Yup. I know he got it. I also sent it to his brother after I didn't get a reply. He got the message too. Speaks English better than I do.

Our BJs, Costco, and Sam's have all been limiting. I went to BJ's yesterday and it was one of each....beef, pork, chicken. I asked if I could exchange my pork for beef or chicken as we're Muslim...no deal.

Honestly, I do. I felt bad for secret wife as once I knew about her, he would bad mouth her to me all.the.time. I know he did the same on me vs. her.... but she was new supply. Still should have been nice and shiny.

Thanks. I've tried to do that. The good thing is that the eldest three have already realized a lot about their Dad. The youngest, not so much. His Dad stopped being in his life fulltime when he was in Kindergarten due to abuse. But the past 10 months have been different as in no contact whatsoever and apparently no desire for any. STBX is an ophthalmologist. Youngest failed his vision screening this year at school and they mentioned strabismus. So I obviously contacted his Dad because he has views on when surgery should happen, who the good pediatric guys in town are, etc. He didn't respond. At all. Crickets.

Nope. I think the fact that he was exposed caused the discard. Now we all know he's not perfect...thus we must be gotten rid of. Kids see through him now... no longer view him as perfect...so time to get rid of them too.

Looking for resources. May have to delete details. Basically, STBX has had zero contact with the kids for 10 months or so. Zero. Refuses all calls for contact, all calls for Our Family Wizard/Talking Parents, etc. Won't pay $1 in support. Staying in Egypt (supposedly) while trying to fight having to pay any support. Pretty sure he's found new supply...meaning another new wife (to add to the previous secret wife) and possibly a new baby. His entire family and many mutual friends have disconnected too. I'm sure there's been a smear campaign against me (and possibly the kids.) . It's really hurtful for me, but 1,000,000x more for the kids. We were married 17 years.

But it's not realistic unless the government is paying the costs of all this. They need to pay the costs for milking the cows, transporting, and bottling the milk to send to food banks. They'll have to pay for the extra PPE, protective equipment, training, etc. required for new workers. Untrained people doing animal butchering will just lead to massive food-borne illnesses...and the FDA already suspended routine food surveillance inspections.. One cannot force for-profit companies to take that onto themselves and go bankrupt. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-focuses-safety-regulated-products-while-scaling-back-domestic " Earlier this month, we announced that we are postponing most foreign facility inspections through April and that inspections outside the U.S. deemed mission-critical will be considered on a case-by-case basis as this outbreak continues to unfold. Today, we’re announcing that for the health and well-being of our staff and those who conduct inspections for the agency under contract at the state level, and because of industry concerns about visitors, we have temporarily postponed all domestic routine surveillance facility inspections. These are facility inspections the FDA traditionally conducts every few years based on a risk analysis. Importantly, all domestic for-cause inspection assignments will be evaluated and will proceed if mission-critical. "

I wonder if he's going to insist on prisoners come work there or something else. It's scary, actually.

Florida pays its teachers horribly--especially new teachers. Governor DeSantis did say that he wanted to increase the starting salary, but I'm not sure that ever received funding. Many counties have early release days for students, at least once/month, for teacher development. That is good for new teachers. I live in Duval County (Jacksonville), and we have tons of charter and magnet schools. There are also scholarships for lower income students to attend private/religious schools. The shortage is likely due to our increasing population--as well as classroom size limit laws. Some schools will combine two classrooms, though--and have two teachers, which some teachers like, others do not. One issue regarding low income students going forward could be Florida's horrible unemployment income checks. We're one of the lowest in the country. An advantage to Florida is that there are no state income taxes. If I were her, I would look for a school where they do good mentoring for new teachers. That will be worth it long term whether she stays here or not.

Yes, I'm getting messages (email and text) multiple times per day asking me to donate. (I'm anemic right now, and cannot.) Our local blood bank is having people wait in their cars and then texting them when they should come in. Others have put other protective measures in place.

So, one big part of Ramadan is getting together with family, friends, and one's faith community for communal dinners when we break our fast. Some communities will host a dinner every night for anybody who wants to attend. These connections and this feeling of community are really important and help people get through fasting. Ramadan is scheduled to start around April 23rd this year. (We have a lunar calendar, so it is roughly 10 days earlier each year.) I can't see them doing any iftars/dinners that soon. Our mosques have been closed to prayers as well for about a week now. I thought I might try and organize some virtual dinners--so that people can still feel that sense of community. I realize folks younger than me, or their teens and 20s, might be more up to date on what apps might work. Any ideas? I'm aware of the more mainstream ones like Zoom, WhatsApp, AdobeConnect, FaceTime, Skype, Telegram, etc. Which apps do you think would work best?? Any other ideas?? Thanks

If nobody posts, I'm happy to give you a few modern Egyptian lentil recipes such as shorbat 'ads (red lentil soup) and koshari (brown lentils, pasta, chickepeas, tomato sauce).

