The British lady in the NC "Love it or List it" show. They are not husband and wife team. I always felt like the wife in Fixer Upper had to put up with her goofy husband while she was trying to get a job done. Not so much superior though, IMHO. But, I prefer both "Love it Or List It" shows over "Fixer Upper" (even with the condescending designer)

in one of the monolith threads I mentioned that a neighbor out on the main street had a unicorn couch (bench) in their front yard. I was finally able to get a photo while I drove by.... It's hard to tell in the photo but I would say it is the size of 3 person sofa.

praying

I've lost about 5lbs since I started 2 weeks ago. I figured I'd lose a lot right at the beginning because of bloat. But, I had minor surgery last week and was surprised the dr. told me no exercise, including yoga, for 6 weeks.! I figured it would be a couple weeks but not 6. That puts a little wrench in my weight loss plans. I have been eating on diet and haven't cheated. I didn't get the carb withdraw sickness/headache I've had before, which was a pleasant surprise. I've also made sure I've had something Keto sweet as well as salty stuff to keep me on diet. I'm a snacker. I did buy some roasted almonds and I realized (again) that they do a number on my gut. 😞 I gave them to my daughter. I decided against DietBet because it seemed too stressful for me and with an upcoming surgery I didn't know what to expect for weightloss. But, I did download Habatica on my phone. It is a tracker for helping people with good habits and routines.

I also like "Love It or List it" and "Love it Or List It Too". I think it gives a more reasonable look at what renovations will look like - including the unforseen problems. I also like that they usually talk money and exchanges people may have to make to keep on budget.. for example. "We discovered your foundation has a huge crack that must be fixed to code. You can either raise your budget or we can't fix up the master bath. " I prefer the banter and chemistry between the two in Canada over the two in NC... the lady in that show is annoyingly condescending. Of course, the Canadian prices (PNW) are incredibly high compared to NC.

I read this article today and thought it was appropriate for this thread. Of course, there will be outliers who flaunt the rules - as there is with everything else - but most pastors/priests care about their congregation and care about making church safe for everyone. https://www.philstout.com/home1/2020/5/23/opening-the-doors

That is so hard. Praying that everything goes smoothly

I know people in our congregation who have been helped physically and financially. Two instances where money was needed for large items (one their HVAC went out) - the other might have been rent. But, our priest and his wife have also personally taken people to drs. appts who have no family nearby. Father has a discretionary fund that he uses to disperse money (in the form of grocery gift cards) to either members of our faith family or people who come to our building asking for assistance.

I wish I had an answer. I've always wanted to move away and out of the state of my birth, but my husband was always rooted to his job here. Most of my extended family has moved away already. But, now I have grown kids taking root in this basic area (one is about 2hrs away). I'd love to move to the mountains of NC or TN... but that would be at least 10hrs away from my children/grandchildren. 😞 The idea of picking up and moving away from them is impossible to fathom.

hugs.. My daughter's is making alternate plans for her wedding in July. There have been lots of tears (of course). I get it.

Eww! 🤢

@IfIOnly your weekend sounds very nice, even if it was filled with cheat food.

how awful to do that to his sons. I am so very sorry. Hugs.

The reason is because judges are not making health care decisions they are making decisions based on the law. By law people are allowed to meet together with more participants. Whether they *should* do it is another matter and I do agree with you about health care workers. I appreciate what your pastor said too.

I've played Scattergories and Pictionary using Zoom. Both were fun. With Scattegories you just need to have the list = someone can text you a photo to have your own. With Pictionary - we had a separate online game that we all joined, but also had zoom going so we could talk with each other.

no. I tried one but I found it annoying. But, I have low tolerance for devices like that so YMMV. I would suggest you buy a cheap knock-off one to try out.

Our state is still under 10 and fewer orders and our Bishop just allowed us to begin having liturgy again. What we did last weekend was the "choir" of 6 people all stood far apart, and stood in the pews facing the same direction - rather than crowded around and toward each other. They sang this way and were a good distance from our priest. We also have a choir loft in the back of the church. It's got a Plexiglas banister and no one is singing over the banister. I think the loft will be utilized once we're allowed more than 10. We have 9-10 stands that people crowd around.. We'll probably move stands around to make for fewer people but also safer for projecting. Obviously, we won't be crowding around the stand for a while either. The issue with that is that we usually sing *toward* the choir director and there is no room for that person to back away... they are already at the edge of the loft. While I loved @Patty Joanna 's little test, I don't think it will fly (no pun intended) with church leaders. But ,she's right. We're not fighting against an organ when we sing. For the Eucharist, several options have been bantered around. One is to have individual cups.. another is to use spoons (we receive off a spoon) and then dipping it into grain alcohol for disinfectant. We'd have more than one spoon to give each one time to disinfect. Another is bamboo spoons - one for each individual - and they would be burned after service. There are many people who will choose to stay home because of their own circumstances. Fortunately, we already had streaming started before all this happened. Our church can hold almost 200 people. We only do one liturgy per week. I know it was once mentioned of moving to 2x per week. Maybe one mid-week and another on Sundays. I'm assuming Sunday school will not resume for a long time - unless it's outdoors. Our S.S. rooms are pretty small. We also have an annual ethnic food bazaar in fall. It takes many weeks of preparation in the late summer and early fall. I suspect it will be cancelled this year. As for zoom meetings. We have many people who cannot participate for logistical reasons. I also know of several people who flat-out refused. They are in virtual meetings all week with work and the thought of another one is too much. One friend told me in an email exchange that she hates it completely. I'm beginning to dislike them quite a bit too. The problem is that you're in a "room" with people but you cannot break off into small groups to chat with your friends. You have to sit an listen to one person at a time. That was fine for the first few weeks, but "how was your week, Susan?" is getting tedious. Then we have those who have started to pontificate. Ugh. I don't care if I agree or not, I know those kind of conversations cause divisions. We are going to have a parish business meeting this week on Zoom. I'm the council secretary so I have to attend and take notes. After that I think I'll be done with zoom church fellowship for a while. There's several of us who feel this way.

rut-roh.....

This is a lovely memory. Thank you for sharing it with us.

We have very poor pressure in our house and installed these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004FH9NZ2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 in two bathrooms. Depending on how slow the flow is you can either keep the regulator in (which helps save water) or take it out... higher flow. They are amazing. But, when we were kids at one time we had 6 teen girls and one bathroom (my parents were foster parents to 3). They put us on a timer because my dad was always ending up with a cold water. We had 3 mins to take a shower. Now, that I'm an adult I think I'm still around 5 mins. or slightly more. I cannot figure why my husband needs a 15-20 min shower 😄. It could also be that you need a bigger tank. When our kids were little we had a larger tank (it was propane). It definitely helped once my parents also moved in and we had 10 people in the house.

I just have a plain old Samsung. Here's one of the video's I found. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjU4Yk5kOUQ But it's for a KitchenAid.