I had Covid, so was told my side effects after the first dose may be stronger. I never felt anything other than when I touched the injection site, I felt like I had a slight bruise. I had my second dose earlier today, it’s been 9 hours and so far I don’t feel anything. My husband had his second dose last week, he felt a slight headache around bedtime, but was fine the next day. He went to work and didn’t have any issues. We both had Pfizer. I hope you have minimal side effects as well!

Prior to Covid you could. Currently my Kroger does not accept any returns, so they would tell you to donate or give them to someone. If they charged you for 8 boxes they would give you your money back though, they just wouldn’t want the raspberries back in the store.

This is the reason that when I order pickup, I chose during the day on a weekday. I’m much less likely to end up with a teenage boy, who doesn’t always work on that department, doing my picking. 😆

Every spring out garage gets overrun with mice and moles. We requested mouse traps, the regular snap kind. The first order we got sticky pads, which isn’t that strange but not what we wanted. So on the next order we put in the notes that if regular traps aren’t available, don’t substitute with sticky traps. We got RAT traps. They were huge! My husband was dying laughing wondering how he was going to catch a tiny mole in our garage with one of those.

Given the ages of your kids, I would wait on Bill Bryson, it’s been a couple years since I read it but it’s definitely more swearing that James Herriot. It’s also geared toward adults so the two younger girls may not get it. James Herriot was another book (really books) I was going to recommend.

That sounds like an adventure! How old are your kids? Given that you have liked similar books to me, you might like “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.” read by LaVar Burton, with some recordings of speeches by MLK. If your kids are teens and you are ok with some swearing, this book had me in stitches: Bill Bryson “The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain”. I don’t remember how long it is, but probably not long enough for the entire bike ride.

Saying a prayer for you!

I have an 11 year old, she still likes the younger girl styles despite being occasionally in women’s xtra small. I found her piano recital/ Easter dress this year through JCrew. It’s a sleeveless dress with a full skirt. It came with a ribbon around the waist that looked kind of cheap so we replaced it. Similar to this. A crinoline could go under it but she doesn’t like wearing them. The clothes do tend to be expensive, so get on the mailing list and look for promo codes. I have had good luck in the past with Mini Boden (although she is really to the edge of fitting their girls’ sizes) and the Tea Collection as well but didn’t see anything dressy and her style when I was looking a couple months ago. I tend to shop the clearance to find good deals from both. You could try looking on ThreadUp or similar to see if you can find past styles.

I think if you had lost your smell or taste completely, you would have noticed. It is a pretty strange feeling. I first noticed it drinking a glass of cool water, I noticed the sensation but no flavor. I could tell if foods were sweet or spicy, but couldn’t actually taste the flavors. Not everyone who gets Covid loses their taste or smell. For me it was an indication that my rapid test was accurate. My doctor had one patient who instead of losing taste, developed extreme taste. It was apparently so intense that eating was painful.

About two years ago a stranger in another state used my husband’s Home Depot card at the register ( they looked up the account) to make a large purchase. We canceled it, twice, they had made purchases on two of the new accounts before we got it totally shut down. We even got a phone call while the person was at the register, trying to verify we approved the purchase. I have no idea why they weren’t arrested. The same person opened accounts at Kohl’s (which was a nightmare trying to close out), and AT&T using the info the obtained at Home Depot. They bought several iPhones and iPads and had them activated. We didn’t find out until several weeks later when bills started arriving. We filed a police report at our local department and put a freeze on our credit. It was pretty easy to straighten out with the exception of Kohl’s.

We had a couple different friends drop off a meal for us (soup, homemade bread, Super Bowl party snacks, ingredients to make Sundaes). They also brought us groceries. We had done grocery pick up right before our quarantine but there were a couple items we couldn’t get, so the friend got them for us. Also a few days later someone brought us milk, bread, bananas, eggs, just basic staples at our house. They just left them on the porch for us, it was really nice.

In early February I had a scratchy throat and a slightly elevated temperature, I went for a rapid test and was telling the nurse I felt silly for coming in when it came back positive. I had diarrhea the day before (assumed it was related to food I had eaten). After testing positive I had diminished loss of smell and taste for a total of 3 days (kind of like when you have a cold), and complete loss for a little over a day. I was pretty tired too, I couldn’t get though the day without a nap. I had about 3-5 total days of any symptoms, I also have no idea how I got it. My entire family had a PCR test when my quarantine was over, one son (13) was positive but asymptomatic. We isolated him from the rest of the family. Everyone in our family had a negative PCR test 5 days after last exposure to him and again when his quarantine was over. He has never had any symptoms. What was surprising was when that son tested positive, all the other family members were showing potential Covid symptoms and had spent significant time with me, but they were negative.

