I’m so sorry. Prayers for all of you as you deal with this. Do you care to share what your doctor friend told you?

We love our air fryer! The kids make onion rings, French fries, chicken nuggets, etc. I love to cook chicken tenders, wings, and roasted veggies. I have the standard drawer type and would like to replace it with something bigger. I am looking at replacing both my air fryer and toaster oven (I posted yesterday about this). Not sure which one I’m going to get yet.

I can’t seem to find that anywhere. Maybe sold out due to Christmas?

We have (and love!) a standard air fryer with a drawer, but I would like to get something bigger. As I was browsing at Walmart and Amazon, I noticed that there are air fryers that look more like toaster ovens. The descriptions say they air fry, bake, dehydrate, toast, and broil. We have a small kitchen and if I could get rid of our current toaster oven and replace with a new air fryer, it would be great. Thoughts? Specific recommendations?

I actually love gift-giving, but I stink at coming up with good gift ideas, which stresses me out. We have a very small pool of people that we exchange gifts with, but my brother makes significantly more than dh and I do (and I mean a lot more), and it took me a while to be okay with the fact that my gifts for our parents just won’t match his. It’s okay though and my parents appreciate my gifts as well. Because I really do love gift giving, my goal for 2021 is to listen and write down gift ideas through the year. This way I’m not so stressed out two weeks before Christmas trying to think of the perfect gift.

Graeter’s ice cream is my very favorite. They became super popular several years ago when Oprah mentioned them in her magazine (I think?... or maybe on her show?). Anyway, it is super yummy and the flavors with chocolate chunks are wonderful (my fave is strawberry chip, but it is seasonal - May and June, I think).

Along the same line...we ordered takeout from an Asian restaurant. We normally have dinner at my parents and since that wasn’t happening, I decided I didn’t want to cook. It was yummy, easy, and fun...and we have leftovers for tomorrow!

My dh goes by a nickname that is part of our last name (for example, if our last name was Wilson, dh nickname would be Will - so Will Wilson). We met in college and I didn’t think anything of it. But when we got married and he started his career, it drove me crazy. For a while, he went by his given first name, which is such a nice name. But it just stopped, so he continues to go by his nickname. I wonder if others are the same?

My son needed help With trigonometry, so I posted on Facebook and received several local recommendations. Ds has had two tutoring sessions and is already doing better in trig!

Double and triple check that the therapist you try is in-network for your insurance plan. My situation...back in the summer, I received an email from my insurance that they were covering 100% any telehealth appointment for mental health through the end of September. I have always struggled with anxiety but it was bad during the summer, partially due to my dh’s unemployment. Free counseling sounded amazing so I gave it a try. After one appointment, I decided that I didn’t really care for telehealth personally and just dropped the idea of seeing a therapist. Imagine my surprise when I got a $275 bill! I have gone back and forth with the counseling place and my insurance, but my insurance is claiming they are out of network. Ugh...I finally gave up fighting and decided to pay. I thought I did my homework in advance, but at this point I’m tired of fighting. It is just ironic that I tried counseling only because it was covered at 100% and I was struggling with anxiety due to financial issues...and I ended up with a $275 bill. So do your homework and make sure the therapist is in-network.

I have a close friend who is a nurse and she received the vaccine on Thursday. On Friday, she texted me that was pretty achy the following day, but feeling okay. I know of several other healthcare worker “friends” on Facebook who received the vaccine on Thursday as well, and they are all reporting good results so far. ETA - I just checked in with my nurse friend who received the vaccine two days ago and she says she is back to normal today!! No aches or soreness.

Great ideas...thanks everyone!! I have talked to ds (a lot!) about not touching his phone while driving. As a matter of fact, I realized that he uses the audio directions on his phone when he uses the maps app. This way, he won’t have to actually look at his phone while driving. I do think that having his phone mounted may provide too great of a distraction, so it isn’t the best gift idea. I just feel bad because dd was so excited to think of that idea for him (he’s a bit difficult to buy for) and I just didn’t realize it was a bad idea at first. I’m trying to help her come up with something else that would be fun for him.

