Same. I had a traumatic birth involving a NICU stay and after that even if I had wanted to go back to work or been able to afford daycare, the thought of being away from her for most of the day was horrifying.

I asked and he does have disability insurance! I have a bachelor's and have internship and part-time experience in the education field. Just not full-time work experience

That's one reason I don't want to use the public schools. Everyone is talking about how they have to pay for tutoring to supplement!

I have a bachelor's degree.

I could also try to push myself during those 2 free hours to start writing again and maybe get something published. It's just that it sucks up the whole evening if I want to actually make progress. Then I can't work on anything else like knitting/sewing or spend quality time with DH. I actually completed NaNoWriMo last year but then the due date of my second miscarried child came and I became so depressed that I had to stop. I have ADHD so I really can't get anything done that I need to focus on while DD is running around and interrupting.

Maybe once the pandemic is over. I'm high risk and almost ended up in the hospital when I had covid. What subject should I tutor?

Gymnastics is happening in our area right now. My daughter is still young and was going to start gymnastics this year, but we've held back on that since I don't see how an instructor could teach her effectively from 6 feet away.

We don't have internet service at all, actually. We just use the mobile hotspot on our phones when we need to use my husband's work laptop for something.

I'm not sure. I have a lot of anxiety so I'm not sure how entrepreneurial stuff would work if I was trying to actively go and sell things to people. I tried freelance translation before and it didn't work out because everyone just wanted a native speaker. But I've had several truly awful bosses at the part time jobs so that makes me nervous, too.

Econ and a foreign language. I'm woefully out of practice because I don't know anyone here who speaks it. I was planning to work for an intelligence agency but I graduated during the hiring freeze and a government shutdown and ended up working at a school part time.

I should clarify that I do have a degree, in economics and a "target language." I graduated during the recession and ended up working part-time at a school until I was finally able to have our daughter. So I never actually ended up using this degree and I think it would be nearly impossible for me to find a related job. All my experience is in education. Tutoring, ESL summer camp, working at that school. I'll tell DH we need to look at our life insurance again but it's a solid amount. The idea of this happening just really scares me. That, along with having an only child, are the only two things that make me have doubts about homeschooling.

I've looked at George Mason University, which is a local public college where my husband did his master's at night a few years ago. I have a bachelor's but I could do a career change degree for teaching or nursing, which I think about sometimes. But then I couldn't homeschool and our city's schools are not good.

I've thought of doing one of those programs where you teach English to Chinese children, but I don't have a laptop or WiFi. Plus I can't count on my 4yo to not barge in. I used to write novels but I only have 2 hours of free time at the end of the day and by then I'm exhausted.

We do have life insurance, but I'd still need to somehow find a job with zero full-time work experience.

Anyone else have doubts about being a SAHM sometimes? Being on one income in this area makes us lower middle class at best. I don't know any SAHMs here who aren't either super rich or military spouses. Everybody works at least part time, including the homeschoolers I know. DH's grandfather and great-grandfather both died in their 40s of heart attacks. Sometimes I worry it will happen to him and I'll have no means of supporting us.

I think the latkes sound great! That's a clever idea. Also I didn't mean to start a whole thing about avocados. I didn't know they were considered a vegetable because my nutrition-tracking app has them under fruit and I didn't eat them at all until recently. And avocados weren't discussed in school health class when I was growing up in New England haha

Starchy vegetables are still vegetables.

Exactly, it's not like soccer where you're outside. I wouldn't feel comfortable with soccer right now, either, but there's a different between soccer/golf/tennis and a sport where you're literally on top of each other and indoors.

Yes. Just reading about this is exhausting, honestly. And the food served was perfectly acceptable! I would love to eat that meal.

Avocado is a fruit, isn't it?

That sounds perfectly fine!

Tomato sauce: It's a vegetable but it depends on how it's served. I wouldn't consider it enough vegetables for a meal by itself if a full serving of veggies is a requirement and it's just a regular amount on pasta. I make a shrimp dish, though, which has a thick chunky tomato sauce with onions, jalapenos, etc in it and each serving has some shrimp and a LOT of sauce and some feta cheese. So that I'd consider a decent serving of veggies. It really depends on the dish in question and the sauce. But of course sometimes we do just have pasta with tomato sauce. You don't have to have a big veggie serving every single meal if the overall diet is balanced. Sweet potatoes: healthy root vegetable. Who is complaining about sweet potatoes??? Black beans, lentils, chickpeas: healthy protein for sure. My DD looooves fakes (Greek lentil soup) Cheese: Protein but I wouldn't rely solely on cheese for protein most nights of the week So, for example, pizza with cheese and tomato sauce technically has a protein and a vegetable, but most people would not consider that a healthy meal or enough vegetables. Not every meal NEEDS to be healthy, of course! Yesterday I made gluten free pizza dough from scratch and made pizza with lots of tomatoes and fresh mozzarella and basil. Not super healthy, but we eat that maybe once a week. Is lean meat or fish not an option for ethical or religious reasons?

Some counties in my area are allowing wrestling teams to meet. It's crazy. Ours is not.

Christmas Eve: no plans yet. Growing up we always went out to our fave restaurant in New York after the candlelight service. I'm Orthodox now and we don't eat meat during Advent so I might try a fancy pasta dish. I can't think of anything I want to order out that's gluten free and meatless. Christmas: Breakfast is usually pancakes. I'm going to have to try to make gluten free pancakes this year so hopefully that turns out okay. Usually we're too full for lunch. For dinner I'm hoping to make a leg of lamb but I came down with a fever this week and am getting tested for covid on Friday. If I'm sick, I can't go to the grocery store and we'll have to make do with what we already have here if we can.

It was really hard when things were virtual, but now that we can meet in person it's better. I really miss everyone who doesn't feel safe enough to come and is still watching from home, though. It makes me sad every Sunday. I definitely do still find it fulfilling to worship together and receive communion, but it's not as joyful when only 45 people can attend instead of 200+.