I believe I live near your area Prairie. Where I live flooding is a yearly problem, plus ice, and the occasional snow. Roads are not treated where I am, so if it is snowy or icy, you are stuck. I always prep for the winter. I am prepping a little more than usual due to COVID #'s, teens eating more, and price increases/shortages. I have been canning a lot. With every order I get more TP and other things to make sure I will not run out any time soon. I need to get chicken feed! I have more chickens than usual, wont have to worry about eggs. I grind my own flour, so I have been stocking up on lots of grain. I also bought more rice and mixed beans and pintos too. The worst winter we got stuck in for a month. By the end we had rice and beans for one dinner and beans and rice for the next. Every lunch was PBJ. But we made it and we didnt run out of TP! LOL

I have cataracts too, but I am not ready for the surgery yet. I thought about this a lot! I am going with close up. I like to sew, do fine handwork, and read in bed. I hate having to wear glasses in bed. Plus I need sunglasses badly to go outside and stuff...I will just get distance ones and get them so they tint in the sun. But if he doesnt read and do close up stuff a bunch, it makes sense to go for distance for him.

This is the same for my son and I. Mostly reactive type triggered by high stress or illness. We have breakthrough type inhalers, but they are not steroid ones. COVID, according to our drs, would absolutely do a number on us with our type of asthma. I am sure this is not rare. So while it is great that some asthmatics will be covered by their maintenance steroid inhalers, there are a lot of asthmatics that either do not have this type of inhaler or are one of the unfortunates that have unmanaged asthma. With our medical system and costs, there are a lot of these. Inhalers are expensive. I really hope that asthma is included on the high risk list for boosters.

Ya this was talked about a long time ago (not about breakthrough cases specifically), but with the same hypothesis. The trouble is, there are lots of asthmatics not on daily steroids, myself and my son included. There was also another Danish? study about women and asthma. It was back in the spring. The basic conclusion, if I remember correctly, was that women over 40 with asthma were more likely to need hospitalization. I wonder if the breakthrough cases vs unvaccinated cases make a difference on that. The study was around the time that the CDC added asthma to the high risk list, so pre-delta and pre-waning vaccines. I am wondering if they will add asthma to the high risk list again for boosters or not.

This made me have to sit and reflect a little because I have been feeling a little down about how things have turned out. There are things I wish were different and aren't. Covid has not helped this. I wanted more experiences for them. Traveling and outings and friends. We don't get out enough. On reflection, this is not really the fault of homeschooling, although it is easy to blame homeschooling for it. It is directly a result of mental health issues that have cropped up in my family. More than one member has "stuff". The way things are is directly a result of the people I am working with. It is not easy to go out. It is not easy to travel. And it also brings a lot of insecurity as well as loneliness. I feel like I had to let that part of me die and I miss it. I was trying to assess if this feeling is because of my career that never really got off the ground before motherhood took over or not. I think it really isn't the career. I think it is the loss of the dream that we would have family outings and make lots of memories. It is the also the loss of adult time and the loss of freedom to go and explore if I want to. I still have 9 more years of homeschooling to go. I have started working hard on one of my hobbies to turn it into a part time thing when I am done teaching. My career was supposed to be in teaching, but I have realized I cannot go back to that after homeschooling. It would drive me crazy to not be able to really teach to each student. So instead I am going to focus on my hobby interest and turn it into something more. I hope that I will also get to travel, but I am not counting on it. I cannot plan for things that involve another, especially when they are not always stable. I am sorry things don't look how you imagined they could be. I understand that things suck when they turn out differently that you wished. I hope you can find something that brings you some contentment and joy.

I easily blew 15 min waiting for my turn at the fish counter...so ya...I agree. I do not understand getting in an out that fast. Of course, I never shop for only a weeks worth of groceries. 🤷‍♀️

Pre-Covid I only shopped once every 3 weeks. I would drive into town and hit Costco, Trader Joes, the health food grocery store, and possibly one other if something else was needed. It was normal for the trip to take about 5 hours. That included driving time, but actual time in each store is about 1 hr (less in TJs). I have not gone into a store since Feb 2020, it is curbside now.

