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Penguin

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Everything posted by Penguin

  1. Yes, I agree. The bottle looks just like a regular bottle of liquid bleach. Having both asthma and eczema I just thought, hey, Splash-Less sounds like a good idea! The fine print does say not for disinfecting, but I had no idea that I had to read the fine print of a bottle of Clorox. I got duped. @Katy I read the reddit thread and that was helpful. It does not say what the concentration of sodium hypoclorite is on my farcical bleach, I'll try to figure out the proper dilution tomorrow. It has been a long day.
  2. I don't normally use bleach due to asthma so I made the apparent mistake of buying Splash-Less bleach instead of regular bleach. Now I found out that Splash-Less bleach does not disinfect and of course buying bleach is now impossible. Sigh. What in the world is this splash-less bleach good for? My DH uses bleach to clean the shower, so we have a little bit of regular beach but it is old and probably equally worthless for disinfecting. We do have some vaild disinfectants: a bit of isopropyl alcohol, and some Lysol products, but probably not enough to comfortably last until the shortage ends. I thought I was in good shape because I bought bleach and it can take a lot of dilution but nope. ETA: I edited the title and post to change splashless to Splash-Less. Because it isn't splashless, it just splashes less. What a crap product!
  3. Never? For reference, I am an extrovert who adores big city life, and I am a fairly fearless traveler. At the moment, I hope I don't develop agoraphobia. I sincerely hope that I can find my way back to myself at some point. I think I will even though I can't yet see the path. Life has knocked me down pretty hard before.
  4. I want to send some money to a family member's EU bank account, and plan to try out Western Union. Normally, I go into my bank branch and make a wire transfer but for obvious reasons I am going to try to do this from home. It looks like money can be sent bank account-to-bank account for no fee. Will my bank still charge its normal wire transfer fee? I called the bank and could not get a straight answer. I don't think the customer service rep even understood what I was asking, sigh. She just kept warning me about sending money overseas. (OK, lady, well thanks, but I have a kid in need overseas during a pandemic and WU seems reasonably safe to me, all things considered.) She did advise not to use the debit card option since that sometimes trips as fraud. That sounds like a good tip as I really don't need to have my account locked down right now. What else do I need to know?
  5. We might end up with a three generation household for a very long time. As a family, I think we are going to have to consolidate resources to keep everyone afloat.
  6. Somewhat. We are four adults in a place with enough space to spread out. DH recently came back from a business trip, my son just came back from a college dorm, and I am the one going out for groceries. We have my 83 year old mom here.
  7. @mumto2 I didn’t realize that you were now permanently in the US
  8. From the Level 4 statement: U.S. citizens who live abroad should avoid all international travel. Many countries are experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks and implementing travel restrictions and mandatory quarantines, closing borders, and prohibiting non-citizens from entry with little advance notice. and: If you decide to travel abroad or are already outside the United States: Consider returning to your country of residence immediately using whatever commercial means are available. Have a travel plan that does not rely on the U.S. Government for assistance.
  9. I was coming on here to ask you exactly this, Amira. Does it mean that if you don't come home now, don't expect help from the state department later?
  10. This site might be worth keeping an eye on. I never heard of them before today, so I am not sure yet how much info is available to non-members. Twitter feed is active. American College Health Association https://www.acha.org/COVID-19
  11. I am secretly thinking the same thing. I am sure this possiblity has not entered my son’s mind yet.
  12. Are any colleges still operating normally now? I am not aware of any. We have heavy hearts here, too. Hugs to all.
  13. So many disappointments and crushed hearts. What can we do to support their mental health? Our own? I finally let myself have a good, sobbing cry last night. I have a first-year student who was very lonely during high school. College changed EVERYTHING for him. He was thriving socially and academically. He was having a nearly perfect first year. I am deeply concerned about supporting his mental health. We are currently en route to clear out his dorm. I have a grad school student studying in the EU (full time not study abroad). He is set to graduate in May and we were planning to attend graduation. He is still in the EU but now in a different country with his girlfriend and her family. Not perfect, but a bit less scary.
  14. My DS25 is an expact living in the Netherlands. He is in grad school and scheduled to graduate in May. He is now in Portugal with his girlfriend and her family. If he would have stayed in the NL, he would have been very alone. We always felt secure knowing that we have a lot of close friends in Denmark to help him out of necessary. Once Denmark closed its borders, we started to worry about him being in a foreign country without anyone who actually loves him or cares about him. We debated bringing him back to the US but that is complicated, too. Time will tell if we have made the right decision. He might still have to come back here eventually.
  15. Quill, we have kids in Europe. I feel like I have had a brick sitting on my chest for days. I saw your thread that she is coming home, and that is complicated too. It could for sure be stress. Has your stress manifested itself as a headache in the past?
  16. Denmark has closed its borders until April 13. Danish citizens and permanent residences can continue to come into the country, but should expect long delays upon entry. http://cphpost.dk/?p=111178
  17. Ok I thought you just wanted to know the vibe.
  18. My DH will be in the Houston airport tomorrow. I will see what I can find out.
  19. I am about ten pages behind on this thread. I do plan to go back and see what I missed. But for the moment, I will just jump back in. Maryland just closed schools for two weeks and has banned gatherings over 250 people. So, @Matryoshka your dad's gathering is likely canceled.
  20. Hello, all. I am currently on a road trip: MD-NC-WV-OH-MD. For the moment, I'll just talk about my audio entertainment. MD to NC: Solo drive, 7 hours. I had a lot of non-bookish things on my mind, so I chose Breakfast at Tiffany's read by Michael C. Hall (of Dexter fame). Perfect! I read the book not long ago so I didn't have to concentrate too hard. And Michael C. Hall was the perfect narrator for this novella. I also listened to some podacast episodes. The only bookish one was Myths and Legends, which I highly recommend. You can sort of jump around. I am going to finish all of the Greek and Roman myths and legends before I move to another subcategory. NC to WV: Solo drive, 4+ hours. I listened to June Jordan's 1971 YA novella, His Own Where. Wow. I loved it so much. Five stars. I don't think that I would have appreciated it nearly as much in print. Here is the description of His Own Where from Feminist Press, who reissued it in 2010: "When His Own Where was first published in 1971, it gained both praise and notoriety. A finalist for the National Book Award, a New York Times Most Outstanding Book, and an American Library Association's Best Book for that year, June Jordan’s first young adult novel was considered controversial for being written entirely in Black English. Would children be encouraged to shirk the mastery of standard English, or would they, as Jordan proposed, become more engaged in a story about urban survival and the power of love, written as people actually speak?" I can now highly recommend two of June Jordan's books as audiobooks: both His Own Where and her memoir of childhood, Soldier: A Poet's Childhood. I am convinced that June Jordan deserves to be better known. I also listened to more Myths and Legends, and caught part of an interview with author Louise Erdrich that happened to be on NPR's Fresh Air yesterday. It was a good listening day!
  21. @Pen Thank you for your detailed comments on my post. They were much appreciated.
  22. @Quill I share your ability to worry for everyone! I, of course, have been dealing with having a YA child overseas for many years. Here are some of my pre-virus tips that still apply: Whenever I go out of town, I bring my passport. I want to be able to get to my son if necessary without having to go home and fetch my passport. Learn as much as you can about how the health care system and insurance works in the country of residence and within the EU. I don’t rely on my YA to be tuned into that. I have tried to ensure that my YA has access to emergency funds (i.e., my money!) through as many channels as possible. HTH
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