Build-A-Bear as soon as they open. It's our annual end of year tradition and we didn't do it because of Covid. The kids picked out their bears and I ordered them for delivery to our house along with any accessories they wanted. So now we will only be in the store long enough to stuff the bear and make a birthday certificate. Double-layer chocolate cake free of gluten, wheat, dairy and eggs for my DD10's birthday tomorrow. I've only made cupcakes. Haven't tried a layer cake yet. IRS monthly payment for payroll taxes. This is the easiest task in the world yet I leave it to the last minute every month. ETA: Figure out how to celebrate my DD's birthday tomorrow. Probably a picnic and hike. Everything she wants to do is not do-able.

Boy - Simeon (it gets mispronounced but people never forget and often ask where the name came from and we get to share a Bible story with them) Girl - Sarah, Sarah Elizabeth, Sarah Katherine, Anna, Anna Katherine, Anna Elizabeth Have fun! 🙂

My daughter has one of the collapsible fabric bins that fits inside a cube shelf. It sits beside her on the floor when she's doing school then gets pushed under her school table when she's done with school. If you got some sort of bin or box that could store under each of their tables and get pulled out for school time, maybe that would help with part of the books?

My washer finally died its last death a couple of weeks ago and I bought a Speed Queen top loader. It's only been in this house a week but it's probably run 17 loads so far, 6 the first day!! I absolutely adore it. I have eczema kids, though, and need agitation and a lot of water to clean and thoroughly rinse their clothes. I asked my repairman and my parents' repairman what they recommended and they both said Speed Queen. The Maytag Commercial top loader was their second choice for my needs. Since my appliances are 17yo, we went ahead and replaced the dryer with the Speed Queen dryer. I haven't worked the kinks out on it yet though. I think I just prefer telling the machine what to do instead of choosing pre-selected cycles. You can definitely do that. I'm just figuring out what works best. One thing weird, though. The SQ washer tub is 3.2 cubic feet. I'm pretty sure my old Kenmore Elite was a 3.5 cubic foot tub. Yet the tub in the Speed Queen looks a lot bigger. I can't figure that out. I'm doing the same size loads over the last week.......but they don't seem to take up as much space. Dryer too. The dryer was supposed to be smaller but it's definitely larger. I absolutely cannot figure that out. Optical illusion I suppose.

I had that problem too until I found a mask pattern that worked for me. It's a contoured Olson style but the pattern slants below the chin enough that while still snug on both nose and chin, there is plenty enough room for my jaw to open and close while talking and not cause any slippage. The first two Olson patterns I found online did not work - they slipped. The one on the Bernina website ended up being a fabulous fit. I use the medium. My husband uses the large. I made prototypes in small, medium and large so my family could figure out which size they need. Here's the link to the Bernina blog post - it has the links to the 3 sizes. https://blog.bernina.com/en/2020/05/the-olson-mask/ ETA: I've used the child size large pattern from this post and found it fits both my 8yo and 10yo. https://www.sewcanshe.com/blog/simple-step-by-step-tutorial-for-the-olson-mask-pattern Also ETA that I don't follow the instructions for sewing from either of these posts. I just use their patterns.

Publix is my favorite place to stop for the restroom these days. It's usually in the front of the store and very clean. We just had a drive yesterday and while we drove, my parents looked up Publix locations near the Interstate so I'd know where we could stop. Little kids don't give you much warning! If Publix weren't available, I'd just be looking for the nicer grocery stores.

Our church canceled in person VBS and switched it to Home VBS. They are using the same VBS they did in 2018 instead of the new one they planned for 2020. They recorded 3 videos for each VBS day: (1) songs with motions & Scripture memory, (2) skit, and (3) dramatized teaching. At the beginning of June, they had a big drive-thru pick up your Home VBS bag which contained the teacher manual for small group time, kids' journals they work on all week with all the necessary stickers and printouts, t-shirts, and introductory information for the parents with suggestions for scheduling, recreation time, etc. I always teach so I'm already familiar with the format. During the drive-thru we picked up our bag, stopped at a prayer station, then a lollipop station, and then got blasted by water canons as we drove off. It was a very festive drive-thru and the kids loved it. They asked us to invite people to join us for Home VBS if we were comfortable with it and we were able to buy extra t-shirts as applicable. We have 2 families joining us. We've been doing 2 days a week and will have our last VBS day this week. We do it in the garage with the garage door open and fans blowing. My husband rigged a screen for us to watch the 3 daily videos. (The videos are streamed from the church's website.) For rec time, we just let the kids eat a snack and run around the front yard. It's worked out great and I will miss this time when we're finished.

