Dd26 had her first Pfizer shot (teacher in CA). She is also a professional ballerina, so she rehearsed for five hours after the shot on Friday with no problem and had just a little soreness at the injection site. She woke up on Saturday thinking she was fine...until she stood up. She ran a low grade fever all that day. She was very tired on Sunday and Monday and then back to normal on Tuesday.

Hmm, maybe a special theme party...the pandemic makes that tricky. If the weather is warm, maybe you could do team geocaching in small groups? Or an outdoor carnival? We did an outdoor super hero party once with "put out the fire" (homemade "fire" pinata) and a timed obstacle course ("flying" with their stomach on a swing, walking the beam (balance beam), etc.). What age and what month?

We did. I'm not sure where I heard about the concept. (I actually didn't know that was called a "golden" birthday.) But I learned about the idea somehow and thought it would be a lot of fun. We did small, surprise trips, tailored to the child's age and interests. 12 yo girl born in January: This was our first one (12 on the 12th), and our oldest child. Our girl loved all thing American Girl doll. So we drove to Chicago (about nine hours) to visit the American Girl doll store. At that time, they had a really fun AG musical on site, plus the tea room. Dd12, dd7 and I enjoyed doing those things, and dh and ds9 went to the Lego store and then son played some kind of handheld game that the AG store provided for brothers until the girls and I were finished. We spent that night in Chicago, and then we stopped midway on the way home (in a blizzard!) and went to a really nice kids' science museum in that city before driving the rest of the way home. 8yo girl born in November: Next up was our youngest child's 8 on the 8th. We invited a handful of friends to meet us at a Great Wolf Lodge that is about 45 minutes from our city. I sneakily packed overnight things and put them in the trunk ahead of time. Getting the food and cake (I made a hula girl cake, to fit the theme) to the destination unobserved was the hardest! We paid for water park tickets for the guests, and let parents know they were welcome to pay for sibling tickets and/or book a night at the hotel if they wanted more family members (some our other kids' ages) to join in the fun. We had dinner and dessert food in our room for everyone. I think only one or two families paid for single passes for extra siblings. One family booked overnight, so we had time playing with that entire family the next day. And one family brought an older sibling who was our older daughter's friend (they were 14 years old at the time), and our older girls watched a movie in our room and snacked. 18yo son born in March: Things often go sideways for this kid, and, sadly, his celebration was one of those times. We found it easier to plan an exciting trip (and less expensive) for kids at younger ages. When it was finally time to celebrate his 18 on the 18th, seven years had passed since the Great Wolf Lodge event and nine years since Chicago. We decided to go all out and planned a ski/snowboard trip to Colorado (again about a 9+ hour drive) with another family who has two boys who were ds's really good friends. Well, first day out (his actual birthday) son took a bad fall and broke his collarbone. That was it for us, as we had to make the long drive home and schedule surgery for son's clavicle to be screwed back together. So, that's our story: two wonderfully successful events and one utter failure.

Praying for your niece, Scarlett! 💓

Maybe? But the verdict is still out, and it seems the vast majority are doing well with the vaccine, thus far: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-health-care-worker-vaccine-death-COVID-15902997.php https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/01/06/death-florida-doctor-following-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-under-investigation-gregory-michael/6574414002/

You're welcome! We like it so much that we are hoping to purchase the entertainment center in this same style, although possibly in the dark teal color. (It's out of stock at our store, so we'll see.) Another nice feature of the cabinet we have is that it is kitchen counter height, so we can use it for extra prep space. It was great during the holidays while our college girl was home. We set it up as a tea and snack station. So we had our electric tea pot plugged in along with an assortment of teas, Christmas mugs, Chex mix, cookies, and candy. It was nice to have that area separate from our normal food-prep counters.

We purchased a cabinet/sideboard for the kitchen: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/lommarp-cabinet-light-beige-70437003/ The only storage area for large items in our kitchen is a deep, blind (dark!) corner under the cabinet by the stove. So, our less used appliances were in various places in the house: crockpot in laundry cabinets one floor down; food processor and spiralizer two floors up. When we built the IKEA unit, we only put one shelf in each space (rather than the two shelves shown), so now those large appliances—plus my KitchenAid mixer and our toaster, both of which were on the kitchen counter—can be stored. I also moved my baking pans to the cabinet. It has been wonderful not crawling under the cabinet, with my phone light on, to look for a pan, etc. or having to run up or downstairs for an appliance. I was also able to clear off things that had been on the top of the refrigerator (large bowls, snacks, place mats, etc.). It's amazing how much it holds!

I'm not a fan of Kaiser either. I hope you get a good resolution, and I'm very sorry you are dealing with this!

I don't know if he meant to type 2021 at the end...perhaps he was alluding to neurological effects! 😄

Does anyone have something they like that is easy to slip on, has a back strap (like crocs), but is more supportive than crocs (especially metatarsal support)? I tend to run up and down stairs, and I need something that will stay on my feet!

Husband: slippers; grown kids when visiting: barefoot, socks or fuzzy socks; me: used to be barefoot or fuzzy socks, but I have fat pad atrophy, so now I wear crocks with insoles (with or without socks, depending on the season) or running shoes with insoles (only worn in the house) if I am going to be on my feet cooking/cleaning, etc. most of the day. My crocs are old and have worn unevenly on the bottom, so I am glad to see the suggestions on this thread...off to investigate Birks and Vivonic...

This made me laugh, as I would stress about that too when posting. (And your usage is correct.) 😉

I thought this Johns Hopkins mortality analysis was interesting (case-fatality ratio of the 20 most affected countries). United States is 18th out of 20 in observed case-fatality ratio (1.7%): https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality For some reason, when my cousin posted the link on Facebook it was taken down as spam. I just noticed the tab for deaths per 100,000, and the US is 4th out of 20 in that category.

Oh, wow. No, I don't think that was a deal-winning response.

X (as in the unknown factor!)

Maybe an at-home escape room or an escape room game? www.dadsuggests.com/home/escape-rooms-for-the-family-to-do-at-home

What a wonderful thing you are doing! Thank you!

This made me laugh, especially when I noticed your signature line!

So, I pulled out my holiday socks yesterday, and I was very surprised to see that even my snowmen have lost their festive cheer! I just had to make a meme! (And I think I need to tack some stray threads to put smiles back on snowman faces!)

Our daughter's company had to nix the in-studio performances. So, now they are doing a one-hour "Nutcracker in a Nutshell" video, streaming Dec. 21. There is a charge; they really need some income, as they have been locked down harder than some other parts of the nation (i.e., haven't been allowed to restart their in-person children's and prepro classes, etc.). If you are interested in this one, the link is http://www.centralwestballet.org/cwbthenutcracker.html Thank you, if you choose to support dd's company!

I sleep great but then have a headache for two days after taking it. I really wanted to take it as part of my Covid prophylaxis regime, but even 1 mg results in a couple days of headache. I guess it's not for everyone!

You're my rainbow's end? You're my treasure at the end of the rainbow? Life with you is pure gold?

Praying for them. ❤️

Yes! When our kids struggle, their success is all the sweeter! I'm so glad that you all can celebrate that hard-earned diploma, breathe a sigh of relief, and consider what comes next.