I do similar - this year had to wrap photos or print outs from Amazon of gifts that were sent to dd in New Mexico, care of her boyfriend (and his gifts care of her). Note, they are flying out for the holidays, and will open gifts here...lightweight, small items easy to stick in luggage when flying back. But heavy/bulky items I let Amazon ship free to their townhome. I wrapped photos from the website taped to paperbacks, old shoes, etc...anything to make boxes seem big and interesting so they have stuff to open here letting them know what awaits them back in New Mexico. I still had a few of her old Shirley Temple videos in the basement, and taped some photos to the covers, with captions from Shirley commenting on the gift. DD and her boyfriend (almost fiancee) plan to open all the Amazon boxes once they get back home. I tape gift cards to cake mix boxes, pasta, etc and wrap that, too.

A few years ago I had a problem getting UPS to deliver a tv I ordered for son's Christmas - took four days of it being postponed since we were at the end of the route and the driver was hitting his hourly limit before getting to us before it finally arrived.

My youngest , a first-time teacher (5th grade) this year, wants to get out of Illinois, and has been looking around the PNW. What district in Oregon needs teachers? She keeps harping on wanting to move down to Texas and i keep asking WHY???

Since removing the bio dad name...why not add his new dad's name?

Had a niece get meningitis, she had a bad headache, high fever and stiff neck that could not bend forward. When SIL spoke to her mom (MIL) on phone and mentioned off hand the stiff neck MIL immediately knew what it was and had SIL take the teen to ER. Without headache or fever, and neck stiff to one side after sleeping funny all night, I'd go to pediatrician first. ER co-pays are nuts, and who knows how long you'd have to wait. Advil and warm compress/heating pad in meantime.

My update from Monday mornings Moderna booster - spent Tuesday largely huddled under a blanket watching Netflix, as felt the fake flu symptoms of small fever, aches in legs, tiredness etc - but not nearly as debilitating as original shots! Did get up to do dishes, laundry, etc in spurts before going back to rest. Fine today. Arm never ached.

Moderna this morning...if anything bothers me I tend to wake up middle of the night feeling achy at most...knock wood...)I will post an update.

Since we have a hub nearby, and live off major transportation routes, I often get my Prime items next day. Oldest dd who moved to Los Alamos has to wait extra time to get her orders. I think a lot of it is luck of where you live.

I'd get security cameras up asap to record any future incidents. And let animal control know in writing YOUR side of what happened.

I use my IP almost daily, for rice, for my steel-cut oats, for soup/stew/pot roast etc. I steam whole taters in it (or beets, squash etc) to peel and use for fried taters etc on the stove...or IP the tubers to mash. I cook chicken bosums quickly to use in other recipes. Now, some items I may not be saving overall time, BUT as others have mentioned, the IP does not require attention like a stove top pot might (or frequent stirring - I am looking at you, steel-cut oatmeal!). I simply set my phone's timer to beep at me if I am not near the kitchen when it is time to unplug the IP for steam release or cool down. I even got a second liner for the IP, so I can put the liner full of hot mashed taters, for example, to one side and quickly steam another veg in the second liner. I did try to use a little steamer basket made for the IP a couple times to steam bao buns, but found the larger baskets in my wok worked better. The IP does not have to do EVERYTHING. But what it does do, it does well.

LISTEN to your body and let yourself sleep. Hope you feel better soon. Fingers crossed it isn't a weird manifestation of Covid.

I have a bedroom walk-in closet lined with shelves that holds a lot of various packaged items. We find the wee printed use by date on items and write the date in Sharpie on top where it is easy to see, and rotate items to be sure to use up older stuff first. I restock as particular items run low. I've a broom closet converted to shelved storage near the down stair bedrooms that has held multiple bags of flours, sugars, cereal, oats etc for years. One shelf is now extra medicines and bandaids, an oxygen finger squeezie thing, etc. The bedroom with the now food storage closet is only used by adult son with autism every other weekend anyway so he doesn't need the closet space. I store jars of favorite pasta sauces under his bed, too 😉 And the basement has, since last spring, been stocked full of Kleenex, paper towels and T.P. Trick is to only stock up on stuff you'd buy and use anyway over the course of a year, and rotate the stuff so nothing gets wasted. Oh, and spices? I have for years either bought large packages from local ethnic stores or bought 8 or 16 ounce bags from Amazon. Yes, we use up that much cinnamon and cumin, etc. - it does not go to waste. Even smaller packages of nutmeg, cardamon, etc are reasonably priced on Amazon. I got into the habit of buying bulk spices, sometimes sharing a bag with one or two other families, when I was in a local food co'op years ago. I never buy spices in the supermarket!

