I got that on my bingo card yesterday. You better believe I told them what most homeschoolers think about that! On a good note the one woman who has been bugging me about how to form a pandemic pod (mini school) finally got on our state's HS support group FB page. She saw my post about her 😏 but she realized homeschooling in our Commonwealth is pretty darn easy. So she's going the DIY route! Yay!

Totobobo.hk@gmail.com This is the mask we've been wearing since March. It is equivalent to an N95 mask. Totobobo site

Oh golly! I am so very sorry for your FIL's death. Is there anything you can do to get this service outside? Even to hiring a tent to be put in the parking lot of the funeral home? I would move heaven and earth to honor a parent but not endanger my living family.

My husband and I are still married only because of EFT marital therapy. Really. I was so ready to leave him. I am forever grateful to the therapist! She brought us together and explained to him (and me) that he was never trained to be an emotional support to anyone and she (and his personal therapist) worked with him see the need for it. She taught us how to talk openly and in a vulnerable way to each other in a safe space. You do want someone who has been extensively trained in this style as there are a lot of people who've done the lightest amount of training. And of course you'll both have to mesh with that person. If you're in the Boston area I have two wonderful recommendations. One takes insurance, the other doesn't. Please feel free to PM for more details.

In most of my Japanese homes (even apartments), they had a pull up door in the floor of the kitchen that was for putting root and other vegetables and fruits in for storage since Japanese kitchens and refrigerators tend to be small. I couldn't figure it out at first then I asked my neighbors why there was a box under a door in such an odd place!

I'm less fearful only because Massachusetts' R0 is less than 1. We've been masking since mid-March. I only wear gloves when shopping or doing yucky stuff. I don't wipe down groceries or mail. But I just changed out one family member's Totobobo filters from f96 to f94. I'm saving the higher level ones until the fall.

I'm so sorry. It really sucks on too many levels.

My DH's school (Northeastern) is moving ahead with its NUFlex plan (simultaneous hybrid/in-person/online classes with some of the students back on campus). He's been fielding calls from fellow faculty talking about how few want to go back in to teach in person, calls from his many foreign undergrad and grad students as to whether they'll even be able to come back (NEU has gotten their hybrid programs certified as in person classes so they should have no problems), as well as his risk assessment of what is smartest for him (his main need is the gym WITH a locker room on a daily basis; if it isn't possible (safely) he thinks he would rather teach synchronous classes from home or at most go in to teach from his office (not in a classroom) and come home for the bulk of the day). I'm already doing the work to outfit him with a small office alcove in our bedroom by the end of the summer. we don't really have the space and we had hoped the current situation would be short term but we are really over him using my laundry drying rack as his standing desk! If this is the plan I have to flesh out our home gym as well (I did a great job getting it to where it is now because of the Hive, but he wants another cardio machine and some more free weights).

She's a US citizen and so are her children, so thank goodness, this isn't an issue.

I call my MIL, MIL (pronounced mill) and FIL, FIL (pronounced Phil) and very occasionally Dad. That's what they asked me and SIL to call them (we married only a year apart). She'll never earn the title of Mom and my FIL barely so. My DH calls my Mom, Mom all the time as she treats and loves him like a son. My dad was Mr so and so for many years. My father finally respected and liked him after decades and now calls him son and my DH mostly calls him Dad.

If you do buy it, I'm happy to be on your renter's list. Just came back from Duck!

What is it with Polish bras?!?!? I bought a fancy shmancy "lady of the night" kind one from an online lingerie store. Most comfortable bra ever and I look thinner and and the bOOks look gravity free (38D cup). I have gained some weight so the band is too tight now but I still wear it. I need to get other ones. But they were not cheap...

I wore my Totobobo mask throughout the 1.5 day emergency room visit and surgery (I hope - I was out!) due to a fall in which I broke my tibia and fibula and ankle (and dislocated my ankle) last week in NC while visiting my parents. In a hospital it was so easy to wear. That reminds me to change out the filters (but there were no COVID-19 patients there - too small of a hospital). It is cool because you can change out the filters thereby reusing the main mask. The filters are 92%-100% depending on which filter sets you buy. My family has been wearing these masks since early March. I have gotten a bunch of people to wear them but most have reverted to cloth masks because they do get condensation inside them. It doesn't bother me at all but my husband and kids just pinch the nose part or tip the mask off their chins and wipe them out with a clean tissue. I really think they are terrific and will be wearing them until we know we can stop.

