I've had Moderna for every vaccine and booster. I only had a mild tiredness from the 2nd vaccine (not booster but at the start when you had to have 2 shots spaced out). Ds had Pfizer at the beginning and was out of it for about 48 hours after the 1st one. Reactions just seem to be different for everyone regardless of brand. None of us in this household have had reactions to the boosters or the current vaccine. As far as Moderna vs. Pfizer vs. Novavax for the current one, all our pharmacies in the area say they have no control over what gets sent to them and that they don't know what they'll be sent until it arrives. Hence, my reasons for Moderna for the boosters and the latest vax. It's what they had when and where I was able to go get it.

Yes I have cats. And I have many, many cat memes. I love the NPS employee who writes these.

The bolded is especially important. Dh went to his PCP for a neck issue and his doctor sent him to physical therapy. Fortunately in his case the PT said she wouldn't work on him without knowing what the issue was. As it turned out he did need surgery and therapy exercises would have actually made things worse. I'm not saying that's your issue but many doctors will want to send you to PT without first identifying the problem. I'd recommend requesting imaging before anything else.

I love that book and it's definitely worth reading/recommending. I agree with you though that this is one of those rare cases of the movie being better. That doesn't mean the book isn't good - it's lovely. The movie is even lovelier.

The Count of Monte Cristo is definitely worth a read. I love both The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. East of Eden is more character driven which might be your best choice between the two. I love Wives and Daughters! North and South is also very good but I prefer the former. Another classic author worth reading is Anthony Trollope, specifically The Way We Live Now. Many of his other books belong to a series but for his stand alones I'd choose this one.

We just have a small round table (seats 4) that literally just has some fall placemats and a napkin holder. We have dh's grandmother's gate leg table we used to have in the dining room at our old house. Now I just keep the sides down and use it mostly for seasonal decorations. If we have big number of people for a meal I open it up and we use it for dining. The second photo is of a niche at the end of our breakfast bar which I also decorate seasonally. Both are about to get spooky upgrades. Oh, and the kleenex box is always there because allergies are a year round thing in Florida.

Oh my goodness I don't know how I missed this post. I only saw it when Katie @ktgrok quoted it. I love it! That's me too. Dh and I often take our Kindles when we go out to eat. Not for a nice dinner of course but just casual restaurants. It's often too noisy to have a conversation so we read. I always remember reading while eating. I was that kid who would read the back of the cereal box if there was nothing else available. I listen to audio books while doing all of those things. I do take my phone into the shower and listen too. It's a water resistant, moisture resistant phone and there's a shelf in our shower far enough away from the shower head that I don't have to worry about it getting splashed even if it wasn't water resistant.

I read on my Kindle Paperwhite so it's much easier than holding a book. I usually lie on my back but will occasionally turn over and read on my stomach.

I haven't been to a wedding in ages but as far as I know it's not a thing here. I've heard them going off the night of high school graduation so I guess that's now a thing. People do random fireworks around here. Apparently any reason is a good reason to set them off. Also, people don't just set them off the nights of the two big US fireworks holidays but they start well before. Fourth of July is Tuesday? Great, let's start setting off fireworks the Thursday before. I love official fireworks displays but the people setting them off randomly is annoying. In Florida we have NEW Smyrna Beach. It was actually settled by Greeks from what was then Ottoman Smyrna, Crete, and Mani though that original colony failed. The town founder's wife was the daughter of a merchant from actual Smyrna.

I read on and off all day. I read almost exclusively in my Kindle Paperwhite and almost always borrow ebooks (and occasionally physical copies) from the library. I rarely buy books anymore. My main reading time is morning and bedtime. Since dh retired nearly 2 years ago we sit on our screen porch and read in the morning for about an hour while we have our coffee. I also read for about half an hour before bed. Throughout the day whenever I have a bit of down time I read. Sometimes I waste time online which digs into my reading time but mostly I spend my down time reading. Reading is like breathing to me so I never consider reading a waste of time, even if I'm sometimes reading fluff/twaddle. I also listen to audiobooks from Libby. I used to have more listening time before we moved when I spent a fair amount of time in the car. Now I mostly listen while cooking, gardening, or doing housework.