See's candy. Specifically, the peanut crunch squares and the milk chocolate peppermint patties. Also, I can inhale an entire family size bag of potato chips in one evening...which is why they only are bought once or twice a year when I simply MUST HAVE THEM!

Do what makes YOU happy. Don't try and have a perfect room like some model home or magazine photo. I like the idea of mismatched dining room chairs to tie both old and newer items together. Could hubby stain the dining table to match the inherited item? Otherwise throw a table runner on it that does with some of the teacup etc designs on the old piece?

Mine were Grandma and Grandpa(dad's folks) and Grandma Sewart and Norman (mom's mom and stepdad). My kids called the local grandparents Grandpa and Grandma...my folks halfway across the country were Papa and California Grandma. I'm happy as long as my last name doesn't have to be part of my moniker. Grandma, Granny, whatever. Mom later said Norman would have loved to be called Grandpa...but we kids heard her call him Norman and no one ever corrected us from calling him by his first name, too. He married my grandma during WW2, she had been a widow since the family was in a bad car crash in 1940.

I'd use Lands End - this time of year they have great sales, and just order a couple coats in different sizes (free shipping then). It is $6.95 to return by mail whichever coat does not fit (Lands End takes the cost of return shipping from your refund). I know this, as one son has gained weight and needs a new squall jacket. Ordered a XL and 2XL. whichever one fits him this weekend - it is a b'day gift - he keeps. The other will be returned. You could probably get one of the packable down coats - much less puffy than the old style. I have one, pretty long since I like to be warm walking the dog in winter. It is XL - I am as big around as I am tall 🙂 so yes, they fit the more "traditionally built". Lands End does also carry wool coats!

So happy for you!!!! And I hear about the seller wanting a family instead of a corporation buying their home - we had multiple would-be investors try and buy daughter's townhome earlier this year - some even had the built in automatic raising of an offer to beat any competitor. We choose a buyer who was actually going to live in the townhome.

I thought I would use one...but it is only used now for occasional egg rolls and french fries from the freezer. I use the Instant Pot almost daily - sometimes multiple times a day, so it has earned a portion of my limited counter space...while the air fryer is on a baker's rack around the corner, next to the wok and roasting pan. I did try some actual recipes in the air fryer when I got it, but it does not hold enough to make enough for four people at once, so snacks for one or two of us once in a while is all it is used for now.

We have an old stock pot we use as the barf pot. With only two bathrooms here - just one up stairs by three bedrooms - no one can take over 50% of the toilets to be sick.

I took it and have no idea who "El profesor" is. I was asked questions about Roman Holiday.

She really gets it on with Reilly in one episode, too.

My youngest can't miss this week of new teacher orientation and has her annual allergy/sinus thing going on - no fever, but a lot of congestion and sore throat from the post nasal drip. She got a COVID test - negative - this weekend just to help reassure her new co-workers that she, fully vaccinated, too, wasn't bringing them the plague. Our district has already mandated everyone be masked in school, even if vaccinated, thank heavens. Yet until the elementary kids can be vaccinated I fear it hitting the schools.

So glad you were able to get him home! Every Mom instinct I had was screaming for this. Keep us posted...with folks keeping him hydrated and fed as much as possible, and easier healthcare access, I am confident he will pull through. Even a "mild" case of this virus is no walk in the park.

Ironically, I just finished cleaning out and turning off the deep freeze in the basement...last year we had several bad storms and power outages...and my access to my daughter's freezer across town (their power lines are underground so windy storms do not affect them as much) is kaput since she up and moved to New Mexico. Doubt the new owners want me showing up with frozen items to shove in their freezer ;-). I do not want to risk losing a freezer full of meat, and hope I don't need to be stocking up on meat etc until the weather is colder and I feel safe plugging that old deep freeze back on. Meanwhile, this thread sent me to Amazon to reorder masks and a few other items I'd hate to be without. Honestly, I am enjoying going into stores and selecting my own meats, veggies etc...but assume it is a temporary thrill.