We do not mask outdoors unless in close contact with others. I run/ski/hike daily and I do pass others on the trails. I always carry a mask but have only had to use it a handful of times. We also socialize with our 4-family bubble, outdoors, spaced, and without masks. It is generally windy (and now cold/snowy) here most days and masking compliance overall is very low, even indoors. I almost never ever see anyone with a mask on outdoors. Our infection rates are soaring here now but almost all outbreaks are linked to long term care facilities, restaurants, bars, schools, and private gatherings. There have been no local reports of outbreaks from outdoor gatherings or activities. Not to say it doesn't happen but does not seem to have hit the contact tracing monitor.

Thanks! I do plan to use unsalted air-popped corn and a few cranberries to make it look nicer. Orange slices too. Just wanted to be sure popcorn was not harmful to birds.

I think she would like perfume but unfortunately, I cannot tolerate it and we still live in the same house! Even heavily scented hair/body products can set me off so we try to avoid them as much as possible. That is one danger with the spa-type boxes.

This is great. Might be too pricey for us but keeping it in the hopper.

Great ideas! I thinks he'd LOVE the ICONfitbox but it looks like it is out of business. I wonder if I can find something similar?

Our family has an annual holiday tradition of making treats for the birds (and squirrels). When we started the tradition, we threaded cranberries onto string and looped it onto the traditional bird treat tree in the yard. This was very pretty but it turned out the birds were not into these berries. So we switched to other treats like shaped seed cakes using cookie cutters and pinecone peanut butter treats. The birds liked those much more but making them was just not the same warm-fuzzy experience of sitting on the floor stringing berries with hot chocolate and a Christmas movie. This is our only child's last Christmas before she goes to college. With all of the disappointments from the pandemic and a great deal of anxiety from other bad luck our family has been experiencing this year, I am trying to be super mindful of making this holiday season as special for dd as I can. She recently was lamenting how much she missed the cranberry years. I'd like to do something more like that this year. What can we string into garlands that birds will actually like to eat? It will be below freezing so any precipitation would be in the form of snow. Do birds like popcorn? Anything other ideas?

I am looking for modestly priced subscription box ideas as a Christmas gift. There is so MUCH out there, I cannot narrow anything down. Anyone have ideas? I'd like 3-6 monthly deliveries. Recipient is into sketching, painting, music, travel, all things outdoors/camping/hiking, and pampering/spa. She is not really into makeup or nails. And she hates knickknacks so consumables would be best.

I'm old and grouchy too but I have to say there is unlimited music being created every day. Most pop radio music is indeed dreadful. And if I did not have nostalgic memories of much of the popular music from my teens, I'd probably think it was dreadful too. But there is just so much else out there! I find new music that I enjoy almost every day. The thing I have missed the most during this pandemic is live music.

For the Arrested Development fans, they are STILL TOURING. We saw them a few years ago, dd included, and it was one of the best shows I have ever attended. I also subjected myself to a NIN concert many years ago. It was terrible, actually. One of the worst performances I ever attended. No limits here. We do have rules about not being obnoxious, in general, so anything that was annoying someone else in public spaces would be discussed. But we are a huge music family and we listen to literally any genre from classical to country to rap to techno. We spend most of our (pre-pandemic) travel time attending and/or performing live music and it is almost a family competition to see who can drag home the best new music find. We did a bit of a study on "offensive" lyrics not long ago only to learn that often (but not always) what comes across as crass and distasteful has meaning that was hard for people from our perspective to understand. If dd started routinely playing a song that had concerning lyrics, we would discuss them rather than ban.

This has been a big topic of conversation where I live. Most people are hoping that what we learned during the pandemic will mean the end of snow days. We have a LOT of snow days. We get a great deal of snow and our districts are far flung with some students spending an hour or more on buses. Our road crews do great and even when we get 24+ inches overnight, our main roads are cleared and all looks fine from my windows. What we can't see is the scene for those long bus routes with many roads not cleared until late in the day. While the first few snow days of the year are happy occasions for most students, it gets old quickly, especially for middle school and older. We have 10 days scheduled into he annual calendar but go over every year which means staying in school into the summer. And they miss out on everything for that day, be it a long awaited basketball game or a band concert or holiday party. The worst is when the day before a long break gets cancelled and some end up home for two weeks without their band instrument or snow pants or whatever else they left in their locker. We have homeschooled the whole time and I used to get flack from outsiders that I did not declare a snow day every time the schools cancelled. I did always try to shorten the day so dd could get together with her free friends but if I took the whole day off every time, it would be very disruptive. We did used to take "sun days" a lot before dd was high school age. Our weather can be so oppressive and dreary that I would much rather take a day off when we could be outside soaking up some rare sun rather than on an already dismal day.

