tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90480059516422899452024-03-04T10:01:04.938-05:00Know-it-all in NJtsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.comBlogger773125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-66575851941019172332023-12-05T10:53:00.000-05:002023-12-06T11:37:46.925-05:00Updated Referral List<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFD8q8SBnCq2lRr8ghiTjYi8WOgauISiu7puKQ0oqmBU3hEE2PC6oXFoNymXGBvj7Aqc7VfX5-reeFH2ie_0sDVgDtGRugIR7mjHKGBPgJsq_yqSsjjGTw_-5xkvbRVZ6P1sBrLl8tGqR5AcMbJnmIcG2meNDF9_Jt49QY-zdbD89-Ti63fE_aqBx8/s1280/Money.jpg.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="1280" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFD8q8SBnCq2lRr8ghiTjYi8WOgauISiu7puKQ0oqmBU3hEE2PC6oXFoNymXGBvj7Aqc7VfX5-reeFH2ie_0sDVgDtGRugIR7mjHKGBPgJsq_yqSsjjGTw_-5xkvbRVZ6P1sBrLl8tGqR5AcMbJnmIcG2meNDF9_Jt49QY-zdbD89-Ti63fE_aqBx8/w335-h164/Money.jpg.webp" width="335" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I haven't done this in awhile- put all my referrals for you to get coupons. Some sites have changed- for instance, Tradsey has become Vestiaire Collective, and I don't think they even have a referral program. Ebates became Rakuten, so on and so forth.</p><p>If you sign up for things with a referral, generally you get some kind of discount. So I'm putting all mine in one place in case you like discounts and coupons. </p><p>Save with <a href="https://capitaloneshopping.com/r/EQ937W">Capital One</a>. Sign up with my referral link and start getting money back every time you purchase something. It's sort of like <a href="http://www.rakuten.com/r/TARADI30?eeid=28187">Rakuten</a> but I don't even know how I've racked up like $50 on there. I get a pop up whenever I go to buy something, which is great because sometimes it's something that <a href="http://www.rakuten.com/r/TARADI30?eeid=28187">Rakuten</a> wasn't going to give me anything back on. You can redeem the money for gift cards from many popular stores. </p><p><a href="https://www.aspirerewards.com/join-now?refCode=8868490758">Aspire</a> - If you're thinking of getting filler like Restylane or a neurotoxin like Dysport (alternative to Botox) - you sign up for a rewards program and get points for your next services. Points equal money off. <br /></p><p><a href="https://referral.fetch.com/referraltext?code=AR4T16">Fetch</a> - You have to put this app on your phone, it's like <a href="https://ibotta.onelink.me/iUfE/8cc13c64?friend_code=dvqunga">Ibotta</a> - where you get money just for letting them be in your business and knowing what you purchase. I don't care if anyone knows what kind of cereal or laundry detergent I buy. Just like with <a href="https://www.rakuten.com/r/TARADI30?eeid=28187">Rakuten</a> (see below), it really is free money. It can take awhile to build up, but it does. I never shop without using these kind of apps and any kind of cash back is nice. They're all legit. With Fetch, you just snap a pic of your receipt after any shop and you get points. The points turn into money. And they take old receipts too. I found a bunch of Shop Rite and Stop and Shop receipts in my car and they took them. <br /></p><p><a href="https://learn.cordblood.com/referral.html?contactid=0013l000020sLStAAM">Cord Blood Registry</a> - Before E was born, we were inundated with information about storing his umbilical cord blood with stem cells. We did it, <i>just in case. </i>It's expensive though. If you use my referral you get $100-$200 off. Now, I don't know many
people having babies these days, but it was a lot cheaper when I first
started with it, so any money off is going to be helpful. </p><p>From the CBR website: <i>Your baby's umbilical cord is made up of tissue and contains blood. Both
cord blood and cord tissue are rich sources of powerful stem cells
being researched for their ability to act like our body’s own personal
repair kit and may be able to help our bodies heal in new ways. Plus,
cord blood stem cells are currently used in transplant medicine to
regenerate healthy blood and immune systems. Your baby isn't the only one who may benefit from having access to
preserved newborn stem cells. The cells can potentially be used by
siblings and parents, too. I<b>n many cord blood treatments, stem cells from a matched family member are preferred.</b></i></p><p><a href="It's easy to buy and sell on Mercari. Get up to $30 when you get started. Use code SCYZBV when you sign up with my link: https://merc.li/RKvHBUeRb #mercari">Mercari</a> - Especially good for holiday shopping or trying to find that needle in a haystack thing you've been looking for. You get up to $30 in savings when you sign up with a referral. </p><p>Poshmark - Great for buying and selling. I believe you get a free $10 when you sign up with a referral. You have to sign up in the app and use my closet name - <b>AVENUEPOSH</b>. Just go to your app store or whatever you buy apps on with an android device and get the app. </p><p><a href="https://posherva.com?via=avenueposh ">Posher VA</a> - if you sell on Poshmark and want a Virtual Assistant, this is the best service I've found. Get money off with my link. <br /></p><p><a href="https://www.rakuten.com/r/TARADI30?eeid=28187">Rakuten</a> - This one, I don't know why everyone isn't already using this, but it's literally free money- both in-store and out. Sometimes, I get a notification that I got money back and I didn't even know I was using Rakuten. For example, in-store, or with food delivery or something. You put all your credit cards numbers in any time it detects you've used one of those cards in-store, you get money back. But, I check it before I make any purchase online. You have to make sure you've clicked it before you make the purchase, but I have it as an add-on extension on my laptop, so if I go on a site they are connected to, the pop up will come up to click on it. Even my little eBay purchases- it's usually only 1% back, but it adds up. I just bought from Nike and it was 8% cash back. Totally worth it. It's also how I gauge if a website is legit. If they're doing cashback on Rakuten, I feel like they're legit. </p><p><a href="http://joinhoney.com/ref/17chh6">Honey</a> - Another free money site for when you shop online. Some places use Rakuten, some use Honey (which is now partnered with PayPal). Sometimes they use both. Rakuten won't let you use another cash back service when using theirs so I hit Rakuten first, then if Honey comes up with coupon codes I let it run, Rakuten says it's disconnected, and after Honey puts in the coupon codes, I'll hit the Rakuten button again. Sometimes Honey has coupon codes that Rakuten doesn't. That's my way around using both. But now, Honey will ask you if you want to apply your points to a PayPal purchase, which is great.</p><p><a href="https://referrals.coachoutlet.com/x/WCdgN6">Coach Outlet</a> - You get $10 if you sign up with my referral on their site. </p><p><a href="https://www.ruelala.com/invite/tsdk">RueLaLa</a> - Discount fashion and home goods site. Great deals. You get $10 for signing up with my link.<br /></p><p><a href="https://lnk.rise-ai.com/BXli35ioZhRlIYQ">Name Bubbles</a> - For all your label needs. I use these for camp, school, everything. I just ordered extra small labels for shoes. </p><p><a href="https://noom.com/r/dGrpBWvY">Noom</a> - It's a weight loss app to help you with the whole mind/body/spirit thing. <br /></p><p><a href="https://go.factor75.com/plans?c=HS-OAOFZKS1R&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt">Factor Food</a> - I just started this food delivery service. I'll update more but this is a big coupon from them if you're interested in healthy food delivery. See my <a href="http://knowitallinnj.blogspot.com/2022/12/factor-food-plan.html">entry about Factor</a> to read all about my meals.<br /></p><p><a href="https://mixbook.extole.com/s/taradiamond74">Mixbook</a> - I made the nicest Bar Mitzvah photo album from this company. I can't rave enough about it. I even made a mini-book of it for E to bring to camp to show his friends. I love all the choices for sizes and it was easy to make. I had to use Shutterfly to make a book recently or lose 14 years worth of photos - they are now making you buy something every eighteen months or lose your account. What a mess. It wasn't user friendly and it cost SO MUCH MORE than Mixbook. I should just see if I can download all my photos from Shutterfly and put them on an external hard drive. However, I already had one huge external hard drive get corrupted so I don't trust them. <br /></p><p><a href="https://tinyurl.com/27febn7h">Evidation</a> - It's a health site where you earn points that turn into money or gift cards by answering health questions. Getting points is slow but I've earned many $10 over time. I go to it when I remember. I just earned like 800 points this morning for answering some demographic questions. It's not fast, but it's still free money and I'll take it. It's nice getting a little $10 gift every now and again.</p><p><a href="https://www.thredup.com/r/YHZZYO">ThredUp</a> - it's another secondhand clothing site. Use my link to sign up, you get $10 to shop. Some things are really inexpensive- like I'm looking for a certain kind of Gap tank top they don't make anymore. Right now, cropped is in, and I'm not 15 yrs old or a hundred pounds. So I'd like a tank that covers a little more skin. That's what a site like ThredUp is for. Or, of course, name brand designer stuff, but I'm not looking for that kind of thing to go on my treadmill in the house. </p><p><a href="https://invite.swimoutlet.com/x/HtxvzT">Swim Outlet</a> - you get 20% off your first order with my <a href="https://invite.swimoutlet.com/x/HtxvzT">link</a> instead of the usual 10% for signing up for emails. They have really good prices so it's worth it. I joined their membership which is only $4.99 a year- totally worth it for me because E loses at least one pair of goggles a season and those Speedo Vanquishers are not cheap. <br /></p><p>That's all I can think of at the moment, but if I come up with more, I will update. <br /></p><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-86313252772671497152023-11-28T12:02:00.003-05:002023-11-28T12:02:32.653-05:00JSU Glen Rock Support<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLFcmZJqqK2Kae_Fu5EBzVM_X087AyLZTrbn177jxUSn6T6XiqAXar0sN2_ZqdOjaJAvfTWF9uNL2kEV0Jmw0DyohUJkNN70x891Ra-x0l8t9SLKyuG9QYS4ut_ox_Jdjz_52DJC8Ru_hoW7K9LS5qQSWMjaVZPIYy2Jfpw41zNQxEeWFEqjoMetstSQ/s3264/JSU%20collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="3264" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLFcmZJqqK2Kae_Fu5EBzVM_X087AyLZTrbn177jxUSn6T6XiqAXar0sN2_ZqdOjaJAvfTWF9uNL2kEV0Jmw0DyohUJkNN70x891Ra-x0l8t9SLKyuG9QYS4ut_ox_Jdjz_52DJC8Ru_hoW7K9LS5qQSWMjaVZPIYy2Jfpw41zNQxEeWFEqjoMetstSQ/w320-h276/JSU%20collage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaRQ7n6Jx3Nb6EBChJjSOvGsSkVm6QgnjE8wzXh7JTPQhF9SXG2rxoBvfoloGARdzxOhFXnZc5S0Ff5KrH-GrVSFYy2rTHEEM3_a55KijWsGHJkoC91QVk4W5KyyqOJnedOZXdzKLVYvh3mz636x-EhdMJdv-JG8jvdLm7MS8kjgNVjE5ZRclqfFfwnYE/s1179/JSU%202.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="919" data-original-width="1179" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaRQ7n6Jx3Nb6EBChJjSOvGsSkVm6QgnjE8wzXh7JTPQhF9SXG2rxoBvfoloGARdzxOhFXnZc5S0Ff5KrH-GrVSFYy2rTHEEM3_a55KijWsGHJkoC91QVk4W5KyyqOJnedOZXdzKLVYvh3mz636x-EhdMJdv-JG8jvdLm7MS8kjgNVjE5ZRclqfFfwnYE/w400-h311/JSU%202.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAQF0azKEQ1UX2MjgppWfblmabimLeSL0E6VUldOC-63UckB0nyiOlwseJrpXY34YJOEhDqByZYg2RLxrRtGw396bjbrU2mDAThPRWixfz_VqNoi1gbgjyrA3lCTgGNDjsO12hlh8xbfN1seTQfO2leb7Bw1kiS5rS0quw_p2wZknC2ujr_oZWcDQ_G4A/s1179/JSU%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="1179" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAQF0azKEQ1UX2MjgppWfblmabimLeSL0E6VUldOC-63UckB0nyiOlwseJrpXY34YJOEhDqByZYg2RLxrRtGw396bjbrU2mDAThPRWixfz_VqNoi1gbgjyrA3lCTgGNDjsO12hlh8xbfN1seTQfO2leb7Bw1kiS5rS0quw_p2wZknC2ujr_oZWcDQ_G4A/w400-h216/JSU%204.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">To purchase apparel from the fundraiser- <a href="https://eeedesignlab.com/jewish-student-union-at-glen-rock-high-school/"><span style="color: red;">CLICK HERE</span></a><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">To donate directly to the FIDF - </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #ffa400;"><a href="https://support.fidf.org/site/Donation2?df_id=4040&mfc_pref=T&4040.donation=form1&s_src=ORG_FIDF_HP_20231011_EC23OCTGlobalHeader&s_subsrc=2023_HP_FIDFHQNational_EC23OCTGlobalHeader-Donate&_gl=1*1t9r6yw*_ga*MjE4MDg0MDMuMTY5ODg0MTgzMg..*_ga_1C9D2S1P8N*MTY5ODg0MTgzMi4xLjAuMTY5ODg0MTgzMi4wLjAuMA">CLICK HERE</a></span><span style="color: #2b00fe;"></span><span style="color: red;"> <br /></span></span></b></p><p><b><span style="color: red;"> </span></b><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-77220194399924017802023-09-06T20:43:00.000-04:002023-09-06T20:43:45.714-04:00No Joy of Cooking<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEHK8sX1dSx-t7l8w4CIPwFVwnlfymNcjatKReBJtCtrU74NnNoD4qZbUNLy-3EAkZ6j9zSK77P79l2Kfv67NfV1JLR0Bc7wWHRNQ7LO3gHF9YsG8KoGjG_wKXOf9cVtnuMah1nEF8IC2sn7ivOYOnujedgz9Mz_dAwuOClthAQJooLZ8y7FzJoPT7yFU/s1024/food%20in%20the%20brain.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEHK8sX1dSx-t7l8w4CIPwFVwnlfymNcjatKReBJtCtrU74NnNoD4qZbUNLy-3EAkZ6j9zSK77P79l2Kfv67NfV1JLR0Bc7wWHRNQ7LO3gHF9YsG8KoGjG_wKXOf9cVtnuMah1nEF8IC2sn7ivOYOnujedgz9Mz_dAwuOClthAQJooLZ8y7FzJoPT7yFU/s320/food%20in%20the%20brain.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>We all know that I don't really cook. However, since being on Wegovy, there is just no joy in food. Period. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It's just really weird. It feels weird and a little sad. Not sad enough to stop the injections, but you really have to learn to have a new relationship with food. <br /></p><p>All this time, my whole life, food ruled my brain. It was- what was I going to eat, when, how much. I have never been a foodie, as in, I have a child's palate. I don't eat spicy, exotic, fusion, or anything remotely even interesting. I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches my entire school career. I love vodka sauce. Garlic knots. Pizza. You get the idea. </p><p>Now, food rules my brain, but in a different way. By the time it's like one or two o'clock, I think to myself that I have to find something to eat. Nothing seems appealing. Every now and again, something sounds good and I jump on it, but there's no guarantee that it isn't going to turn on me halfway through. It doesn't make me sick or anything, but the thought of it is just gross and I have to throw it away. </p><p>So far, pizza has been okay, but not all pizza. I used to LOVE the chicken parm pizza from this certain local place. I don't know what happened, but I was eating a slice and halfway through it turned. Had to throw it out and now the thought of it is gross to me. From the same place, I love their Hawaiian pizza and luckily, that hasn't turned. Wonton soup also seems to work for me. Wonton soup, an egg roll, and pork fried rice is a perfect meal. Except I can't finish the soup and I can only take a few bites of the rice. But it tastes good. </p><p>The weight is melting off though. I haven't seen this weight since around my fortieth birthday. My body looks different than when I was thirty or forty, but I'll still take it. I don't actually notice the weight gone when I look in the mirror, naked, before jumping in the shower. It's more that I have a few articles of clothing I keep to try on and that's my barometer of my weight. They fit now and I couldn't even get them on a few months ago. </p><p>I do miss enjoying the limited number of food items I did eat before though. I used to LOVE and look forward to garlic knots with vodka sauce. I don't even think to get them now and I don't even know if I could even eat them if I did. I like being thin better, but it just feels so strange to be so ambivalent about food. </p><p>My friend Kate said maybe that's how we're really supposed to be- <i>ambivalent about food</i>. We overeat because it tastes good and we don't have self control, but maybe that's not how our bodies are designed to work. So, these drugs work by making our bodies do what they're really supposed to do. I don't know if that's true or not, but I can tell you it was definitely hard to change the mindset of thinking I want something, mentally, but then getting it and not actually being able to eat it because of no physical desire. </p><p>I normally eat dessert every night. Some kind of cookie, cupcake, brownie, whatever. I was on a Chipwich kick for awhile or Skinny Cow ice cream cones. I've ALWAYS looked forward to dessert. Now, I think I want it, but I'm not sure what I want, and then it never seems to taste as good as it did, or I thought it would. I also can't finish what once seemed like a small portion. Prior to Wegovy, if I had a cupcake, I'd still be looking to eat something else after. Even if it was chips. I can't remember the last time I wanted or ate chips. </p><p>That's really about it. I'm still learning how to navigate this new relationship to food. I decided to stay at 1mg for a second month instead of going up to the next dose of 1.7 because it seems to be doing it's job, I haven't felt nauseated since the first or second week of the 1mg, so I seem to be at a good spot with the current dosage. People keep asking me how long I plan to be on it. I don't have an answer. I'll see how it goes. If insurance continues to pay, I'll continue to be on it. I don't have a problem giving myself the injections and I don't feel like I'm having any adverse effects. I don't necessarily have a goal weight. It's not just about weight though- I've really lessened the amount of candy I eat these days. I used to be able to polish off a bag of gummy bears or whatever and now it's a handful here and there, then I'm done. It feels good. I'll take it!<br /></p><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-15072187456936746602023-08-27T23:06:00.001-04:002023-08-28T18:49:55.364-04:00Welcome Home 2023: Maine back to NJ<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRPrF6SPhNy2yHkM3RWFtCFfL3IhmPW2wGaIuGnFZ0VWKifm9wrFhRvyKM6-7MczfSNJTi7YXyI5KOv6-25Dg3EV8hdokOD0mZ3zqWNV8uLHIS_qL0T0LqtICZzB-mcqGm8jJ7UAyRIMJ4s3lXmJOJuvAJjzO4d7ooIaDTFXGsNU3IeBSnFLXfjL8NZQ4/s875/bus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="875" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRPrF6SPhNy2yHkM3RWFtCFfL3IhmPW2wGaIuGnFZ0VWKifm9wrFhRvyKM6-7MczfSNJTi7YXyI5KOv6-25Dg3EV8hdokOD0mZ3zqWNV8uLHIS_qL0T0LqtICZzB-mcqGm8jJ7UAyRIMJ4s3lXmJOJuvAJjzO4d7ooIaDTFXGsNU3IeBSnFLXfjL8NZQ4/s320/bus.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The OG's, waiting for the White Plains bus to go to camp!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>I always write what is basically a love letter to <a href="http://www.campwekeela.com">Camp Wekeela</a> at some point when E gets back. I've been too busy to really do anything since he's been back. Instead of just a love letter for a great summer, I want to talk about the mental break with him gone vs him coming home. </p><p>Before he comes home, everyone asks if we're excited for him to come home. Anyone we see after he's arrived back at the nest, asks if we're so happy he's back. The answer is always that it's more complicated than that. What the answer really comes down to is that we'd love to see him, hug him, and catch up, but then we'd like to send him back. </p><p><i>What? That's horrible!</i> No, no it isn't. It's that for just under seven weeks, he is happy, living his best life, safe, fed, no access to electronics or social media, trying new things, going on trips, and it has nothing to do with us (parents). We can only guess what's going on from photos and a few sporadic letters, but we know it's all good. <br /></p><p>You don't realize how much space, energy and time, in your head, your kid takes up until they go away, just for this short stint of time, while they are still supervised. It's different than college where they can do whatever they want and that usually involves alcohol and sex. That is decidedly NOT a mental break. </p><p>When they're a teen and go to camp, you get this beautiful, much needed, mental vacation. Their emotions are so big, perception can be way off, the way they think can be exhausting for parents. It's great to have a kid that's a talker, a sharer. Trust me, I love having the kid who likes to verbally purge and tells us things other kids his age don't usually share with their parents. The flip side of that though, is a lot of talking, a lot of over thinking on his part and ours, and being genuinely surprised and sometimes equal parts annoyed at his hyper sensitivity. </p><p>I know when he's at camp, he's learning valuable life lessons. He's figuring out how to live with other people, in a small area, helping keep that area clean, and keeping himself clean. He's experimenting with how to talk to girls, <i>upping his rizz</i>, and doing all the age appropriate things. He's not being called <i>the f word that rhymes with maggot</i> because he's a musician/actor instead of playing on the lacrosse, football, or soccer teams at school. He's achieved and maintained longstanding, meaningful friendships that have spanned five summers and four school years. </p><p>He comes home and we're all back to all the "w's" - who, what, when, where, why. And the "how". <i>What is your plan for today? Where are you going, who are you going with, what time are you going and when do you plan to be back? Why are you dressed like that, it's summer. How are you getting there and how are you getting home? Did you eat? Was there anything that resembles real food that you ingested today? It's almost one o'clock in the afternoon- do I wake you or let you sleep?</i> There are probably more but I got tired just thinking about this paragraph. You get the idea. It's exhausting. For example, today, B said E got out of bed around noon, then went out with friends. I've seen him for about ten minutes in between coming home from being out to going out again. <br /></p><p>For B and I, we're back to checking the cell phone. Having to read mind-numbing texts, seeing who is snapping, and making sure there is nothing that needs further discussion. I love having a little over six weeks not having to even look in the direction of a phone that isn't my own. </p><p>Yes. Is this all just part of parenting? Is this what we signed up for? I don't know. I certainly didn't think about reading someone else's texts or checking group texts in 2009. All I was thinking about then was who was going to win American Idol and making sure I napped when he did. <br /></p><p>It's funny. When I talk about sleepaway camp and Wekeela to other moms who aren't camp moms, they talk about their ten or eleven year old being young to go. That maybe they'll send them in a year or so. Meanwhile, if I had a time machine, I would go back and send him earlier than I did. He started in 2019, going into fifth grade. I go up there, chaperoning the bus, and I see those little six year olds, getting their first taste of freedom, which turns into a level of confidence you can only achieve from living your best life at a place like that. Not having their brains altered by sitting on screens for hours, away from mom and dad, doing all the new things, having something special, separate from their parents. I see them being loved on by their counselors, climbing them like trees, laughing, making jokes, learning how to do stuff for themselves. It's actually pretty darn amazing. <br /></p><p>Is it necessary to start overnight camp so young? No. Of course not. While they don't<i> need</i> it- as there are so many more options, for day camps, the younger they are. Except, once they're in, at their special place, they're IN. They're always building relationships that only get stronger as the summers go on. So when they're in that tween and teen stage, camp becomes their refuge from all the drama and chaos that goes on during the school year. It's their <i>home away from home</i>. Then, when they really NEED camp, when there is nothing good that comes from hanging around their hometown doing a lot of sleeping, hanging out, playing video games, texting, Snapchatting, and lot of nothing productive, they have camp to look forward to and keep them from mindless stupidity and impulsive trouble-making. <br /></p><p>I see the all the counselors who got their ten year Wekeela jackets, exchanging knowing looks of pride in getting to that prize. I'm jealous. I'm jealous of the kids whose parents sent them earlier than I sent E. If I only knew what Wekeela would do for E, I would've wanted him to be there all that time. Kids today, without going to overnight camp, will never know what it is to have time away from technology devices. E says to us- <i>"I wish I grew up in your time. It seems so much easier without phones, texting, and social media"</i>. He has to have it all to be social, and he IS very social. But that doesn't mean he has to like it. </p><p>Kids today barely have any autonomous time away from their parents. Gone are the days of just roaming around without being tracked or forbidden, trying to get lost, just to see if you could make your way back home. At least at camp, they're learning how to speak to people and resolve conflict, face to face, without having mommy intervene. They learn how to ask for what they want, advocate for themselves, without having a parent speak for them. They're making friends on their own, without parental social engineering. These are all super important life lessons. </p><p>E has one last summer as a camper. It's definitely on the later side to still be the camper. Most kids will probably be working next summer. He'll be fifteen. And he can work. But I can't steal from him that last chance to be a kid. He came home saying that this was the best summer so far, equal to his first summer, which was <i>magical</i>. The bunk was closer, better behaved, cleaner, and more mature than ever before. It was a bit of a smaller group, having finally weeded out the few poorly mannered interlopers who had come from other camps during that covid summer and may have stayed another summer or two. They all jelled and there was really very little conflict to resolve. Next year they'll be the <i>seniors</i>, the big <i>machers</i>. And we wish them the best summer ever...<br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoBOh1OmzOglPGW--7GGlY2bDnSWATyinGgc8-lqqDU4c24e_6sGrt--GQJFg445tGVsA6p-O-y32ez3ZOoJBR6NcQrF81bCpW3_CyPqPNCz5cgCnzR3-6CKWb2eUfq75IoRQSnCCvCXll4Z2kedr_xwQgBgJDhiqBvxLd0DjjdAyOiqdjqfIqT5wLBNw/s1170/juniors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="645" data-original-width="1170" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoBOh1OmzOglPGW--7GGlY2bDnSWATyinGgc8-lqqDU4c24e_6sGrt--GQJFg445tGVsA6p-O-y32ez3ZOoJBR6NcQrF81bCpW3_CyPqPNCz5cgCnzR3-6CKWb2eUfq75IoRQSnCCvCXll4Z2kedr_xwQgBgJDhiqBvxLd0DjjdAyOiqdjqfIqT5wLBNw/s320/juniors.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKtQCoT70bXXfEKoMR8Vwz0SM6dCae7kqCSaVbMhsmg7xEAYow4d-86-qkGM4pqQ_HvWip7ueQR7bV35-ODSQUR8W082DwDgGuZ1aGl4Rmqa-Oh6EsZ9--N23qpsEuiBewfZlC-jeaBWe_xuFQfT0-EM0mYV4gLZRU9Pajt6vdiLSl6QQH7aaK_OXIGEs/s851/Wekeela%20sign.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="638" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKtQCoT70bXXfEKoMR8Vwz0SM6dCae7kqCSaVbMhsmg7xEAYow4d-86-qkGM4pqQ_HvWip7ueQR7bV35-ODSQUR8W082DwDgGuZ1aGl4Rmqa-Oh6EsZ9--N23qpsEuiBewfZlC-jeaBWe_xuFQfT0-EM0mYV4gLZRU9Pajt6vdiLSl6QQH7aaK_OXIGEs/s320/Wekeela%20sign.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-9145949062988646412023-07-31T11:36:00.002-04:002023-07-31T11:53:33.280-04:00Act NOW<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE-P5ykkv5tE6OIwlJJXoarnrv2A1nM8YwI6KexfP1XDYOJsdMJ4a9lGQvQdztj_qjesv9YaVLp_80KdG2K15SUqiW4jo_d3pg9V-dMjhDHtoZC0E8fpWfj3nyFN4Z3APYBYBFLEl3Kf8gPThz5DP3OsFgC3Gl2bg2_PIdn8zcR7Irm76PcgmfRIvtlSo/s1197/ATNY%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="1197" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE-P5ykkv5tE6OIwlJJXoarnrv2A1nM8YwI6KexfP1XDYOJsdMJ4a9lGQvQdztj_qjesv9YaVLp_80KdG2K15SUqiW4jo_d3pg9V-dMjhDHtoZC0E8fpWfj3nyFN4Z3APYBYBFLEl3Kf8gPThz5DP3OsFgC3Gl2bg2_PIdn8zcR7Irm76PcgmfRIvtlSo/s320/ATNY%201.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Most of you have been reading for years know E has been a part of <b><a href="https://actorstechniqueny.com/">Actor's Technique NY</a> </b>since he was around four years old. He hasn't always consistently taken classes, but he started in the Tots class - which is for 4-6 yr olds doing improvisation. He took that a few semesters in a row. Then he moved on to the <a href="https://actorstechniqueny.com/fall-2023/"><b>Kids and Teen level</b></a> classes which is a three class option on a Saturday or Sunday. They are willing to work with you on how many classes you want to take in a day though. I remember when E was doing it, I had to leave NYC by around three o'clock to be able to get home with relatively no traffic. I will say that I live in Glen Rock, NJ and on Saturdays and Sundays at around ten o'clock in the morning, it only took me about thirty minutes to get me to where ATNY has their classes and maybe forty minutes to get home in the three o'clock hour. I'd use the Park Whiz app to get a good deal on a garage for like six hours and I'd walk around the city while he was in class. It was actually pretty great. <br /></p><p> </p><p>He did those classes and loved them. He met new people, gained skills in improvisation, on-camera, monologues, audition preparation, commercial acting, etc. Now, because of being on a competitive swim team and meets on weekends, he doesn't have time for the weekend classes. He still remains connected to ATNY though. He has been doing ATNY's cabaret nights which usually feature around 16-20 performances of all singing genres, approximately every three or four months. He's participated in other <b><a href="https://actorstechniqueny.com/1-day-workshops/">workshops</a></b> too. He did a virtual American Idol style workshop which was a lot of fun. <br /></p><p><br /></p><p>HOWEVER, ATNY has come to NJ for both <b><a href="https://actorstechniqueny.com/product/on-camera-act-audition-technique-tv-film-naturalism-realism-3/">on camera/film/tv/audition preparation classes</a> </b>and full length productions. E was just in their off-broadway production of Mean Girls. There were a few casts- I think there were three in NYC and two casts in NJ. In NJ, they practiced in Ridgewood in <a href="https://heartinmotionstudio.com/">HeART in Motion</a> and their final performances were in the <a href="https://americantheatreofactors.org/?cpt_team=helen-parks">John Cullum Theatre, American Theatre for Actors</a> in NYC. It was really cool to perform on a real NYC theater like that. ATNY just announced they're doing <b><a href="https://actorstechniqueny.com/product/atny-presents-newsies-full-length-fall-production/">Newsies</a> </b>in the fall, which is one of our personal favorites, as E played Jack Kelly in a local theatre production of that in the fall of 2022. This time there will be casts in NYC, NJ, and CT! These productions are being directed and choreographed by a Tony winning team of current Broadway professionals. <br /></p><p>There is more info on the ATNY site <a href="https://actorstechniqueny.com/product/atny-presents-newsies-full-length-fall-production/"><b>HERE</b></a> but below is the general info for auditions and commitment: </p><p> <br /></p><p><b><u>*Virtual Auditions: (Pick 1 day)</u></b></p>
