Really just repeating others but a fan is a big one for us. Bonus points if there is also a ceiling fan. Bedside tables with outlets (or power strips) on BOTH sides of the bed. And a place to put wet towels. That is all I need to be happy.

I have one that had similar issues about 10 years ago. We switched to the special food for a while but she developed other health issues from that food. We ended up switching to raw which cleared up both issues. We also mix water into each meal because she is not big on drinking water. She is 18 now and has had no problems since, so there is hope!

I spent many years as a waitress and bartender in several different businesses. We typically "tipped out" to the host/hostess, bussers, dishwashers, and cooks. Usually not a huge amount, but something. Each place had some sort of system used to determine how this was done. And yes, all of those people were paid at least minimum wage while servers/bartenders were not. It varied widely by day and establishment, but I could walk out of a 6 hour Friday night shift with $300 in tips. It only seemed fair to share some of that with the other workers that delivered the service. OTOH, there would be Monday nights when I would walk out with less than what would have been minimum wage. On those nights, I would not tip out. As to the new trend with take-out, yes, I do think it is "new." I don't know how I feel about it. Except that with how hard it is to find workers, I am willing to tip right now because I am grateful if I can get my hands on anything edible that I do not have to prepare myself. How this will play out long-term is a mystery to me.

In our area, take out food places are so overwhelmed and understaffed, they almost want to lose business. We had a favorite locally owned pizza place that we patronized at least twice a month for over a decade. A few months into the pandemic, they were so overwhelmed that they ceased delivery. Then the wait time started creeping past one hour. Then they started just taking their phone off the hook at some point during busy nights. They ended up closing because they were TOO busy. They could not find enough staff, there pizza ovens were full from open to close, they had supply chain issues, and the whole situation was just too stressful for the owners. That's right, they closed because they were too successful. We personally know the owner of another local take out place that has cut the hours way back and is now contemplating closing because they cannot get enough staff and every time they open, they are so overwhelmed that the stress scares off the few people they have successfully hired. He has tried everything. Reducing hours and days. Limiting the menu. And yes, even taking the phone off the hook many nights. I pity the person who tried to complain about anything. This guy is on the edge. And to him anyone who is not happy should just stop patronizing him. He has hundreds of others trying to call the phone that is off the hook. None of this is to say that the OP should accept crappy product or customer service. I just suspect we are going to see much much worse before anything gets better. In out case, we have utilized take out less and less due to access issues alone. If the product quality was also declining, I am pretty sure we would cease attempting take out at all anymore. In the OP's situation, I would just cross that place off their list and leave it to the people who are OK with crappy pizza. And. Keep a few frozen pizzas in the freezer for emergencies!

We have one that attaches on the inside of the cabinet door under the sink. It is out of sight but still easy to access. It has a lid but we only use the lid during fruit fly season. As a PP suggested, we put a half of a paper egg carton in the bottom to help with liquid/smells. Ours gets dumped as often as daily in high summer to only once every 5 days in winter. We have to use snowshoes to get to the compost bin in winter so try to keep trips to a minimum.

I actually prefer closed but we have to leave ours open. In winter the pipes will freeze if the door is closed for too long.

We are on year 23. We don't talk about it.

I am a fan of his short stories or novellas. Many are far from the traditional horror genre. Skeleton Crew and Four Seasons are the collections I have actual copies of. "The Reach," "The Mist," and "The Body" are my favorites. "The Body" is the story that the movie "Stand by Me" is based on.

I have not. I probably will not be able to any time soon. I am actually pretty locked down but assumed that I would for sure have gotten it after 6 hours in a car with a symptomatic, positive person pre-vaccine. In that case I was PCR tested multiple times in the two weeks after but realize I may have had an asymptomatic case prior to that. It was so long ago, I doubt an antibody test could explain that at this point. I am certainly not going to act like I am super-immune in any case. But when I look at the freak cases like in the OP, I figure there has to be naturally immune people.

I know that there are asymptomatic people who have it but I am wondering about people who just don't seem to catch it at all. With most people, we would probably never know, but the one I am thinking of is tested so frequently for her job that it would be nearly impossible for her to have had it and missed it being caught. I too have been exposed, significantly, a few times, including a long, mask-free car ride with a positive member of my household, and did not get it. I was tested that time (the car ride time) but don't have access to frequent testing so I very well could have had it some other time and not known. So, I don't consider myself to have "super immunity." But I was pondering on the person I know and wondering how on earth she has escaped it. She does pick up other illnesses on a normal basis.

I know of a handful of people that have been exposed over and over and seem to be immune. In one case, the person is very close to me and I know they get PCR tested 5 days after every known exposure and rapid tested twice a week for their job. They have been exposed over and over and not gotten it. They are fully vaccinated and boosted but had been significantly exposed before vaccines were available. I would be especially interested to see any actual legit scientific studies/data on this. But anecdata is also welcome.

