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Post by beaglemom on Jan 6, 2021 4:56:05 GMT
My oldest is in 1st grade, so I don’t have a lot of experience with the teen experience or extra curriculars. I think the younger the child, the easier this probably is. That said, we have been fully distance learning since March and my daughter is doing well. I work hard to model a positive attitude and help us keep perspective. We focus on what we CAN still do and not what we can’t and that goes a long way. It’s a tricky line to walk between not having ourselves a pity party but also acknowledging her feelings and not dismissing them. I think we all need to do what we can to mitigate this virus especially for the high risk and healthcare workers. I don’t think it is helpful at all for parents to blame the school board and teachers, and essentially throw fits about not getting our way. If your child is struggling, that energy is better spent finding safe and available ways to help them through this. I think this is huge. I think 90% of the bitching is parents having issues and projecting or creating problems for their children. In our school district (one of the very few public districts in CA that is back in person like "normal") the parents that were the loudest were the ones that have money to burn, nannies/babysitters/etc, and were tired of having their kids at home. I think that parental attitude and what they are saying is huge in terms of how the kid handles the situation. I am on another board with spouses of tech workers. There was a mom complaining about how it is so awful and she is going to have to put her 6 year old in therapy because of it, etc. Saying it's not fair that the rich in CA can send their kids to private school, etc. Someone tried pointing out that she is privileged, her spouse hasn't had to take a cut in pay, is able to work from home, they have good health care, etc. I haven't seen her do anything but complain since March. I am sure that they are having a hard time, but I also think that her attitude and what her kids hear her saying has a huge impact on what they are feeling. |
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Post by beaglemom on Dec 31, 2020 2:39:07 GMT
I thought the whole reason it took her forever to move to the White House was that she was renegotiating their prenup.
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Post by beaglemom on Dec 27, 2020 0:16:19 GMT
I agree. They can be so weird. My husband asked and asked what I wanted - finally I came up with something: a professional fitting on my Peloton bike. One of the instructors has a team that does it over FaceTime and that sounded great to me. I sent him all the information - he was so happy to have something to give me that made me happy. After we opened our gifts, I asked "what happened to the Peloton fitting?" Him: "OOOOOOOOOH! I totally forgot about that."  The reviews are fantastic!! I lucked out and before the pandemic had a guy from our local bike shop come out and do mine. He had started a side business of fitting people on their Pelotons, since he does it for people on their road and mountain bikes normally. It was a game changer for me!! Huge improvement in comfort and performance! |
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Post by beaglemom on Dec 24, 2020 23:17:32 GMT
Hugs!
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Post by beaglemom on Dec 15, 2020 19:30:11 GMT
Hugs! That is absolutely amazing. It is so lovely to hear that he is doing well and learning new things!
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Post by beaglemom on Dec 7, 2020 5:13:59 GMT
I'm doing the kids in 3 families this year. All families are currently homeless and being housed at a local hotel. The first family has all girls, 17, 15, and 13. The 2nd is just an 8-year-old girl. The last has a 5 month old boy and then 1 and 2 year old girls. I am spending about $75 on each child. Trying to have some practical things, nothing too big or too loud.
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Post by beaglemom on Dec 4, 2020 5:04:03 GMT
Hugs!!!
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Post by beaglemom on Dec 3, 2020 17:07:59 GMT
I feel you!! I bought all my nephews gifts for many years at Christmas time. I spoiled them too. The moment I had kids....my siblings decided we aren't buying for the kids anymore. One year before I got married and had kids, my sister came to me and said that she and her husband couldn't afford to buy gifts for the siblings that year. I was totally okay with that. Holidays are not about going in debt. So on Christmas eve we all gather at her house. She starts handing out gifts to my parents, my grandmother, my brother, my sister in law, nephews and I literally sat there as the only person without a gift. I felt so stupid and a tiny bit hurt. And the gifts she bought for my brother and his wife weren't cheap either. A few days after Christmas she comes over and hands me this little gift saying she felt bad I didn't get anything. I'm guessing someone said something to her. I open up and it's a purse....a used purse, on that I know she had for awhile. This totally happened to us. We bough gifts for years for my dh's sisters' kids and then once we had our kids they decided it took too much time and energy to buy gifts and that we weren't going to do it any more. They also go all out for each other's birthdays and nothing for dh and I. His parents are guilty of doing it too. They make a huge effort for those grandkids, but for our kids that they actually see they barely do anything. |
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Post by beaglemom on Dec 1, 2020 1:34:04 GMT
This is gorgeous!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 27, 2020 18:33:29 GMT
So pretty!!!
