little glimmer of hope to some people.

A lot of that probably depends on how many people in your area are vaccinated. More vaccination = more things opening up. If few people take the vaccine, then things will be less terrible but not 100% safe again. We will likely still be in masks for 2021, but the combo of mask plus vaccine will make more things accessible and less perilous.

The plan I wrote down last year for 2020 was "Make Life Easier". HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Hoo-boy.

Cats 😺😻🐈

What are y'all seeing out there in the world of learning that makes you think discovery method is "willy nilly" and "lazy"? Are y'all really seeing teachers dumping kids in a room with with a periodic table and a solar system model, and saying "Lemme know what you come up with!" and then rubber stamping it as a success when the kids decide the moon is made of green cheese? lol Because of course that won't work! There's an assumption of foundational knowledge and a knowledgeable facilitator guiding the process and encouraging the kids to make connections between concepts. I find this far less tedious than rote memorization, and it also results in increased retention of the material. There was a lot of material I memorized in high school and college, and it all went poof as soon as the last test was completed. If I'd had more time to engage with the material in a more meaningful way, at my own pace, I would have likely remembered a lot more of it.

I am similarly determined. Solidarity!

Despite my dentist's office having a covid outbreak back in late March/early April, despite the rising numbers, despite all the medical advice saying "Don't hold gatherings"...my dentist just posted a bunch of pictures of their wedding reception. Not a mask in sight, the entire staff there, and at least 50 people in attendance inside (I would guess probably more were there, but that's all I could see from the picture). I know that the practice manager had kicked up a fuss with the dental board, saying it was an unfair cost burden to expect dentists to wear N95 masks. I can't reconcile the idea of being a health care provider and also ignoring all the public health advice about covid. Guess we'll be looking for a new dentist.

It sounds like you are confusing discovery method with some sort of laissez-faire free for all. Discovery method isn't completely devoid of guidance or anyone overseeing what is being learned. There's a goal in mind, and I ask questions of my child that help advance him to that goal. Discovery method isn't devoid of content or follow up. If the kids are "discovering" wildly incorrect information, it's up to the teacher to redirect them and ask "Explain to me why you believe the sky is green" and ask enough of the right types of questions so that the student will eventually say "No, that can't be true. The sky is really blue".

Done

My sister and I were able to talk my dad out of traveling from Chicago to visit my aunt in NYC for Thanksgiving. Whew!

I'd list "white" or "Caucasian". I'm guessing that is what they are getting at?

Mine is also easy to manage with generic Synthroid. The important thing is to take your medication consistently. I agree with @prairiewindmommaregarding TSH levels. While it's true that some people feel fine with a TSH of 3.0, I would be unable to function if mine was that high. I feel much better when my TSH is around 1-1.5. I can't see one of the P.A.s at my doctor's practice because the PA thinks that is too low and tries to change my med dosage. 🙄 I kept away from gluten for a few years because I was having some weird problems every time I ate it. Now that my thyroid levels are normal, I can eat gluten again and feel fine.

My recollection is that her husband has told her the same thing, too. She commented that social media and this board amplified her anxiety and her husband was encouraging her to stay offline because she was more even-keeled when she unplugged.