I have some, and just stretched them out to measure. The adult size is just about 6.5 inches from top to bottom at the center, and kid size is about 5.5, if you pull it all the way open. I find them just a bit under-performing in terms of coverage, compared to other masks I have been wearing (mostly self-made), but for the price I am glad to have these extra masks on hand. They will do for when I need to leave my apartment briefly to grab my mail or take out the trash.

Probably wouldn't start now. Fortunately my 15 yo got their braces removed on February 29th! We got a clear retainer that day, and were supposed to come back in a few weeks for the palate-molded retainer, but that didn't happen. We go to a dental school for our dental care, and the clinic announced on March 13 that they were shutting down everything but emergency care. They were supposed to "reopen" this week, still for emergency/urgent care, and after that they will prioritize "any disease that might progress and cause risk if left untreated." Braces are a ways off for their clinic.

From what I can see, August is mentioned because of the timeline expected from spread based on relaxed restrictions. Nothing special about August itself.

The last time I was in a store was March. I mostly buy stuff online and get things delivered, and I order curbside grocery pickup which my ex picks up and brings by. Stores that were closed are just starting to reopen over the last 10 days or so. Cases are slightly declining. I live at the border of 2 counties with a combined death total of 2660 so far. That is about 1/3 of the statewide total. The last time I left my property was about 2 weeks ago, when I went to get my 15 yo, who stays with my ex for a few days 2-3 times per month. I did some laundry while I was over there, since I don't have a washer/dryer within my condo unit. The last time I left my condo but stayed on the property was 2 days ago. I took out the trash, and ran into an unmasked neighbor as I was leaving the trash room. Taking out the trash or getting mail or packages means passing somebody about half the time, so I still mask up, and wash up when I get back in from the common areas. There are 50 units in the complex, 10 in my building, and often there are other people around: custodian, landscaper, delivery people, etc. I do appreciate that there are people taking care of things that allow me to stay in seclusion, but it feels crowded.

My ex took our kid to the ER about a month ago. We are in a hot spot. They wore homemade masks to go there. They were screened upon arrival, and given hospital issued masks to wear beyond the entrance, and used the hand sanitizing station. They were the only people in the waiting room. Kid had blood test, urine test, EKG, COVID-19 swab, and was in a bed for a while while they administered an IV. Everything was done very carefully. Hand washing or hand sanitizing a bunch of times. They resanitized hands before leaving. When they got home, they changed out of clothes right away, and showered. Shoes stay at the door. I did not go, as I am the more vulnerable parent. Kid stayed with ex for about a week after the visit, but more because they have their own bathroom there, so better while sick. I got a call the next day telling us the covid 19 test was negative, as expected. I generally keep a bunch of Ziploc bags on me if I have to go anywhere, so I can stash my phone in it. I can still swipe the screen, but the phone surface stays clean. Once home, I slide the phone out of the bag without touching, wash hands, and then I can pick it up. The thing that freaked me out was hearing that they used a valet. Driver was masked though. When they went back to cardiology the next week, they parked in the garage but then used a hospital wheelchair. So having wipes could be handy. We keep wipes by the door now to wipe down the kid's walker when we come back in.

https://www.gq.com/story/best-hot-springs-in-the-world "Hot springs tour around the world" is what came to my mind with this topic. Perhaps because I am currently elevating my very swollen feet. A kind friend delivered Epsom salt this evening so I can take a soothing soak. This thread had me stop and reflect on how fortunate I have been over the years to see so much of the world. Growing up in a military family was not easy, but I did get to see a Viking museum and the fjords of Norway, castles and cathedrals all over Europe, the excavated ruins of Pompeii, cliff dwellings and caves in New Mexico, waterfalls and black sands in Hawaii, and so much amazing food. I have always been an avid museum fan, and have visited hundreds! In college (even though I was an econ major) I took a museum studies class that took us behind the scenes of different museums each week. Fascinating!