Yep. I think the K cups taste terrible. But, I will sub in a good black tea for coffee if I need to and I certainly would not think ill of any host that did not provide coffee to my insane standards. Unless it is my MIL who I am SURE is doing it on purpose. In actuality, despite my severe case of the snobbies, just about any coffee (again, NOT MIL's...what the actual heck?) is better than no coffee.

I suspect that our travels to Europe, including Italy, is where my coffee snobbery started. They do not mess around!

I do think water is part of it. We use filtered water at home. And even when we make our won at MIL's, it is just not quite right. Better than whatever MIL does (seriously....what is she doing?!?!?) but still off.

It is a sickness. I don't know how this happened to me. There was a time when I could drink normal coffee.

My dd competed at the highest level of her sport in early high school and was told by coaches and observers that she showed a lot of promise. She loves her sport and was very much in the driver's seat since dh and I are not athletic at all. A combination of things converged in mid-high school that took her out of the highest levels. Her final growth spurt was a challenge and it is very common for girls in this sport. Some bounce back and others don't. Dd didn't. It happened to coincide with a coaching change (out of our control) and her own choice to temporarily sacrifice some training time to pursue another interest. She knew the latter was a risk and still chose that with our full support. Although, if I am being honest, I don't think she would have bounced back even under the best of circumstances. There is only so much one can do about genetics. And as someone posted earlier, when your birthday falls within the age categories can make all the difference. Dd's happen to be at about the worst time of year for her sport. I am so very glad that what could have become her "identity" did not. In early high school, we were told that she would likely be able to pursue D1 or D2 level in college. That was not to be. She was still 4th in the state her senior year and very much could have gone D3 but chose a school based on other considerations. The school she goes to does have a very active club team (in addition to their high level NCAA team) so she is continuing to train and compete but without the time commitment or pressure. She also has the time to give lessons, which she really enjoys. I think it is the best of both worlds. We did have to say no to some things related to her sport due to time and/or money. She did not have the very best gear (or to be honest, even adequate gear) and she had to forgo some of the very best training and competition opportunities. I don't know that it would have made a difference but I have zero regrets either way. Dd's best teammate friend did overcome her mid-high school growth spurt and is now one of the top athletes in the country. She is truly amazing and is also in love with the sport. Her family as able to afford the time and cash for her to pursue every opportunity. And she did end up with a full-ride scholarship. I bring her up because she did not specialize until high school. She was still playing multiple sports until then and I feel it probably was to her benefit. She was and still is grounded and has many interests outside of her sport. She was, and still is, a great role model for dd. They still occasionally will train together for fun. I feel like the two girls that were told all the same things by the same people had very different but right-for-them outcomes....meaning you really never know.

Huh. Dd had a PayPal account before she was 18. The only issue she ran into is that PayPal would not transfer money to her bank account until she turned 18. I have no idea why. She had to have them mail a check, which was a huge pain. Maybe the rules have changed over time. She just turned 18 a few months ago but got her PayPal account when she was 16.

Dh and I are huge coffee snobs. It is a serious problem and I really wish it weren't so. We have an insanely expensive and ridiculous espresso machine at home. I cannot even justify it. I am a frugal frugal person. This is out of my normal character that it is almost a dirty secret. Unless we are visiting with people we know to also be huge coffee snobs, we bring our own supplies. Drip coffee is an abomination. Instant? Nope. Tea-bag style? Big nope. And amateur use of a French press is also a big nope. My poor MIL, who does not drink coffee, has been in a weird passive-aggressive coffee war with us for 10+ years. She makes terrible coffee. Just terrible. Like, I don't even know what she does to make it so terrible. She knows we bring our own stuff. She makes a game out of getting out of bed before us and making a HUGE pot of nasty coffee and then we are in the awkward position of going coffee-less, choking down the swill, or being very rude by making our own. I think she enjoys watching us squirm. She has had the same bag of pre-ground coffee for years. Years. We usually have some sort of "errand" to run every morning where we sneak out to pound coffee from a local shop. One time when she visited us she "helped us out" by grinding all of the coffee beans in the house!!!!! Who does that? Anyway, I would assess the level of coffee snobbery of your guests. If they are normal people and not freaks like me, I'd get a couple of pour over cones and filters (cheap and easy to store), then pick up a small amount of decent coffee right before they visit. Let them actually make the coffee themselves so they can choose ratios and such. If they are total snobs, tell them to bring their own supplies and equipment. That is their problem, not yours.