I wish I could share some mental coping skills with you but I don't have any for that type of noise. I'd have to move. So this doesn't answer your question - but have you tried any sound absorption in your house or in the yard? Heavy curtains in your bedroom and a bookshelf full of books along the wall that faces your neighbor's garage? Or putting up a wood fence in the yard facing towards the neighbors? I think they make sound absorption blankets to hang on wood fences. If none of that is feasible, my only other suggestion is to try brown noise. I use brown noise at night with small sub on the floor right beside my bed. My husband says it sounds like an airplane taking off but it works for me. White noise doesn't help at all. Good luck. I'm amazed you've put up with it so long.

Mine was March 12th when the first cancellation occurred and they continued all through the weekend. It was surreal. I took my DD to one last gymnastics practice on March 12th thinking that it would only be half full (correct) and would probably be the last time she'd see her friends for awhile (also correct). Lasting undated memories are trying to get groceries and essentials for 4 households (mine and 3 elderly) and empty shelves at 4-5 stores over several weeks. A good positive undated memory is almost 6 weeks of nightly read alouds by Andrew Peterson of the first 2 books in his Wingfeather series. We listened as a family. That's what I'll probably remember the most.

My kids and I went yesterday to our hair salon. We already had the appointment scheduled from 3 months ago and kept it. The rules were similar except the booties. We called and waited outside until it was time to go in. They took all of our temperatures. We were already wearing masks but I noticed a table with box of disposable masks by the door. They also gave us each a squirt of hand sanitizer as we walked in. Once inside, they washed our hair but only half the sinks were being used. They had room to spread the hair stylists out to every 3 or 4 chairs. Extra employees hovered to sanitize every surface and tool that got used. And no hair drying. That was it. Edited to add: All the masks I saw were behind the ear elastic style. One lady wasn't using the elastics and had used tape to attach the mask to her face. I didn't see any masks with ties.

No. We worked through parts of Island but not all of it. And we did not use Fable. Instead, my 10yo just writes a page a day. She alternates between writing a letter, about a book or movie she has seen, her weekly Veritas Press history card, a Friday Freewrite from Bravewriter, dialogue between 2 characters, and lists of just about anything. I'm happy. She's happy. I usually correct her writing once a week, sometimes twice. I also added in a 6-week punctuation workbook in January. My main goal this year was to get her writing consistently without fear.

My 8yo and 10yo like the surgical mask style with elastic loops. I cut a 6 1/2" x 13" rectangle and two pieces of 7 1/2" elastic to make it. From a feature standpoint, the mask is open at the bottom to insert a filter, if desired. There's also a channel at the top edge for inserting/removing a nose wire. (I use a twist tie.) You reach the nose channel by going through the opening at the bottom. I don't have an exact pattern or video to point you to because I tried a few patterns and videos then mish-mashed them to get what I wanted. But if you're interested, I can point you to the main pattern/video I use and describe the 3 tweaks I made to it.

Is anyone having trouble replying to posts? I'm on a Mac laptop and have never had trouble before. The forums will not keep me signed in and won't let me reply to a topic even after I've typed it and signed in multiple times. I've tried using both Chrome and Safari but it logs me out in both places.

That's sort of me and although I've mostly only been to the grocery store in the last 6 weeks with a couple of trips to other places for supplies, I am paying attention to the facilities because I use them often and so does my 8yo son. So far, it's not caused me concern. I'm noticing that some places have the doors to the restroom propped open. Trash cans are placed right outside the doors so you can easily use paper towels on your way out. Plenty of soap. And so far most doors open to the outside so that you have to use the handle to open the door and go inside but on your way out you can use your foot, knee or elbow to get out. Yesterday I took both kids to go see the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds flyover. Afterwards I was dropping off handsewn masks to 2 different sets of grandparents. Everybody had to go!!!!!! But where to go? I stopped at Publix and it was fine. We all wore masks into the store, used the restroom and washed hands and left. I didn't like how many people were in the store but we were in and out in a handful of minutes. Given a choice, I'd choose a grocery store to take the kids to the restroom if I had to take them.

