About a year ago, I was working with a young woman who turned 18 and aged out of foster care, though she was just a junior in high school. She moved into a very small apartment (more like a small hotel room) run by a ministry for other young adults like her. She talked about wanting to learn how to cook, but it was daunting to do in her tiny apartment without a real oven. She did not have a car, so she had to be able to carry everything on the bus. I love the idea of your blog. I will think about a name... When you get it set up, please post a link to it!!

I like this idea. We have a eucalyptus tree and I think I could add some chopped up eucalyptus to the shower steamer. I am currently a bit congested, so the idea sounds very appealing. My girls have made some sugar scrubs as gifts in the past - that could make a nice gift basket with the shower steamers and a knit washcloth!

We are out of the little kid stage, but we have new neighbors with 4 kids under 8 years old. They tend to have a couple of hours of outdoor play time in the late morning and then again in the late afternoon. I think it's great - I love to hear them. It would seem really strange if they were out all day long, or if they were out really early or really late (before 8 or 9am and after 8pm.) Our street is quiet, so they are able to skate and ride scooters back and forth on the road or sidewalk. Down the street there are two brothers who are mid-teenagers. They often play baseball/catch in the road and they have a batting cage set up. I love it when they are out playing - you can hear the bat zing! Again, it's something they do for a couple of hours in the afternoon and would be less fun if they had a really loud radio playing "mature" music the whole time or if they were fighting/yelling at each other or something. Lots of people have pools here and it is common to have a late night pool party - I know my own teen and his friends can be loud and obnoxious. We don't have a pool, but several of my son's friends have pools - this summer they tended to shut down the outdoor party by 10 on week nights and 11 on the weekend. I think the worst noise is the team of yard guys who take care of our yard and several of the yards in our neighborhood with all the blowing and mowing - I don't know how they do it - it is hours with those loud machines in some serious desert heat.

That's a good idea. My dd loves scrunchies. I'm thinking of sewing PJ pants. This thread made me look in my stash and I found that I have an abundance of flannel. When our kids were little, I always sewed christmas pj's but stopped at some point along the way. I will give one pair a try and see how it goes before I commit!

Just to share our Covid story. My husband started having symptoms on Oct. 23. We stayed home all weekend and he tested on Monday, got a positive on Tuesday and was told to quarantine along with me and our son. My husband was about as sick as a minor cold. He did have a headache and body aches, he was congested and sneezy. He stayed in our bedroom and I brought him food so that he didn't spread it to the rest of us. Unfortunately, about the time he was feeling better, I started to feel sick. He went back to work after he was cleared by his doctor at about 10 days after testing. I tested positive last week. I have felt tired and congested, and I have an occasional cough, but not the kind of cough that a cough drop would help. I did lose my sense of smell/taste. If it were a normal year, this is the sort of light cold that I would have felt fine carrying on in going to school/work with, and even working out. (of course we are keeping our very strict quarantine, luckily my husband is able to do our grocery pick up now.) Our teenage son thinks he may have had a light case, he had a day or two of coughing and maybe had a headache, but he's not sure. He did not test positive. We feel like we have been in quarantine forever, though it has only been 2.5 weeks. The health department nurse told me that we can leave quarantine when I am 72 hours without a fever and not having any more symptoms. I haven't had a fever at all, though I am still headachy and congested, so it may be a few more days or into next week before we can bust out of here. And even then I will stick to my usual mainly at home routine. I know that many people have been extremely ill, but for us it hasn't been worse than a cold. I'm not trying to say that it is not a big deal. I know that there are much worse cases (our daughter is an RN in an ICU and has been really affected by this.) We believe that a coworker of my husband's shared it with him. One person in his office complained about having a "head cold" the week before my husband got sick. The night before he started feeling sick, my husband spent several hours in his buddy's truck as they were driving out to a hunting site. The buddy did not get sick. Several people in my husband's office went into quarantine when he tested positive, but no one else seemed to get sick. They have specific masking rules in common areas, but they don't generally mask in their offices. Our son started his first job about a month before we got sick - they have been really understanding about him missing for so long. I feel terrible that he has been stuck at home. It's already been a hard year for him and it will be a relief when he is able to go back to his part time job. eta - my husband and I are both in our mid 40's, a bit over weight, but no other health concerns.

I was given a couple of these soup bowl cozies last year, and then made a set for my daughter and her husband. They are easy to sew and I use them all the time. We love soup and we have been sick here recently - these bowls make it possible to eat a bowl of soup in bed or on the couch a little safer. I use them at the table, too. I think it keeps the bowl warmer while eating! I've been thinking of making some little washable eye make up remover pads for my girls. I love the idea of making some little cactus pin cushions, but my girls don't sew and my mom has plenty of pin cushions. Can't wait to see other ideas!!

