Nope. I'd get an AirBnB if I needed to. If it was just a one night thing, I'd put the inflatable mattress in the back of my SUV and sleep in the car.

I also got a zero. I would only fly right now in the event of some sort of life-and-death emergency. Maybe the plane is totally safe, but one still has to get through the airport and security screening, which adds on time and proximity to others. I could go my whole life without seeing a movie in-theater or eating in a restaurant, and I'd be fine. We got sandwiches once or twice and McDonald's fries twice, and that is the extent of our take-out for 7 months. I don't miss it.

Ugh, more people I know with Covid: Friend of the family, male, early 70s, lives in North Carolina: was hospitalized in the regular covid ward for about 2 weeks and then released home on oxygen. His wife also had covid but did not require hospitalization and recovered at home. Cousin, male, 39. Quit smoking 3.5 years ago, quit drinking 18 months ago. Only known health issue is stomach ulcers caused by H. pylori. He contracted it on a Navy ship. Tested negative multiple times before the ship came back to home port, but on the day they got home he told them he wasn't feeling well. Navy said, "Not our problem; go home", and would not put him up in barracks to isolate. He went home, next day felt worse and tested positive. He spread it to his wife and baby. Baby is fine, took the wife 6 weeks to recover. My cousin is still having health issues. He's been in and out of the hospital 3 times, has brain fog, and has multiple ulcerated lesions in his stomach that are causing him to spit up blood. His clotting times are all messed up. I don't know if they are too long or too short, but he's got coagulation issues now.

Truthfully, I stopped looking toward homeschoolers to meet these needs for him. I'm looking for opportunities that exist independently that happen to offer meet ups for kids, (comic shops that offer game nights, libraries that have teen meetups, museums that have volunteer opportunities, math circles, etc). If we happen to find a co-op or enrichment group that he likes, great! It will be one part of what he does, but not the backbone of his social world.

The kids started growing up and their interests diverged. When kids are little, you can toss a bunch of them in a room together and they mostly get along. They don't need to have much in common other than circumstance to be friends. But when you get into the middle school years, they have more specific likes and dislikes. They aren't so excited to just dig a hole or collect rocks at the park together, or color together, or whatever little-kid thing kept them happy before. It just happens that I have a very bookish, geeky kid in an area that does not value bookish-ness or geeky-ness, and despite trying very, very hard to find people with similar interests, it doesn't exist here. A few people have tried to build that community here via book, game, and comic book shops, and they've all closed down because the community here doesn't care about that stuff. So I can either be the 6th person to try to build that community for my son to have a social outlet, or...we can move to where those things already exist and join in.

How she treats other people is likely how she'll treat you and your daughter. Does she treat those people respectfully, or is she rude and snotty? Does she take it out on the kids by subtly snubbing the children of people she's argued with? Or does she treat them fairly? If she's mad at someone, does everyone know because she's so emotional about it, or does she keep it to herself? By the time you are ready to go back, things at the center could be very different. Your former friend could leave. New people will join. Even without covid, the dynamics at the center would shift over time as different people left and joined. Something else to keep in mind is that your daughter will change, too. By the time she goes back, she won't be the same kid as she was on the last day of co-op. It might seem impossible to consider now, but regardless of covid, there was likely going to be a day when she outgrew the co-op. If you'd asked me when my son was 8 if I thought we'd ever leave this area, I would have laughed and said no. Everything was going SO WELL! We had friends, we found our niche, it was great! And then right before he turned 11, I saw the beginning of the end here. The kids were growing up and changing, and all of the things that worked great in years prior suddenly didn't work anymore. I would say give your co-op a try again, when you are ready to return, but also add some other experiences into your world. Not just because things could go sour with your former friend, but also because your daughter may be ready to widen her world a bit more by then.

If she's screaming and yelling at you, then you don't owe her any more explanation or consideration. It's ok to block her, stop taking her calls, ignore her, and otherwise ghost her. Having boundaries is about knowing what your terms are for how you will be treated, and how you will respond when someone steps over the boundary. It's not necessarily about stating to someone "These are my boundaries, now you will respect them!". Yes, sometimes you have to lay it out that specifically, (and a reasonable person will immediately start respecting them and apologize for stepping out of line). But it's really more about thinking carefully about what you will and won't put up with from other people. I sometimes see people turn "boundaries" into a power struggle, where they are desperately arguing with the offending person to "respect my boundaries!", and get them to understand. They end up locked in this fight where the offending party not only steps over the boundary but argues about whether it's even valid to have boundaries. You might think "But how will they know not to step over a boundary if I don't articulate it?" Well, most reasonable people don't need to have personal boundaries spelled out for them! They figure out where the line is by interacting with people, taking social cues, reading body language, etc. You've done all you can with this person. It's ok to stop taking calls and communicating with her. You don't owe her any more explanation. She may try to guilt you about it and insist that you owe her something, but you really don't.

Like @J-rap, I don't exactly know how to answer that question. I don't think it will take 5 years. I think we'll get a "good enough" vaccine within 6 months and a really great vaccine by 5 years time. If, theoretically, nothing really changed for 5 years, we'd move closer to my family (that's happening regardless), and look into converting a van into a small RV, so we could do some travel around the US.

I'm sorry, Mercy. It really isn't your fault.

