In my own 2 person household (me and my 16 yo) we are pretty cautious about interacting with the outside world. We try to combine safety measures. Masks PLUS 6 feet, not masks OR 6 feet. We even practiced spatial awareness in the kitchen using the floor tiles, noting that 2 people on tiles 6 feet apart became 4 feet apart just by leaning forward a little. We have 2 levels of masks, some with built in filters (for when we intend to interact with others), and a bunch of 2-ply cotton masks (for when we don't intent to interact, but just in case, like when we are taking out the trash, getting the mail, or out walking). All of the masks are fitted with nose wires, and most have elastic that wraps around the head for a snug fit. I do a weekly grocery shop online and have it brought to my car in the parking lot. I quarantine food rather than wash it. I have an old frig I use for that, since when I got the new one in April, Home Depot wasn't doing haul-away. I rotate stuff into the new frig before I go to pick up the new stuff, and then the new bags go right into the old frig and then I wash up. I occasionally do a Target pickup, but mostly I have stuff shipped to me. My teen does school online, and a hybrid dance program, a combo of zoom and in person no-contact dance class. At dance class everyone is masked, but they can take it off briefly to drink water at their individually assigned break spots, which are spread out though out the very large ballroom. That's still pushing it for us, but it seems a reasonable balance. So, all that said, probably more relevant to your situation: Someone whose bubble intersects with mine is an actual epidemiologist and she has an 11 year old son (who is an only child). His school is online right now, and the kid is not doing any organized sports. She occasionally lets her son get together with a couple of kids at a time when they are all masked. Good masks that stay on. Typically an adult monitors their no-contact activities, like riding scooters or playing eye-spy. Usually they are outside, but sometimes briefly inside, though their house is very spacious and well ventilated. Shoes come off at the door and hands get washed. They put a big effort into redoing their yard this year so people could sit outside to socialize, installing a large recessed patio with built in electrical outlets and room for a fire fixture in the middle. They have several little tables so people can eat but be spread apart. They even installed a pull down projection screen on a porch so people can watch movies out there.

We just eat when we are hungry. It is kind of random, partly because we don't eat together, and we generally don't eat the same food. It is just me and my teen, who is currently taking CC classes online, in the evening. My diabetic cat, on the other hand, has to eat on a strict schedule, and I give her insulin at 8 am and 8 pm. That can serve as a reminder to me to eat something myself. Theoretically I "close the kitchen" at 10 pm, which means I tidy it up and I don't cook after that. But my teen will often do some late night baking. Last night's surprise was a lovely lemon Bundt cake.

I miss the smells, the food, and the weather in Hawaii. I miss our house and garden in Norway, but not so much the weather. I miss our covered balcony in Virginia, and sitting out there watching storms roll in on the horizon. I miss friends from Minnesota, but not the recurring blizzards. There were a bunch of other places, but not much sticks out. Maybe the freedom of riding my bike around the streets in a small town in Arizona. There was very little traffic. More tumbleweeds than cars. It was soo hot though, so drinking a cold grape soda out of a glass bottle from a gas station vending machine is my most vivid memory from that time.

Seconding the EnerGel pen by Pentel. And for mechanical pencils, my lefty will only use Papermate's ClearPoint with the .5 lead.

I recently put together a separate "emergency pantry" in a bookcase I cleared for that purpose. Mostly it is overstock from shelf-stable stuff I usually buy, with a few extras thrown in. Stuff like crackers, pasta, noodle bowls, couscous, pancake mix, protein bars, peanut butter and jelly, jars of peaches and apple sauce, cans of corn, beans, tomato sauce, and tuna, beef jerky, cooked bacon, sports drinks, ginger ale, and a few pounds of Kit Kats hidden in a Mylar bag. Extra vitamins. Extra pet food. Etc. My next step is to pull together something I feel comfortable leaving in the back of my van, just in case we get stuck somewhere on the road rather than at home. I usually keep an empty cooler there, which should stay. I want to add a couple days worth of no-prep food in a secure bin that won't attract pests and can handle temperature swings. And if we ever actually have to evacuate, I would load what I can from the emergency pantry into a plastic tub with a lid, and throw frig stuff into an insulated bag.

Rules vary from state to state, but where I live, attorneys are allowed to represent buyers and sellers in real estate transactions, and can act as independent real estate brokers. As a former real estate agent, I would rather hire an experienced real estate attorney than a regular agent, especially if I was in a position to pay cash. You can find them the same way as an agent, by word of mouth or looking them up in a directory. Costs vary, some charge a flat rate, but most charge an hourly rate.