My senior was strongly contemplating going directly into the music industry (no college) but has changed her mind due to Covid. She is now going to school for engineering. Ha ha! She figures she will at least pick up a degree to wait and see how the music industry shakes out post-pandemic.

I have been in contact with them about this. There seems to a lack of understanding about why this is a problem specifically for homeschooled kids. This is a state school and our state uses the SAT as a standardized test so almost all of their applicants have no problem producing test results. I keep trying to explain that these tests get cancelled over and over and I just get a "nobody else seems to have this problem" attitude back. They did relent and allowed her to be admitted without the tests but only because she is already a DE student there with a 4.0. The closest I have to any hope, aside from a test actually going at some point, is the school said they might add an essay option for merit aid but would not make that call until summer if enough people still have "a problem with testing" AND there is still merit aid left in the budget. That is a long time to be in financial limbo for us. There is really nothing I can do except wait. And vent!

I find straight up baking soda actually works better for some tasks that the heavy duty chemical cleaners, especially in the kitchen. I have a white enamel sink (never again!) and grease eventually builds up even though I wash it with dish soap and a scrubby every day. A generous dusting of baking soda and a scrubby takes it all down to factory white. I have not found anything that works better. Same with the gas stove top. Some cleaners scratch the surface but baking soda doesn't scratch and cleans just as well. In both cases, I usually follow up by spraying with straight white vinegar, let sit for a few minutes, and wipe down to get it all shiny.....especially the faucet parts. This is so engrained in my household that when dd took a temp job cleaning out college apartments (GROSS), she requested BS for kitchens after the first day because the heavy duty chemical stuff was just not cutting it in the sinks and stove surfaces.

You are definitely not alone! My dd is graduating this year. We had very little college savings but had planned to be able to pay as we went from our normal income. But dh lost his job back in March and has not found a new one so that plan got altered. And our FAFSA is based on our pre-job-loss income so dd will not qualify for anything but unsubsidized loans. Between all of that and Covid, dd changed her college plans significantly and has chosen the local university, at least to start. She may get merit aid (if she can EVER take the SAT or ACT) but even if she does, she will have to take out loans. If we have a viable CC option, we would encourage her to do that but since we don't, this is the most economical option for her. Student loan debt is no fun and I think all students should do what they can to minimize it, but it also is not the end of the world. I had a great deal as did dh. We paid it off and moved on.

We for sure will! It's just a strange balancing act with Covid and travel and costs and the possibility of cancellation after taking the risk and costs of travel. Not to mention prepping only to have the tests cancelled at the last minute! I think we could swing the two hour drive on test day but all sites further away are going to require overnights. So frustrating. I love where I love most of the time but it is times like these that the geographic isolation really bites us. We gave up on AP tests altogether.

Lots of great ideas! I am filing some of these away for next year. Maybe I won't have to bug you all again. The solar ball light is a for sure and I think I am going to look for some choral, exercise, and/or travel DVDs although I am not certain they have a player. I think they would LOVE the livestream tickets but they don't have a computer. I like the subscription box idea too. I have done the bird feeder gift. Twice, actually. But they now have too much trouble keeping the feeders full. Even the window kind. This will be my 25th year coming up with gifts for this couple so it's hard not to recycle!

If they only knew how famous they are!

I love the light idea! They have a big deck that this would go well on.

That is very true! We exchange letters pretty often. I am not a "keeper" but I wish I had one of theirs from years ago that I could do something with. They really don't need any stuff. At all. But I think this year especially, I'd hate for them to have nothing to open on Christmas morning. I wish food were an option.

I thought about something like this or the travel memorabilia idea. I just don't have any of their photos to use. They don't even own a computer so I'd need physical copies which would be hard to get from them, I think. They isolate their mail for a minimum if 7 days so any process involving physical exchange of photos would likely take too long to get gifts to them a minimum of 7 days before Christmas. I have seen really cool photos of their wedding, 50+ years ago, but don't know how to get them.

We have done donations in the past. I don't think they really got into that. They donate to charities on a level WAY above what we can afford to spend on a gift so that might be it. I also think they really enjoy getting a physical gift. I'm not sure how they spend their time now. Before the pandemic, the were very active in their church, participated in multiple singing groups, went to the senior gym daily, ate out almost daily, and were active in some special interest societies. My guess is that they watch a lot of TV.