It probably depends on the kid. My son is 12 and hasn't yet hit the stage where he wants more space from parents. He's still content to hang out with us and isn't really into "teen" things yet. I think if he was 16 or so, it would make it harder because he'd be wanting independence that we cannot currently give.

My kiddo is ok. I found an online social club for kids through fb, and he's been playing games online with them once a week. He takes an online art class twice a month, and has been in Zoom based math club once a week that he's enjoyed. He's going to play Dungeons and Dragons online again in November through outschool. He's also been playing World of Warcraft online with us, and I'm really impressed at how well he's handling himself there. He's introverted and the online interactions are giving him kind of a low-pressure way of learning how to speak up, be assertive, etc. He's bummed that we can't go Trick or Treating or attend any of the usual parties this year, (Easter Egg hunt, Not-Back-to-School party, Halloween, Christmas), but he understands. He liked the kids in the homeschool group but was not super-close to any of them. He is 12, and I think if he was a little older, this would be MUCH harder on him. He's mostly looking forward to when it is safe to travel, so we can visit family in Chicago and go to the Art Institute (He'd been looking forward to seeing the big George Seurat painting this September!)

There are 2 different people that cover our route, so delivery time depends on who's running it. One of the mail carriers lives in our neighborhood, so mail gets delivered here right before her lunch break. The other carrier tends to deliver around 4pm. I did get mail once or twice before around 8pm. It was holiday season.

I don't think you are complaining. :) You've been through a big ordeal. I've had bronchitis several times, (which is nothing compared to covid), and it can take me 6 weeks to feel strong again. You will get your strength back! Hang in there!

Don't like it. I find it crude and disrespectful. Guess I will be old with everyone else!

I'm in a bunch of coupon/deals groups on facebook. If I see a great deal on an Instant Pot, I will post here.

@Hunter Just throwing some crazy ideas out there to see if any seem possible for you. What about a solar oven? Or maybe a thermal cooker might be a good choice? I don't know much about them, but they seem to be a fairly passive way of cooking. Thermal Cooking recipes Blog of a lady that seems really enthusiastic about thermal cooking Or maybe an electric hot plate, since your stove is of questionable reliability? Hot plates

It sounds like the answer to whether a pressure cooker would be good for poor people is "It depends". Depends on their budget, what access they have to stoves and ovens, dietary needs, etc.

This is what I was thinking of doing. Separate lists for everyone, because we get duplicates of gifts. If I put a lego set on there, my relatives will not buy through that link, so the item still looks like it's "needed". We then end up with multiples of the same item, and I can't return them because no gift receipt!

Oh, and just for extra giggles: the chief offender with Amazon gift lists is my dad. My dad is now retired, but used to be a vp of cyber security for his former employer. The man was literally paid to deal with technology and make recommendations about it, and actually met with White House reps to give advice on it and was interviewed by a major news organization about cyber security. But that Amazon wish list kicks his butt every year.

Yeah, gift giving is always weird with my relatives and in-laws. Them: "What would you like?" Me: "I would like this" Them: "That's no fun. I'm going to get you something else". Me, to myself: "Then why did you bother asking me?!" I thought I was doing a smart thing by creating an Amazon list for far-away relatives. Somehow it has only added more complication to the gift experience. I can't figure out how to make it any easer than "Here is a link. Click it!". It always goes sideways. They nag for the list and then don't follow the links for the items on the list. There's always some weird twist to the experience that ends in me having to contact Amazon to get it figured out. It's not a gift if I have to work for it! And I always have to work for it, and then there are these big sighs from the gift giver about how my family is just sooooooo hard to shop for.

I have a pressure cooker, and to be honest, I'm not very impressed with it. The only thing it does really, really well are roasts, brown rice, or split pea soup. When we were super, super broke, a roast would have been out of my budget. Making split pea soup or brown rice is cheap, but can be done in any big pot with enough time. My slow-cooker was cheaper and got used way more when we were broke. And I can cook a roast in it if the budget allows.

I wish I knew the answer to this. My husband has had high blood pressure since his early 20's (runs in the family), but it's well controlled with medication. Does that make him high risk or the same risk level as someone without high bp? Edited to add: One thing I have noticed about cases here in Texas: There is a big jump in the number of fatalities when you go from ages 40-49 and 50-59. Fatalities more than double for the older age group, but then they drop again for ages 60-64. I wonder if the reason for this is because there is more undiagnosed (and thus untreated) high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes in the 50-59 age group.

I think as time goes on, we're all going to know more than one person who's been very sick from this.

Quoting myself for continuity. My friend's other older child has it. Friend is really struggling at the hospital, and it sounds like they will be moving her to ICU. She says the coughing fits are BAD, and simple things like shifting in bed or picking up a cup of water sets them off. She cannot breathe normally, just tiny little breaths because deeper ones set off unrelenting coughing fits and her O2 drops. The headache never stops and nothing takes away the pain. Psychologically, it is very hard and she's described that she is basically willing herself to keep going and keep living, because it would be easy to give up and die. She's able to post fb updates. For now. This is MODERATE covid, according to her doctor. Moderate. Wear your damn masks, people.

Remembering to drink more water. I keep forgetting and then I start to get dehydrated and feel like garbage. I've been needlepointing more, too.