My teens, 17 and 15, play online with a group of their friends. They play one night every weekend from about 7pm to midnight. They also do shorter side quests with smaller groups during the week sometimes, and those run about 7pm-10pm.

My 15yo isn’t done growing at 6’1” and wears a size 14 shoe. I hope at least his feet are done growing! My DH is only 5’10” with a size 11-12 shoe, though, so big feet must just run in the fam. My brothers are 6’2” and 6’4”. No idea what size shoe my “short” brother wore, but my tall brother wears a 12.

And don’t bother trying to have a yard sale or sell stuff on FB Marketplace or anything. It’s too much on top of all of the work involved in moving! Bless somebody else with your donations and feel good about it.

Start by listing the things you know you have to take with you, then go through the rest brutally and get rid of as much as you can! The whole KonMari method is actually pretty helpful in this type of situation, even when I don’t use that method otherwise. When we moved here 4 years ago I made a list of what had to come with, then piled everything else of each category in the middle of the room and decided whether I loved it or not. If not, it filled a bag that went immediately to my car. As soon as my car was filled I took a trip to the donation center. Rinse and repeat for each category. I found it much easier with my probable-ADHD-brain to focus on one category at a time.

44% of our hospitalized patients are under 64.

They are either not allocating enough to cities vs. rural areas in NY, or there’s a lot more city folks willing to vaccinate than rural folks. I’d bet on the second. I grew up on a dirt road in the country and the attitudes of my childhood community and my current community are worlds apart.

I’m in NY, in the Buffalo area, and finding vaccines locally has been difficult because they are snatched up super fast. The only way to get them is to drive an hour or more to a smaller city. We’re driving an hour and forty minutes on Saturday for our first Pfizer vaccines. Alternately, I could wait until May to drive only an hour. I wish we had more vaccines than people that want them! (Well, not because people are opting not to be vaccinated, but you know what I mean.)

Now that the world is starting to be vaccinated against COVID it’s time for the Zombie (thread) Apocalypse!

Sending hugs and hopes for a good report from the oncologist.

I agree with the above. Also, once he’s ready to start job hunting again ask him if he would consider looking at open positions in your location in other fields of work. There may be no opportunities for his field of work where you live, but perhaps he’s willing to do something different to keep the family in the neighborhood they love. I’m so sorry.

Well, my letter must not have hurt him any, he got accepted to his first choice university!

Our property and school taxes add up to 3.5% of our home’s assessed value.

We keep ours at 68 in the winter. We live in NY and don’t have A/C. We rely on fans and cooler night breezes in the summer. We live in an historic brick home built in 1850, with tall ceilings and windows, radiators, and obvious discrepancies in how warm a room is based on how far from the thermostat it is. I can be pretty warm in the living room, but very cold in the kitchen.

Thank you all! I feel armed and ready to write now!

A former student of one of my homeschool co-op classes asked me to write a letter of recommendation for him. I’m happy to do it, but I want to make sure my letter is well written. Does anyone have link suggestions for how to write a really great letter of recommendation I can follow? I’ve never done this before, but this is a fantastic kid and I want to do my best. Thanks!

This is great! 😄 https://twitter.com/acapellascience/status/1350782855564111875?s=20

Buckwheat pancakes are so yummy! I haven’t had them in years, and I don’t have a recipe because my MIL was the one who made them and she used a mix, but now I want some.

I don’t understand this. Any one of you could catch it from him any time in that 10 day period. If just one is infected on day 10 but is asymptomatic and goes out into the world you could be spreading it everywhere you go. Multiply that same scenario by however many people are in the house. It’s certainly unlikely that everyone would go down like dominoes instead of anyone who is going to be infected being infected already or in the 10 day period, but it’s certainly possible. But, my own mom tested negative after having symptoms including cough and loss of taste and smell after being exposed to my COVID-positive grandparents and our health department told her she was free to leave quarantine! It’s no wonder our country is a mess in the midst of this pandemic. Thankfully my mother listened to me and remained in quarantine.

Mine are wool and work much better than the silicone or plastic ones I used to use. I don’t think brand would matter with wool, since it’s quite literally just a felted wool ball.

We’ve talked about it all a lot, but my older kids are 17yo and 15yo. It would be impossible to keep the 9yo out of the discussions, so she knows more about coups and US government than the average 9yo, not to mention fascism which has been a huge topic in our house lately. My oldest is very interested in politics and history, so we’ve always been this way. I don’t know that I would have talked with my 9yo much about it if I didn’t also have teenagers.

Yes, that can definitely be a challenge.

Local districts all use someone at Boces now. She takes the time to actually read them. She definitely requires more than the minimal amount of info some people tried to pass off, but I think she’s very reasonable. I can imagine districts using her or someone in a similar position that they all contract out to. She would have a big job policing the entire Buffalo area though!

For me, I need to read (I read much more news than I watch) to make sure I understand. I’m not good with just listening to a single newscast and their perspective, or reading the headlines and a couple of articles. I need to see big news events, not the everyday non life-altering stuff, from a lot of angles and perspectives. I need to research how history got us to that point. Not knowing that stuff makes me far more anxious than reading the news does. Sometimes, with big events, the anxiety is going to be high no matter what for me, I just have to choose the path with the least amount of anxiety.

I spend a good bit of my most anxious days with my Bluetooth headphones in listening to Brahms. Classical music centers and calms me in a way that nothing else does. ETA ~ Like Pawz, not knowing what is going on would heighten my anxiety, but just listening to classical music while reading the news helps.

I really hope that the expansion of mental health services due to telehealth means that more people will take advantage of seeking out counseling! Right now some insurance carries are covering it in full. If only that would remain a thing and we could get it covered for every American that needs someone to talk to! My daughter was already in counseling for anxiety (which she gets honestly from both sides of the family, poor kid!) when the pandemic started and it has been every bit as good over telehealth as it was in person. If anyone is really struggling I hope they will try to avail themselves of the services!