I really dislike Fuji apples, but I’d eat one over a Red Delicious (does anyone actually like those?) Team Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, or Cripps Pink.

For the deep freeze, I like to make double portions of lasagna, chili, or really any meal that will freeze. For casseroles, line your pan with foil before cooking. Place the whole thing in the freezer. When frozen, pop it out of the pan and wrap in foil then put in freezer paper or a large ziplock. For soups I put them in quart or gallon size ziplock bags, make sure to label along with the approximate number of servings (learned the hard way). Lay it flat to freeze. Get a basket slightly wider than your ziplock bags and you can store several upright once frozen.

What are you wanting to do with your dehydrated foods? For backpacking I’ve found that I like to dehydrate canned chicken better than chicken I have cooked other ways because it seems to rehydrate better. Also I have had good success with madras lentils and similar types of textured soups. I’ve had terrible luck with pasta. I mean it dehydrates, but it either is chewy or mushy when I rehydrate. For food that I eat dehydrated I love the jerky I’ve made. Fruits, especially strawberries, apples, and mango have been great. I have learned that I prefer Trader Joe’s freeze dried apples though.

My husband and I both had this with Covid but not post-Covid. Wish I could be of more help! The lady at my health department said lots of people experience those symptoms, but mine lasted longer than most cases she had documented. I think it was 3 days (I can’t remember for sure).

Great tip on the homeschool tickets at Titanic, I had no idea! We will probably take my in-laws again next year.

Thanks for sharing!

The girls around me seem to be wearing solid while leather tennis shoes. I see lots of adidas, Nike, and puma. I know there are higher end brands too, but they all look the same to me. I know those aren’t dressy, but that’s what I see them wearing.

I would suggest having a CBC run (complete blood count). When I was in my 20s I had back to back periods that each lasted 7 weeks. My GYN wasn’t concerned. When I started getting bruises all over my limbs, (I looked like someone was beating me) and felt really run down, I had a physical with my regular doctor. My platelet counts were dangerously low and I had a condition called ITP. Basically the body destroys platelets so your blood won’t clot or clots very slowly. It can be triggered by medication, which it was in my case. Strong rounds of steroids and careful monitoring did resolve my ITP within a year. My platelets do always run on the low end of normal these days and during each of my pregnancies my platelets would drop again so I had to be carefully monitored. ITP can be very serious for some people.

I think it depends on the situation, but often my husband reminds me that the choices we are making are a choice between two good things. One might be slightly better, but they are both good.

Yes to staying near Townsend! Most places to stay are VRBO. You can also get into the park without the bumper to bumper traffic.

That was pretty bold! I wouldn’t mention the volunteer hours at all, whoever is in charge can handle that with SIL or BIL. It sounds like SIL is kind of use to you picking up the slack with the girls. Assuming it doesn’t come up before the next potluck, send a quick text to both BIL and SIL along the lines of, “I know I kept the girls after the last potluck, but I’m not available tonight. Tell them good luck for me tomorrow!”

Mostly when I go it’s to rent a cabin in the mountains and hang out with friends, hike, or go backpacking in GSMNP. The crowds and traffic can be crazy! Drive Tail of the Dragon, 318 curves in 11 miles, passengers prone to car sickness should take Dramamine. See one of Dolly’s shows. Hatfield and McCoy is more comedy, Dolly’s Stampede is more patriotic and I loved the showmanship with the horses. Food was better at Hatfield. I’ve heard her Pirate show is really good but I haven’t seen it. My kids love all the mini-golf, go carts, and Alpine coasters. They also love visiting Smokey Mountain Knife Works in Seiverville. I’ve heard Anakeesta is fun.

I’m sorry it’s so frustrating. My siblings and I live in 5 different states and we have all had varying experiences, but I’ve never heard of any of them having the trouble you are having.

Non urgent appointments can take 2-3 weeks, if I request a specific doctor and location it can be a month. Sick visits are always same day, even Christmas (although that will be the ped on call). A nurse will call back pretty quickly. A doctor will definitely call me back if requested. We don’t have a patient portal or anything. I’ve only had one time where we had a serious urgent situation. My son about 10 at the time was suddenly unable to straighten his arm. Even someone pushing on it couldn’t get it to budge. Our immediate thought was Lyme (timing was shortly after treatment for Lyme) or juvenile arthritis. Our regular pediatrician was off that day but a different one saw our son. Sent him to the ER when X-rays didn’t show anything. He called us at home that night and checked in after we visited the children’s hospital the next day. I was very impressed as it’s a busy practice and not our usual doctor.

I did a little piece of the SHT in Pictures Rocks last August. It rained (poured) on us most of the time but that kept the biting flies and crowds away, it was beautiful! One night we shared a campsite with a couple ladies who were hiking a 50 mile section in that area. I believe there is a shuttle service, maybe starting at Grand Marais? I would definitely do it again!

I would be ok with different lengths of cooling off periods. Someone who already owns a gun and has for a period of time, military, law enforcement, have a shorter cooling off period than a first time gun owner.

I’m the oldest of 6 kids, 3 girls, 3 boys. I’m close with one brother and one sister. We text daily and talk a couple times per month. I’m in regular contact with my other two brothers. They come to me for advice, we talk and text regularly, but not daily. I’m not close at all with my one sister. We like each other but don’t have much in common. She’s a hard person to have conversations with. My relationships with the spouses of my siblings varies. I’m not close to any of them but that has more to do with living far from them and only seeing them every year or two. We are definitely cordial and I like them. I think they all like me too, if they don’t they are good at hiding it. My husband has one older sister. They are close. They text daily, talk a couple times a month. I’m not super close with her but I do enjoy spending time with her.

My brother and I got one word, my sister got the word referenced here. He completed his puzzle just after midnight central time. She did hers around 7 am mountain. But the weird thing is that today she got a different word than the two of us again!

It may be that engineering isn’t right for him. But he’s 15 so you have plenty of time. My 14 year old only has a vague idea of what type of future career he will have. I can see him being an engineer. But he’s also a talented pianist and he loves making stop motion videos. I think at their ages they don’t even know all the types of jobs available and it’s good to expose them to different things.

I vote panic. When my oldest was a toddler he choked on a frozen blueberry. I couldn’t get the Heimlich maneuver to work, so I was going to call 911, but I couldn’t remember the number. He fortunately coughed up the blueberry. Then I wrote 911 in giant red letters on the side of my fridge. It’s still there along with our address just in case I ever forget again.

Yes. They also encourage campus visits.

That makes sense. I don’t think any discipline of engineering would be considered an easy degree.

It sounds like the antibiotics are kicking in. I’m sorry she’s having bad dreams, those are hard to deal with because there isn’t anything you can do as a parent to help.

Yes! I don’t know about civil. But I know mechanical and electrical are a ton of work. There is a lot of homework and it all builds on each other. It’s a lot of math..4 semesters of just calculus. My husband and I were married when he got his degree, he didn’t have much free time. My sister is a mechanical as well, she took an extra year to finish. My brother is an electrical engineer, he didn’t have any extra curricular activities in college.

She’s going to be ok!