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 25, 2020 7:37:42 GMT
I fell down the hole of high dollar garment fabrics 40+ years ago (my degree is Clothing & Textiles).  There is a gorgeous piece of wool/silk/cashmere challis from Casa dei Tessuti on my sewing table right now that cost approx. 200 Euros/metre. I'm fringing the edges and making a scarf.  I went into quilting, thinking the fabrics were cheaper so it would be a less expensive hobby. HA! Joke's on me! Sounds gorgeous! Please post it when you are done with the scarf!! I would love to see your quilts too! |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 25, 2020 0:10:08 GMT
I hope you get some. What are your other favorite fabric groups? Mine are definitely moonbeam and blended thread Oh my goodness I just checked out Moonbeam's current pre-order! Stunning!!! I love them all!!! |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 25, 2020 0:08:32 GMT
We're a big Disney house and I have 4 little kids, so Backstitch, Hapa, miss Mac for sure. I also like Wanderlust, Oh So Pretty Customs, Mk Designs. For non-custom I have had good luck with So Sew English and Purple Seamstress. I have some Moonbeam in my stash! I have some of the LOTR that they ran a couple of years ago, it is beautiful!
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 24, 2020 23:58:23 GMT
Oh man, I’m familiar with backstitch but was not aware that they had the sale going on. Have you checked out blended thread? They’re in CA but have the most beautiful stuff. They had surprise retail on 626, Fantastic Beasts, and a new Jelly Worlds (Disney) print. Yardage in cl and woven and big kid panels for all 3. It sold out in under 30 seconds. So they announced they are going to do a Flash Pre-order of all of it (+ french terry) starting Friday at 10am Est. Fingers crossed I can get some! I am going to do orders from both sites for my 626 and then go back in for the rest after. I know pre-orders can hit their caps fast too. Yes! Blended Threads has some gorgeous stuff!!! |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 24, 2020 23:37:27 GMT
It's the name of a custom fabric company. They ran retail of a couple of their most coveted prints and they sold out in less than 10 seconds. Thousands and thousands of yards of fabric. My all time favorite is a print with the character Stitch (626) and I really wanted some, but alas my fingers weren't quick enough. I was hoping there was another fan on here that I could commiserate with! Fabrics! You're talking my language after all!  It's probably a good thing I didn't know about this site because the absolute last thing I need is more fabric. However, I will commiserate with you because there isn't much worse than the perfect piece of fabric that got away - or you didn't buy only to regret it for years to come. Yeah if you haven't already fallen down the rabbit hole of custom fabrics, save yourself a lot of money and don't go there!! They preorder at $25-30 a yard and retail for $30-35 a yard. And then there are prints like this one that I wanted that sell on the Buy/Sell/Trade market for $300 a yard because they are so coveted! |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 24, 2020 22:54:45 GMT
So funny. I know this makes sense to the OP, and probably to someone who knows what backstitch is (I only know it as a stitch in embroidery) but the entire post reads like a foreign language to me 😂  I'm only here because I thought there were fabrics and threads! Instead, I feel like I wandered into a meeting in the middle of Silicon Valley!  It's the name of a custom fabric company. They ran retail of a couple of their most coveted prints and they sold out in less than 10 seconds. Thousands and thousands of yards of fabric. My all time favorite is a print with the character Stitch (626) and I really wanted some, but alas my fingers weren't quick enough. I was hoping there was another fan on here that I could commiserate with! |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 24, 2020 22:38:20 GMT
I had 3 computers going and I got nothing. I ended up getting some Jelly cl since I didn't pre-order any this year since I still have the stuff I preordered 2 years ago.