<p>(1) Wednesday, August 30th (4pm – 7pm) or</p>
<p>(2) Wednesday, September 6th (4pm – 7pm) or</p>
<p>(3) Thursday, September 7th (4pm – 6pm)</p>
<p><i>*Once You audition, you may leave the Zoom. If you cannot
audition during these virtual times, please send ATNY a video clip for
consideration. We can invite you to callbacks if selected.</i></p>
<p><b><u>In-Person Callbacks – Pearl Studios, 519 8th Ave. 12 Fl, NYC</u></b></p>
<p>Saturday, September 9<sup>th</sup> &/or</p>
<p>Sunday, September 10th</p>
<p><i>Final Cast selections will be made within a few days of callbacks.</i></p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;"><b><u>REHEARSAL DATES:</u></b></p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;">October through December 2023 – NY &
CT, Saturday and Sunday afternoons; NJ, Friday (after school) &
Sunday afternoons. Only actors who are rehearsing scenes that day will
be called for that day. Conflict Sheets will be provided and honored.
All Holidays off.</p>
<p><b><u>Performance Dates/Tech Week:</u></b></p>
<p><b>New York City-</b>based cast: Jan. 6<sup>th</sup>, 7<sup>th </sup></p>
<p><b>New Jersey-</b>based cast: Jan. 13<sup>th</sup>, 14<sup>th</sup></p>
<p><b>Connecticut-</b>based cast: Jan. 20<sup>th</sup>, 21<sup>st</sup></p>
<p><i>*Tech week encompasses 4 days before performance weekend, approx, 4pm – 8pm.</i></p>
<p><b><u>Audition Requirements:</u></b></p>
<ul><li><i>All roles open, ages 7 to 18. (If 19 or over, please contact us to discuss.)</i></li><li><i>Must provide headshot and resume, online is fine.</i></li><li><i>Prepare 32 bars of a standard contemporary or classic musical theatre or song. Pop ok.</i></li><li><i>Track or a cappella ok (online only). Accompanist provided at Callbacks.</i></li><li><i>May be asked to stay and dance. All levels encouraged.</i></li><li><i>CANNOT MAKE VIRTUAL AUDITIONS? Please email us an initial audition tape for consideration. <br /></i></li></ul><p><br /></p><p>And don't forget to check out the <a href="https://actorstechniqueny.com/product/on-camera-act-audition-technique-tv-film-naturalism-realism-3/"><b>on camera/film/tv/audition prep classes</b></a> being offered this fall in Glen Rock in the Gary Stevens Tae Kwon Do studio at 175 Rock Road, Glen Rock NJ 07452. I love that ATNY has come to NJ. As E gets older and commitments with swim and school get more intense, it's hard for us to get into the city. But he can still stay connected to Todd and the ATNY family by being able to do things right in our backyard. </p><p>**If you're still looking for something for August, there may still be room in their week long <b><a href="https://actorstechniqueny.com/product/mean-girls-broadway-camp-w-final-showcase-performance/">Mean Girls</a></b> camp. E is helping out with that one since he played Aaron in the full length spring production!<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGOMOhUlcl8whLpMZ_hp4pntKcBiPzwPkmFtaDk4D9fkmmNEgqfe1imirs4BCxFBfqOVFMReB0VfXoTyc4BDySZSCSrdCLk_1nro6lXqhcf7-Uves5AMXKzxzQTj7GK-0maINJES3tHq09VCP0D59o4aGvFwGFO2ggZRDlA5er2EG9XB7h9yytXdHNMig/s465/ATNY-animation-oncever2.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="465" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGOMOhUlcl8whLpMZ_hp4pntKcBiPzwPkmFtaDk4D9fkmmNEgqfe1imirs4BCxFBfqOVFMReB0VfXoTyc4BDySZSCSrdCLk_1nro6lXqhcf7-Uves5AMXKzxzQTj7GK-0maINJES3tHq09VCP0D59o4aGvFwGFO2ggZRDlA5er2EG9XB7h9yytXdHNMig/s320/ATNY-animation-oncever2.gif" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-47580313417274828062023-07-27T13:46:00.005-04:002023-07-31T10:51:02.899-04:00New Hair Don't Care<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW_yhpF0X4DRH2SkzTOdxiEHBgs4TCdEIqJdkzyLAn_AlewzHQLsd5oyervqK7Kqc6RlbM4hM-uW7gCTHkZQa6FbNDp55ZPgXzbl2asnfAKFs4xmq-bhh-5G-oj76mTduxYF-PVbu8I0dm84f7YE9yRUYj210ERZ0v4DVhNx39ualYKjJCNtf2d2fKXyQ/s893/After%201.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="893" data-original-width="669" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW_yhpF0X4DRH2SkzTOdxiEHBgs4TCdEIqJdkzyLAn_AlewzHQLsd5oyervqK7Kqc6RlbM4hM-uW7gCTHkZQa6FbNDp55ZPgXzbl2asnfAKFs4xmq-bhh-5G-oj76mTduxYF-PVbu8I0dm84f7YE9yRUYj210ERZ0v4DVhNx39ualYKjJCNtf2d2fKXyQ/s320/After%201.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After Don did my hair 6/30/23<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p> I actually do care about my hair. I just didn't know I cared so
much. I've been going to Don for, I think, like 25+ years (he calls
himself Donny, but I was introduced as Don and that's I roll) to get my
hair done. From the giant curls to what I started calling <i>movie star hair</i>
during my time on reality tv in the early 2000s. I have proof of that
hair back on the Iyanla Van Zant show which I think was in 2002. </p><p>I've
had highlights, lowlights, blue hair, magenta hair. I've had long, past
the shoulder hair, for most of my life, but there was a stint in like
2012 when I went for that magenta bob. It wasn't a short bob but it was
significantly shorter than I've ever gone. I liked it. B wasn't really a
fan. He liked the color, just not the shorter hair. </p><p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidSbU_Vc4JDx75KvdwW1RcyBBs4yJKTzOM-aQr8W2RVRIogMZ1VQP7Wqarhbu8lP2l5se8tGWqzfdw1fNkpGgBOW_rzVRYklRdpwShXw2dB7Bky-n9QzRb3PSDAn2ng6Bw1RB7wRmGFvjQRieYH9_wseKv0Oic461bsrgZOqm5UX5xagtJjC45v7pT8w4/s634/hair%202012.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="634" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidSbU_Vc4JDx75KvdwW1RcyBBs4yJKTzOM-aQr8W2RVRIogMZ1VQP7Wqarhbu8lP2l5se8tGWqzfdw1fNkpGgBOW_rzVRYklRdpwShXw2dB7Bky-n9QzRb3PSDAn2ng6Bw1RB7wRmGFvjQRieYH9_wseKv0Oic461bsrgZOqm5UX5xagtJjC45v7pT8w4/w200-h189/hair%202012.jpg" title="2012 Magenta bob hair" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2012 Magenta bob<br /></td></tr></tbody></table> <p></p><p>Gray had
been coming in, but it really was a slow process. I'd also almost always
had some kind of blond highlights, so I don't know- I didn't really see
it. It certainly wasn't, and still isn't the kind of gray where, if I
don't get it colored, it's like, a gray part. It's more like, gray
highlights, and more and more of them as time goes on. There are more of
them in the front and they come in faster. </p><p>I always got my hair
done every four months. Then I started going every three months. About a
year ago- maybe last September, I started doing just a single process
to cover the gray. I went darker than my usual blond-ish highlighted
summer hair. I didn't LOVE it, not because it was done correctly or it
was a bad color- it was just boring. I didn't HATE it either. I just was
sort of resigned to this being my hair now, because it was just too
expensive for me to cover the gray and do highlights. I was having to
come in more like every eight weeks just to cover the gray. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi64CGA5PSL8jjQBOWHtEPkL6nZd8SxyeIP9xQynI-Cl5oDbhG73B5Z9b0kcLLHOCyfbUUDTxlKaxYuy4ii4CaG18rnJzbqZgQ7dpECIZXV2pon1bkXy9NzfUmvL9-ntGTHyTDwwbYh-8hTaIWSLC_IrztOOulV9akqUxSMBYQV-4WYQTKfja5iPRqVfhA/s893/Before.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="893" data-original-width="893" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi64CGA5PSL8jjQBOWHtEPkL6nZd8SxyeIP9xQynI-Cl5oDbhG73B5Z9b0kcLLHOCyfbUUDTxlKaxYuy4ii4CaG18rnJzbqZgQ7dpECIZXV2pon1bkXy9NzfUmvL9-ntGTHyTDwwbYh-8hTaIWSLC_IrztOOulV9akqUxSMBYQV-4WYQTKfja5iPRqVfhA/w200-h200/Before.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before Don did my Balayage 6/30/23<br /></td></tr></tbody></table> <p></p><p>I
work from home now. I felt like- ok, what's the big deal, no one sees me
really. Especially in the winter. I just happened to be scheduled for
the beginning of June for my cut and color. Don saw me and he was like- <i>Listen. Your hair needs to be blond and gorge. This isn't you. Let me do a balayage. </i></p><p>Like I said, I know Don forever. I consider him a friend. I trust him<i>. </i>Summer was coming. I didn't want to be dark brown for the summer. We made me an appointment for a few weeks later. He wanted to do it separately from my gray and haircut. </p><p>What he did was a teased balayage. He was literally teasing it, and then doing whatever else is done. It's for diffusing the roots for an overall lighter color but a softer grow out. Can't argue with that. Sounds good to me. </p><p>When it was done, it looked awesome. I didn't write this right away because I wanted to see how it would look in a few weeks. I actually had it done June 30. It's now July 27, so it's been almost a month. Usually, after I've been out in the sun, in the chlorine, not really taking care of it, the color can change a little. But this actually looks better now. It looked great that day, but what I am really impressed with, is that even the gray around and/or interspersed in my hairline isn't as pronounced. You really don't notice it. </p><p>I've been styling my hair with the <a href="https://beachwaver.com/products/beachwaver-s1-25-dual-voltage">Beach Waver S1.25</a> curling iron, which is another story- it's the best thing I've ever used on my hair. That is saying a lot because it's really the only styling tool I've used consistently, aside from a flat iron. I don't use the flat iron anymore. Just the Beach Waver because it's so quick and easy. I can do my whole head of past the shoulder hair in like ten minutes. The pics I have here of of Don styling my hair, but I'll add pics of my hair currently having styled it myself and I get compliments every time I do my hair. My point, though, is that I WANT to style my hair, because whatever Don did, you can REALLY see it when it's styled. </p><p>It's hard to feel pretty when you're pushing fifty and can't afford plastic surgery. If you can just feel good about your hair, it's pretty nice. I am LOVING this hair. I haven't felt like this in quite awhile. I forgot how important it is to be able to love your hair. You don't get this feeling just covering grays or box dying your own hair. Sometimes, you need that little pick me up of a great, skin complimenting, hair color. </p><p>Don is always moving and shaking, he always has plans. These days, he's in New Milford and here's his info to make an appointment. <a href="https://www.fresha.com/a/hair-by-donny-new-milford-1033-river-road-icpr48im/all-offer?menu=true">Hair By Donny</a> - it's awesome to be able to book things online. I wish every place had this kind of system, including doctors. Go see him and let him make you <i>movie star hair </i>- everyone needs movie star hair every now and again! <br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWoAsl2058uk5lg2vJLRE5ONH-tuD7K--q457uYkkyvbaG3k-RNuEhYI_b2zvrzefQd1ep8M2eArVpXMtKLC5k2t_EZyeDCdbz_Ve_YupzfQHp3YFrpVatmlJ0E0VdVj4Nvj1iVz13KfQme5qivG-U6GuTDbr1G0rvv0oiKQqej9HXGRGe85j71hEtuZw/s960/college%20hair.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWoAsl2058uk5lg2vJLRE5ONH-tuD7K--q457uYkkyvbaG3k-RNuEhYI_b2zvrzefQd1ep8M2eArVpXMtKLC5k2t_EZyeDCdbz_Ve_YupzfQHp3YFrpVatmlJ0E0VdVj4Nvj1iVz13KfQme5qivG-U6GuTDbr1G0rvv0oiKQqej9HXGRGe85j71hEtuZw/w200-h200/college%20hair.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My more natural hair color in 95/96/97 just for fun. It was boring.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwc7IAXlWLc-RM_-8-I_WkK3u3m0c0aeqG6jIn-9YDE5f804dzJAVqODCXBGiKLhvvYxDrIDl19zyT5ROmHI5LBzzSQqi6n8m1NDoq6GgcgxN4MGjneRNGRPbSc2n_eOQ-QEfarpTbQfjJM_SyoUWuvoBEueFKaqhppL3FDgjRD6e5EVL-Esqq36UN0Q/s893/New%20Hair%207-29-23.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="893" data-original-width="893" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwc7IAXlWLc-RM_-8-I_WkK3u3m0c0aeqG6jIn-9YDE5f804dzJAVqODCXBGiKLhvvYxDrIDl19zyT5ROmHI5LBzzSQqi6n8m1NDoq6GgcgxN4MGjneRNGRPbSc2n_eOQ-QEfarpTbQfjJM_SyoUWuvoBEueFKaqhppL3FDgjRD6e5EVL-Esqq36UN0Q/s320/New%20Hair%207-29-23.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New photo a month after initial balayage 7-28-23</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-67531667731574459772023-07-09T20:00:00.001-04:002023-07-09T20:00:07.632-04:00Wegovy Update: 8.5 weeks<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2qmjfJFzPGYSDq8NJkX7-WKF1egvLHt35jJVOF2-LT8RJHpaDIkdv_tFb8iX7sEosxWhRKikDb5pUzB33PafTswczXyKBOAsRweGmFyJuxumeYdzmzEsrsEW0wYOhArwbgj6BfnAh9OoeHFFFyRMdQcTCejsy3UwG_KVZG6TO3QUqeUZJFVufyXZ9uVE/s1023/belt%20tight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="1023" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2qmjfJFzPGYSDq8NJkX7-WKF1egvLHt35jJVOF2-LT8RJHpaDIkdv_tFb8iX7sEosxWhRKikDb5pUzB33PafTswczXyKBOAsRweGmFyJuxumeYdzmzEsrsEW0wYOhArwbgj6BfnAh9OoeHFFFyRMdQcTCejsy3UwG_KVZG6TO3QUqeUZJFVufyXZ9uVE/s320/belt%20tight.