Dd is a senior. She has been trying to take the ACT since last April. Her next attempt was to be 12/12. We have not heard anything directly from ACT but I directly asked the testing center she is slated for and they said they will not be administering the test due to new state Covid mandates. There is another site two hours away. I just called them. They too will be cancelling. After that our options are all 4+ hours away into an even bigger Covid hotspot than we have here. My. Head. Is. Going. To. Explode. She is already accepted to her college of choice. But she needs significant merit aid and the only way for homeschooled students to qualify for merit aid at this college is test scores. So, I checked into SAT. Our closest site is two hours away. They have already cancelled the 12/5 test. This means March is the next opportunity for that site. Again, next closest is 4+ hours away. This is getting ridiculous. Update - So, I kept checking the cancellation list and our site never appeared. Holding the test would be against the current state mandate and as far as I can tell, every other site in my state cancelled. Additionally, our test center is a university that has even stricter Covid rules. I don't know how the proctoring is contracted but I did contact the university's test center a second time about the possibility of cancellation. They do not actually handle the proctoring or know anything about it other than to tell me again that holding the test would be in direct violation of both state and university mandates and that they were 100% sure it would have to be cancelled. All of the previous test dates for this center had been cancelled under much more lax state and campus rules. Dd ceased prepping completely after my second call. But. Last Friday night, the center is still not on the cancellation list. So, we set an alarm and dd prepares to take the test (which just means explaining what a #2 pencil is and frantically tearing apart the house to find a couple). She gets there on Saturday morning and sure enough, the test is ON. The university had lowered the heat and ceased cleaning some buildings when students had to go 100% remote and employees were no longer allowed to come to campus (aside from essential workers). So the building was very cold, trash overflowing, floors muddy, restrooms out of toilet paper, etc.... Only 7 students showed up. The proctor said that over 40 were registered and he asked the group if anyone had gotten any correspondence directly from the university telling them not to come. He also told them he expected that the building doors would be locked or that they would get kicked out by campus security since they were violating the campus rules. Dd was totally stressed out as were the others. She thought every tiny sound was security coming in to evict them all. So. Dd has taken the test and will at least have a score. She did not prep. She needs a 29. Fingers crossed. If she did not get at least a 29, she will have to prep and retest....which means doing this all again..... Or maybe just not go to college because this is seriously all too much! New Update - She got a 30!!!!! Phew. It is OVER. I know she will not be happy with her math score but all that matters in the number for merit aid. That's it!

I think I start a thread about finding gifts for these people every year. You did not disappoint last year! I need Christmas gift ideas for a couple in their mid-80s that live independently in their own home. They are very very VERY hard to gift. Here are the parameters: Cannot involve food in any way. They have many unknown-to-me food restrictions. They are very Covid concerned and rarely leave the house. So experience gifts like museum memberships or concert tickets will not be used. They are not currently doing take out and for sure no in person restaurant dining. They are hoarders so I hesitate to contribute to that problem. No knickknacks, for instance. One has an allergy to live plants so flowers are out. They buy anything they need as they need it. This also means they have every "service" like delivery and yard care covered. They do not like/use scented or luxury items like candles, bubble bath, etc.... They do not drink alcohol. They do not enjoy reading, puzzles, or playing games. They are both mobility limited and *very* hard of hearing. I have absolutely no idea on clothing sizes and they are both very picky about clothing in general so that is off the table. They are not family to us so things like personalized calendars or mugs are not really appropriate. They do not do a tree so ornaments are out. We live ten hours away so we cannot gift them our services in any way. Not to mention Covid. Last year someone here suggested an indoor/outdoor digital weather station. This was a huge hit and something I never would have thought of. One year I made them microwavable corn bags in various sizes which they loved so much, they wore them out and I got to gift them a second set a few years later.....which was very handy for me! They used to travel internationally a great deal and have a particular interest in all things Scandinavian, so that is one lead. We are not family but they have no family of their own. They do not have children and all of their relatives have passed on. They used to be quite social but many/most of their friends have either passed away or are in locked down senior living situations. Aside from their pastor, I think I am the only one who checks in on them. For instance, I was the one to sew and mail them masks as they had no idea how to safely get some on their own at that time. Ours might be the only gifts they get this year. It does not have to be fancy....in fact it can't be too fancy as our budget is quite limited. Work your magic mighty Hive!

I miss it for sure! We used to eat out 1-2 times a week as a family and I would usually one other time a week with friends. I don't find almost any of the local restaurants have food that is better than what I can make at home and it is for sure a waste of money but I liked having a couple meals each week that I did not have to plan, cook, and clean up after. We do take-out once a week now, mostly just so I only have to deal with 20 meals a week instead of 21 and to support our local businesses. Take out is even less appetizing than eating at the restaurant so it is not a "treat" really. I live in an area with few restaurants and almost all are on the bland side. We are vegetarian in a meat-and-potatoes kind of town so that further complicates things. When I go to a city, however, I often plan half of my trip around restaurants. We love love LOVE trying new ethnic foods. And it is very exciting to open a menu and find more than the two token vegetarian dishes listed. Some of my most memorable travel experiences have involved food. There is a food truck in Switzerland somewhere that I can still taste if I concentrate hard enough.

I have an old pillow case hung up for collection of hankies and cleaning cloths. I dump the whole thing in the washer, case and all. No touching.