So what has worked best for me are the following (not all together): 1) Gold Bond lotion 2) Coconut oil. I buy this on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NPC7EEU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 3) Eucerin lotion

I can't post a lot of details because it's ongoing...but yeah...I'm dealing with somebody who ignores any and all court orders, won't provide discovery, won't pay $1, etc.

My DD is very sensitive to soap ingredients (she gets these white bumps all over her hands) so usually carries her own soap with her. Having said all that...my guess is that it's a very small percentage of the 30% who do not use soap who do so for reasons like that.

1 in 5 Americans don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. Of those who do, 30% don't use soap. So yeah...teaching your kids how to do it properly is key. Also important to note that hand sanitizer is *not* as effective as washing with soap and water. It's still good, but not as effective. WHO has the best info IMHO. (More specific than the CDC site at Hand Sanitizer: https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Hand_Hygiene_Why_How_and_When_Brochure.pdf?ua=1 Washing Hands: https://www.who.int/gpsc/clean_hands_protection/en/ The CDC does have the "Show Me the Science" bit on hand washing...which may appeal to homeschoolers. 🙂https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science.html

Just going to add that "Doctor of Comets" is quite possibly the coolest job title ever. 😄

Article on CNN https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/26/world/earth-mini-moon-asteroid-scn-trnd/index.html " It's not the moon, but you can call it mini-moon. Earth has captured a tiny object and pulled it into orbit. The asteroid, known as 2020 CD3, is only the second asteroid known to orbit Earth. And while it won't last, this asteroid acts as a temporary mini-moon whirling around our planet."

Hibiclens can be great for bacne...just make sure he doesn't get it in his eyes.

https://www.self.com/gallery/dumbbell-arm-exercises-triceps This looks like a good basic workout. You might also want to get some resistance tubes.

A friend posted this today. I had no idea. An abnormal Pap thankfully caught some cells which eventually required a colposcopy and LEEP for me. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/why-a-mom-with-cervical-cancer-needs-women-and-their-doctors-to-hear-her-story-1.5063389?fbclid=IwAR2SXhmVbtfBQocmuEn-6H4w9TO7TLno65lLrSwByRtc_vj7DJY0fti07X8 "Van Kessel believes there was a "huge overreliance" on a Pap smear in her case, particularly since she had other symptoms. Dr. Joan Murphy, clinical lead of the Cancer Care Ontario Cervical Screening Program, said it can be difficult for family physicians or young clinicians to recognize cervical cancer, especially since some have never seen it. "The reality is, if a cervix is looking abnormal or if the patient has symptoms that could be arising from cervical cancer, a Pap smear is notoriously unreliable," said Murphy, a gynecologic oncologist. In those cases, doctors perform a thorough gynecological examination and often a colposcopy. It's a procedure that uses a lighted magnifying instrument that allows a more detailed look at the cervix and to get a biopsy. She stressed that while screening is not perfect, it is vital and saves many lives. The danger comes when physicians rely on screening too heavily and get complacent." And without starting a vaccine debate....as somebody who did go through a colposcopy which was the most painful thing I've ever experienced in my life...Please, please get the HPV vaccine if you or your children are eligible. It's the dream...a vaccine that actually prevents cancer. It is nearly 100% effective in preventing cancer for the strains it immunizes against.

COBRA worked well for us. As others have said, you have 60 days. It's kind of retroactive. You end up paying for two months the first payment.

Thanks everybody. So I called his psychiatrist's office and they will have something for me by Friday regarding his anxiety, etc. I will then drop off a formal letter for the principal on Monday regarding the 504. It seems like a lot of his teachers are trying to work with him informally, cut him some slack, etc... but I do want to get the formal 504 in place. I did actually write the school counselor in December asking for help with his executive function issues and anxiety--but never received a reply. I'll attach a copy of that email as well.

We did 23andMe a few years back. Wonder if that's in there? I remember sending his raw data to Promethease... not sure if I still have it.

So, he's been in and out of counseling for 3+ years, on various anti-anxiety meds, etc. He tried many meds, and unfortunately none worked. They actually exacerbated his depression. He hasn't been on meds for about a year. He has some OCD tendencies, which causes perfection issues. He is scary smart...usually scoring in the 99th percentile on any sort of standardized test without any prep. He will refuse to do something if he doesn't agree that it's a good use of time. He will refuse to turn something in, if it is not his best work. If he misses any work, it just snowballs to the point where is extremely overwhelmed. We dropped his AP research class in January, hoping that would help. Honestly, it did not. I've reached out to the school a few times, but so far, very little help. He does have one teacher who is championing him and has arranged a meeting with another person for the end of the month. Whenever I try to advise or offer help, he tells me has his own system and it's working. It isn't. He had a 31 in one class, and a 47 in another. He let his easy A in Spanish go to a D, because he was too overwhelmed with his failing classes to keep his A. He does not want to return to the psychiatrist, because he does not want more meds. He found counseling..."OK"...but has this "I can fix it myself" type attitude.