Yes but I was comparing them to someone like Diane Feinstein who surely had the means to stop working. That's why I pulled out the very specific quote that some people just love what they do and that's the reason they continue to work.

We see this a lot with actors and musicians. Many have made enough money to never have to work again but they keep at it. Think of the geriatric rock group tours (I'm looking at you, Rolling Stones) or actors like Helen Mirren or Harrison Ford. I often wonder if they just love what they do that much or don't know what to do with themselves if they no longer have those defining roles (no pun intended).

Yes, I should have been more clear in how I worded my post. It was modifications leading to development of the vaccine that won them the prize. for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 The discoveries by the two Nobel Laureates were critical for developing effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 during the pandemic that began in early 2020. Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times. 

The developers of the mRNA covid vaccines just won the Nobel Prize for Physiology. I expected Nobel Prize winning medical tech to be much better than what we've seen. I think if more people got vaccinated early on the mutations wouldn't have happened so quickly. That's my layman's opinion and it could be totally wrong though.

I use Dove bar soap. I used to use various body washes and sometimes homemade soap from local soapmakers. I have very dry skin and mentioned my dry, itchy skin at one of my biannual dermatology appointments a few years ago. She said most body washes and all homemade soaps are very drying. She recommended Dove bar soap and it made a huge difference. I still have to use body moisturizer on some areas after a shower (while my skin is still damp) but the itchiness is gone and the dryness is greatly improved. I'm now a full convert to Dove bar soap.

We all love roasted sweet potato black bean bowls. This recipe is a starting off point. I don't bother to pickle the red onions but I do put them in water for a bit to take the sting out of them. I'm sure they'd taste good pickled. None of us like kale (we tried every which way to eat it) so I use baby spinach instead. Sometimes I make a cilantro lime crema and sometimes I use the Costco store bought kind if I'm feeling lazy. I've served it with brown rice, quinoa, and a brown rice quinoa combination. All are good. https://www.skinnytaste.com/sweet-potato-black-bean-bowls/#recipe

Olive oil and lemon juice is my favorite salad "dressing" and it's so quick and easy. I usually just add kosher salt and freshly ground pepper but sometimes I'll add whatever herbs I have in the garden (currently just rosemary and basil).

I've heard of that happening to people who schedule it to clean then aren't home when the cleaning time arrives. If you're home and simply tell it to go clean a specific room or the whole house then it's not a problem. I pick up the cats' water dishes and toys but other than that there's nothing you need to do. I always know if one of my cats barfed and clean it right up, so there's no chance my Roomba is going to run over it. I don't schedule it to run at a time when I won't be home. OP I have the Roomba (iRobot) i7+ and absolutely love it but it doesn't mop. I have wood floors that use a specific cleaner and can't be mopped the normal way. I think there's a comparable model to mine that also mops. This is my 4th robot vacuum and the only one I truly love. I started with a Neato the upgraded to a low model Roomba. I then wanted a smart one that self empties and maps the house so I bought a Shark and hated it. It never got the map right and wouldn't go where I tried to send it. Also, the map would periodically disappear and I'd have to have it map the house all over again. I bought this Roomba last July (2022) during Amazon Prime Days and have been very happy with it. It mapped the house quickly. I can create "no go zones" so it won't get stuck somewhere that it thinks it should fit but doesn't. I can create groupings (favorites) and name them what I want - for example I have one called primary suite which means it will vacuum our bedroom, bathroom, and walk in closet. If you can find this style with a mop it won't be cheap but it will be worth it.

I'm not surprised. Most of these types of groups are heavily female. I just took a quick scroll through the members list on our local group. There are some men but not many. I was just posting the idea for anyone who's hoping to keep things out of the landfill.

I'm with you Dawn. Most people who ask just disappear. FYI many areas have a Buy Nothing Sell Nothing Facebook group. People can post items they're looking for (ISO) or items they want to give away. It's great for stuff you don't want to be bothered selling but you know someone can use.