We live in an anti-vaccine, no mask area that has just experienced a terrible wave of COVID. Thankfully, rates are going back down now. COVID has plowed unmercifully through people my age. It has not changed the behavior of the people here. Our county has one of the lowest vaccine rates in our state. Masks are not mandated in our schools and the schools have not closed even when rates were at their highest. We are all vaccinated even my teens who are almost 17 and 19. My husband and I are both RNs and wear masks/appropriate PPE throughout our work day. We have had discussions and educated the kids about COVID and decreasing the spread of the disease and protecting themselves. The elderly and vulnerable in our family are all vaccinated and we live about 2 hrs from them. We would not visit them if any of us were sick or showing signs of COVID. That being said, though the kids know I would prefer them to wear their masks I know my high schooler does not when it’s not required. He goes to a small private school where masks are encouraged but not enforced. Very few kids wear them. His friends do not. He had multiple close exposures to COVID last year but did not get it. I consider his risk to be very low in catching severe COVID. His immune system has always been strong and he rarely gets sick. He knows I would prefer him to wear a mask but at his age, I cannot enforce this when he’s away from me. He also has had some other things he is struggling with which I consider to be more detrimental then him being possibly alienated from his friends. My college kid wears her mask but in my opinion not consistently. Again, at her age, I don’t have control over her mask wearing. Since I am not able to control them when they are away from me, and they are low risk, I do not make a big deal over them not wearing their mask. There are other things, like their driving, that I am more concerned about right now.

How would I know if they are sealed or not? There is a shiny finish on them.

We just moved into a new build house that has light colored granite in the kitchen and bathrooms. We’ve never had granite before. When water is left on the granite, the granite has a gray stain where the water was. The stain so far then fades. I’ve been crazy trying to keep everything wiped and cleaned. I’m so scared that if left long enough, the stain won’t fade. Is this normal for granite? I thought granite was preferred over Formica but this is making me miss my Formica counter tops. Please help me care for my new counter tops.

What we did in this situation was to get a love seat that pulled out into a double bed. We bought it at one of those hotel discount places where you can buy used hotel furniture. Ours was less than 100$ and it was in like new condition. It’s about 6 years old now and we slept in it a few months ago when were painting our master bedroom. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it sleeps.

We will be moving into a new house in a few weeks and I’ve been thinking about all the work that needs to be done. I have always put contact paper in the kitchen cabinets and drawers because that’s what my Mom said to do. Now I’m questioning if it’s necessary. What’s the point of contact paper?

My dd got her score just a little bit ago. She scored high enough to dual enroll at our local university. She has worked so hard this past year to increase her score and is over the moon happy.

Cranberry sauce in a can canned soups Cheese Whiz Total Cereal

My dh and I are in the beginning stages of looking for a new home. I have always heard that older homes are made better than newer ones. My dh says this is a myth and it depends on the builder. He wants to get new construction. To me, so many of the new construction homes are so bland. It seems like everything is done in gray and white and the kitchens are so small. I think our money would stretch further with an older home. I would love to hear what the hive has to say. And also, how do you know if the home is built well?

My state has a great dual enrollment program. My dd transitioned easily from TPS 3 into college English this past year. It made a lot of sense for us, since the college English could be taken online and was free. My oldest son years ago only completed TPS English 4 before he graduated from high school. He said that he was more prepared for college English than his other college classmates. Is dual enrollment an option for you?

Have you looked into Khan Academy? My dd is using it now.

I’m looking for recommendations to teach my youngest to type. I used Typing Instructor Platium years ago for my older two but am wondering if there isn’t something better now. Thanks 😀

I did talk with the vet yesterday about my concerns. The vet believes she has a back injury and started her on the muscle relaxant robaxin. Hopefully between the metacam and the robaxin she will improve. If not the vet says we will need to take her to the neurologist about an hour away. She has her first dose of robaxin last night and this morning she woke up perky and more herself instead of being in pain. She still has the back leg weakness though. If that doesn’t improve, we’ll take her to the neurologist but i’m happy her pain is being controlled better.

I didn’t know what a chi pin was and had to look it up. That’s my dog! Her father was a full min pin but her mother was a chihuahua/corgi mix. The only thing my dog got from her father was her black and tan coloring. She looks like a chihuahua with really, really big corgi ears. She is genetically more min pin but sure doesn’t look like it. I’ll try to attach a photo. The picture is of her when she was really fat. She’s not that heavy now.

Thanks for your reply. The vet did palpate along her back at each one of our visits the way you describe. As for her food, goodness, that could be a whole other post. I don’t know why dog nutrition is so difficult and complex. I’ve done my best to be informed but I have found a whole bunch of conflicting information and boy, can people be passionate and argumentive over it. I do use crushed/powdered egg shells for calcium. I also use differing meats (including organ meats), veggies and grains each time I make a batch of dog food. I hope that by rotating the ingredients that overall her nutrition is complete. I have not been supplementing her food with vitamins and perhaps I should look into that again. To be honest, I wish I could control my kids’ diet the way I control my dog’s. The dog eats way healthier. What is it with teens and junk food?