But super excited to see that they are going to do a flash pre-order starting Friday. Hopefully my fingers are faster and I can get my hands on some more 626.
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 18, 2020 1:00:57 GMT
You are my favorite!
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 15, 2020 5:33:13 GMT
Holy crap!!
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 12, 2020 18:08:01 GMT
Wow!!
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 12, 2020 7:17:20 GMT
The bigger issue will be what happens when he's out. He has millions in loans due and he has a lot of classified information plus he likes to run his mouth about how smart he is and how much he knows...and that's a very bad combination and makes him very vulnerable. AND he's not intelligent enough to realize it. With his narcassistic personality, all he needs is one of those enemy leaders (Rocket man, Putin, anyone one of them in the Middle east) to flatter him & offer to pay off some of his debt and during a late night conversation Trump will leak like a sieve. He has the potential to put the national security of the USA and it's allies at great risk. This is what worries me. We have already seen him be loose lipped with other national security information when he wanted to be. What is to stop him when he is throwing a tantrum and needing money badly from selling out all our national secrets to the highest bidder. |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 12, 2020 7:10:01 GMT
I should add that at the end of last year I realized I was close to hitting 2019 miles for the year, I missed it by 127 miles. At the time I wasn't riding as religiously as I am now. So for this year, I challenged myself to do 2020 miles. I hit that in July. So I changed it to 4040 and I will probably hit that by the end of this month. I was riding at least 4 days a week till April, traveled in February and did a strength challenge in March and have ridden all but 1 day since April 1, you can see the difference in my mileage based on that!
Completed since January 1, 2020: 3734 miles
Remaining miles to 4040: 306 miles
% Complete: 92.4%
Avg To Reach Goal: 6.1/day
Monthly Breakdown (2020)
January 292mi
February 201mi
March 163mi
April 377mi
May 408mi
June 413mi
July 429mi
August 402mi
September 401mi
October 507mi
November 140mi
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 12, 2020 7:04:10 GMT
Yes there are other bikes that work just fine, but they are not the same. There is feedback that you get on the actual bike that you just can't/don't get from a non-peloton bike. Before using a real one I wouldn't have thought there was much of a difference, now I seriously don't want to go on vacation unless I have a peloton or can take mine with me. Seriously, we are thinking about going to Yosemite and staying in a cabin and we are thinking of taking it in a trailer with us so I can have it with me.
What feedback do you get that I can't get on a non peloton? Other than leaderboard? I'm curious to know what I'm missing. So on most rides that aren't live or power zone it has the gauge over where your resistance and cadence are that tells you the range you are supposed to be in on the particular ride. Also on other bikes that I have ridden there is no real comparison on the resistance number. Cadence, in theory should be at least similar, but not resistance. I am also a HUGE fan of Power Zone training. There are 4 instructors that "specialize" in power zone rides; Matt, Christine, Dennis, and Olivia, Christian Van de Velde also has a couple PZ rides. In Power Zone training you take an FTP (Functional Threshold Power) test that determines your zones. Zones are 1-7. Zone 1: Very Easy < 55% of FTP, Active recovery intensity Zone 2: Moderate 56-75% of FTP, Long ride pace, Conversational intensity Zone 3: Sustainable 76-90% of FTP, Sustainable for well over an hour, Conversation becomes difficult Zone 4: Challenging 91-105% of FTP, Sustainable for about one hour at max Zone 5: Hard 106-120% of FTP, Sustainable for 10-15 minutes at max Zone 6: Very Hard 121-150% of FTP, Sustainable for 30 seconds up to 3-5 minutes max Zone 7: Max Effort >151% of FTP, Sustainable for only a few seconds Once you have taken the test on a Peloton bike it converts your average output for the test and determines your zones. Then a pretty bar appears at the bottom of your Peloton screen under your output and it is color coded and shows what zone you are at at any given time. Making it very easy to see what zone you are in during a ride. So when the instructor tells you zone 3, 80 cadence you can manipulate your resistance and cadence to get yourself in zone 3. I have been doing the challenges since Fall 2019. My FTP has improved 100 points and my power to weight