I recommend hiring a real estate attorney to represent you as buyers, and hire them BEFORE you sign a purchase and sales agreement. Most people rely on the bank's attorney, but their responsibility is to represent the bank in the deal. Many people who do hire their own RE attorney only contact them to have them review the signed p&s, so their attorney is left to work with a contract that almost always favors the seller, and not much they can do to amend it after the fact. Better to have the attorney negotiate terms on your behalf as part of any offer you make.

It's just me and my 16 yo in small condo, with no yard. We split the cooking pretty evenly. I load the dishwasher, teen puts the clean dishes away. Mostly we just clean up after ourselves and teen does projects when asked. I am more likely to notice something needs to be done, like when the trash is full, but teen takes it out when asked. Teen hauls all of our laundry to my ex's place on the weekend, and does all the wash and drying over there.

My teen and I both have asthma, but we don't have a washer/dryer in our apartment, so since April we have relied on washing everything via my kid's weekend visits with my ex. So, sheets every 1-2 weeks, but we have enough pillowcases to switch more often, lightweight blankets every 2-3 weeks, heavier blankets maybe every 6 weeks. I am sewing some old sheets together to make pull-on covers for some of the heavier winter blankets that we can at least wash the covers more frequently. It's a bit of an effort to send everything back and forth, especially the bulky stuff. I already have fabric covers for the living room seating, which needs to get washed at least monthly, thanks to our cat.

30+ moves. Not counting temporary transitional places, like long-stay hotels or friends' couches. A third of those moves were due to my father's army career. I first moved across the country at 6 weeks, and moved about every other year up to age 17, when I graduated high school. Another third of my moves were during my late teens through mid 20's, moving at least once per year while working and attending 3 different colleges before graduating. The last third was during my marriage, mostly in the early years, and all of those moves were in the same metro region, where XH has a large extended family. XH moved out a couple of years ago. I am still in the home where we have been raising our child, who is now 16. I hope to leave this area as soon as my kid is ready to move out. Not sure where I want to go next. Hopefully I find my happy place without another 10 moves.

My 16 yo uses a desk. The desk is in their bedroom, and has a desktop computer, which is connected to a printer and a large drawing tablet. Due to a medical condition, we recently rearranged the room so the desk is right next to the bed, allowing some working from the bed as needed. We purchased a very comfortable cushioned desk chair this summer, since this semester they are doing full-time online dual enrollment. We do not have a table anywhere else in the apartment suitable for school work. No kitchen table, no dining table., no office.

My mother and I did a memorable week-long coastal road trip in Florida, from St. Augustine to Pensacola via Key West. It was a great mix of nature and cities. Each day usually included a few hours of driving, a little sightseeing including a museum, a little beach time, and meals overlooking the water. We spent a night in the Everglades, where we were thoroughly ambushed by mosquitoes, but it was still a must-see along the way.

I often use oly-fun fabric filters when I to a store. I got a bolt of it back in April. I cut a bunch of pieces to give out with the cotton masks I made for the extended family. But I found out nobody I gave them to was using the filters. So I started making new masks with non-woven interfacing sewn in as soon as I could get a bolt of that, about a month ago.

I get to see a version of this when they shop for me, because I often place 2 different orders with a lot of the same items at the same time, one for me, one for my ex, and my ex usually does the curbside pickup. I do this so my kid has food to eat when visiting my ex, who is a really random shopper even with a super detailed list. The first shopper might say that a dozen items are out of stock, and then the next shopper finds half of those when filling the other order. Now I sometimes adjust whichever order is done second, to make up for the issues on the first order. Thankfully I can follow on the app to see what is going on. It can feel like I am watching a really sedate scavenger hunt or something, as I refresh the screen again and again. I am also so appreciative that people are providing this service. I do feel very guilty at least once a week, like I have a dodgy draft deferment and someone had to go in my place.

My 16yo had an endoscopy this month, and had to get a COVID-19 test 24 hours before the procedure, which was done in in the car in the hospital garage. The day of the procedure, my kid and my ex (only 1 parent allowed) had to call upon arrival at the garage and then wait in the car until the intake nurse called them to come over. Screening at the hospital entrance included swapping into the masks they provided. At the clinic, the waiting room had separate plexiglass structures for each family, which they jokingly called the penalty boxes. Families were given a tag to hang on their box, and that made it their spot for the duration of the visit. Kid had to leave the box to do a urine test, and was questioned by a passing nurse: What are you doing? Where are you supposed to be? Who is supposed to be with you?

My 16yo with oily hair only uses this l'oreal elvive for fine hair now. It seems to be a good balance for an end of day shampoo routine, which keeps the pillow case fresher too. https://www.target.com/p/l-39-oreal-paris-elvive-volume-filler-thickening-shampoo-12-6-fl-oz/-/A-14897803

I am enjoying Jack Irish, an Australian noir detective series on Acorn. I started season 1 before noticing there is a season 0, listed below season 2. Season zero is actually 3 Jack Irish movies, made before the TV series, and worth watching first.

