My cat’s favorite two things: —The Cat Dancer from Amazon. Cheap, simple, but seriously fantastic in his little cat mind. —the little play mice with rabbit fur and a rattle inside. I get them from a local garden center but I know they do have them on Amazon. Must be the rabbit fur or our cat won’t acknowledge their presence. We have a seriously embarrassing amount of cat stuff here but these two are the favorites.

I have a good friend who developed an anaphylactic allergy to beef and pork after a tick bite. Crazy, but true. I have chronic Lyme and thought I knew tick effects, but had missed that one til he got that 3-4 years ago.

It is seriously so hot. Native Floridian here (although don’t live there now). I grew up on the west coast where at least you’ve had the gulf breezes. Orlando is just SO. HOT. I mean, I find the entire state hellish from about May til September, but Orlando always seems worse to me. True story: years ago when the kids were smaller we were given totally free 4-5 days of Disney park hoppers for a week at the end of July. Food, lodging, everything. We actually considered not using all the tickets, we were so unbearably hot (and I LOVE Disney but have always gone in cooler months). On the other hand, it is an unusual year and your kids are older. You could take a break mid day and budget plenty of money for cold treats. And the fans that spray water and the things that get wet and go on your neck. It’s possible...just go in prepared.

Thrilled for this for my 13 and 15 year olds. Then we are DONE and everyone is vaccinated in our house. I’d be thrilled for that for the summer. My 15 yo is the highest risk in our house. Little nervous for the 13yo...she does tend to react strongly to shots (not terrible...just more than her brothers and enough to be noted). We have an older at risk relative who is not getting the shots so I feel at least better that we will all be vaccinated when we see her.

My 16 ds has had both Pfizer shots. He had a mildly sore arm with both. Mild enough that he only noticed when I specifically asked. No other symptoms.

Thank you!!! I’m hoping to do several projects this summer once school is out. While I know we have a few spots that just must be replaced, there are a few others I think this would cover. Definitely going to try it.

I have had really good experiences. My son really needed braces and got them in June. His office takes all precautions...he waits in the car til it’s time, they keep patients separate, and all staff are well covered. He’s been there a bunch and I’ve felt good about it. Now all staff are vaccinated and he’s had his first. I had emergency dental issues recently and my office has been the same (although I’m also vaccinated as is my dentist). I’d definitely go for emergencies.

In our family: I had both Pfizer doses. Sore arm with the first. Sore arm, slightly elevated temp, little achy and fatigue with the second. My 16ds has had first Pfizer, only a sore arm. My dh had the first Moderna, no symptoms at all.

I most likely had Covid in March of 2020 but not tested. About 10 days after symptoms, I woke up to horrifying vertigo, ringing in my ears, and substantial hearing loss in one ear. Despite large doses of prednisone and working with an ent and audiologist, the hearing loss and ringing has remained. It is considered permanent in my case. I had my one year check up recently and my ent talked about seeing quite a bit of hearing loss from Covid this last year. He said he has seen tinnitus and hearing loss recently and he has (anecdotally) felt it is worse with Pfizer than the other two. I did have both doses of Pfizer and saw no change in my symptoms.

Those are great results!! Super inspiring...I'll get the book on kindle and see what I think.

You know, I've heard about You Are Your Own Gym a bunch of times before, but have never actually read it. Looking over it online, I've totally done a lot of the things in it, but having it altogether with a plan from the app would be perfect. Think I'm going to buy the book before we had on vacation in a few days. That way I'd be ready to start when we get back.

This looks great! I'll look over it more over the new couple days, but I really liked what I saw today.

Over the last few years some physical issues combined with crazy life stress has meant that diet and fitness went by the wayside. I used to workout a ton and be fairly physically fit. I gained about 15-20 pounds and exercise became super spotty. I've gotten my eating back in line and lost about 8-9 pounds. Ideally would love another 8-10. However, the bigger issue is I'm just flabby. I've been ramping up my physical stuff over the last few months...but mainly just walking and running and I have realized I just have to make a priority on weight lifting/weight bearing exercise again, particularly as I get older. While I know what to do with weights since I've done it before, my personality does really, really well with a plan that I have to follow (same reason sticker charts worked for me as a kid :laugh: ). So...does anyone have any plans they've followed in the past that have really been a good jump start? I'm thinking like a 12 week type thing...maybe a book or DVD series or something online? Obviously it was videos I'd just follow them, but I'm also picturing a book that has a good specific plan it in for weight training. I know once I got going, I would be good to keep going, but a specific plan and end point would be good to get me up and going. I have some hand weights and bands at home I could hunt down and have a gym membership I could use also. Bonus points if you've followed the plan and can tell me how it worked for you.

The other day I asked my husband to bring me Zicam nasal swabs from the medicine cabinet. Shortly after their was an ad for them on my Facebook. Totally creeped me out.

I do this mix. Fill a mug with hot water. Add a very liberal shot of apple cider vinegar... like a good amount so it really stinks 😊 and all your kids complain about the smell and burns when it goes down. Then squeeze the juice of one whole lemon in and a ton of honey and drink up. This has worked really well for me in the past.