Just Kate
-
Posts
3,518 -
Joined
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by Just Kate
-
-
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.
-
1
-
-
11 minutes ago, itsheresomewhere said:
I just got the ninja foodi xl. Those I know who have it, love it. It replaced their toaster ovens and small air fryers.
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.
-
2
-
-
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).
-
6 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:
Preliminary win: I ordered pizza for all instead of making my usual fancy meal. We rarely order pizza, so this is a huge treat—and about the same cost as the brisket I would normally make. We even ate on paper plates (which we almost never use) to minimize cleanup. We are sitting down to watch episodes of The Mandalorian now.
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!
-
5
-
-
1 hour ago, historically accurate said:
Couldn't you just say, "It is an awesome name, isn't it?" Funny story, but apparently, I have a popular 90s dog's name, and like every 5th person I met then would say, "Oh, that's my dog's name." when we met LOL. So that response is what I came up with when I kept getting told about people's dog.
I have a kid with a gender neutral name although it's a more common last name than first name. I also have 2 kids with made up names. It takes all kinds - the Emmas, the Johns, the male and female Taylors, as well as the Sofeeyahs and Aericks. I try not to get upset with what others name their kids, and I hope people don't get weird about my kid's names.
My hang-up is double names, John Johnson, Pete Peterson although that's not common these days,. I always thought their parents really should've put some more effort into naming.
I just ask kids now, "Can you spell your name for me, Sweetie?" whenever I have to write name tags or something.
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!
-
2
-
-
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.
-
1
-
-
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.
-
11
-
-
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.
-
1
-
-
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.
-
1
-
-
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. 😉
-
2 minutes ago, importswim said:
What does your DS like to do with his time? Asking for further game recommendations!
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).
-
10 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:
What other things do you do as a family? Maybe something that taps into another shared interest will help.
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.
-
12 minutes ago, TheReader said:
Apples to Apples is good, but consider getting the family version or kids version just because some of the versions have pretty adult phrases, and some have a lot of pop culture to them (this may or may not be an issue for your family; for us when we were in Brazil, it was a big issue as my kids had no idea who various pop culture icons were). Also, very subjective, so if that will bug people.....maybe skip it. That said, part of the fun for us is in choosing what we think that round's judge will pick. (if there are only 3 of you.....hmmm, may not be as fun, really, because one person is the "judge" for each round, which rotates, so it would just be two people tossing in ideas each round)
A good one that may appeal if they like the "a little bit of strategy involved" games like Clue and Uno, is Ticket to Ride; all of my family likes that one. That one is fun, would still be good with just three, isn't so long as to be annoying, and has enough strategy to be interesting but not so much to be frustrating.
Our go-to for "we want to play a game but not everyone is in game mood" is Telestrations -- it's a mix between Pictionary and the old "telephone" game -- you pick a card, write the word/draw the picture of the word, then pass to the next person. They then have to either guess what word you drew or draw what word you wrote down. Pass to the next, and they do the reverse (depending on which is up at that time; you draw on one page in the wipe-off notebook then flip it to a blank; the next person looks at the picture, guesses, flips; the next person looks at the word, draws). I'm not sure how well it works with three people, but I think if you draw, guess, draw, then guess/reveal it could work (there are rules for 3). We have a lot of fun with it, and can play several rounds -- the nice thing is that you draw one card each, roll a dice (one for the group) and draw/write that number word. So a full game can be just going down the 6 words on the card.
If I think of any more that would be fun and work well with 3 players I'll come add more.....
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. 😊
-
1
-
-
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.
-
1
-
-
1 hour ago, Murphy101 said:
What? No. Everyone knows the wifi connection sucks when it snows. It’s been known to be down all day on snow days. 😉
^I jest but I’d 100% disconnect my wifi if we woke with a foot of snow outside. Because that happens less than 3 days a year in Oklahoma. Damned if we are going to miss it for zoom. Stuff like this makes me ever so grateful to home school and super sad for kids not so fortunate right now. I’ve long said the problem with distance learning/work is how much it intrudes literally into the family home. 🙁
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.
-
2 hours ago, crazyforlatin said:
Weighted blanket, can’t sleep without it
Electric lint remover for sweaters, makes a huge difference, but I wonder if the sweaters will disappear one day as I seem to gather more lint than the average person, need to stop moving my arms so much when I walk
Target's dark gray storage ottomans, double as benches, keeps the house tidy and minimal-looking
Ikea's high gloss white cabinet, making it look like there is nothing on the bathroom walls, giving it a clean, minimal, uncluttered look, don’t need to be constantly reminded of the amount of skincare I own
Sodastream, I drink carbonated water every day, it’s under $100 but the one that regulates the amount of bubbles is more expensive
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.
-
3
-
-
I second the Primsacolor pencils with a sharpener. 👍
-
3
-
1
-
-
6 minutes ago, BusyMom5 said:
Of he got a 26 without any prep, he might be able to get that score up a bit. There are good scholarships for kids with good scores and grades. He is probably going to come out with some debt, but if you keep a frugal mindset and really weigh out your options, I think it can be manageable. Living at home or living off campus and having a PT job can save money.
Not sure what his path is, but ROTC might be something to look into. Also going into the military with a bit of school gets you better rank 😉
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?
-
2
-
Personal covid experiences
in The Chat Board
Posted
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?