This article in The Salt Lake Tribune from this weekend covered that topic: https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/05/23/your-guide-how/ They highlight a bunch of categories and break down how it spreads (or doesn't seem to spread) in those settings

My child gets about $600/month in SSDI. My ex files a very basic statement for the SSA each year, attesting to the amount of it spent on child's behalf, and the amount still available. It does not ask for a breakdown of expenses on the form. We keep track by having the money direct deposited into a custodial checking account, which we only use for things that benefit our child. About half of it goes to pay for dance related stuff. The other half covers medical copays and prescriptions. Sometimes we write a check directly from the custodial account, but also about every 3 months I go through our bills that we paid from our accts, and I reimburse us for stuff that was for our child, and just make a note on the memo line of the custodial check. To complete the form for SSA, we just list a total spent (add up all the payments made), and what the remaining balance is. If we wanted to, we could deduct a portion of the money towards the mortgage, health insurance, etc, but the money is always spent before we would need to do that.

My child was tested at an ER late on a Monday night, and I got a call from a nurse with (negative) results at noon on Tuesday.

The emotional processing that bolt described is very much like what I learned over many years of doing DBT groups, and I find it very helpful. However, sometimes you are not in the right frame of mind or in the right place or in the right company to fully experience your emotions. When you are in extreme distress, and you just need to get through the moment, it could be better to go with a temporary "no." The use of the snapping rubber band reminds me of group members who had issues with self-harm, and might use a mechanism like that to pause their thinking to stay safe.

It is normal for me to go years without seeing my extended family. I grew up in an Army family, moving around a lot. And unlike most other Army families we knew, we had no hometown of relatives to go visit. My father's father, mother's father, and both of my mother's siblings were also career Army, so everyone was on the move. My parents split up around the time I finished high school, and both moved thousands of miles at least four times each after that. I moved to my current area on my own, rather than follow either of my parents. I eventually met and married someone here, and though I expected that we would eventually move away together, we kind of got stuck here. His family was the polar opposite of mine in terms of mobility. He grew up on the same street as his mother's sister and father's sister, who lived next door to each other. The rest of his extended family almost all lived within a few miles, with the one exception being one uncle who moved one state over, and was considered to have abandoned his family. Even that uncle moved back to the area after his divorce about a decade ago. I enjoyed some aspects of the big instant family, but mostly I found it suffocating. My MIL in particular has no respect for boundaries. And now I am in the middle of my own separation. He moved out a little over 2 years ago. Since much of our life was connected to his family, I am a bit adrift now that the relationship has changed. We have one child, who is now halfway through high school. The plan is for me to stay in this home until our child moves out, but that may include some college years at home, especially given the current climate. So I am definitely thinking about "where next?" at this point. But my own extended family doesn't live near each other either, and I have never lived in the places they settled in. Maybe I need to start my own thread about where to go. I need to find a place with REALLY low cost of living.

I just picked out this little one by Whirlpool: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Whirlpool-0-5-cu-ft-Countertop-Microwave-in-Black-WMC20005YB/203624087

Boston Metro, ordered online from Wegmans for curbside pickup mid-afternoon on a Saturday. We still need to book a time 5 days in advance, in the middle of the night, but it lets me edit my list up until a few hours before they start collecting it for pickup. Wegmans has had a limit on fresh meat for a while, limited to 2 beef and 2 chicken. Today I got the beef (ground beef and a steak) I requested, but not the fresh chicken. I requested one of their ready to bake turkey meatloafs as backup because I was expecting the chicken to fall through. They did have the frozen chicken tenders my kid likes, after running out of them last week. Other things I did not receive from my list: yeast, wipes, tissue, tp, dishwasher detergent, vanilla ice cream, tostitos, goldfish crackers I was able to get my milk, oj, eggs, yogurt, hummus, and all of the fruits and veggies i wanted. The bananas look better this week. They might not have to go right into banana bread. The black beans I could not get last week are back, along with their 6 packs of canned corn. I ordered a few things from Target online to ship that I would normally get at the grocery store. Dishwasher detergent, hand sanitizer, and goldfish crackers, among other things.

