Yay, what I want has been confirmed! I'm interested in people's experiences of introducing two cats. A friend of mine is doing it now and is having some ups and downs.

The title says it all 🙂 I adopted a cat in June, and she's three years old. She is very sweet and playful. I've been watching some Jackson Galaxy videos, and he says that cats are social creatures and always live in groups in the wild, and recommends that everyone who has one cat should get another. I've only ever had single cats. I love the idea of two, but I don't want to ruin her life. Should I give it a try? And what age? My guru Jackson says that age and gender don't really matter, but matching energy levels is important.

I don't know if I've ever heard it spoken out loud. In my mind it's always been eh-pock.

I'm still moderately cautious. Maybe mildly. I mask at the large grocery store. Sometimes at the small one. I haven't been masking at places where I dash in and out. I mask at school if there are kids in my room who are visibly sick. I really should mask all the time. There's something horrible going around here. It sounds like the flu, and it's lasting a solid week.

Have you heard of UFLI? It's phonics-based, explicit, sequential. I think it's geared more to typical readers in that it's designed to be used in a classroom... but you could just go at your own pace. There have short lessons which come decodable books and slide decks (like sound cards, but a google slide show). It's also cheap! https://ufli.education.ufl.edu/foundations-materials/

Like... ALL the forks? Or just one?

We usually don't lose power, but who knows with the saturated soil. I drove past the harbor and lots of boats are still in...

YAY!

I'm wearing these pants to work almost every day. They'd look good with sneakers. Kinda $$ but I think they'll last a while. What about non-jean pants (gray, green, etc) paired with a jean jacket? Most tops work with a jean jacket. I like to wear solid-colored tops and a fun necklace. Some classrooms require no hanging necklaces/lanyards, though.

Sending lots of good vibes for the interviews! Do you have a good interview outfit picked out? First impressions are huge.

Sorry, didn't mean to add stress to stress!

My friend with sarcoidosis has been on prednisone (low dose) for YEARS, with way, way less severe symptoms than Melissa. Maybe I just don't get the Australian medical system, but it seems like everything has taken forever up to this point. I haven't been in an American hospital, either, but surely it wouldn't take over a month to figure it out here?

My friend has a Korean lilac and it's beautiful!

Schools in my district would hire you to be an ed tech with zero experience, so I think you've got a great shot.

My thinking is that RBTs are probably in high demand, so you could maybe get a job without already having all of the requirements. I wonder if the pay is doable, though. I did see some ads where you can get insurance, paid time off, etc.

Prana pants have really long inseams. This person could try some cheaper pairs from ThredUP and see if they're a match. I'm 5'8 and they're like 2 inches too long for me most of the time.

I'm sure there's a ton of variation in these jobs... so yes, work on the course for now and find out if you even think it's interesting. Hopefully you will 🙂

I did a quick google search for RBT jobs in the New Orleans area, and it looks like there are a lot. I'm sure some places are better than others though.

Yay!! I hope you love it.

That is an absolutely fantastic idea!!!!!!! It's such a fascinating field. The training is like $85, and it's all online. You just need to take a test after. I've been looking into becoming a BCBA, which is the person who supervises the RBTs. YAY! Such a great idea.

Thank you, this is really helpful! It sounds so much like what's going on with me. In fact, I did see a rheumatologist years ago and he said, well, sometimes you don't know what something is until it finally turns into something we can recognize. At the time I thought this was a rather flippant response, but now I guess I see what he meant! How are things for you now?

It's both hands, sometimes one or the other, sometimes both at the same time. Very occasionally a knee or a toe joint. I don't think there was ferritin or c-reactive protein this time.

No, no medications.

Yes, x-rays a while back... nothing. No allergies either, and no recent infections I know about. Maybe the test result was a fluke.

I had an annual physical and lab work this week. I talked to my doctor again about my usual issue, which is joint pains in my wrist (mild to moderate) and sometimes index fingers (usually mild). It doesn't affect me too much in my daily life, but sometimes it does bother me at times. It started when I was 28 and now I'm 40, and no lab work has ever shown anything. The pain comes and goes, sometimes constant for a while, sometimes disappearing for weeks or a month. This most recent round of lab work was perfect mostly - rheumatoid factor, sed rate, thyroid, B12, iron, etc - and the only thing that was high was something I've never heard of, monocytes percent. A quick google search says they're a type of white blood cell that is associate with an infection or autoimmune disease. The range is 5-12% and my was 16%. Is this something to be concerned about, or is 16% really nothing? I'm actually kind of hoping it's something because I got the feeling that the doctor thought I was exaggerating or being kind of a hypochondriac (12 years of perfect labs probably make it seem so), and I also want some kind of explanation for the joint stuff.