How is it going? Hopefully today was short.

They are so good. I don't like milk or dark chocolate. White chocolate Twix are wonderful too!

I wish I knew hours, but we've been enjoying our new kayaks and been backpacking this year already. We have a few more trips planned. We used snowshoes some, but didn't have the best year for those.

Hang in there Dawn. I'm going with 27 seconds today.

I was going to say Twin Cities, MN too. It is a large sprawling urban area with several "rings" of suburbs. LGBTQ friendly area. Here is info from one of the bigger districts in the area as for salary/years of experience. They have lots of postings. https://www.ahschools.us/cms/lib/MN01909485/Centricity/domain/492/terms and conditions/Teachers 20190701.pdf Housing in the metro is hot and moving fast right now, maybe renting first would be an option. Lots of medical options, between the U of M and Mayo, specialists are near by. Happy to answer any specific questions you have.

Thinking of you, Dawn.

Buttercup! I love it!

Both of my parents have spent time in TCU's (Transitional Care Units) Post surgery, post stroke and towards end of life (various circumstances). They also were at several different facilities throughout the metro area here (MN). My mom spent her whole 100 allotted days in rehab post stroke. They did various therapy throughout the day. She had a shared room. Mom later moved to AL after my dad was hospitalized/passed. AL does not do the rehab type stuff. We transferred her medical care to a team that visited the AL facility weekly, they saw her monthly. They were able to order PT that visited her on site after she fell. She did a couple of rounds of that in her year or so of living there before she passed. I didn't have time to read all the replies, but LMK if you have questions. It's a challenging road and probably varies somewhat by state. Be sure to take care of you too. It can be quite intense and time consuming to try to manage your own life and be an advocate.

I am going to say 3 minutes 12 seconds next time. 7 more...deep breath...you can do it!

I love my Chaco's. They are very supportive.

You've got this! Hopefully the next 8 weeks fly by for you!

It really is. 2 1/2 days in. I had an injection site redness/swelling/itching show up yesterday. It is a bit larger than a quarter. Although it itches, it hurts to itch. No other reactions though.

I got J&J on Sunday at 9am. I have so far had no side effects except a sore arm.

I'm so sorry. It can be so difficult. We had to set some firm family boundaries. It is/was not ideal, but it helped protect me, DH, our kids. Feel free to PM if you want more of an ear than a public forum.

I snagged a vaccine appointment for this morning 1 hour 45 minutes away, so we were up early for a road trip. On the way back, we stopped at a state park for a 5.5 mile hike and a picnic lunch. Very non-traditional. We did get together with some family yesterday. Gorgeous day, grilled a ham and were outside all afternoon.

I'm hesitant due to an auto-immune condition. I might do the J&J, but I can't find it. I have come across slots for other manufacturers, but haven't found a J&J appointment. I might be waiting a while since the governor decided to fully open the tiers next week so it will be even harder to get a slot now I imagine.

DH and I went on a walk. I want my warmer weather back...it's in the 30's after a gorgeous weekend last weekend. We also brought in our trailer to get an estimate to convert a boat trailer into a kayak trailer. I can't wait for warmer weather and we can get out fishing!

I remember reading her story of how she met her DH on a old blog of hers (that was linked here). I believe most of it is in the book Black Heels and Tractor Wheels. She kept me entertained when my girls were littles and I wasn't even quite homeschooling yet. It was probably 10 or so years ago when I joined.

I feel so accomplished. I finished a huge chunk of grading I had procrastinated on. (5th grade Social Studies-FT distance class). I have a little more checking up to do on math and ELA, so I hope I can get it all to a more manageable level by the end of the week.

Due to an extremely busy fall. (Me starting FT work with less than 1 weeks notice and mom on hospice) we started doing Every Plate meal boxes. The girls (12 and 14 both cook/help prep a couple of times a week. Having everything pre-packaged with (relatively) clear directions has improved their skills tremendously. We can choose from about 15 meals/week. We get 4 meals a week with servings for 4. The portion sizes are nice too. At some point, we will stop the service and rely on their recipes, but for now our personal chaos hasn't settled enough for that. Whomever is cooking, chooses what to make based on the choices provided.

We went out snowshoeing again yesterday. It was much easier because the trail had been used in the past 2 days. We brought down our pace by 10 minutes a mile. Fresh powder is hard work!

We broke in our new snowshoes on a 4 1/2 mile walk at a local park in 3 inches of fresh powder.

Here is a link to my nativities. This first colorful cardboard one is a duplicate of one DH's grandparents had. The other one is one I purchased at half off since I worked at the local Christian bookstore. A big investment for a college student, but I love it. It is HUGE, it fills up our 4' TV console (that DH made!). I finally have a nice place to display it. https://photos.app.goo.gl/gt3FKfzTQpDGjTkB8

Oh no, I will try to repost them.

This thread has given me a few ideas. My mom passed in September and she has loads of jewelry. Including lots of beaded necklaces. I was thinking of donating some to a women's shelter, but might have to be creative with some of the items first. I love the Christmas tree idea as well as the beaded icicles. I have lots of rings as well so I will have to seek out an idea for those.