ratio has gone from 1.13 w/Kg to 2.34 w/Kg in the last year. Meaning I started at putting out 1.13 watts per kg and now I am putting out 2.34 watts per kg and I have lost 30lbs. Yes you can do the peloton workouts with a phone/iPad and another bike, is it the same? No. But if price is an issue by all means get what fits your budget, what matters is that you are moving your body, enjoying yourself, and sustaining a workout lifestyle. For me, having a Peloton bike has been worth every penny. I have used my road bike on a trainer before for training, but didn't "enjoy" it. I had never actually taken a spin class before getting mine. Now I ride daily, some days (like today) twice, a 45 min powerzone endurance ride this morning and another 30 power zone ride tonight before dinner. I love the community I have found on facebook with it and I really enjoy the instructors that I ride with. My dh has ridden in a showroom with me, but for his training (half ironman and olympic distance triathlons) he prefers Zwift and a smart trainer, but that wasn't motivating for me. I love the results that I have seen and I am motivated to ride daily and I enjoy it. I have never looked forward to my workouts the way I do with my Peloton. I LOVE sleep, but at least 5 days a week I am getting up early to get my ride done before I start my day, because if I don't I am a grouch until I get it done. I feel so much better and ready to deal with my 4 kids if I have gotten it in. So yes, I have totally drunk the kool-aid and love my Peloton! Happy to answer any questions! |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 12, 2020 5:23:52 GMT
There is not a FTP Zone on my Echelon. It is a $500 bike. I do have cadence, resistance, speed, output, distance. I set up my Echelon account to automatically download to Strava which gives me all my data and graphs. I like Strava because I can add my walks, kayaking, hiking etc. and it tracks my outdoor routes. I may try the Peloton app for the free month but I'm also curious about the Apple Fit program which is coming out later this year and would like to give it a try. You can set your peloton up to automatically sync with Strava. I've ridden other spin bikes and they honestly just don't compare! |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 11, 2020 6:08:26 GMT
Our plan at the moment is to do Thanksgiving at our house. Outside on our deck. Our immediate family, both sets of parents and my sister and her husband. We have all been pretty isolated. But as we get closer I am starting to worry that maybe it isn't a good idea.
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 11, 2020 3:20:45 GMT
Dh is bummed about missing another season too. He had planned on doing a number of half Ironman races this year. They are opening some, we had some tri-team members that did the ones last weekend, but we don't think it is worth the risk. We are happy with my peloton, his tribike on Zwift with a smart trainer, and our treadmill. Thankfully if he really wants to go swim our "club," since the pool is outdoor and you reserve lanes and they leave every other open. Ugh, I’m so disappointed for them! Whichever races was your DH going to do? I saw they were doing those races and with all that heavy breathing I am skeptical about the measures taken. How are they working transition? Because even if they give them 10x the space they are still on each other’s heels breathing deeply in and out on the way to their racks. His team was in Lubbock earlier this year, I think, that they called off last minute, so they’re doing some races. But we are both just too high risk for the travel and the race! He’s already got 2 IM races from this year rolled over to next year. What I keep thinking is that sure, these are mostly super healthy, not terribly old athletes so you’d hope they would get a mild case. Well ignore the implications for spreading it to others. But even some of those with “mild” cases are getting serious lung damage. They can lose the ability to do this, and any other endurance sport, for life. No safe swim options for him here now that his team isn’t meeting for open water swimming anymore, so he’s getting some sort of swim equipment that he compares to the bike smart trainer. Found a great deal for a used one and pick it up this weekend. He’s upgrading from a regular bike trainer to a smart one. I wonder if the workouts his coach gives him could be combined with Zwift. Is that something your DH does? I couldn’t tell from looking at the site. He got a Smith Machine so he can safely do his weights at home, he’s lost quite a bit of muscle mass, and me as a spotter is a joke. And our treadmill is SOOOO old and really needs to be replaced but after everything else we had to draw the line somewhere. And the line was “you live in Texas, the weather is fine, get your butt outside.”  