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I'm in the third month of Wegovy. I upped my dose to 0.5 from the original 0.25 at five weeks. Every four weeks you go up in the dosage until you reach the maximum. It goes 0.25, 0.5, 1mg, 1.7, then 2.4 is the maximum. HOWEVER, there is a shortage, which I didn't know about when I started. The 0.25 and the 0.5 wasn't difficult for me to get so I had no idea what's been going on. I kept checking my CVS app and it still said out of stock. I asked for the prescription to be called in a week before I actually needed it. </p><p>The 1mg has been on back order since June 15th at my CVS and any in the immediate vicinity. I went a week and a half without taking it. I thought it would at least be in by the time I was about due for the second injection. Nope. </p><p>I got a tip that a pharmacy about twenty minutes or so from my house would most likely have it. I drove there to at least set up my information- give my insurance, all that. I wanted to find out in person if they had it before I had my doctor's office call it in. I didn't want to be stuck with another pharmacy, this time, far away, where I couldn't get it either. Long story short, they didn't have the 1mg, but they had the 0.5. I was able to get that for another four weeks. They expect to get another shipment soon, hopefully.</p><p>By the time I was able to get medication, I'd been off it for almost two weeks. I would've been nervous after almost two weeks to move up to the 1mg because you never know how you're going to react to the next dose- of anything. I wasn't too upset, at that point, to at least stay at the same dosage I'd already been on. I also would rather have something than nothing. </p><p>I also emailed Novo Nordisk to let them know how negligent it is to have people who have started a treatment not be able to get their medications. It doesn't matter what the medication is, they are the ones paying for commercials every five minutes on network television. The bigger issue is that medication shouldn't be marketed to people like you can just choose to be on it. You can bring up a medication you see advertised to your doctor, and your doctor may feel like you're a great candidate, but that doesn't mean your insurance will pay or that it will even be in stock! Novo Nordisk just sent me a generic email back, basically saying - <i>we're trying but talk to your provider about what course of action to take</i>. They don't care.</p><p>Here's the <i>skinny</i> on how it works- <br /></p><p>You get a box of four needle pens that are prefilled. They stay in the refrigerator until you use them. Every week on the same day you do your injection. It's really easy and doesn't hurt. </p><p>I was tired the first four weeks. I didn't know that was a side effect, but a friend of mine mentioned feeling exhausted. Then, an acquaintance told B that his wife is on it and she is really tired all the time. For me, it's not unbearable, it's just annoying. It's like, no matter how much sleep I get, I'm still really tired in the morning. </p><p>Let me try to explain how food feels these days. It's really weird. It's like, nothing is...really, GOOD. It actually feels a lot like when I was pregnant. <br /></p><p>Prior to taking Wegovy, I really looked forward to eating certain things. Or eating at all. Bread and butter especially. That's one of my favorite things. We normally go out for a "nice" dinner every weekend. <i>Nice</i>, meaning, not a Factor meal in the house. Someone serves us somewhere, usually our local pub. Now, on Wegovy, I really don't care about dinner. I feel hungry but then nothing seems appealing. A few Saturday evenings ago, I would've normally been super hungry by the time we went out. I'd have wanted a "real" dinner- like a salmon meal. With rolls. B asked me where I wanted to eat and nothing seemed appetizing. </p><p>I'd actually had Tito's Burrito's tacos like six months ago or something, for the first time. I remembered they were good. I suggested going there. It would be much cheaper than one of the typical meals we would've eaten had I not been on this shot. B was surprised but he doesn't care about a fancy meal so he was all about it. I ordered three tacos. I ate one and a half and gave the rest to B. I wasn't that into it, and I really couldn't finish the second one, nevermind the third. </p><p>It's hard to even explain the feeling. I LOVE candy. In my mind, I still want certain things. I have my favorite blue raspberry licorice in the house. Normally, I have to really stop myself at like four pieces- I can totally eat six and they're not small. I would have to put the bag far away from me so I wouldn't be able to eat anymore. I've had a bag of them for over a month and the thought of eating another one is kind of gross. </p><p>I've never had this feeling before, where my body signals me that I'm full and I just stop eating. Not only do I stop, thinking about food is kind of nauseating. I don't know if this feeling lasts, but it's good for me. I've always had trouble with willpower and now, it's a non-issue.<br /></p><p>My life revolved around food and what I'd be eating. Not as a foodie or anything, but just being hungry, thinking about what I might eat next, eating things because they taste good versus being genuinely hungry. When we have dinner with friends, I don't really care what kind of food or what time we'll be eating. Before Wegovy, I was all about the what, when, where of it all. Now, I can take or leave any of it and just really don't care. </p><p>I miss liking food but I don't miss thinking about it or trying to regulate it. I'm definitely eating way less of whatever serving I get. With cereal, I measure out my cereal in a one cup measuring cup. I use to make it a heaping one cup. These days, I'm at a cup or under and I usually don't want to finish. <br /></p><p>I haven't had any other major side effects. I have migraines to begin with. I think I had a bad headache the first week. I definitely had a major migraine the day after I upped the dosage. I don't know if it was my normal headache or if it had to do with the shot. I feel less nauseous these days than I did in the beginning but that could be because my body is used to being on the 0.5mg dose for two months instead of going up to the 1mg. I don't know and won't know for at least another three weeks, assuming I'll be able to get the 1mg when it's time for that. <br /></p><p> It's been about eight and a half weeks, I think, that I've been on it and I'm down approximately sixteen pounds- which I didn't realize until I just typed that. I'd been struggling for so long and still gaining, so this is a giant relief. Am I "skinny"? No. I've had a kid. My body is that of an almost fifty year old woman who had a kid. But I'm back to where I was during Covid quarantine. My old clothes fit. I'll take it.<br /></p><p>I would definitely recommend trying it if your doctor prescribes it, and you don't have any preexisting conditions or family history that give you a higher probability of dangerous side effects. The only issue is being able to get it. So if you do get a doctor who will prescribe it, I'd ask for a physical prescription. That way, you can take it to whatever pharmacy has it in stock. <br /></p><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-68843200729976542172023-05-17T05:00:00.001-04:002023-05-17T05:00:00.137-04:00Luda's Dumplings<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheg6nlhQGmiMnK3bMW4q_u3IHHq6SuePXbMGUqpQJ7bOuOCJ7427zSADD1N5VjYIX_MkBs0_S1WKyvqBK_-bWf8dGT0yAMHiRg6H1HLPKmld12Nf1Hhv7EuUlZta92o_wnzuJeG-xFfoombLaWhtQTpnFA9cmzzEbYpiDB7hEoIVRFE-emUgLy4mVD/s1080/Ludas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheg6nlhQGmiMnK3bMW4q_u3IHHq6SuePXbMGUqpQJ7bOuOCJ7427zSADD1N5VjYIX_MkBs0_S1WKyvqBK_-bWf8dGT0yAMHiRg6H1HLPKmld12Nf1Hhv7EuUlZta92o_wnzuJeG-xFfoombLaWhtQTpnFA9cmzzEbYpiDB7hEoIVRFE-emUgLy4mVD/s320/Ludas.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>It's great to know people who make good stuff. I happen to know the family that makes <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ludasdumplings/">Luda's Dumplings</a>. It's Eugene and Masha Tulman- they're E's friend's parents. Luda was Eugene's mom, who passed away. After doing other jobs to support her children, she started making dumplings in her apartment when they moved to Sheepshead Bay, NY, from Russia. Word of mouth spread and she made it into a small business. Eugene helped make them as a kid and he wanted to keep the culture of food he grew up with alive, especially for his kids. From that, Luda's Dumplings was born into the current state it exists. </p><p>I was really excited to try their offerings of pork, chicken, and potato dumplings they just started delivering locally. Although, I did just watch a video on their Facebook page that mentioned "sweet cheese" that was super intriguing to me. Maybe those will come in time. The current dumpling offerings are: </p><p><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto"></span></p><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">100% Organic dumplings made of ingredients you know and love <span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od"><img alt="❤️" height="16" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tf3/1.5/16/2764.png" width="16" /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od"><img alt="🚫" height="16" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tc8/1.5/16/1f6ab.png" width="16" /></span>Sugar</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od"><img alt="🚫" height="16" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tc8/1.5/16/1f6ab.png" width="16" /></span>Artificial flavors</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od"><img alt="🚫" height="16" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tc8/1.5/16/1f6ab.png" width="16" /></span>Additives</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span><a tabindex="-1"></a></span><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od"><img alt="🚫" height="16" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tc8/1.5/16/1f6ab.png" width="16" /></span>MSG</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od"><img alt="🚫" height="16" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tc8/1.5/16/1f6ab.png" width="16" /></span>GMO</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">I feel like as busy parents, we all struggle to feed our families quickly yet still healthy. You can feel good about serving these. <br /></div></div><p></p><p>These are a must have, especially if you're a quick meal kind of family. We all know I don't cook. I have no desire to cook, nor do I have the time. I tend to buy a lot of premade meals from the supermarket. Well, right now, I'm eating Factor meals but B and E do need to eat also. I was stoked when I received my dumplings because they seemed easy and fast enough to make. B makes his own dinner and really, E could make these too. </p><p>The first ones I made was the chicken. I think it took like five minutes after getting the water to a boil. Can't beat that. I was immediately impressed, as they're REALLY flavorful. I don't know why I was surprised but I don't know- I eat a lot of frozen food. I don't typically find frozen food to be so full of flavor. </p><p>They actually didn't need anything on them, but I followed the directions on the side of the bag and it said you could put some butter on them. I think they would've been good with some kind of pasta sauce on them too because they don't seem much different than raviolis. In their video Eugene said something about sour cream. I assume that would be the Russian way to eat them. I feel like they're pretty versatile. There are a lot of ways you can enjoy them.<br /></p><p>We didn't get to try the others yet because we've been on a crazy schedule. However, I look forward to trying the rest. B is most excited about the potato, and I'm looking forward to pork. I love that there are a variety of flavors, they're easy to make, and we love to support friends and friends who have local businesses. </p><p>They ship frozen and stay in the freezer until you're ready to make them. </p><p>This is their website- <a href="https://www.ludas.us/">Luda's Dumplings</a> where you can order. <br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-85762080308748795652023-05-16T11:54:00.004-04:002023-05-16T19:04:32.476-04:00Little Softies<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj__qK5iN2EtPzAIW3g4PqamJGlnKzNouZz4bfRe5avSIC7dMFUUSTtOl_1AZzqA5OvLtRsjDxU1yIhJPatTY-sFil4RFiyMsuWAgJR8gj2gfK3igS57HN4FVw7PKkPD86t00M5pD23bpbAWelHudVf93MMJV6rFX9d2y7zR40Md4Uqk-ZSJr0xoKmt/s612/standardized%20test.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="612" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj__qK5iN2EtPzAIW3g4PqamJGlnKzNouZz4bfRe5avSIC7dMFUUSTtOl_1AZzqA5OvLtRsjDxU1yIhJPatTY-sFil4RFiyMsuWAgJR8gj2gfK3igS57HN4FVw7PKkPD86t00M5pD23bpbAWelHudVf93MMJV6rFX9d2y7zR40Md4Uqk-ZSJr0xoKmt/s320/standardized%20test.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>It's no secret that I spend a lot of time on Facebook. I read a lot of the questions, comments, and complaints in the Bergen County Moms group. Right now, the major topic of complaint is the NJSLA, a standardized test given to middle and high school kids. </p><p>When we were kids, we had the CAT test, some other standardized test. I remember it, I think I probably liked it because it changed up the regular school schedule, but that's all I remember. I wasn't a good student. I was okay. I had an undiagnosed learning disability. Math was impossible. But I didn't have any test anxiety to take the CAT test. It was just something you did. My parents didn't talk about it, talk to me about it, and if anyone opted their kid out, I didn't know about it. Parents didn't "opt out" in the 80's. It never even came up. I don't think parents even knew they had options. It was- <i>this is when the test are... </i>and no one questioned it. </p><p>Now? Oh. My. God. You'd think the schools were asking kids to parade down the halls naked with their grades tattooed on them. Every other post is about how to opt a kid out, whether you can opt them out, the kid has test anxiety, kid is a mess worrying about the test. Today I saw someone, anonymous of course, because no one can seem to admit that they're coddling the living shit out of their kid, she wanted to know if other schools besides the one her kids attend, were still giving tests, quizzes, and homework during testing week. Why, because her sixth grader doesn't have extra work and her seventh grader does, and <i>it doesn't seem fair. </i></p><p>Are you kidding me? It isn't fair? Life isn't fair! </p><p>I'm not saying the 80s or my parents were the bastion of perfect parenting, for sure. It was just different though. School was...trusted. If there was a standardized test, there was a test. No one was questioning the anxiety the test might provoke in a kid. There was no internet to <i>do their own research. </i>There were no groups thinking they know more than teachers. I also don't think kids had as much anxiety. Parents didn't discuss this stuff like they do now. They didn't crowd source whether kids should be opted out. Anxiety wasn't discussed to the level it is discussed. If I had to guess, I'd say my mom didn't know when the test was, nor would there ever be any instance she'd even consider opting me out. <br /></p><p>Is anxiety and school/test anxiety real? Sure. Are there a lot of kids with anxiety? Yes. I've seen it. I know it exists. I just wonder in some cases, it is a <i>chicken