I was having chronic UTI's monthly. My dr put me on this and I have not had another since Jan. I take one every night before bed. He said that it would help more that way since you go longer overnight without going to the bathroom. I know this is more preventative, but it really has worked for me. It also shortened the time of my last UTI (he had me start it during my last UTI). During the UTI he had me take it 2x a day instead of 1.

I only have half that many teens, plus an almost 10yo. The hormones are nuts!

I read somewhere (this was back in late May/June when they were discussing it all over the news) an interview of a Dr and he said one of the ways that the Drs were treating mild cases of myocarditis after vaccinations was to give ibuprofen for the inflammation and not allow physical activity. So I figured it couldn't hurt to just give them some proactively. Edit to add: After the shot.

I have 3 in that age group that got vaccinated. One had a bit of dizziness and a pretty bad headache to go with the sore arm. The other had a bad headache and a sore arm. The third, who we expected to react very strongly as he has an overactive immune system, was pretty ill for 3 days. Very bad headache, body aches, fever, stomach ache, sore arm. He slept a lot. This same kid's dr urged his vaccination because of his immune system issues. The second shot was a little better than the first for all of us. No known previous COVID illnesses. I did give ibuprofen to them due to the worries over the myocarditis risk.

Totally anecdotal, but the only people that I know that got COVID were unvaccinated. I do not know anyone who got it while vaccinated. Also, I know people that got COVID twice. They got the original and the Kent variant. They then got vaccinated. They got the Kent variant right before they became eligible in our state for vaccination. This is more than 5 people. So from my observations, having had COVID before didn't seem to protect as well as vaccinations against getting another variant of COVID. This was all pre-Delta though.

As a fellow lover of reading and a mother of 3 dyslexic boys, I totally understand the joy when they learn to love to read (beyond all your hopes). ❤️

Definitely this! I am trying so hard to reconnect with my siblings, they do not understand me at all. They haven't figured it all out yet.

Corraleno- I am sorry for what you have been through. Your story, as you told it, is nearly the same as mine. I can relate only too well. The difference for mine, she didn't put a stop to my abuser either. Money was not involved. I think she just couldn't be bothered or didn't believe me. I think the others are correct. The golden child is to mirror the perfect parenting, the scapegoat is to hold the responsibility of anything and everything that would tarnish the look of the perfection of the parent(s).

PeterPan-I too had vertigo with the first shot, and I do not have a TBI. The first shot wiped me out for about 2.5 days. While I didnt feel super with the second shot, it was nowhere near as bad as the first. It took me down for only 24hrs. I had a headache with the second and aches, but no vertigo. I hope it works this way for your second shot too!

Well I do not believe Australia is going for total elimination now (at least in some locations, the Australian boardies can speak more to that than I can). But NZ is a smaller population, on an island, with a small amount of cases. It makes sense for them to try and keep it eliminated in their country until they can vaccinate everyone. Why not, if it is possible? Seems like they are using more wisdom than some places are.

I say paperwhite. Not only is it waterproof (which I know you said you do not need) but you can switch the screen to be dark background which is really nice.

I know we had to pay up to $800 one time for a 2 pack. Several other times it was at $600 for the 2 pack. Thankfully the last couple years we have used AuviQ and paid no more than $25. I think we probably paid the high prices around 3-5 times. I have no idea how I could prove it though, I doubt I have any of the receipts or anything anymore. I agree, it was criminal!

Ginny Weasley

Like Matryoshka described, it is a cream that can be bought in a tube or in an applicator that is like a stick deodorant.

We use generic Zyrtec mostly. Benadryl makes you sleep. Claritin made me very very very depressed. Zyrtec doesn't, but I can get headaches from it if I use it too often. Allegra worked for a while and then I guess I just acclimated to it and it stopped working. Flonase gives me bloody noses. Aren't allergies grand!?

Lume! It is so strong, I do not have to use it every day unless it is really hot or I'm stressed. DH has to use it every day though, so it just depends on the individual.

we really need a face palm response 🤦‍♀️ I just cant like this!

I agree with this statement 100%!