I know for people that don’t regularly hike, hiking alone seems quite scary. But I think I’m much safer on the trail than in some Walmart parking lots. You may want to check out Trail Sisters, Women Who Hike, or the 52 Hike Challenge. They are on Facebook and/or Instagram and I think they all have websites too. I’ve been hiking with 3 children for the last 10 years, so not technically alone but they weren’t going to be much help if I got hurt or we got lost. I took my first real solo hike 4 or 5 years ago, it was so freeing, and yes it was different than being with the kids. I have since solo hiked in several states and even another country by myself. I do enjoy going with friends but that isn’t always possible and it’s a completely different experience. Know your area, be familiar with the trails, pay attention to weather, be prepared. Leave your plan with your husband and if you are doing backcountry hiking, which it sounds like you won’t be, make sure you apply for a permit and talk to a ranger to get up to date trail info. AllTrails sometimes has updated comments on trails too, especially popular trails. If you are hiking in a new area to you, spend extra time studying your map. When I hike alone I’m not going to ford streams or do any scrambles, I save the more technical hikes for when I am with friends. I don’t really have a desire to solo backpack or car camp, but I do really enjoy solo hiking. Having visited all 48 state parks in my state last year, I would say there are only a handful where I wouldn’t car camp without another adult. If you arrive and don’t like the vibe, you can always leave. A friend and I took two 13 year olds backpacking this weekend. We hiked 18 miles and only saw one other person (a female trail runner) in 2 days. It was a great experience and felt completely safe, I wouldn’t hesitate if one of my friends told me she was going to go backpack that same section solo. I wouldn’t have the same comfort level on a different type of trail. Desert hiking, bushwhacking, and mountaineering aren’t my thing, and I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that solo. On YouTube there are a couple of long distance female hikers who have done long trails solo. Dixie from Homemade Wanderlust has done the AT, PCT, and CDT (Triple Crown), and is currently hiking the Florida Trail (although I think she’s hiking this one with her boyfriend). Hungry Hiker hikes out in the Pacific Northwest. Check out their channels if you want to be inspired or have questions. Heather “Anish” Anderson and Jennifer Pharr Davis are a couple of the more well known long distance hikers who solo hiked and set records for time. They have written books about their experiences. I wish you the best and hope you are able to get out there and hike.

I’ve hiked little portions of it. Most of the Smokey’s, a section in VA and NC, a couple day hikes in NH. I don’t feel like I’ve hiked enough to be qualified to speak about it. I know a mom who has 3 girls who has hiked 150ish miles with her girls and is planning a sort of thru hike this year. The plan is to complete it in 12 months, but they are hiking it in sections during school breaks. She would be an interesting person to interview. I’ll send you her IG via PM.

I own TTC and I’ve never watched it🤦🏼‍♀️. I got inexpensively used when my kids were still pretty young, I put it aside for later. Earlier this summer I was thinking I should dig it out, I think you gave me the kick in the pants I needed.

Sending a PM.

Yes! It is well done. They typically stick to the same composer for a month. You can access it online or through the podcast. My kids usually just answer the 3 questions but there are additional activities available as well.

I’m interested! I have a new 8 year old wanting to play ukulele. I’m not sure how well he would do with online instruction, but I’m willing to give it a shot since there aren’t any in person lessons in my area at the moment.

When you are able to go, invest in a good sleeping pad, it will make a world of difference! If you can borrow gear at first, that would be very helpful to figure out if you like backpacking and what you do or don’t like about certain pieces of gear. I started out borrowing and with inexpensive or used gear. Slowly I’ve upgraded.

I agree! Youtube has been so helpful, who do you follow? My kids make fun of me, they tell me hiking is way better than watching people hike. I do agree but I also enjoy watching many of those channels way more than a sitcom.

I still consider myself a beginner but I’ve been backpacking a few times a year for 3 years now. I even took my kids on their first backpacking trip a month or so back. My first big trip (6 days, 5 nights) is coming up in September. I LOVE hiking and I go as often as I can. But I started backpacking to do a challenge and now I see it as a way to get away from crowds and enjoy trails I wouldn’t have time to do on a day hike. It’s different than regular camping, but still a lot of fun. There are lots of ways to backpack: Big miles like thru hikers, medium miles like section hikers, a few miles just to get out in the woods. All have advantages. If your friend isn’t going too far and your knee will allow it, I say go for it. There is a podcast that isn’t putting out new episodes, but it’s still available, called “The First 40 Miles”, I learned a lot from them.

Until you said you were pregnant I was going to tell you to go. I’d talk to your OB to see what they think. They are in your area and have a handle on how and where people are getting sick in your area. I am very comfortable going to my library and taking my kids. All staff and patrons are masked and the counter has nice plexiglass barriers. They are disinfecting. It isn’t busy at all like it used to be. All the chairs have been removed to discourage hanging out. Books are quarantined for a minimum for 3 days although the librarian told me it has frequently been 5 days or more. We are more intentional on our visits than we used to be. We have an idea of what we want and don’t spend an hour just browsing. My county under 100 cases too and fewer than 10% of those have been hospitalized. Our health department has been posting the new case numbers daily along with who has recovered.

What about a different type of trucking job? My father in law is older than your husband, has bad knees that need surgery, and he is driving a truck. He is staying really busy right now and the pay is better than normal. He drives a step deck (type of flat bed). He does have to tarp loads but he isn’t doing heavy lifting. He drove on his own authority for years, sold his truck, taught at a community college (he has an MBA), then went back to trucking. He drove for a concrete company for about a year, he hated that job but was home every night. Now he owns his truck but contracts with a company so he isn’t under his own authority anymore.

FIAR has plenty activities, but if you are doing history with your kids and using Story of the World, there is an activity book for that too. We did more activities with Ancients than in later years. Your kids are at great ages to do lots of fun things, but the thing we did most when my kids were little was leave the afternoons open to play. I know your original question was specific to literature, but are you using Memoria for all your subjects? I don’t want you to think we are all telling you to start all over with something different, Memoria puts out great products. Also, do you plan to homeschool long term or are you crisis schooling for this year only? If your plan right now is to homeschool only this year, the advise we give may be slightly different.

We don’t have an Alexa device, but I told my sister about it and she got one. Thanks!