He normally does Santa Cruz because it is local and then 3-4 other half irons and then a handful of olympic races. He don't think he actually signed up for any when Covid hit so there weren't any issues. But he had done La Qunita December 2019 and that qualified him for the US triathlon championships, which he has done the last couple of years. He actually got to go to Worlds in Australia in September 2018 to compete on the USA Tri-team. He has been doing the workouts from his tri coach on Zwift. His team has "team" rides and races at least once a week on Zwift. The Tour de France even did a vritual Tour de France earlier this summer on Zwift (you can watch it on YouTube) and then they opened up those courses for anyone to ride after the fact. He also does Zwift on the treadmill and likes that as well. We have a refurbished Woodway treadmill that he really likes. Some day when we have a workout room I want to get one of the peloton treads, we tried it out in the showroom and it as amazing. |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 11, 2020 3:08:00 GMT
Ok ladies, tell me what I need to know (good and bad) about a Peloton. We are considering the bike+ We want to use it as a family - do we each need a subscription? Nope! Just one. They used to have a limit of users per bike, but with the pandemic they have allowed unlimited users. What kind of shoes do you have? I have a pair of specialized shoes that I love. I have wide feet and the Peloton ones weren't wide enough for me. I am afraid of the uncomfortable seat - did you get a gel cover? Nope. I did get my sitz bones measured and ended up getting a seat that fit them better, but it actually has less padding than the one that comes with the bike. It made a huge difference for me. Do you use it as much as you thought you would? The last thing I want to do is have an expensive piece of equipment go to waste. I love it!! It took me a little bit to get my groove, but I have ridden every day since April 1. I have had my bike since January 2019 and I have done 745 rides and 1,477 workouts total. Do you feel it has helped you lose weight/improve cardio health? Yes!! But the weight loss comes more from the kitchen than the bike. Cardio/strength for sure. I have been doing the Power Zone Challenges since last fall and I have seen huge improvement. powerzonepack.com/ has all the information. My FTP has improved 100+ points in the last year. I went from being able to do 6 miles in 30 minutes to being able to do 9.3 miles in that amount of time. I highly recommend doing them if that is your goal. What do you wish you knew before you bought it? That you really need to take multiple classes from all of the instructors to figure out who you like. I have my favorites, my mom has different favorites. It totally depends on the style and personalities that you jive with. Thank you for any help you can give me! Yes there are other bikes that work just fine, but they are not the same. There is feedback that you get on the actual bike that you just can't/don't get from a non-peloton bike. Before using a real one I wouldn't have thought there was much of a difference, now I seriously don't want to go on vacation unless I have a peloton or can take mine with me. Seriously, we are thinking about going to Yosemite and staying in a cabin and we are thinking of taking it in a trailer with us so I can have it with me.
Find your community. There are peloton groups for everything you can think of from lawyers, to doctors, to first responders, to craft cocktails, to location specific groups, to XXL riders, to triathletes, etc. Find your group and they will lift you up. I know maybe 20 people in real life that have Pelotons, but I have over 2,000 followers so any time I hop on I have "people" to ride with.
I don't use the regular leaderboard 99% of the time. I filter it to people I follow or follow the same #'s and just focus on riding and high fiving those people. I also love filtering power zone rides that I have already done so that the "leader" board that I am using is just my previous times doing a ride, so I am riding against myself. I find it very motivating and love seeing how much I have improved on a particular ride. The ride I did this morning I have done 5 times. My output the first time I did it was around 200, but today I was near 345.
It takes some getting used to, yes your butt will hurt, but you will get used to it. At this point I usually only wear padded shorts when I am riding 60 minutes or longer. There is a group that arranges "Tours" a couple of times a year that you can sign up to do 35-200+ miles over a weekend. I did the October one and did 100 miles over the 2 days.