We just got back from a trip to NC for precisely those reasons. Try using grocery store bathrooms. They were clean and if you pick the fancier ones more people will be masking. Good luck and thank you for supporting your husband through this. My husband immediately made our plans once we knew what my mother's trajectory looks to be.

There was a 7.4 earthquake in Oaxaca Mexico today and the effects were felt all the way to Mexico City so this is already on the list of what ifs. My husband is supposed to be working with their government on bulking up their resilience plans but this will likely put a hold on it (and they haven't gotten together the payment schedule and the UN won't let them start until it's ready).

This is where we are as well. Except I assume you don't have many other choices in parishes in your community. We are losing friends and community. It's painful. I'm no saint/tzadik, but shaming and blaming are not Christian/Jewish values at all and should not be lauded (as they have been by members of the community) by leaders in those faiths. G-d's blessings on you and your families.

We're going to a place on the OBX next week with my folks. We got our rental pretty late last month because of my mom's cancer (we weren't sure if she would be able to go) and COVID-19. We're paying 5K for a 7BR/4Ba home with a pool and hot tub that is one house from the beachfront. Last year we paid 2.7K for a 6BR/4Ba home with pool about .6 miles from the beach.

I'm not a Christian, rather an Orthodox Jew. But we are now facing a similar issue with the rabbi of our synagogue. He not only decries the wearing of masks and tells people they shouldn't wear them either but he organized and conducted secret minyans (prayer quorums) throughout our lockdown, which forbade gatherings of 10 or more. He also won't follow physical distancing guidelines nor will let the people supposedly in charge of doing so in the prayer groups from doing so. When my husband pointed out the illegality and immorality of such secret prayer groups on FB, he got chastised by this rabbi for saying this on FB (because it's immoral to be on FB or other SM/internet according to this rabbi and his ilk). This rabbi told him he was doing it and wasn't going to stop. Also he is making less than kind comments about Black people and the protests, which sets us both off (as a Black woman and my White Jewish ally spouse). He's gone that direction before and I have spoken to him about it. While we like the synagogue and the people in it, the rabbi is troublesome. My husband is not going to indoor prayers at this point - our community has both indoor and outdoor minyans. I can no longer join the weekly class the rabbi teaches because his behavior and beliefs are making it impossible for me to take religious and moral teaching from him. This is painful for us both. None of the other synagogues have the combination of things we want and need, so we are going to have to make some serious compromises or the family may break up into different synagogues to worship.

I'm so sorry!

If I am cutting a small amount of something I can and have used that thumb technique. But for more than a small amount of stuff, the big chef's knife and cutting board come out!

I recently read We Were Eight Years in Power and it explained some of what was going on during Obama's presidency and the results which we are seeing today from it.

Here's an example @Momto6inIN. I am a bi-racial (Black and Korean) woman who converted and (was it feels like now) a part of an Orthodox Jewish community. I have to deal with racism on several fronts (Black and Asian/Korean), sexism (being a woman), and anti-Semitism due to being Jewish. Sometimes those come at me one at a time, but often times they come as several ganged up together. Or they come at me from different parts of my life. For example right now I am feeling othered by my Orthodox Jewish community (and even some friends, sadly) because of racist comments from them about the BLM movement (they are seen as being anti-Semitic) and Black folk in general due to the protesting/rioting. It's basically a case of Whack-A-Mole gone really unpleasant. Hope that helps.

Codenames (a game) and Exploding Kittens (another game). We were avowedly NOT a game family before this, but since the children can't be social (you know how homeschoolers are; not social!) we've been devoting several hours a weekend to games. We got some more games and puzzles from a former homeschooling family and now we are starting a lending library for the community.

Prayers for healing in all realms.

Van Jones' virus analogy is actually a KINDNESS to White people, because the other option is that White people are just plain old evil and there may be no chance of redemption. Which for many I am inclined to think is the case.