Schools without a mandate are going to be a disaster, right? I wonder what they'll say when it is...

Awesome, thanks!

It's beautiful! The light with greenery outside is wonderful. So relaxing. I hope your MIL can visit soon!

True, but I guess it takes effort to get a fake ID, or a fake vaccine card, so hopefully a bunch of people will just be too lazy to do it.

Yeah, I'm increasingly nervous too. Yikes.

Me too! I was 12 days late which has never ever happened.

Right, but teens with fake IDs can drive drunk. I agree with you that vaccine cards are not the best method, but it's something at least.

Yay Scarlett! Some of DH's family members are unvaccinated. I don't really know why because we're afraid to talk about it lest they go off the deep end as they have too many times before. It's too bad because maybe if we talked to them, we could convince them....or at least give them examples of people who took the vaccine and are fine... but DH isn't willing to open that can of worms. I probably would but I don't mind a little conflict 😄

I'd be happy if I never heard that phrase again. It used to mean being accepting, now it's turned into community responsibility vs. "screw others" individualism.

I haven't heard of any in Maine. I would guess that a lot of places are waiting for FDA approval, then perhaps the COVID vaccine will get added to the list of already required vaccines for kids. I'm not sure of required vaccinations for teachers, though.

I was talking to a family member in this field recently, and she said that BCBAs can make quite a lot of money if you're in the right area. If you wanted to volunteer only, so many schools and other organizations would welcome you with open arms. I'm in special education, and I found that many of the people in the field are my kind of people... Pretty nerdy sometimes, in a good way! And enjoy problem solving and working hard on figuring out difficult challenges. The appreciation from parents and caregivers feels really good. Of course the kids are awesome too.

A different volunteer opportunity would be to provide respite for a family with a child with special needs. I'm sure you can do it without any certifications, but if it became something of interest, there are different certifications which are really interesting. BCBAs are behavior analysts, and I think the next level down is RBT(?) and it would be a really good fit for an intelligent, research-passionate person.

Hopefully the volunteering comes back soon then!

I wonder if shelters are letting people foster animals, even if you can't go in the building. Or maybe a different organization would set that up.

Yes! I say this every time I mow the lawn. Why do I spend time + money to maintain something I don't even use??? I like how the lawn looks, but it's not a masterpiece or anything. We're looking into adding more perennial garden areas (hydrangeas, Lillies, big things that don't require a ton of maintenance) to take up some of the lawn. Don't even get me started on the pinecones that fall everywhere. How can the trees make so many pinecones?!

He sounds like a character 😍 Maybe just give him half as much food and see if he eats it? I had to scale back my cat's food, too. Now she is generally eager at food time. Still, I could give less food bc she leaves some.

Do you leave food out all day, or feed on a schedule?

I see what you mean, but even if that were possible, you could still contract a stealth case later on...

Did you really get vaxxed solely to protect others? You're not at all comforted by perhaps getting milder symptoms if you do get infected?

I'll be cynical and say that professors are really busy. They probably don't have time to write on your paper. Grading is subjective, so what is a 92 for one professor is a 100 for another, and an 80 for another.... When you get the degree, nobody cares about grades unless you want to pursue grad school. (And even then, I got into grad school with mediocre grades!)

Start learning a language? Duolingo is free, and if I spend a little time on it I feel like I've accomplished something at least a little bit worthwhile. I'm pretty terrible at pronouncing other languages, but okay at learning to read them. I think it will be fun to read a book like Harry Potter in another language.

Maybe I should be tested for this.

Adding to this, I think I would be pretty mad if I knew that someone had potential covid symptoms and did not try to figure out what it was before going out into the world. If you can stay home all the time, fine, but it's a different story if you need to access anything outside your home. If you're a person that gets random sore throats like me, it's going to be challenging.....

Throat better today. I'll do another BINAX at 36 hours. Question is, at what point are people supposed to do a PCR? Or even a home rapid test? Since I have a sore throat, am I obligated to try to find out what it is? (I do want to know if it's covid, but I'm not sure if I should definitely seek out a PCR.) I could see a family doing rapid tests all the time, if they're the kind of family that catches everything that goes around.

Yes... I'm going to do another BINAX tomorrow and go from there. On the plus side, I usually get a hives-ish rash with viruses (and did with the Covid vaccine) and I don't have one now... Hopefully it stays that way.