We did some downsizing last year and it hasn't been my favorite. We are still moving around with my husband's military career, so this is not permanent. In our previous home we had a basement, 4 bedrooms, and both a living and family room. Our current house is 3 bedroom, no basement, and just one large great room. We are down to just one kid at home, so in theory, we don't need so much space, but in practice, our older kids have all visited numerous times this year and one guest room with no extra space is not enough. We were not prepared for the downsize and we are lucky that the bedrooms have large closets, because they are packed!! My husband says he would prefer to downsize to a smaller house, but now that we are in a smaller house, he is also the person with numerous hobbies that take up a lot of space and need their own rooms. I think ideally we would have a cute 3 bedroom cottage with a full basement, and the basement would be perfect for some hobbies and for visiting space for our kids. Add in a large garage and we would be golden! Visiting my parents is one of my favorite things - I have always felt welcome and safe there and have known that we could fall back to their house if needed, even when all 4 of our kids were at home. I hope to offer that to our kids to some extent. I don't particularly want to enable kids living with us forever, but I hope that we can be a safe harbor if needed.

Raising young adults has helped me become more flexible in my views. Nothing like older teens to make you swallow all of your "I would nevers". I have had several big changes in my outlook about major topics religious and political. Just tonight I read an article about a woman who made a documentary about a rather political topic. Researching the topic and interviewing people intimately involved, changed how she felt about the topic in a way that she wasn't expecting. I think more information can take us out of the realm of rhetoric.

We are in Nevada and have received more voter info than I have ever seen, include an in person visit (in a gated community with serious rules about soliciting, so not sure how that was allowed). a previous renter in our home must not have voted since he lived here 8 years ago. We received his ballot, a page with all of his voter information from each year and nonstop suggestions for how and who to vote for. We vote absentee in another state so we are worthless in Nevada.

I think it is more of a mindset than a program - it is doable using whatever free app or spreadsheet that works for tracking expenses. They have a book, too, that I have read (from the library).

I really like the theory behind YNAB (You Need a Budget). You budget the money you have - giving every dollar a job, you do not budget what you might have coming in a week or two (until you actually have that money.) You work toward funding real expenses (so you don't have surprises that hit you, like Christmas or annual car registration.) I use their program and it has been great for our family budget, but the same idea can be done on paper. https://www.youneedabudget.com/the-four-rules/

Is there a way to buy the sticky paper that silhouette uses or contact paper and then cut out the shapes yourself with an x-acto knife? This looks doable: https://www.google.com/search?q=making+stencil+without+cricut&oq=making+stencil+without+cricut&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30i457.10487j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_3S-aX__KGpy-0PEPt5SH-Aw12 eta - she's not working with t-shirts - but here's a fabric one: https://craftyourhappiness.com/2017/09/20/making-stencils-from-contact-paper/ I think the cricuit or silhouette sticky back paper is a stronger sticky than contact paper. I know you can buy sheets of it individually - so maybe pick up a sheet and try it before you decide if you need to invest in a machine...

My husband and I listed to hours and hours of the most detailed podcast about WW1. I had to look it up - it is Dan Carlin's "Blueprint for Armageddon" when we listened it was free on my itunes podcast app. He includes so much detail and really brings it to life - the bar fight brought to life. I checked on podcast but it looks like it's not there anymore, for free... but you can buy at his website? well worth a listen if you are interested and have about 100 hours... https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-50-blueprint-for-armageddon-i/

I do not have an amazing voice, but I love singing in the car! I have one kid who hated anyone singing in the car, so that sort of cramped my style, but earphones helped her as she got older. We have certain soundtracks for road trips that we all sing along to. My husband (who is the most actual musical person I know and can pick up and play any instrument, sings, harmonizes, has great pitch, etc) doesn't sing along and I can't sing along with him in the car...

My son needed a new suit this week and was able to try on at JC Penny's. They only had one changing room open on the floor we were on, with half of the stalls available. While we were there, they were sanitizing between people. I was actually impressed. They seemed to be holding clothes overnight before returning them to the racks. There is a big jump between boys 16/18 and mens small. (no Junior sizing that I have ever seen) We felt like American Eagle offered smaller mens sizes, and a slimmer cut.

Ooooo! Paul Simon!!!! Mrs. Robinson and The Boxer are some favorite guitar songs here - but maybe more acoustic?

