Some of my favorites from Amazon: Orphan Black Humans Being Erica

Rant. Big ass rant. I am sorry to hear that you are having trouble with your big ass. Perhaps a miniature horse would be more to your liking?

Mmmmmmmm......brownies! 😋. Edge, middle...it’s all good! But here's my problem: I cannot have eggs. So can anyone point me in the direction of a brownie recipe that doesn’t have eggs and still tastes and feels like an actual brownie? Because after reading this thread, doggone it! I want a brownie!

I am severely allergic to cats, but I do have seven kitty “nieces and nephews” who would enjoy these toys. Definitely putting catnip bananas on my Amazon gift planning list for Christmas, so thanks for the recommendation!

Not sure about Canada, but that sounds like it could be a criminal act in the US. Haven’t there been prosecutions for deliberately spreading HIV?

Yup. My area has not done a great job of testing, but of the testing that has been done, we have seen a mortality rate of about 10%. I hope that number is due to low testing rates, but if not, it is both scary and depressing.

Statistically, it is very likely that someone I am close to, or related to *will* die if things open back up. Both of my parents are in the very highest risk category (age plus multiple pre-existing conditions) as are my very dear, sweet next door neighbor and several women in my small circle of close friends. My daughter and I are both in a higher risk category, though we hopefully have age on our side. So yeah, it is heartbreaking beyond words to see people willing to sacrifice people like those nearest and dearest to me in the name of the almighty dollar.

I signed up and took the course out of curiosity. The instructor is a *horrible* speaker. She uses vocal fry in almost every word and does that thing where every other word goes up in pitch like she is asking a question. After the first couple of videos, I just turned off the sound and read the transcript. There was a lot of emphasis on the importance of quarantine and isolation, and some very basic information about the virus, Otherwise, it was a standard “how to speak to the public as a health department employee” course. Just in case anyone was wondering. 🙂

My next door neighbors are trying to kill us all! They had a huge party with at least 20 people and a bouncy castle. And the bouncy castle is still going, nearly 12 hours after they turned it on this morning!

Oh, for crying out loud, give me *some* credit. I do have the intelligence to know when a 911 call is inappropriate! However, they did leave the house last night, leaving the machine running until it shut itself off, so it probably would have been running, just outside of my bedroom window, until well past the noise ordinance cutoff time had it not shut down. Since it is running again this morning, it appears that it may have just tripped a breaker, but whatever...I was just glad it shut off last night. Those fans are loud, and I wouldn’t have slept a wink had it run all night! I am hoping and praying that it is a weekend rental, and will magically disappear tomorrow. If, however, they have purchased it and intend to run it all day, every day ( even leaving it on when they leave the house and well into the night), I will ask the police to nicely ask them to give us at least one hour per day of quiet time, with the castle deflated. You have my word that I will call the *non-emergency* number and explain that under normal circumstances, I would address this problem myself- Heck! Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t even be a blip on my radar, and there would be no need to speak to them at all! - but since I know that they are not practicing social distancing, (I actually overheard them laughing about how silly it was when I was out a couple of days ago, and they were all in their backyard. There are plenty of folks out there who sincerely believe this whole thing is a hoax, you know!) and I have no mask to protect myself while talking to them, I need the assistance of an officer, or even just a phone call, to get them to understand. Maybe they need a reminder that we are the youngest families on the street. Everyone else on the block is either older, retired, or immune compromised in some way. (Neighbor on opposite side I know for certain is a cancer patient.) I understand that this is no big deal to you. You believe you have fully recovered from your experience, and I am happy that you did, really!. But I do not want to take the risk of dying alone in agony, and the mere thought of my daughter suffering that fate makes me feel like vomiting. Seriously. And that’s the reason I started this thread, in the hopes that lots of people with and without medical experience would chime in and say, “No risk, no worries!” But that isn’t really what I have seen here. What I have seen is more like “ Who knows? Probably safe? Maybe not. “ You even mention cases where people *thought* they were being safe, but were probably infected by someone doing something stupid- like my thoughtless neighbors. Hearing about situations like that from someone actually in the field is like pouring gasoline on the flames of anxiety, kwim?

And......they turned the dang thing on at 8:45 this morning. Didn’t we have an emoji beating its head against a brick wall at one point? Can we have him back now? Where’s a good thunderstorm when you need it? ⚡️⚡️⚡️

I had an idea whilst drifting to sleep last night. It sounds like the rest of the family wants to make a really big deal of MIL's bday, so could you suggest one of those drive-by parades, with everyone staying in their cars, but with lots of cheering and waving and balloons and streamers? Maybe even invite friends and neighbors to participate? You might even make the local news. This may be a stupid idea, but I thought I would throw it out there, since it is a way to make a really big deal over your MIL, yet till keep everyone safe. Suggesting that you all make this big plan and fuss over her also has the benefit of making you look like the angelic DIL rather than the bad guy.

Nope. Be the bad guy. You can apologize later when the crisis is over. Put your foot down now before your dh caves.

So they left shortly after I made my last post, and left the castle running. It has been running since about noon, and 🎉 it just burned itself out! No sign of the neighbors, but the castle is collapsing. Problem solved...for today. At least I can let my dogs have a little freedom tonight. 😊

I hope it is rented. I thought they would shut it off by now, but 8 hours later, they are still going. PUT YOUR KIDS TO BED AND TURN THE THING OFF ALREADY!