Thank you to all of you!!! I've been looking these series up on Amazon to "Look Inside" and several look like they would be perfect. 🙂

Hello. My 8yo boy has finally decided he can read and has taken off with Mo Willems' Elephant & Piggie books. I bought him the whole set a couple of weeks ago and he's almost done. Can anyone suggest a series or author to follow the Elephant & Piggie books? Maybe a similar humor to those and the Pigeon books? My son is doing great with 2-syllable words and reading easily. 3-syllable words are difficult. We're working steadily forward with phonics and I'm not concerned about that. I just want to keep him reading. My sister-in-law sent him a set of Fly Guy books but for some reason he is scared of Fly Guy so that's a no go. Thanks so much!!!

I'm in my 50s now but have taken Accutane twice, once in my teens and once in my late 20s. Both were after exhausting topical remedies, steroids and antibiotics, as well as over the counter products. I'm glad I took it both times and haven't had a problem since the 2nd time. I was scared of taking it both times but both times I had reached the point of scarring and didn't want to go anywhere or been seen by anyone. I regretted having waited so long both times.

I love the idea of using file folders to make the covers!!!!!!!!! I'm always trying to find paper 3-prong folder to cut apart and it's hard to find the paper ones nowadays. But I can find plenty of file folders. And cute ones too! Thank you for the inspiration!

No school today! It's spring break!! Plant part of the garden. Do a couple of loads of laundry. Sew 6 masks.

Well ok. Day 4. The grocery store no longer opens at 7am so I'll be doing a double take in a few minutes. I'm hoping to get my act together today. The week started great because we usually stay home on Monday so it ran mostly like normal. Then continuing to stay home and keep up with the latest news........and I lost all motivation yesterday. So today I'm not going to keep up with the news - only morning and evening checkins - and try to get myself motivated again.

Well we started the day by doing regular school (kids are 2nd and 4th), then cleaned a little in the basement, then broke a dining room chair, then learned to draw "Pigeon" in Day 1 of Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems (free), watched a couple of short science videos and created the beginning of a giant cardboard house creation in the living room with an HVAC box. I usually make Mondays be stay-home days so it's sort of a normal day for us but the thought of not going anywhere for the forseeable future is freaking me out a little bit. Last Friday and Saturday were full of emails, phone calls and FB posts about canceled events and activities for the rest of March. Today I started getting emails about cancellations in April. It's really weird. Oh - also had both kids try samples of the Self-Paced Veritas Press history courses so I can go ahead and purchase because their sale ends today. DD will be doing her 3rd year of Self-Paced. DS will start at the beginning.

We are grappling with the same decision. 2 sets of grandparents will be ok as they have each other. A 5th grandparent lives alone and just transferred home from assisted living. She will need the most help. I like the idea of visiting outdoors with a little distance across the yard. Hmmmmm. Hadn't thought of that.

I never in my wildest imaginations ever imagined what's happening now. Our county has the highest number of positives in the state; there are positives in our wider homeschool community; and I'm starting to hear so-and-so's husband is in the hospital and tested positive. So I'm starting to know names of people who are positive. My nephew is in our county firefighter school and one of his teachers has tested positive. We are not meeting up with friends. All of our activities have been canceled for this coming week and most have been canceled through the end of March. My elderly parents and my husband's elderly parents are within 20 minutes of us and we've got to be careful of them. We have plenty to do at home. Our house is on almost 2 acres so we have the luxury of plenty of yard for walking and playing. There's no need for us to leave therefor we won't. My husband is in sales and travels for his job so he'll have to keep traveling and that's ok. We will just do what we can.

I'm so sorry for your friend. What a dreadful tragedy!!!! I'm just glad he is alive and recovering. Your question and this thread got me wondering, though. What does my homeowners policy say? "Guest medical protection - $1,000 each person." That's it. FWIW - there is also something called "Family Liability Protection - $300,000 each occurrence" on our homeowners policy but I don't what that covers or whether it's something your friend could go after if his customer had that on their homeowners policy. Everything else on our homeowners policy seems to be related to the house/structure/personal property, etc. I hope your friend can talk to an attorney to see what options he might have.

I'm a weird mix of an Excel spreadsheet and green columnar pads for our budgeting but it works for me. For those who like Excel spreadsheets, this one has been my absolutely favorite over the years. It's a free "Envelopes" type spreadsheet. It's old - from 2010 - but I'm using it on my Excel for Mac through the 365 subscription and it still works just fine. There's a paid version which includes reconciling features but I have not bought or tried that. I just use the free one. http://www.mdmproofing.com/iym/products/envelope-check-register/