or egg</i> situation. People are worried that hearing a lot of talk about LGBTQIA issues and stories will turn a kid gay (it won't), but don't think twice about talking about anxiety in front of kids. To me, it's like if you talk about the symptoms of any disease or syndrome long enough in front of a person with a certain way of thinking, they start feeling like they have it. Parents don't seem to be careful at all about what they talk about in front of children- I've definitely seen that. I've been in circles at school or on a playground, hearing them talk about their kid having anxiety about this or that, fully within earshot. I wonder sometimes if the kid really has all this anxiety or if they just have been led to believe they do. I definitely think it can be self-fulfilling prophecy. <br /></p><p>Even if kids do have anxiety, they don't have to be coddled and bubble wrapped from gaining any coping skills. Our kids have very little adversity these days, because parents are SO involved. Overly involved. In the wrong things. In things that actually keep their kids from growing as humans. These kids have no life experiences. Opting them out of a test? A test that doesn't mean anything? These standardized test scores mean NOTHING for the kids. They aren't the SAT or ACT. They don't count individually toward getting into any class or college. They're basically to test the teachers, to see if the teachers are doing their job teaching whatever material is on the test. <br /><br />Personally, if people are so worried about anxiety, I don't know why they don't just tell their kids that the test doesn't mean anything, they should do their best, but if they don't know the material, it's not a big deal and to move on. I'm sure there are parents that do that and the kid still feels nervous, but it's the parents job to teach them how to handle the anxiety. If the anxiety is extreme then it's time to see a professional and/or talk about some kind of medication. Those are not the cases I'm talking about. <br /></p><p></p><p>My son has Tourette's. He has a 504 because of that diagnoses. He likes the test. Well, he doesn't like the TEST itself, but he likes the disruption of the day. It changes the regular schedule and it either eliminates classes that day or makes them shorter. We've never put any emphasis on the test in our home. We never told him he needs to do well on it or even that he should try hard. We never really talked about it at all because it's such a non-issue. He's never seen his scores either. He's never asked and we never thought it was important to tell him. <br /><br />I also never thought about whether he should or shouldn't have other homework, tests, or quizzes in his regular classes. His other classes have nothing to do with the standarized test. The test is based on what they already know. He hasn't been studying for it. There was nothing to study. To me, it's totally irrelevant to the rest of school. It's mid-May. The teachers have material that needs to be completed by the end of the year. I can't imagine there is time for them to have no tests, quizzes, or homework just because of a standardized test. </p><p>The amount of bellyaching from moms about this test is baffling. Everyone has to do what's best or what they think is best for their kid. I just don't get the constant crowdsourcing. The amount of moms talking about opting out and having kids with anxiety is way over the top. This behavior shouldn't be the norm. To me, school is my son's job. He has to do whatever they want him to do. Do I think Algebra is necessary? No! Not for him. But he still has to try his best and do the work. School is his job. Getting through Algebra, which is really hard for him, the ONLY class that is really hard for him, is adversity. Getting through it, is going to give him confidence, even subconsciously, because he didn't think he'd be able to do it. You can't opt them out of life and getting thrown curve balls on the regular. <br /></p><p>If you're that adamant that the NJSLA is just too stress inducing for little Amy, then opt her out, feel good about it, and own it. I just question how much you're going to try to opt out little Amy, who becomes big Amy, for the rest of her academic career. Are you going to call the teachers or the Dean at college to try to opt Amy out of her college tests? Is Amy going to be able to take any tests without anxiety because she never had to take them before? What happens when Amy tries to get a job? What if she has to take some kind of test for her job? Is Amy going to be able to do it? </p><p>I guess you could say I'm being dramatic, but I don't think I am. I've seen, with my own eyes, freshman in college who couldn't pick out an outfit or what to eat for dinner without calling mom on their cell. I've seen kids woefully unprepared for the rigors of college and just daily living because they have no life experience, no adversity, to draw on where they gained any coping skills. I'm not even talking about not knowing how to do laundry or other chores. I'm talking about the emotional wherewithal to get through difficult situations. If you let a kid opt out or quit everything, how do you think they're going to handle things as an adult? <br /></p><p>A standardized test, to me, seems like a cakewalk compared to actual adversity. How about teaching your kid how to deal with anxiety- breathing techniques, journaling, therapy, exercise, and whatever, instead of just pulling them out of the situation. Get them a therapist to deal with anxiety. Find YouTubers or TikTokers who talk about coping with anxiety. Just don't pull any and/or all adversity from their lives without trying to cope first. If they can't get through a standardized test that doesn't mean anything, how are they going to deal with the things that come down the pike that DO actually mean something?? </p><p>No one wants to see their kids upset or anxiety ridden. There just seems to be a really high number of kids with anxiety these days and I just have to wonder where that comes from. It can't be that we're all so incredibly enlightened that we are hyper tuned in to every case. I think anxiety has also become a bit of a buzzword that parents use to describe run of the mill nervousness. Is it possible that anxiety come from never being able to solve their own problems? Parents need to start thinking that maybe the anxiety comes from not having the confidence that they can solve their own problems because they never get the chance. Kids need the opportunity to work THROUGH their feelings, through their problems, not just ignore them because mom can erase them. Otherwise, we're going to have a world full of twenty-somethings that are paralyzed by fear of messing up, doing nothing, because they don't know what they'll do if stuff goes sideways. </p><p>Our kids are often much more capable than we give them credit for.<br /><br /><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-40165512107788784262023-04-30T14:31:00.001-04:002023-04-30T14:31:54.120-04:00Early Wegovy Report and Thoughts <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpy_t6iA01GfX9Z_8kJCNqWbZjO38jXf_FlwiEUdkLc9dsZWgcZZd9BRlToebMqPRfde2ObgmQI8BYw8_oP3PikD7ZtZHZhZ2iZlEVjOn6hAu6CukCH-bh80kVU044jY-e4Gk7OEMfisbH1Ca_yfY9Afcx0S9H3ea0y0FNKi3Dj5Bt82LdgHYibyB5/s1913/footonscale.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1275" data-original-width="1913" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpy_t6iA01GfX9Z_8kJCNqWbZjO38jXf_FlwiEUdkLc9dsZWgcZZd9BRlToebMqPRfde2ObgmQI8BYw8_oP3PikD7ZtZHZhZ2iZlEVjOn6hAu6CukCH-bh80kVU044jY-e4Gk7OEMfisbH1Ca_yfY9Afcx0S9H3ea0y0FNKi3Dj5Bt82LdgHYibyB5/s320/footonscale.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I've started this entry at a little after midnight on Thursday night, but I'm going to keep it going a little bit before posting. I just want to update, after a little bit of time, about the first few days on Wegovy. </p><p>When I got up on Thursday, around 6:30a, I didn't feel any significant difference. I felt normal, and even a little hungry, which I didn't think I would. I went through my normal routine, getting E some breakfast before school, etc. I had to take him to school, which B usually does, and came home around 7:45a. I felt tired but I'm usually tired in the morning. My friend was coming over to walk with me at 10a, so I did some work on my laptop, I wrote the first entry about all this, and then it was time for her to come over. </p><p>She got to me at around 10:15 and we walked about three and a quarter miles. I was up to a little over ten thousand steps by the time we were done at about 11:40a. I did work until about 12:15p and then I was hungry. I was a little disappointed because I usually don't get hungry until around 1p. I had this idea that I wasn't going to think about food as much. Instead I was still obsessing. I made two scrambled eggs. </p><p>You'd have to know my food habits to understand that this wasn't any kind of limited meal. I have a thing where I don't really know what to eat during the day. Sometimes I have a small bowl of Raisin Bran, but other times, I just have a Zone Bar because I don't want to make anything, I'm not really hungry during the day, and everything seems like a hassle. Sometimes, because food is her love language, my friend Alex makes food for me that I call <i>walking </i>or <i>car food. </i>Food on the go, basically. Stuff I can eat while walking or driving. I'm like her other child even though I'm older. For me to make eggs, and just eat that- well, that was like a gourmet event. </p><p>After that, at around 12:45p, I actually wasn't really hungry. I had to do work, go to walk to the post office and back, and I knew I had to pick E and his friend up from school at about 2:30p, so I had to really hop to it. By the time I got the boys home it was 3:10p. I did some stuff, but I was REALLY tired. This happens to me sometimes though normally, so I didn't know if it was the Wegovy or just the weather. It was gray and kind of gross. At 3:36p I went to lay on the couch and I fell asleep until about 4:30p. I woke up with a wicked headache. Again though, I'm not sure if that was Wegovy or my normal migraine. </p><p>Once I was awake, I was just watching TV for awhile, until I heard the tutor was leaving. I went to say hello and make sure he got his money. We talked for a little bit, he left, then E's friend left and that left E and I to eat dinner around 5:45p. </p><p>I'm eating Factor meals- which are a step up from Lean Cuisine or Jenny Craig. It's still portion control though. One side of the container is the entree and the other side is the vegetable. This was grilled chicken Parmesan and broccoli with something on it (I don't know what was on it). This is where it got interesting. </p><p>I normally eat the whole thing, like scarf it all down because I'm starving. I also normally would eat a roll and butter with it if I have rolls. E and I watch General Hospital while we eat. I guess I was paying attention more to the show and didn't see all the broccoli, but I didn't finish it. Then when I realized I didn't finish it, I didn't really want it. I didn't get a roll, even though they were there. I didn't miss it either. I just was kind of ambivalent. Whatever I ate felt like enough. </p><p>At 6:30p, E went downstairs to do homework and I went to the sunroom to sit and watch TV. B wasn't around because he had stuff to do for work down by Rutgers. I didn't know when he was coming home. I had a Skinny Cow ice cream cone. I usually don't feel like that's enough. B didn't come home until nine o'clock. Normally by that time, I would've been looking for something else to eat. Maybe out of hunger, maybe out of habit. The urge to forage for food wasn't as strong as the laziness to continue to sit on the couch. </p><p>We went up to the bedroom around 10:30p. I have candy here. I did want the candy, I thought. I just got an Amazon Subscribe and Save delivery with blue raspberry licorice. Usually I have to slap my own hand away after eating like six of them, which are decent sized twists. Thicker than a Twizzler. I had three and truthfully, I feel a little grossed out. I went and brushed my teeth right after thinking that would stop me even if I didn't have willpower, but it's now 12:30a and I don't even want them. </p><p>I now know two people who have been on Wegovy and I spoke to both tonight. One said she lost twelve pounds right away, was on it about a year, and lost a total of twenty-five. Then it stopped working. I didn't read about that happening, so I will have to do more research on that. I need to know what you do if it just stops working at the highest dosage. She also said she was tired all the time. I'm also taking Provitalize, an over the counter vitamin/supplement to help combat the effects of pre/menopause. I can't get a good read online whether it's a scam or not, but maybe that will help with fatigue. I don't know. </p><p>I'm going to sleep now and will continue this on Friday at some point. </p><p>Friday: I felt fine, a little less hungry in the morning. But I did NOT sleep well. I don't know if it had to do with Wegovy or not. I was hot. I also had something irrelevant to this conversation on my mind so I don't know if that contributed to my lack of sleep. I only slept four hours and twelve minutes and I think Fitbit told me I only had eighteen minutes of deep or restorative sleep. </p><p>I went back to sleep at 8a until around 9:30a. I had to get up because I had stuff to do. Around 1p, my stomach was bothering me a little. I had some Raisin Bran but it didn't sit right. I walked to the post office, and didn't feel great but it went away before 2:30p, when I went to pick E up from school. I felt fine after that for the rest of the day and evening. </p><p>I had to take E somewhere from about 4p until 8p. I had one Zone bar and it was fine. I wasn't starving when we left the event at around 7:45p. I told E we could stop at Wendy's. It's the only fast food he's ever eaten because B and I don't eat fast food. But, when in need or craving, a Wendy's grilled chicken sandwich will hit the spot. It's my go-to. EXCEPT, that who knew, about twenty days ago or so, WENDY'S DISCONTINUED THE GRILLED CHICKEN SANDWICH. Don't they know you're supposed to ADD to the menu, not subtract the stuff people LIKE. They traded it out for a chicken ranch wrap. Nobody wants that! <br /><br />Anyway, I opted out of getting anything. I think if I wasn't on Wegovy, I would've caved and just got a burger. I was more annoyed than hungry at that point and figured I'd eat a Factor meal when I got home. Which, I did, put a Factor meal in the microwave, only to pull it out and see that all the shrimp was missing from my shrimp meal. WTF. I made another meal at that point but I didn't even finish it. </p><p>I had gotten a really small cupcake at a bakery near the event I was at with E. I ate that for dessert. I got a cookie too but I tasted it, it wasn't good, I