I LOVE mine and I am happy to answer any questions you might have. I have the regular bike and don't feel the need to upgrade to the bike+ right now. But I also haven't tried it so I can't compare the two. They are having some delays right now because of shipping and stuff, but they will arrive eventually and it is totally worth the wait.
I am #craftymomof4, my account is "private" but if you ask to follow me I will allow it, but I am at my max and can't follow any more people at this point. I think we also have a pea #, but I don't remember what it is and I had to unfollow it because I had 10 other groups that I wanted to be following. I am hoping they will allow more #'s in the future. |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 11, 2020 2:21:02 GMT
Even when the vaccine is available, it will be a full year or longer before it is available to everyone. It will be staged - rightly so - in who gets it. And then there will be time before it is actually effective - it looks like it will be a 2-dose vaccine. So it may not be until March 2022 until we turn the corner. I was reading last quarter next year, but I don’t think 2022 is out of line. Already prepped DH for losing another triathlon season so we are buying a LOT of specialized equipment for him. Might as well, he’s not paying gym, therapy and pool fees, entry fees, etc. Dh is bummed about missing another season too. He had planned on doing a number of half Ironman races this year. They are opening some, we had some tri-team members that did the ones last weekend, but we don't think it is worth the risk. We are happy with my peloton, his tribike on Zwift with a smart trainer, and our treadmill. Thankfully if he really wants to go swim our "club," since the pool is outdoor and you reserve lanes and they leave every other open. |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 10, 2020 22:01:33 GMT
My Facebook feed is filled with people frustrated with Newsom. How about you be frustrated with your fellow neighbors and the tourists that insist on still coming here despite all of the shutdowns? We have skated by the purple tier week after week, something finally had to give. My husband and I have been staying home, not going to restaurants, I canceled my gym membership, we don’t go to friends homes, I haven’t been inside my parents home since March. We only visit them outside in the backyard from a distance. But every single weekend since September I’ve seen friends going back to normal. Getting together inside each other’s homes, having parties, big gatherings during Halloween....it isn’t shocking we had to roll back. I’m not frustrated with state and city leadership, I’m frustrated with people who can’t just stay home! I’m certainly tired of it after 8 months but nothing is changing any time soon! And what's crazy is that compared to the rest of the country we have it pretty under control!! We have been being very careful. To the point that we pulled our kids because we didn't want them going back in person, because we are still seeing the grandparents (outside) and didn't want to expose them. I keep seeing posts on social media from other parents at school that are doing all sorts of travel and socializing. I am very happy with our little bubble. It's our family, one good family friend family and the 3 sets of grandparents. We are all using grocery delivery for 90% of our stuff. And using precautions when we have to do that other 10% and not socially seeing anyone else. Everyone that works is doing so from home. It makes me sad that we could have prevented so many people from dying, having life long health complications, and from it lasting this long if people and the government had just been willing to do what was necessary to slow the spread. |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 10, 2020 17:23:38 GMT
Hugs!
We ended up pulling the kids at the end of the first quarter (October 24th). They were going back full time in person this quarter and we didn't feel comfortable with it. But we have the advantage that I was already home. But now I am a full-time teacher/mom with 4 kids, this was supposed to be the first time since 2011 that I didn't have a kid at home for a couple of hours a week. I have taught the grades that my older 2 are in and my younger 2 are pre-school age. We have podded with a friend's family that has kids the same ages my middle 2 kids. We got over to their house M/W/F to do school together and then do our own things on T/TH. So far we are loving it. My kids are saying they don't want to go back to regular school when this is all over.
I am so sorry about your insurance situation. Is there any way you can switch to full time there and drop your other part time? I hope it works out!
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I went into quilting, thinking the fabrics were cheaper so it would be a less expensive hobby. HA! Joke's on me!_on_the_beach.jpg)
I'm only here because I thought there were fabrics and threads! Instead, I feel like I wandered into a meeting in the middle of Silicon Valley! 
