I had to google to fact check you on Berenstain. Even my autocorrect wants to spell it with an e! Was there like a massive misprint or something?

My county is infamous for this type of behavior. I finally had to say something the day that a lady took her young husky into the pharmacy. It was not a tiny puppy, but a 6 month oldish dog and it was screech barking at everyone. She looked at me like I had 2 heads and was incredulous about my suggestion that her dog shouldn’t be in a medical facility.

We can just regroup in SWB’s FB page if that ever happens. Of course, the non-FBers will be left behind, but nothing we can do about that!

Our TRU is closing. I’m more upset that our sweet local toy shop recently closed.

It's a challenging hike in Yosemite. Not something most people could do while pregnant, but something that someone might want to check off their bucket list before having babies. SaveSave

OH MY GOSH, we are twins today. Literally just got home 5 minutes ago from my first English class and told dh that I am the class mom. Only the instructor is older than me, and she's sweet, but kind of awkward, so there's the tiniest sliver of hope. The class terrifies me. I am not a confident writer. I outsourced my kids writing instruction because I really hate putting words on paper. I asked dh if I could trade sexual favors for him writing my essays but he said no (joke, everyone). Plus, he's going to write the thoughts of a 40-year-old man, not my thoughts. My physio class is great. All full grown adults.

So something historical and naturey? What about California gold country plus Yosemite

A National Park? I’m sure any park has guide businesses around. I think I remember seeing Yosemite tours in triple A. They can stay in cabins and day hike.

If you have time, I love the garden district.

I would spend the whole day in the French Quarter. There’s a ton of shops, street vendors, and food. You can’t go wrong, really. Cafe du Monde (obv) French Market Jackson Square (bring some cash if you want to buy street art) Find a place with red beans and rice for lunch We took a historical walking tour once and that was super interesting

I’ve never had dishes come out as clean as they do with the Bosch machine that was already in our new home. I’m a fan for life.

I’d pull them for the season. They’re young. Missing a season of dance at this age is not going to have any sort of impact on their future dance development. The risks this flu season are higher than normal.

I hope they run some data on how having the vaccine affected the severity of the illness. Anecdotally, that’s how it played out in my family. My girls who had vaccine protection had a much less severe experience than dd’s bf’s family who were unvaccinated. I request single dose vials when we get ours. I’m not thrilled with yearly vaccines, but we have a medically fragile kiddo, so we all get it.

I've seen this term around but never looked into it. One of the things I would like to do is to dress better this year. The good news, I already have a very thin wardrobe. I'm not someone who hangs onto tons of clothes. The bad news, most of it is only marginally stylish. Things I for sure need this year are more pants/jeans (shoot me now), and cuter shoes. I have a decent selection of shirts and blouses. I've debated using Stichfix to accomplish this, but I currently have ZERO extra funds. So, not sure how I'll be hitting this goal. Also, biggest road block: I don't have a great sense of style.

Just remembered this story. My friend’s son was 12, in 7th grade, and still believed. They had these daily writing prompts and one day it was, How did you learn that Santa wasn’t real? And that’s how he learned.

When I was 9, my neighborhood friends were over and they said something about Santa not being real. I kicked them out of my house. A big, huge How Dare You?! Get OUT! It was then that my mother decided the time had come. And truthfully, I was crushed. I cried and cried. It felt a little like a death. But I don’t remember feeling betrayed or even mad. I was more sad about Santa not being real than I was about being told he was real. We did Santa with our kids. I love him. I love the wonder and whimsy. Each were told/asked the right questions somewhere around 6 or 7. The year my youngest learned the truth I cried. Santa was gone again. Two of my kids say they won’t do Santa. One says she will (the youngest). They’re not bitter about it, they just intend to do things differently. I don’t have an answer for you on your own kiddo. This is a hard one for anyone but a parent to call.

My son’s classroom has had an outbreak of strep. I’m with you- I would want both swabs.

To the OP, my girls got it before the sepsis reports started rolling in. We just did our usual virus care routine, no dr. I don’t love the idea of Tamiflu, but I would consider going in for it. My family was vaccinated and I think that is helping to keep the severity down. If I was in the position of having non-vaccinated kids and one of them caught something today, I would probably take them in for a Flu swab and only give tamiflu if they had a confirmed case. With my vaccinated kids, I would probably do normal virus care but keep a closer eye on them.

Typically, I’m the one going around and correcting people when they call a stomach virus the flu, however, dd’s boyfriend, his mom, and my best friend have all had confirmed influenza A and they all 3 started with stomach symptoms, then transitioned into the typical high fever/cough/body aches. So at least with this strain, it’s totally possible. My 2 girls both caught it, but had some vaccine protection and had much milder symptoms with no stomach involvement.

Keep our head above water while weathering a significant pay cut.

You’re probably right. I forget that about people. I wouldn’t hesitate to tell a friend to stay home. The ladies that I do my weekends away with are the same. I guess we’re well matched!

Are you sharing a room with people? If so, those are the people I'd check in with. If I was them, I would want to be given the choice to take the risk or not. Truthfully, a lot of years I'd shrug and take the risk of catching something in trade for a friend's company. This year, with this flu, I'm feeling more conservative. Side note: Today I got a notice from ds17's classroom that scarlett fever/strep has hit multiple kids, then a few hours later I get an email from ds15's school that they have multiple hand foot mouth cases breaking out! I'd like to just put everyone in a bubble for the rest of winter.

This flu is hitting different people at very different severities. Dd caught it from her boyfriend. He and his mom had verified flu and it completely took them out. Dd caught it (she'd been vaccinated) and she got a much milder version. Passed it to younger dd (didn't get vaccinated this year, but did the previous few) and she was slightly more severe than older dd, but nowhere close to bf and his mom. FIL caught it from them and got knocked on his butt. Same virus, different immune systems.

Yes, that would bother me.

Mandated home visits? Nope. I’d be ok with an annual meeting as long as the people conducting the meeting understood the wide spectrum of what education can be. Our charter school teachers, whom we met with monthly, were our biggest cheerleaders. Just total gems who understood kids and homeschooling. Once a year with someone like that? Absolutely. As an aside, one of our charter teachers wrote me the most encouraging note a few years ago. Not the type of affirmation a homeschooler gets very often. It meant so much to me.