I think it was 11. They switched from homeschooling to a charter middle school beginning in grade 6. The school was about a 40 minute drive away and I wanted to be able to send and receive messages as needed.

2 pairs winter boots, rain boots, 2 pairs black dress shoes, 2 pairs of slip-on sneakers, running shoes, slippers, Irish dance ghillies, beach slides

For me the big positive is that I am alive. I feel in my gut that catching this virus now would be the death of me. So I am appreciating this window of time to spend with my almost-16 year old child, to temporarily avoid the inevitable.

You could probably include a visit to the Pentagon 9/11 memorial if you went via DC. Just a thought.

If I drive, on about half of my trips I have stayed in New Jersey, and caught the train in. Lots of hotels in NJ run a shuttle service to get you to the closest station. I have also traveled directly to the city easily via Amtrak or by city-to-city bus trip. I have never flown to NYC to visit it, due to cost. If I am going short-term, for a specific event like a concert or museum exhibit, I prefer to find the best deal I can on a hotel in the city that is within a reasonable walking distance of the event. If I want to do another activity or two, I limit myself to picking something in that general area, either by walking or within a few stops on the subway. I try to savor a particular neighborhood, rather than try to criss-cross the city on any given day. . If I drive in, I park and leave my vehicle in one place until I am leaving the city, but try to take advantage of having the car to stop at one place further afield, such as the Cloisters or the Botanical Gardens. On my most recent trip, we stopped at the New York Public Library after checking out of our hotel, signed up for a library tour, and then had a lovely picnic lunch at Bryant Park out behind the library. If I was coming from the south rather than the north, I would definitely visit DC. Actually the last time I went to DC, we went via NYC. I took the train with my child. We stayed in VA, and took the subway in and out. If I was driving from Atlanta, I would totally consider driving to DC, and then doing a DC-NYC train trip. But, if my time was limited, and I had not visited NYC, I would probably fly directly from ATL to NYC and then stay in NJ to maximize the time I could visit NYC.

Boston Metro. I was able to get pickup slots for Thursday at Wegmans by logging on just before 5 am last night. One is 9-10 am, one is 3-4 pm. I have been trying for several days to get something. I wanted 2 slots because I am shopping for 2 different households. I am doing the online ordering and my ex is picking stuff up when it is ready. I did one big order last time but it was hard to divide it up with the item limits. He ended up with all of the steaks and chicken and I got the eggs and flour. I was really looking forward to chicken from that order, but instead had to settle for what seemed like my 40th bowl of leftover chili instead. With the pending order I just placed, they said their chicken breasts are out of stock now. I plan to edit the list(s) as we get closer to pick up time.

I picked vacuuming. Probably more important in a home with a cat. In addition to the cat hair, she tracks little bits of litter around the place

My kid also has asthma and blew through school sick days, a lot of it was just that lingering crud, picked up from viruses from other kids who came in sick. We have gone over the 10 day mark almost every year, so have to get a doctor note for every single absence. Even when the school nurse sent my kid home, calling me to come pick up, the school did not excuse that absence.

Thanks. I think the issue is probably that we haven't got a refund in years. We do have a payment plan with them so they actually have our banking info, but that doesn't have them depositing money into an account of ours. I will try to update that if I can get logged on to the site.

Someone at my ex's office died of COVID-19 this week. The guy had been coming in to work as recently as 2 weeks ago when he was supposed to be quarantined due to an exposure to someone who tested positive. He was joking around that he would rather die than stay home all day with his wife. And now he is dead. So yeah, wear a mask

Well I suppose a $2900 credit towards our bill is worth something at least. But it does not help much in the short term.

I don't think so. No deposits into any of our personal accounts. Possibly something went into my ex's business checking account. Or maybe it got held back since we have outstanding taxes? will have to investigate.