I have been a vegetarian for almost 30 years and have been vegan for significant portions of that time. I will not be trying the nuggets. I've never had KFC so have no craving or nostalgia for it and there is not one within 2 hours of my house anyway. But I get why people might. One thing that still very much sucks about being vegetarian when everyone we know and socialize with is not is trying to eat out. Most places now have at least something veggie on the menu but I hate having a special "night out" involve me paying top dollar for yet another round of bland pasta or a sad veggie burger while everyone else is enjoying gourmet food. KFC hardly falls into this category but again, if you have that one vegetarian in the crowd, knowing there is *something* for them to eat means that whole group is more likely to be customers for that meal. I live in an area where the restaurants generally do not put any effort into vegetarian options. We have disposable cash and like to eat out (in non-pandemic times, anyway). But we almost never do unless it is to fulfill a social or work obligation. They are missing not only our patronage but that of our friends too as we usually do meals outside of restaurants due to our not having many options. Smart businesses recognize this. KFC is just looking at their bottom line. We do occasionally buy meat substitutes. We go camping a lot and a huge part of our social culture involves cookouts, bonfires, and picnics. It is just *easier* to grab a package of not dogs or veggie burgers rather than come up with an alternative that is sure to be more complicated to deal with. I make killer homemade veggie burgers that are healthy but it is time consuming process. Very. So, when we get that "BBQ in one hour" call from a friend, I am likely going to grab some veggie burgers on the drive over. We don't even really like them. I also agree and am appalled with Beyond Burgers packaging. There is no reason for that!

I feel for you all. I also work at a university but am now staff after 13 years of teaching. So, I am shielded from much of the exposure. However, my dd is a student here and we also have no vaccine mandate and are full on in-person. We do have mask mandates and the students have been very good about it. Testing is very limited and what little is being done shows that infections are rampant. Dd has so many known exposures, she is just assuming she will get it. Faculty are allowed to go remote at their discretion. Some have. Dd has two classes that went remote right away but at least one plans to go in person again once Omicron settles. Most classes also allow students to go remote as needed as well.

On a similar note, we have a lot of the lab supplies and I'd hate to see them just go to waste. I'd be happy to send to someone for free. You just pay postage.

I have it and was diagnosed as a teen. The clue that tipped off the doctor was that my kneecaps turned freakishly blue when even a little chilled....like while wearing a thin little gown during an annual physical in an air conditioned medical building. I had always assumed everyone got numb fingers and toes when cold until my doctor questioned me. I don't know that having a diagnosis is helpful other than being on your record in case it is a clue to other problems. In my case, there has been no relation to anything else so it is just "information." One thing I have read and tried to be careful about is that it is supposed to get worse the more times you flare. I live in a very cold climate so this means taking careful prevention measures whenever possible. It has indeed gotten worse over time and I also flare up when anxious or stressed. Since I live in a cold climate, in a very old house, it is not possible to keep the heat higher than 65 in the day. My furnace simply will not do better than that on the coldest days and even if it could, we would go broke. So, I have had to adapt by wearing layers, wool, slippers, scarves, hats, and even wrist warmers indoors. I drink tea or hot water all day. When I leave the house, I make sure my mittens are on before I open the door and have learned to do just about everything with mittened hands so I never have to take them off. Gloves are not even a thing for me. Not warm enough. On the colder days, I add hand warmers to mittens and boots.* If I will be standing in one place for long periods of time (this is a thing for me as I volunteer and spectate for a winter sport), I bring a square of foam to stand on. I invest in the highest quality winter outerwear. *I buy these by the case. This can get expensive. Each one should last 8-10 hours and it was frustrating to use them for an hour or two and just toss them. Then I learned you can stop the reaction to use them later. I just put them in a ziplock snack bag to stop the reaction. I can get 3-4 uses out of each which has cut down on the expense and waste....which means I am more likely to use them when I should. I now have a system where I reuse the same set of bags. Each is labeled as 1x, 2x, 3x so I know how many times the warmers in the bags have already been used. I use brand new warmers when I know I will need them for a long period of time and the 3x ones when I just need them for a short period of time. I keep extra bags in my purse and glove box.

Fingers crossed for you too! Under normal circumstances, I would not even consider going on a leisure trip right now, let alone overseas. We have done no "vacationing" since Covid started other than camping in our own camper (which we have admittedly done a LOT). Just thinking about getting on a plane, not to mention THREE each way, makes me very nervous. But this kid lost so much due to Covid. Just like everyone else. And there is no getting back her childhood. It is a risk I am willing to take assuming the laws allow.

I am baffled too. I guess I learn something new every day. I have never had anything but cheap laminate and likely never will unless we win the lottery or something, but I always assumed quartz was indeed QUARTZ and for sure not plastic. What the heck? Everyone I know well enough to enter their homes also has laminate so I have zero experience here but until I read this thread, I would assume you could put anything on quartz (and granite for that matter!).

We are supposed to go to Europe in May. At this point, we are still planning it but who knows? This is a long promised and Covid-delayed trip for dd. If it does not happen this May, it probably never will as she is now an adult and getting that kind of time free will not be possible anymore. Even doing it when we plan was a compromise as we had to shorten the window to squeeze in between the semester ending and her summer job starting. Fingers crossed.