Thank you for responding. The link you have was very informative and it makes me wonder if she is somewhere between a grade 1 and 2. Before the metacam, she did have intense shaking and restlessness. She also walks with her back feet too close together making her back end wobbly.

Thank you for responding. Would she have this if she doesn’t have any other symptoms of urinary problems? She has had no difficulty urinating, no frequency, urgency or incontinence and no fever. I do make her dog food and recently increased the amount of protein that I use. I wonder if that has something to do with it. I’m waiting for the vet to call me back and will ask her about it.

I agree that 6 would be young for arthritis. We dealt with arthritis in an elderly dog before and it’s not presenting like this. In fact, the night before this started she walked 3 miles with us and chased squirrels with no problems. Before all this she was an active, healthy dog. She did have 2 xrays on the first day we took her to the vet. At the time, the vet thought she had eaten something she shouldn’t have and was ruling out a bowel obstruction. After several days and other things had been ruled out, the vet mentioned the possibility of a back injury but did say the xrays were normal but there were things that wouldn’t show on X-ray. She is not running or jumping at all now, even when she is perky and the pain meds are working. Her back legs seem weak and wobbly. The vet was not looking for urinary crystals or stones. It was actually surprising when her urine was cloudy and the U/A came back positive for UTI. Except for the symptoms I’ve already mentioned, she has shown no signs of urinary problems. I would have thought that after a week of treatment she should be getting better but she’s not. Maybe she’s on the wrong antibiotic for the organism that’s causing the UTI or there is something else wrong? If this is a back injury, what would our next step be?

I will, thank you. She is 6.

There’s something wrong with our little dog and we haven’t figured it out yet. Please help We have a 13 lb min pin mix. Two weeks ago we noticed some lethargy, periodic shaking, and decreased appetite. We figured she had eaten something she shouldn’t have, put her on a bland diet and pushed fluids. After a few days and she got worse, we took her to the vet. After several trips to the vet over a few days, x rays, labs and IV fluids we were able to rule out bowel obstruction and pancreatitis. The vet felt like she had injured her back but then her urinalysis came back positive for a UTI. She was put on the antibiotic simplicef and on metacam once a day for pain. We were also given tramadol but it wasn’t as good as the metacam for her pain and we just use it for breakthrough pain. She’s been on the antibiotic now for over a week and though her pain is better controlled with the metacam, she’s not getting better. In the mornings when it’s time for her to get her metacam, she’s shaking with her hackles up, head and tail down and she’s not interested in food. After she gets her pain med, she’s perky with her ears and tail up and she’ll eat her breakfast. But even on the meds, her back legs seem wobbly and she won’t jump on the furniture. She even has difficulty going up one step. She’ll let me palpate all over her back and legs with no sign of pain. But her activity is greatly decreased and she won’t run and do the things she normally does. She is not herself. Any ideas?

My father served several tours in Vietnam. He came from a military family, went to a military college and was career USAF. My father was an amazing man who had an exemplary career and was a wonderful father. I consider myself fortunate to be an Air Force brat who has lived all over the world. My childhood was very sheltered growing up on different military bases. But I believe he had undiagnosed PTSD. I didn’t notice the alcohol problem until I was an older teen. After he retired from the Air Force, his health began to unravel. When he died unexpectedly in his sleep at 66, his health was poor. But I was thankful he didn’t commit suicide. Not recognizing the PTSD back then but knowing something was really wrong, I begged doctors to help with his drinking problem. He never got the help he really needed. I started watching the Ken Burns documentary but couldn’t watch more than a few episodes. Knowing that my father lived through that and that it stole so much from him broke my heart. I spoke at my father’s funeral because I wanted him to be remembered as the honorable man he was and not the broken man he became at the end.

We went through something like this with our dog. Some of the things that helped were to do some basic training such as sit, leave it and look at me. We had to do this daily not just when she was barking. Leave it and look at me helps with all sorts of behavioral problems. There’s lots of videos on YouTube that shows how to teach it. Also wearing her out so that she was too tired to bark helped too. For our dog, she did it because she was bored and just liked barking at night.

I’m a nurse and have seen the devastating effects of meningitis. It’s heart wrenching horrible. My kids get this vaccine.

I’m in my 16th year of homeschooling. I agree with so many of the pros and cons that have already been written. For me, one of the biggest pros is the relationship I have with my children. I really enjoy spending time with them. I’ve got 2 teens and a 20 yo and though the parent child relationship is still there, I see it evolving into something based on mutual respect and admiration. One of the biggest cons is the sports aspect for my athletic kid. In this area, once homeschoolers hit middle school there is very little for serious athletes. For this reason, this year will probably be my last as a homeschooler. We are most likely putting our youngest in school next year.

I think your cabinets are beautiful. I would not paint them.

We got married the summer before our senior year in college. I was mostly independent from my parents by that point. After I got married, I did not need their help. Getting married actually helped me tremendously. I finally qualified for the Pell Grant and that paid my last year in school.