DH has been on a Dire Straits kick (for the entire Covid-at-home experience) - Sultan's of Swing has some fun guitar stuff. Money for Nothing is another sweet recognizable (and repeating) electric guitar part(s). I prefer AC/DC but dh is not into it. He's also a Joe Satriani Fan - I only recognize the Top Gun theme song. As a suzuki violin teacher, after hearing daily concerts and practice sessions for the last 6 months, I'm pretty sure I could almost pick up the guitar and play Sultan's of Swing... eta video link: Sultans of Swing

Your flour glue comment reminded me of my bedroom as a child. My mom used a flour/water glue to stick up a fabric boarder around the top of my bedroom. (remember when every room had a boarder around the top? or was that just our house?) It was the same fabric that she used to tie quilts for our beds - a bright yellow with sunflowers. We lived in that house for about 18 years and I believe we left the boarder up when we moved. I'm actually quite impressed with the flour-glued boarder, but I've never tried flour glue for arts and crafts myself.

Everyone has such good ideas. I can only think of one thing to add... We have a big shower surrounded with big clear glass. I bought a large squeegee and I squeegee the shower every morning. It takes just a few swipes and the glass stays clean - no water spots! In a previous house we had glass sliding shower doors and I would clean them weekly with dryer sheets. That worked to get rid of the water spots, but it took a lot of time and still required window cleaner to get the dry sheet smears off, and a whole lot of elbow grease. Now, I just clean the rest of the shower because the glass is always clean and pretty!

In our weirdly shaped living room, we have a rug/couches defining the living room, then an office area to one side with a small desk, bookshelves, cupboard, etc, plus a big comfy chair. I’m not a great decorator, but I feel like it goes okay and it’s very functional for our family right now.

I took a cooking for kids class one summer through parks and rec. when I was six or seven. We made mini pizzas with canned pillsbury biscuits (the small biscuits.) You stretch out the biscuit into a flat circle, top with a spoonful of canned spaghetti sauce, a sprinkle of mozzarella and a slice or two of pepperoni. Then bake. I was so proud of myself for cooking “homemade” pizza. I made it a few times with my kids, it’s not terrible! We also made cake mix cookies. I have fond memories of the strawberry flavored cake mix cookies with chocolate chips. If eating graham crackers with leftover frosting is wrong, I don’t want to be right! 🤣. Homemade frosting makes it okay, right? No?? My mom taught me how to make nachos - this was a family favorite. Open a can of refried beans, spoon about half the can on to a plate - kind of mounded in the middle of the plate. Put a bunch or tortilla chips around the beans. Shred cheddar cheese all over all of it. Microwave for a couple of minutes until the cheese melts and the beans warm up. Serve with a jar of pace salsa!!

I haven't lived in a place where gated communities were so common before this. Our community has a main entrance with an actual person and two side gates that just neighborhood members can enter. The side gates don't have pass codes, they work with a little sticker on your car and have both large metal gates and "sally arms" or the orange and white arms that go up and down. The arms are supposed to keep people from sneaking in behind, but they are broken all the time, and are a major expense for our HOA. If we knew more when we moved here, I would have chosen to live in one of the other gated communities close to where we live, that just have a gate code. Our neighborhood makes it really hard for my son to have friends over and the broken side gates are annoying. I don't feel like the crime is higher in our neighboring neighborhoods. If someone really wanted to get into our neighborhood they could find a way.

I live in a gated community. I believe emergency vehicles have to drive the long way around to the main entrance and cannot come through any of the smaller side gates. Which would about about 7 minutes to any calls. I actually hadn't thought about it before. Our closest side gate is often broken and I have felt frustration that I always have to go around the long way, but life and death is a completely different matter.

I came in to mention that Nioxin has worked for me, too, but it took some time. I ordered from Amazon. I haven't heard of Zenagen but I am now going to try it!

We made hundreds of crepes for one of our daughters’ weddings. We used two different crepe pans. I have made crepes on a skillet on the stove top and it works fine, but these two pans were fun to use. A friend runs a little crepe stand at farmers markets and she uses three or four electric crepe pans like this: Crepe pan they use the pusher tool to spread the batter evenly on the pan, then turn the crepe over with the long wooden spatula. This worked well and could be used for other things like any electric griddle. (I can’t recommend these particular pans, they are the first ones that came up on amazon) Our new son in law recommended one like this: crepe maker. You put the batter in a tray, then dip the crepe maker into the batter. I had never used anything like this before and doubted it would work, but it was actually great. It made very even, thin crepes, and it was very easy to use. We liked the smaller size of these and tried to match the size on the larger griddle. We made hundreds of crepes the day before the wedding, using both types of pans. They both made a similar crepe, though the “dip in” crepe maker was faster. We kept the crepes in the fridge over night. We served them cold with dessert toppings. We made three kinds of whipped cream: Nutella cream, lemon cream, and normal whipped cream with vanilla. Then we also had all kinds of cut up berries and fruit, chopped up chocolate bars, and chocolate sauce to drizzle. They were so yummy and everyone seemed to love them. At home, we have made a sausage gravy to serve in crepes, the same as we would use for biscuits and gravy. We also like sliced strawberries and spray cream from a can!