threw it out and didn't care. I'm in bed now, at 11:46p. I did eat three licorice twists since I got in bed at around 10p. But now I feel really full and wouldn't eat another one. </p><p>All in all, it's been a fine full forty-eight hours. I do have a bit of dull headache, that I've had since Thursday, which I took Excedrin Extra Strength for at around 4p. It's not bad enough now to do anything about but it's there. </p><p>Saturday, around 2:30p. I feel fine. I don't feel hungry but just had two scrambled eggs because I know I'm supposed to eat during the day whether I'm hungry or not. B had a bowl of cheerios with banana and when I walked into the room he'd eaten it, it smelled really potent and kind of grossed me out. Normally I might smell it, but I wouldn't have noticed the way I did today. </p><p>Saturday evening- dinner with friends. Ordered Italian. I ordered lobster ravioli in vodka sauce and garlic knots. They didn't really have any healthy options. We didn't order until 7p and the food didn't get there until maybe 8:15p. I didn't care. Normally, I'd have been ready to eat my own arm by that time. I had some Tostitos that my friend put out, but not many. I ate half my ravioli- let's say- three out of six. I had two garlic knots out of five. Granted, these were much bigger garlic knots than standard, but I still would've had more if I wasn't on Wegovy. I couldn't eat another bite. I also would've probably had some kind of salad or appetizer but I didn't order one. </p><p>My friend had brownies, strawberries, and whipped cream for dessert. Normally, I would've had one brownie but wanted another- I might have even had a half of a second one. It took me way longer to eat the one and there was no way I could've eaten another one. I had a few strawberries but definitely less than I would have had. <br /></p><p>Sunday: I got up late, at about 9:40a. I had a headache. That is not unusual at all as I just finished the blue pills of Lo Loestrin, laying in bed too long hurts my back and can give me a headache, and it's been raining for almost forty-eight hours. I felt a little nauseous since I got up, but that could also be taking Excedrin on an empty stomach. It's 2:20p and I just ate about a cup of Raisin Bran. I actually threw some of it away. I don't like when there are no raisins left on any day, but I don't know, I was kind of grossed out by the remainder so I just threw it away. </p><p>My takeaway from this week is that food is just....less enjoyable. It doesn't taste bad. It just isn't as appetizing. I asked one of the women I know who were on it but are on a break right now, if she still <i>enjoyed </i>food. She said yes. My feeling is that I want the food when I'm ordering it, or heating it up, it's just when I'm eating it, I'm not thinking, <i>oh yeah, this is hitting the spot!, </i>as I'm eating it. I'm eating it, and it tastes good, but I just don't care about it, and if I get distracted, as I often do, I just stop eating. That's never happened before. With my Factor meals, because it's supposed to help with portion control, obviously, because it's a portioned meal made for you that way, I was scraping the sides to get every bit. Now, it's just not like that. I eat the main meal, eat some of the vegetables, and throw it away. </p><p>I've been tired. I think a little more than usual. But again, I don't know because it's also been raining, I hadn't been sleeping well, and the weather has SUCKED. Most people feel tired when it's rainy and cold. My one friend said she had a lot of fatigue on Wegovy so that might be the culprit. <br /></p><p>That's about it. I'm going to stop here because no one needs a play by play. I'll update again when I have something to tell! <br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-3948588227411830892023-04-27T09:33:00.000-04:002023-04-27T09:33:08.863-04:00No Spring Chicken<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6e_jht1P8FREmyRGwRLkAYwQhx7bqcYeQ11qt-fDCIplwRcDHPw1SevXjvDMUsMxz2f9NQbPNJp4UHfZSVFsLQBVzhp_RtB7YApDn2JemPUlCvYogsrb8q3C_462DqqQz2uZwevy6Ngo9kAOrPZJHSLhXTiWWfnWhMb0ETF6jp8gNlmmoHxYBezMG/s245/Kelly%20and%20Jackie%20Taylor.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="245" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6e_jht1P8FREmyRGwRLkAYwQhx7bqcYeQ11qt-fDCIplwRcDHPw1SevXjvDMUsMxz2f9NQbPNJp4UHfZSVFsLQBVzhp_RtB7YApDn2JemPUlCvYogsrb8q3C_462DqqQz2uZwevy6Ngo9kAOrPZJHSLhXTiWWfnWhMb0ETF6jp8gNlmmoHxYBezMG/s1600/Kelly%20and%20Jackie%20Taylor.jpeg" width="245" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>No one I knew was really talking about aging seriously, but then again, who do I really talk to that much where I'd be having any serious conversation about that? B and I get up every day with our aches and pains and just kind of joke through it. Stuff was getting real though when I got these beautiful new comforters for the bed - two separate because while B and I sleep in the same bed, we don't share our blanket. I spent a little more this time because our comforters were almost sixteen years old and from sending them to the cleaners, they weren't holding up well anymore. </p><p>Well. I'm inching closer to fifty and I was starting to feel like it was Africa hot in the bed every night. I started opening windows, with the fan on, and I started waking up in the middle of the night, sweating. One night, I grabbed one of E's old bed-in-a-bag cheap $25 comforters that he used for his first year of camp. It was light as a feather and felt like heaven. </p><p>As far as exercise- I don't go to a gym but I walk every single day. I barely even drive. I don't go on the treadmill like I used to for an hour or hour and a half a day, but I do get up to anywhere from twelve thousand to twenty-something steps a day. It's not like I'm sedentary. I also barely eat during the day. Yeah, yeah, I know that you still have to eat. I'm busy and it takes awhile to jumpstart my eating during the day. I'm not trying to starve- I just don't think about it first thing.</p><p>I started getting <a href="https://www.factor75.com/plans?c=HS-OAOFZKS1R&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt">Factor meal delivery</a> to manage my dinner portions and not have to deal with dinner for myself. I can get out of control if left to my own devices. Had Jenny Craig not closed my closest center, and then continuously discontinued my favorite meals, I probably would've stuck with it forever. It was SO easy. I get Factor meals for dinner and maybe eat some Raisin Bran at some point during the day and/or a Zone Bar. I don't really snack during the day. I do, often, have brown bread (The Cheesecake Factory rolls) and butter with my Factor meal and I do have dessert every night. Usually a big cookie and milk. Then, I do eat candy in bed. Like, sugar candy- gummies of some kind. Gummy bears, blue raspberry licorice. or whatever. </p><p>It's not like I'm sitting around on my ass eating bon bons all day. I'm active. I feel like I have to be able to live a little and enjoy some cookies or some candy. I didn't even gain weight during the pandemic. I lost weight. I wasn't having to get up so early, pack a bag of food for work, so I was just naturally eating less. Something about the past year inching toward forty-nine though, I am just gaining weight. I thought it must be pre-menopause kind of stuff. </p><p>I saw a post on my local moms group the other night about this. So many women I know were coming out of the woodwork with the same issues, complaints, aches, pains and weight gain. I was like, okay, it isn't just me. There were so many books, life coaches, websites, webinars, that were recommended, that while I know people meant well, it was too overwhelming. Honestly, I also have the attention span of a fruit fly and I don't want to read a book or watch a webinar. I know myself, what I'm willing to do and my level of participation. <br /></p><p>Of course I've seen all the chatter on TV and online about <a href="https://www.ozempic.com/why-ozempic/what-is-ozempic.html?&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=ozempic&utm_campaign=&mkwid=s-dc_pcrid_605526776129_pkw_ozempic_pmt_e_slid__product_&pgrid=141675575207&ptaid=kwd-392229870365&gclid=CjwKCAjwuqiiBhBtEiwATgvixG54wFBQ93QYC_ixKhu5vxR8US7W2ELsz8SLeIWyFR_8jjYWMLjmfRoC7cYQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds">Ozempic</a>, <a href="https://www.mounjaro.com/?utm_id=go_cmp-16966473997_adg-133042365262_ad-626584063672_kwd-1651326559888_dev-c_ext-_prd-_mca-_sig-CjwKCAjwuqiiBhBtEiwATgvixDGFITFOegImF5VFC4Rwmpt0eRFcfJtwm8_RjN2GewjG6MaXhnS3CRoCTAMQAvD_BwE&utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&campaign=16966473997&adgroup=133042365262&ad=626584063672&utm_keyword=kwd-1651326559888&gclid=CjwKCAjwuqiiBhBtEiwATgvixDGFITFOegImF5VFC4Rwmpt0eRFcfJtwm8_RjN2GewjG6MaXhnS3CRoCTAMQAvD_BwE&redirect-referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F">Mounjaro</a> and <a href="https://www.wegovy.com/about-wegovy/why-wegovy.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwuqiiBhBtEiwATgvixNu4GroogYQOsVeWlKoBjK44TtqeFm2-om-syLT0f2igvNPYjCFeMRoCd6kQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds">Wegovy</a>. Who wouldn't be curious. I didn't know if I'd be able to get it because of insurance. Last time I went to the doctor, in November 2022, which I wrote about, she told me my BMI was higher than she'd like but I didn't have diabetes or anything. I'm one of those people who fall into the zone of holding on to extra weight but not enough to qualify me for anything, or so I assumed. </p><p>I did a little research on the three <i>wonder drugs </i>that all the Real Housewives seem to be on. I messaged my doctor and asked if I could have a scrip for Mounjaro. She said she'd put it in but it would be likely my insurance would deny. They did. There is no rhyme or reason to what they approve and deny. She then put in a scrip for Wegovy, which is Ozempic for people who don't have diabetes and just want it for weight loss. Surprise of all surprises, it was approved!</p><p>It was approved, but of course CVS was out of it on Tuesday. I was on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. I wanted to do it it but there was definitely a bit of nerves. Now I had to psych myself up to do self-injections? What, now? </p><p>CVS texted me yesterday, Wednesday, and said my Wegovy was in. Alrighty. I messaged someone I know who has been on it and she gave me some tips. She told me she takes it at night in case there is nausea, she'd sleep through it. I figured I'd try the same thing. </p><p>I went to CVS and picked up my box of four needle pens. I read the directions. I waited until midnight - not for any reason except for that being a normal time I go to sleep. I went into the bathroom, wiped an area on my belly with an alcohol swab and followed the directions for injection. </p><p>It wasn't hard and it didn't hurt- just a small pinch. Of course I was like, omg, I think I might feel nauseous. I don't think I really did though. I just went to sleep. I was really tired. </p><p>This morning, it's almost nine o'clock and I feel fine. I don't feel hungry but I never do in the morning. I'm a little afraid to drink my Crystal Light because it has fake sugar in it. The person I spoke to who is also on Wegovy said I'd probably feel crappy and maybe have gastrointestinal issues if I had too much. I guess that's how you make better food and drink decisions while on this to aid the weight loss - out of fear. Good, old fashioned fear of throwing up or worse. </p><p>I'm going to chronicle my use here for anyone interested. I want to lose about twenty five pounds in total. I see people online in my Bergen County Moms group who get crazy when someone asks about going on any of these three drugs. There is so much judgement- I don't know if it's out of jealousy, fear of doing it themselves, not being able to do it because of pre-existing conditions, being in the MLM diet biz- I have no idea. But there are definitely haters. There's a lot of the following when it gets brought up:<br /></p><p><i>You'll have to be on it for the rest of your life, if you go off it you'll gain it all back, do it with diet and exercise, talk to this MLM bullshit coach and do xyz expensive program instead, you don't know what could happen, do intermittent fasting instead, you don't know what the side effects will be down the road, etc etc etc. </i>I saw someone I know say something negative and my first thought was - <i>Bitch, you're maybe a size 4 and you've never had an extra pound in your life. You're the same size now you were in high school. YOU. DON'T. KNOW. </i></p><p>Some of us are willing to try stuff and see what happens. I'm one of those people. For those of us that weight has always been an issue<i>- </i>we're in a club we don't want to be in. Some of us ruined our metabolism in the 80's<i>/</i>90's/00's with over the counter weight loss drugs - like Kelly Taylor on 90210. Stackers, Hydroxycut, and I can't remember the other big one when I was in college<i> </i>or just after. And then with Phentermine and other prescriptions, yo-yo dieting, starving, and worse. Some of us need some extra help now, especially in the pre-menopause stage of life. </p><p>I'm always game to try something. I told the good, bad, and ugly all about my mommy makeover sessions about five or so years ago. I'll do the same here. Hopefully there won't be too much bad or ugly. I'll let you know.... </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1G97Xeuhd8RPTnzAeUcYpjYj5-LhaY0Jflmpg2uVvirtCmfiJotl_VNgXA1Iam-kbLn4a-F_YlBgC4WBGE1zAFvsBdjopw2aItNVp2zzkOGvGk5Y4Nhz0Eqnzsg8ekmrR3L4-7ML4Me35_ob7HlviYZVLmDJZwa1UuCVSffxXfNUv_Hlikjl8Z0be/s1512/Wegovy1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1G97Xeuhd8RPTnzAeUcYpjYj5-LhaY0Jflmpg2uVvirtCmfiJotl_VNgXA1Iam-kbLn4a-F_YlBgC4WBGE1zAFvsBdjopw2aItNVp2zzkOGvGk5Y4Nhz0Eqnzsg8ekmrR3L4-7ML4Me35_ob7HlviYZVLmDJZwa1UuCVSffxXfNUv_Hlikjl8Z0be/s320/Wegovy1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjmdUQ1buniuIspuV2thPiWAyzw7qk8yE1uJgfGbRTsMq4tEt5_3SsDUUWeIKeCXX4Xo39ne73oQ4liWRxhihREsgskkZPtxhd5j28jQBgvASfoQ0r90WFaiDJkgDa7GwQoSWXko_blVtaulPruxzgA6FRCHXy0BCQUaMLAUnEZsGsUar1z4pXOZrh/s1512/Wegovy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjmdUQ1buniuIspuV2thPiWAyzw7qk8yE1uJgfGbRTsMq4tEt5_3SsDUUWeIKeCXX4Xo39ne73oQ4liWRxhihREsgskkZPtxhd5j28jQBgvASfoQ0r90WFaiDJkgDa7GwQoSWXko_blVtaulPruxzgA6FRCHXy0BCQUaMLAUnEZsGsUar1z4pXOZrh/s320/Wegovy2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><i> </i><br /></p><p><i> </i><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-75439388018270964922023-01-25T08:28:00.009-05:002023-01-27T08:38:11.273-05:00What Are We Watching on the Telly<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXcNXKg4kRL8syJ4wm-Sd18baIGE-EQNVC9IOcFPx6XCXY1b1KU0L6u3v6bQ0w18y4_DX0nXiaYlkuPA-b8gpBJbhdCJ2dGaTHeLfDGe03dG47aVIAVeQ1SzeAegzW-2qniahQS4qJI0QQxo9VvFoeVSG88CaziR4WXz7unRLAWsJULqYyXB2WhH0V/s1632/tvshows.