My teen combined Linguistics and the History of the English Language to create a 10th grade English course last year. We pulled some books from this paper, prepared by a high school English teacher, in which he discusses how he created a Linguistics course aligned with his state's standards for English: https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/07e_90.4Loosen.pdf We added "English in America" from the Great Courses videos on Kanopy.

My 16yo was diagnosed with POTS in May. In our case it was also the pulse oximeter at home that revealed the crazy heart rate issues. We suspect that it was there in the background but didn't become an issue until they went from intense dancing several times a week up until Mid-March, to a suddenly sedentary life. Plus during the shelter in place, they fell down the stairs, which left them banged up, so they were resting a lot. One day they went to get out of bed and they collapsed. Kind of scary. Many hospital tests later, we had the POTS diagnosed by a cardiologist. Multiple labs showed no issue with hydration, but low on salt. Possibly an issue due to a change in diet related to the shelter in place. So the kid is now on a high sodium diet, using compression socks, hydrating as usual, and gradually trying to increase exercising, which is supposed to help. The docs say kids usually outgrow it. We are actually dealing with SO many medical issues with this kid right now, sigh. The POTS diagnosis covers a lot of it, but doesn't really solve anything yet, though the recommendations have helped relieve some symptoms. I have seen some discussion online of a possible connection to the misophonia, maybe as part of a post-viral syndrome.

The only in-person outside activity for my 16yo is Irish dance. The dance school has made a lot of adjustments. No team classes. Fitness classes will stay on zoom, as will some mid-week choreography review classes. They all wear masks the whole time during in-studio classes, except to take water breaks, which are more frequent due to dancing in masks. They have a bigger studio space, and smaller, shorter classes, with each dancer having their own 10x10 square for the class. At one point during class they space out along the edges and each dancer is given their solo opportunity to work the center of the floor with everyone else out of their way. We would normally attend competitions at least once a month, with 500-1000 dancers in attendance. All of that is definitely off the calendar for now. I am hoping to sign my kid up for some painting classes at a local art college this fall, which they announced would be online, but they haven't opened registration yet. Normally those classes would be full well in advance.

For my own rising 11th grader I can copy and paste with just a wee alteration! 😄 And other than Arabic, nothing is scheduled before 11 am!

We were originally looking to use DE for a few classes, but our flagship state university requires 27 college credits as one of the options for proof of college readiness for homeschooled applicants. Once we complete that option, my dc is basically halfway to an AA, so we looked into that. Our state has a guaranteed transfer program from the CCs to most of the State Uni BA programs. It is a significant cost savings, and allows dc to still make significant progress online while we wait out the Covid crisis. Also, even with FT DE, it should leave some time for personal pursuits like art and dance. Especially since we are not having to drive to campus. I spoke to an admissions officer at the State U, to verify our plan was acceptable, and I will have to graduate dc prior to completion of the AA, so they are getting the AA as a CC student not a DE CC student. So, we will pay DE rates for a year, graduate high school, pay regular CC rates for the year after that, and then dc can be a junior at the State U. eta: Also, dc plans to get an MA right after the BA, so expects to be on campus for 4 years anyway, but finishing an MA at the age they would normally get a BA.

My 16yo who does Irish dance is going back to dance class today for the first time since March. The dance school is holding classes in a different space, at another school's dance studio rather than at our regular gym or church hall. The floor has been taped off in a 10 foot square grid pattern, with each dancer assigned to a square. There is a well articulated safety plan, with smaller classes, masks, no parents in studio, hand sanitizing on arrival and departure, waiting in the car, and entering and exiting one at a time, etc. I am not 100% comfortable with the idea, but my kid really wants to try it and I trust them to behave responsibly. I discussed the plan with my ex to hash out whether or not we are insane to do this, and kid also discussed it (virtually) with pcp this week, who sounded supportive. Our area is at a level 3 reopening stage, with falling numbers to support the changes.

I have asthma, and have been breathing a bit easier with this style of mask: https://graf-lantz.com/collections/face-masks-01 I made my own by watching a bunch of YouTube videos for "3D mask." I find that having some space for a pocket of air really helps. I also pop a Ludens cough drop in my mouth before putting on a mask to keep the mucus down.

Probably 75 rolls. I have had the store brand 30-pack on my curbside pickup grocery shopping list every week since I started using that service in April. Until 3 weeks ago, they only had it in stock once. I finally got some, 2 weeks in a row! So, I just removed it from the re-order list. I probably was close to running out except that I found a 24-pack of quilted northern on amazon in late May.