Thanks, that's good to know.

Soooo my mom sent her tax return to the wrong address. She went online and all the IRS customer services lines are closed. Is there a way to contact them that's not by phone? I tried looking around the IRS site and wasn't successful. Any ideas?

Good idea! I'm looking at hugulkulture now... that's a new word for me 🙂

Maybe I'll go for two beds, but narrower. I'm not great at visualizing sizes of things, so I have to go measure it out.

Cardboard... genius! My mom uses it to smother weeds all the time. I didn't even think of it.

Wow. Just wow. It's horrible to have to choose between the right to vote and potentially catching a life threatening virus. Add this to the list of things I just don't understand. Sorry you had to experience that.

Of course - I wasn't saying that our doctors and nurses around the country aren't heroic. I am constantly blown away by the sacrifices our medical personnel are making for their fellow citizens. It's incredible. I was just expressing my opinion that I wish our country could have one medical system, to make coordination between hospitals easier, to make insurance less confusing for everyone, etc. I'm not extremely informed about the nitty gritty of other countries' universal health systems, but I feel like we could do so much better if things were more streamlined. And if everyone was just enrolled in health insurance because they... are citizens. A close friend of mine just went through some major health crises. She had to deal with doctors from multiple specialties, coordinate sending records between offices, realizing a couple times that the medications prescribed to her by different doctors actually had serious side effects when put together... etc. I don't understand why my non-medical friend had to be the one doing that. It was so hard for her to do while being extremely sick. And that's with great insurance.

One thing I hope happens as a result of this horrific situation is that people will finally understand the value of a national health care system. I see the Brits cheering their NHS, the prime minister praising the NHS... and I just really want to have that here, too.

I'm not sure... definitely a bit on gas, and I'm not impulse buying at the grocery store. I went into stock-up mode and bought "essentials" so I don't have anything junky. I may have made a mistake on that one!

I got permission to put a raised bed in my yard (we rent). I've gardened before, but never in a raised bed, and always with tons of space. So far I'm planning to just get some boards and make a 4x8 rectangle. Our local gardening store delivers soil, mulch, and plants. Do I need to dig up the grass underneath the bed, or will filling the bed with soil/mulch be enough to squelch the grass? And does 4x8 sound like a good size? On my list are green beans, beets, spinach, lettuce, chard, basil (lots!), parsley, and some zucchinis that can hang off the edge and trail onto the grass.

I've been using Explain Everything with some of my students. It's a virtual whiteboard, and two people can use it simultaneously. It's fantastic, and free for educators. Your student just needs a touchscreen device (iPad, laptop with touchscreen, etc). I highly recommend it!

Ugh! Sorry! My Shaw's isn't delivering anymore either. I'm going to have to get a pickup slot somehow... ugh.

Waaah 😞 Sorry!! That stinks.

Me too. I'm heartbroken for my dyslexic kids that are missing 3 months of instruction. I'm trying via video, but... 😞

It's not all the Shaw's, though... hopefully yours!

Of course, use the idea! I think I'll make a sign for my mail carrier. Yes, Shaw's actually delivers! I usually never go in there because I hate it... it's always so dark and yucky compared to Hannaford. But I've changed my tune, because home delivery is really fantastic. A coworker turned me on to it.

I haven't done Hannaford pickup yet, but I got my first Shaw's home delivery on Monday! I made my list on the Shaw's website and the delivery day was 5 days out. That was fine with me so I made a gigantic list. Like magic, a delivery person brought everything to my doorstep on Monday evening. I had made a "thank you!" sign and she smiled and waved 🙂 I got almost everything on my list, with a few substitutions.

Good!!

Hahaha oh my gosh, I didn't even think of that! Yikes! Maybe I should wait a while 😄

I love that!!!

Even in regular old flu season, I wear thin gloves (just regular winter gloves, like thin mitten liner gloves) while grocery shopping. I never take my gloves off until I get home, and they go straight into the washing machine. I just can't stand touching the cart handle or basket handle when I know someone with the flu may have sneezed on it. Maybe it's a false sense of security, but I do hope that wearing gloves (then and now) does a little something.

Haha - just the one kneecap, or do you do both for symmetry?

Yes, I see what you mean. I just wonder if my postal carrier will think... why is this person ordering clothes from home while the rest of us have to be out there working? I also wonder about places where non-essential workers have to stay home... would that include people who fill online clothing orders? I'd imagine so... ?

I've been online window shopping as a way to do something mindless. My goal for the next school year is to have a capsule-ish wardrobe of things that I truly like wearing, and that actually look good on me. I tend to have 3 shirts that I really like and then a whole lot that are just not right, but I bought them anyway. Every work morning is full of wasted time trying to decide between outfits that I don't really feel good wearing. Time to break that cycle! I'm wondering about ordering clothes online now. So many stores are having 50% off sales (JCrew Factory, for example, has an expensive linen blazer that I love and would probably wear all the time, half off!), likely because people aren't shopping as much. But what about the factory workers, who pack my order? The postal employees? Am I selfish for online shopping? I haven't bought anything yet, but I"d like to. What does the Hive think?

I'm having groceries delivered now, but when I did go to the store two weeks ago, I wore a mask and gloves. About gloves... can't viruses get in through breaks in the skin? If that's the case, then I think wearing gloves is a very good idea. My hands are so dry, there are tiny cracks all over. Plus, even though gloves get contaminated immediately, I like the fact that I can take them off and the contamination (most of it) goes immediately. Then I can wash my hands and hopefully get most of the virus off.