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1632" data-original-width="1632" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXcNXKg4kRL8syJ4wm-Sd18baIGE-EQNVC9IOcFPx6XCXY1b1KU0L6u3v6bQ0w18y4_DX0nXiaYlkuPA-b8gpBJbhdCJ2dGaTHeLfDGe03dG47aVIAVeQ1SzeAegzW-2qniahQS4qJI0QQxo9VvFoeVSG88CaziR4WXz7unRLAWsJULqYyXB2WhH0V/s320/tvshows.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>We've been watching A LOT of TV over here. I've been watching stuff on my own, B and I are watching stuff, E and I are watching. It's a digital love fest of streaming and cable. I thought I should bring some of what we're watching in here and do some recommending. Now, we never like what everyone else likes, so maybe you haven't seen some of these because we're not watching Yellowstone, Yellowjackets, anything with dragons, or whatever everyone else is talking about. We also tried <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11280740/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Severance</a> but didn't get more than episode or two in. It's REALLY slow. I also tried The Office for the first time recently and I didn't get past episode two. <br /></p><p>I don't even know how I found <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12530128/">As We See It</a> but I think I was googling new series to watch and it came up that the creator was Jason Katims of Friday Night Lights, so I was all about watching whatever he was doing. What a fantastic show. It's already not renewed for a second season, which I think is pretty messed up, seeing it's one of the very few, if not only scripted series currently about Quarterlifers on the spectrum. It follows their day to day lives with their life coach, from trying to just pass as typical, have relationships, work at jobs, deal with their family, etc. It's funny, sweet, sad, thought provoking, and endearing. You can find it on Amazon Prime. </p><p>Another one we both thought was great is <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11527058/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Fleishman is in Trouble</a>. Jesse Eisenberg, Lizzy Caplan, Adam Brody, Claire Danes. That's some cast. This limited series is based on a book so apparently it follows said book. I didn't read the book or even know about it. It's about marriage, affairs, divorce, losing who you were before marriage. It's about dating after divorce, dating in a tech world, careers, keeping up with the Jones', and materialism. It's also about enduring friendship and hearing both sides of the story. If you're Jewish, it's very comforting to identify with the main characters for once, but it's for anyone. You can find it on Hulu. </p><p>If you're looking for lighter viewing fare and want some comedy, please check out two Mindy Kaling created delights, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11212276/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">The Sex Lives of College Girls</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10062292/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Never Have I Ever</a>. I'm not sure which one is funnier, as they're both hysterical. Both feature a diverse cast, lots of sexual innuendo or situations, and lots of funny women. Never Have I Ever takes place in high school and obviously, Sex Lives of College Girls takes place in college. We started with Never Have I Ever when we ran out of stuff to watch some time in the summer. We just picked it out of the blue. So glad we didn't miss it. When we were done with that, we went to the college girls and then we started The Mindy Project, because - why not? You can find Never Have I Ever on Netflix and The Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO Max. </p><p>We also watched <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11815682/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Hacks</a> over the summer which was fantastic. Jean Smart and Hannah Ainbender are amazing as an almost washed up comedian and a young impulsive messy comedy writer. They were paired by their mutual agent to revive the flailing career of Jean Smart's character. I would be remiss if I did not mention Megan Stalter as the kooky <i>nepo-baby </i>assistant to the agent. Laughs, tears, it's all in there. <br /></p><p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8962124/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Emily in Paris</a> I'm giving it a mention in case you haven't given it a whirl. It's cute, it give off Sex and the City fashion vibes and moves quickly. Do you have to suspend some disbelief that Emily is pretty much the only ad executive in the entire Paris area with any genius ideas in her head, but it's mindless and fun. </p><p>We are in the second season of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5957766/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Loudermilk</a>, which is not for the easily offended. I found it from seeing a Reel on Facebook with a hysterical clip of Ron Livingston and a barista with vocal fry. I posted the clip to my Facebook page and someone mentioned it being from a show. Of course that piqued my interest so I went looking and we started watching. It's super funny but also, like I said, for a certain audience that enjoys a different kind of humor. It follows Ron Livingston as Loudermilk, a guy in recovery after getting in a terrible car wreck with his now ex-wife, where he drunk driving. He leads a recovery group like an AA type of thing and it's about all the people involved in the group. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yFc0ICB8Owg" width="320" youtube-src-id="yFc0ICB8Owg"></iframe></div><p>One show we just started watching is <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17543592/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Will Trent</a>. E and I kept seeing commercials for it during General Hospital or something so I thought we'd try it out. It's pretty good so far. It's about a special agent who knows his way around a crime scene like none other. I can't say much more about it because we're only three episodes in, but we like it so far. You can find it Tuesday nights on ABC or on Hulu. </p><p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13406094/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The White Lotus</a> was good but, unlike seemingly everyone else, we thought season one was better than season two. I mean, Connie Britton. The characters in season one were hateful, but there was just more humor in it. Murray Bartlett who played Armond in the first season was great. He was just funnier than the woman who basically took his spot in the second season. Also, it's really hard with subtitles, of which the second season had a lot. I think another major difference between season one and two was that you knew the intentions of the season one characters. I felt like there were a lot more of <i>did they/didn't they</i> going on with the second season group. It was confusing and left more to the imagination. I don't want to imagine. I want to know. It was still good, just slower too than the first. <br /></p><p>I have also been accused of being a huge <i>Marshmallow</i>, as rabid fans of Veronica Mars are called. Imagine my surprise at finding a FOURTH season that I didn't know existed. Veronica Mars started in 2004 and concluded with a third season that finished in 2007. There was a crowd funded movie in 2014 and I thought that was it. Then, I found, what I call, <i>the lost season. </i>A fourth season was released in 2019 and I found that little eight episode gem about a month ago. I watched it in two days. It was chock full of old references, cameos of old faces, and that familiar Veronica/Logan banter. I'd say it was great except the last episode...I don't want to say any more, if you're a Marshmallow who hasn't seen that last season. </p><p>People in the mom groups on Facebook and other message boards I'm on are always asking for stuff to watch with their tweens and teens. I can't say the ones we watch here are particularly age appropriate, but I'll say this- <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134247/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1">Felicity</a> is free on Amazon Prime. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362359/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">The OC</a> is also free on Prime. B and I watched two seasons of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10293938/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Outer Banks</a> on Netflix and B would've liked to watch the third season but I really did not like that show at all. Too much on the run, misunderstandings like likes of Three's Company, and too much suspending disbelief. <br /></p><p>B and I are watching <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10813940/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Ginny & Georgia</a> right now. We're about six episodes in, and it's good. There's humor with a dark underbelly. It's hard to watch as a parent though, kind of like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8772296/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Euphoria</a>, which we also stopped mid first season. I'm going to stick out Ginny & Georgia, which is about a single mom with a dark past who had her daughter, Ginny, when she was fifteen. Ginny is insecure, biracial, and is finding friends and popularity, and mom has some sinister secrets she's keeping while trying to give Ginny and her little brother a nice life. It's hard to watch the teens drinking, doing drugs, taking and sending sexy selfies, doing things out of teen insecurity. You know, secondary embarrassment when the fifteen year old girl is sending the selfie in her bra because her friend told her she looks hot and too hot not to send. </p><p>Next on tap, totally an opposite of<i> G&G</i>, is season two of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7456722/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Hunters</a>. Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, and the rest of that cast is excellent. It's WWII Nazi stuff but in a totally different way. You think it would be a downer, all that antisemitism, murder, etc. But it's such a crazy, compelling story. After the last episode in the first season, I'm really interested to see where it goes for this new and final season. </p><p>Ok, so that's it I think. Just wanted to put those out there in case anyone is at a loss for something to watch. E and I are caught up on General Hospital for the first time in years so that leaves me with a lot more TV time to discover new things or rewatch an old fave...<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXZocHF0HOG9u8ehF2tV0uTSPBbVbHfiYVviP9xtKdPdhiuu8__idkzZVsJkTVoTAQnvnFGo75JcN9_8dMZpdGubwsai01A3JkIRBIzV7OzqFm4pqPghRUNK27Lo9LYbJl2DbYOpLIH4FEy2Cb1kOFQSE77-RQiGh5yiVAcdD9cPGuVn5yYydAxsi/s1632/Moretv.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1632" data-original-width="1632" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXZocHF0HOG9u8ehF2tV0uTSPBbVbHfiYVviP9xtKdPdhiuu8__idkzZVsJkTVoTAQnvnFGo75JcN9_8dMZpdGubwsai01A3JkIRBIzV7OzqFm4pqPghRUNK27Lo9LYbJl2DbYOpLIH4FEy2Cb1kOFQSE77-RQiGh5yiVAcdD9cPGuVn5yYydAxsi/s320/Moretv.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-23768129882789232122022-12-20T11:08:00.004-05:002022-12-20T11:08:48.044-05:00Factor Food Plan<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSS_tVT0UiFisN__I0tAFu6-Uz-u9QgW-M9GpiLnsOkSnqR7r-C6A2OGRmbZ2bSMB1l04nf4k1u7KdIjI5USYvAM-5o-QcEEooKL68R0xcf9yv2FsEhdEipHhd83jwx-KLqkJ9gUTvKItsopwYh03UReqonsSGhofp7Uwu-E7E0UJOhqa6rCQzYYIc/s1632/Factor%20meals.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1632" data-original-width="1632" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSS_tVT0UiFisN__I0tAFu6-Uz-u9QgW-M9GpiLnsOkSnqR7r-C6A2OGRmbZ2bSMB1l04nf4k1u7KdIjI5USYvAM-5o-QcEEooKL68R0xcf9yv2FsEhdEipHhd83jwx-KLqkJ9gUTvKItsopwYh03UReqonsSGhofp7Uwu-E7E0UJOhqa6rCQzYYIc/w320-h260/Factor%20meals.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Everyone that has been reading my stuff for years or just knows me in real life, knows that cooking isn't my jam. I've talked about Jenny Craig, which I did for like, I don't know- eight years or something. I just don't like having to go there. Also, as has also been firmly established, I'm a creature of habit and if I like something, I could eat it daily. I had maybe three favorite frozen meals from there- I think it was the meatloaf, the pot stickers, and one other thing. All I can remember is that two out of the three meals were discontinued. A variety of three is not too much to ask for, in my book, but one is just not worth the cost. <p></p><p>I wrote recently that I was trying BistroMD. While I found it, okay, for some meals, I wasn't blown away, and honestly, there were a couple I had to choke down. I also didn't realize they were going to be frozen. I was looking for something fresh this time. </p><p>BistroMD had interesting choices but you are also supposed to remember to take out what you want to eat the next day and move it from the freezer to the refrigerator. You can put it in the microwave right out of the freezer, but the directions are, <i>for best results, thaw in refrigerator overnight. </i>I forgot almost every time. I don't know if not defrosting it beforehand and heating it from frozen made a difference or not but I can't say I loved any of the food enough to get a second delivery. <br /></p><p>On the positive side though, BistroMD has breakfast meals included in your weekly number of orders. I was looking for a meal delivery service that offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner. While lunch and dinner food is one and the same for a lot of people, I also wanted a plan where there was some lighter fare for lunch that feels more like <i>lunch food. </i>For example, Jenny Craig has a macaroni and cheese with vegetables on the side, a loaded baked potato, a baguette with ham and cheese, a panini. I don't want a full chicken marsala meal mid-day. Even though it seems like a Lean Cuisine or whatever, I have a thing about what is breakfast food, lunch food and dinner food. </p><p>I decided that since BistroMD is no obligation, I wanted to try another service instead. I chose Factor home delivery meals next. They are highly rated when I looked up reviews online- not reviews on their site, but I looked up<i><b>: Best meal delivery service 2022. </b></i>I got BistroMD and Factor over and over on different review sites. <br /></p><p> Factor's meals come fresh and are kept refrigerated, not frozen. They have a different menu every week so hopefully you like enough on the menu to order however many meals you're getting. I did a Black Friday deal where I got eighteen meals for approximately ninety dollars. However- most of these services, including this one, you have to pay before you pick your meals. I didn't really understand that while they do have some breakfast food, it's not included in your