Ds 16 got his license earlier this year, along with a car. As a Christmas gift for him, dd planned to buy him a phone mount for his car (similar to this). I thought that was a great idea, until it hit me that it may not be the best plan to have his phone displayed, where he might look at it too much while driving. What says the Hive? Any other $20-30 gift options for a new driver (or really any teen boy)?

Pre-pandemic (when my kids were in brick and mortar school) I had a “Christmas elf” who came to my house on the kids’ last day of school and wrap all of my presents for me. My Christmas elf was my best friend, who happens to love to wrap presents. This has been a tradition the past several years that I have loved (I don’t love wrapping presents!). But alas, this year no elf...so I suppose I will be doing all of the wrapping.

Like most people, I am staying at home most of the time right now. However, even when life is “normal” I work from home every day. For Christmas, I would like to get myself a few loungewear or casual wear outfits. Some pants and tops that don’t look completely like pajamas but are super comfy. I wear a size 12 right now (was a 10 pre-Covid...going to work on that again after the holidays!). I would love to know specific suggestions and links are appreciated too. The Hive knows everything, so I’m assuming you can help with this too. 😉

He is very into weight lifting. Since the election, he has also become very interested in politics. The pandemic has been very hard on him and he has really struggled with friendships and all of the change. Also school is very hard this year and virtual isn’t helping. I’m trying to find some way to have fun with him (although I know he will resist).

Unfortunately, not a lot right now. I actually do quite a bit with dd(13), but both dh and I are having trouble connecting with ds(16) these days.

Thank you so much! I will definitely look at Telestrations. One thing I should have mentioned...we are a family of four (including hubby). Also, we are fine with pop culture. 😊

Sadly, my teens don’t really enjoy board games. But since I want to keep trying to spend family time together, each year I buy something new with the hope it will click. When we do play games, we normally play Uno, Wits and Wagers Family, or Clue. We’ve also played Exploding Kittens quite a few times but I haven’t been able to get them to play it recently. I was looking at Codenames and Apples to Apples. I have never played either game. Thoughts? Suggestions for something else? My ds is 16 (he’s the one who puts up the biggest fight about playing) and dd is 13. ETA - we are a family of four (including hubby) so games for four people would work well for us.

Both of my kids are currently attending public school...while I completely and 100% agree with you, the stinky thing is that disconnecting WiFi for one day would just double the kids’ work for the following day. Right now I am so over virtual school. It is frustrating, time consuming (for me!!), and sadly my kids aren’t learning. I love homeschooling but virtual school isn’t homeschooling. I have a job myself that I need to focus on. It just stinks. So I agree and I am super bummed about the loss of the snow day. ☹️

My 16 yo ds wears both Hollister and American Eagle jeans and they look very nice on him.

Do you have a certain weighted blanket you recommend? This would be for my 16 year old, weight lifting ds. I have always thought he may benefit from a weighted blanket and thinking of getting him one for Christmas.

I second the Primsacolor pencils with a sharpener. 👍

Thank you! I’m feeling angry at myself for not doing a better job of preparing for this stage in life. Do most kids have to take out loans? Are we the only parents who don’t have money saved?

Ds is a junior this year. For the past few years, he has said that he wants to enlist in the military directly after high school and then pursue college. He is (fairly) academically minded and while I would prefer him to not enlist (simply because I’m his mom!) I was supporting his decision. Now he is considering college after high school and I’m trying to understand how to pay for it. Unfortunately, we do not have college savings for our kids. We have had many bouts of unemployment over the years, so financially, saving for college just didn’t happen. Ds currently has a 3.9 and is taking all college prep classes. He is not taking AP courses, but he is taking dual-credit classes. He just took the ACT with zero prep and got a 26. I loath the idea of saddling ds with a bunch of student loans, but I really don’t know what our options are. Thoughts?