meal order. If you order eighteen meals, that's eighteen meals off the regular menu- which does not include the breakfasts or these add-ons they have. I paid for eighteen meals before I realized this so I was stuck and not sure how I was going to eat eighteen meals in a week. Since BistroMD is frozen, whatever I didn't eat is still in my freezer. </p><p>It was fine though because I figured B and/or E could eat some of the overflow. I got my first delivery about a week after ordering. Each meal comes individually packaged, labeled with what it is, and heats in the microwave in two or three minutes each. The directions say on almost all of them I've had so far is to microwave for two minutes, then add thirty second increments if it isn't hot enough. Personally, I just start at two minutes and thirty seconds because I know my microwave. <br /></p><p>I do like more of the food from Factor than I did from BistroMD. I really like their cranberry pecan chicken, sundried tomato chicken fusilli, rosemary pepper pork chop, butternut squash and sage chicken pasta, and a couple of others. I've gotten two boxes so far- the eighteen box and then I switched to six boxes, because I know I'm only going to eat them for dinner. I picked the eighteen for the deal on Black Friday because it was such a good deal and I wanted to be able to try as many meals as I could. OR, if one was horrible, I wanted to be able to swap it out for something else. <br /></p><p>If I had to grade BistroMD, I'd give it C. If I had to grade Factor, I'd give it a B. And it's only a B because I personally, have the palate of a first grader. Other people who eat more <i>grown-up </i>food in general might like some of the more interesting choices. I'm looking for more plain food. However, with, Factor, out of all the meals I've tried, I've only thrown one away that, to me, was totally unappetizing. I've gotten twenty-four boxes total, and had to throw two away because they were over the time given to eat them- I never got to them in time. Those two were fish- a shrimp scampi and past dish and a pesto salmon. I'm not eating old fish. <br /></p><p>Factor isn't overly exotic but there are definitely meals that try too hard. There is a balsamic chicken with butternut squash risotto that seemed like it had a lot of potential. Then I opened it and see Brussels sprouts under the chicken. They've been soaked in balsamic for however long under the chicken like they're eggs being laid. I don't eat Brussels sprouts to begin with but if I did, I wouldn't want them microwaved under chicken. There are directions for a conventional oven but the whole idea of meals like this is quick and convenient and using a conventional oven is not quick OR convenient. A meal like that could've had green beans, carrots, corn- something that isn't ruined in a microwave. I took the sprouts out, threw them away and just heated the chicken and risotto. </p><p>Risotto is difficult for the average person to make. It takes a little skill. I LOVE the idea of having it as a side with these meals but they need to do some perfecting. I'm no foodie, but no one wants mushy risotto. That's not how it's supposed to taste. It was edible, but I wouldn't say it was one of their better attempts. </p><p>I've never eaten any kind of riced cauliflower in place of potato or rice or whatever. But the cauliflower and red pepper mash under the pork chop was great. I had no idea what it was until right now when I just looked up that meal to write about it. Riced cauliflower is one of those things that also takes skill because I've seen it in other brands of packaged meals and it was disgusting. Factor hit the mark with this one. </p><p>When the menu comes out for the next week, you can choose <i>Chef's Choice, </i>which is where they just send you their selections for however many meals are supposed to be in your box. Or, you can choose your own. You always have the choice to pick from any of the meals but they are labeled into categories: Calorie Smart, Keto, Vegan/Vegetarian, Non-Spicy, Non-Dairy, etc. I choose mostly from the Calorie Smart menu but if there isn't enough I'd eat from there, I'll chose a Keto. <br /></p><p>Eighteen meals for ninety dollars was a super deal. I couldn't eat them all - even including B and E, so some went to waste. Now I moved to six meals and my next box is going to cost seventy-one dollars. It's not much far off from price I paid for the eighteen meals that I got on the deal. I think my I'm still getting some kind of discount. I haven't really investigated their pricing system. There is some kind of reward at four boxes and I'm not sure what that means yet. </p><p>There is no obligation, which I like. I can keep going, stop now, skip weeks. I skipped the next week's meals because I didn't like six meals on that menu enough to bother. You can double or triple up on meals- or even order six of the same meal but I didn't want to do that. I don't remember if there was any favorite I had previously that I loved enough to have six days worth. You have until Wednesday of the week to change, skip, or cancel your next week's order. I suggest putting Wednesdays in the calendar to remember whether to keep your order going or not. </p><p>It's just like any meal planning- you have to know what you're doing that week and how to fit the meals into your life. I'm not generally a meal planner. I decide what I want to eat on a daily basis because I don't cook. Most people I know meal plan though, as I see posts in my social media groups or message boards, where people have all their family meals planned out for the whole week. I'm not that person. <br /></p><p>I'm going to keep doing the Factor meals for awhile. If I don't love the vegetable, I can always supplement with my own. If you want a big discount off a box to try it, use my referral code. </p><p>*The photo of the Factor meal at the top of this entry is showing refrigerated on the left and heated up on the right side. <br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.factor75.com/plans?c=HS-OAOFZKS1R&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt">Factor Meals Referral</a></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5qt6KhHTiclRVdiewqL7J4HDo1q8t0SEgxRlYJLhY6EG30ihq38kvUvJvZ8IkDgYOXlDcuI3QLUtKhrvOS26Yhy24aTJxzqZ9tt4B0a2qAiV5pgifXQFWUBfx7Iu60MGP4Uvgnz3YixyzHXac1t3LHO-yuhKOqFn_JUU1dsNnSI5dWJA0XtWhN67m/s640/BistroMD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5qt6KhHTiclRVdiewqL7J4HDo1q8t0SEgxRlYJLhY6EG30ihq38kvUvJvZ8IkDgYOXlDcuI3QLUtKhrvOS26Yhy24aTJxzqZ9tt4B0a2qAiV5pgifXQFWUBfx7Iu60MGP4Uvgnz3YixyzHXac1t3LHO-yuhKOqFn_JUU1dsNnSI5dWJA0XtWhN67m/w200-h200/BistroMD.jpg" title="BistroMD Frozen Meal" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BistroMD Frozen Meal<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span><br /></p><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-69124204890872527152022-12-08T09:10:00.001-05:002022-12-08T10:06:36.486-05:00Goodbye Old Friends<p> Social media is always a double edged sword. Always. I've discussed it before, I'm sure. My memory isn't so great now that I'm pushing fifty (<i>did I really just type that??)</i>, but I'm sure I have discussed my feelings on social media. </p><p>When I joined Facebook, it was probably in 2008, whenever it opened from just college students to the general public. It was fun; a novelty. Seeing all the people I wondered about from any and every weird walk of life I've had, was cool. Instead of just wondering, <i>whatever happened to so and so</i>, you could just look them up and get reacquainted.<br /></p><p>No one warns you about the <i>gut-punch</i> moments though. You know, when it's someone's birthday and you go to their page to send a wish for another great trip around the sun. Or when a mutual friend posts a photo captioned, <i>HOW AM I JUST FINDING OUT ABOUT THIS NOW??? </i>That's when I'm hit with the nausea-inducing realization that the person in question has passed away. I didn't know. <br /></p><p>This JUST happened to me, this week. I'm still reeling from the news. It wasn't the first time and sadly, it probably won't be the last. It's just that this time, it was a tougher pill to swallow for some reason. Probably because it just seems so impossible, so unlikely. <br /></p><p>The first person, where I didn't find out until well after her death, was someone I worked with in my early twenties. I hadn't seen any comments from her in awhile so I went to her page and I saw all the condolences. I was sad, but I wasn't surprised. In all the time I'd known her, she had never been in good health. She was so fun and funny but I'd left the area we lived, pre-Facebook, so keeping in touch, especially when my life was super messy and I had a flip phone, wasn't easy. By the time we became Facebook friends, it had been years of being disconnected. </p><p>Another death was someone from college. That one stung, not only because he was only a year older than I am, but we'd had some really great, deep discussions on my Facebook page. I had gotten to know him more through social media, in the years since college, than I'd known him when we were there together. I remember something happening in the news, posting about it, and I wanted to know what he thought. That's when I went to his page and saw that he'd died months prior. <br /></p><p>One person was someone I only really connected with for a short time through my Jenny Craig membership. She was someone I hadn't had any contact with, in awhile, but I went to her page and it turned out she'd died, SO young, I think in her early thirties, in her sleep. She was a big help to me when I was on the Jenny Craig program and we'd forged a quick friendship.<br /></p><p>Two deaths, where I found out about their passing, months after, have really rocked me. One, passed away in the fall of 2019. He always wished me a happy birthday, sometimes on Facebook, but often on LinkedIn. I always shake my head at those on LinkedIn because I don't know how no one realizes that I barely look at that boring site. He did it, always, somewhere, regardless of where. I just looked and he last sent a birthday wish only a couple of months before he died. </p><p>He was one of my first mentors in the tanning industry. He stayed up with me, like all night, at my first symposium, in York, Pennsylvania, where I was going to be speaking for hundreds of people. I was freaking out, dragged about forty-five sku's with me, that I set up in my room, like it was the stage, and did a version of my talk that I was going to do the next day. All I remember from that night and that talk is <i>"Vitamins A, B, D & botanicals". </i>He listened to me, just <i>talk-talk-talking</i>, probably babbling incoherently, about my extreme fear of public speaking. </p><p>To explain a little backstory- he and I worked for different companies. In other companies, I assume they each had territories. They had relationships with the distributors hosting these giant symposiums, so they went to the same symposiums every year. I was the new kid on the block at the company I worked for, AND I worked remote from NJ. The company I worked for was in Arizona, where I went maybe once a year. I didn't have a specific territory, I didn't even have a specific job. I wasn't a salesperson in a way where I wrote orders. I think I was just sent to visit and speak wherever no one else wanted to go, like wherever it was really cold. I remember trying to pump gas into a rental car, for the first time, in negative eleven degrees, in Wisconsin. I never did get to go to the Cabo event, but that's neither here nor there. </p><p>Anyway, back to my friend. He and I were on the same travel schedule, a lot. Sometimes, I'd get somewhere, not see him, and immediately call to ask, <i>"Where ARE you??". </i>Every now and again, it was someone else from his company, and he was definitely missed. </p><p>I was also one of the few females, most of the time, out of the speakers at the places I ended up. I ended up with a little group of, basically, <i>surrogate brothers</i>, who really took me under their wing and helped me out. With this particular friend, we had something in common, that weirdly, a lot of relatively young people we traveled with didn't. We were single. So we had a lot of dating stories and drama to discuss between us. At one point, I'd thought he'd met <i>his person </i>and I was so happy for him. It didn't end up working out though. He, like me, really wanted that stability and I'd always hoped he'd find happiness. He deserved it. Unfortunately, he was taken way too soon. I miss his smile and his, <i>"lets yak". </i></p><p>The most recent example though, I can't really explain why this one really gutted me. It was just really shocking. He was another mentor from those tanning days. He was only five years older than I am, but he just gave off the <i>old soul</i> vibe. He was actually the first person I met from the company by which I eventually became employed. </p><p>I was twenty-five, at the big Vegas trade show, with my boss at the time, which was also a fluke. I'd had been having a rough time both personally and professionally. I was working at a local tanning salon as the manager, just as a transition, while I figured out my new life. My boss had a fight with his daughter who used to have my position. She would've gone with him, to this Vegas Expo, but he took me instead.</p><p>I saw this guy, thought he was cute, and we struck up a quick conversation. I think he invited me inside to a party. I quickly realized we were super different. He introduced me to another guy, and that was that. Cut to about a year and a half later, 9/11, ended up being the strange event that became my entry to working with him, working as sort of a protégé. <br /></p><p>In hindsight, I think he would say that he thought of me as an annoying, argumentative, little sister. I was the loud-mouth, super liberal Jewish girl with blue fingernails and he was the conservative, polished, Italian Catholic guy who I felt like just wanted to be contrary. He traveled with me, to get me ready to fly on my own. He also lived in the NY metro area so we both went to events on this side of the country while our counterparts took on the West. </p><p>In later years, after both being out of the industry, we kept in touch on Facebook. One day, I saw a photo of his daughter wearing a camp t-shirt from the same camp E was going to also. I messaged him, confused, asking him whether she somehow goes there. I knew he lived somewhere in NY. He told me his girlfriend was living in NJ and his daughter was going to camp with her children. He called it a <i>"serendipitous coincidence". </i>I told him that if he was ever in Bergen to come visit my store so we could catch up. He said he would. He never did. We both had busy lives and time just passes. <br /></p><p>What he did, often, was pose some very controversial questions or statements, on his Facebook page, and I'd thoughtfully but highly spiritedly, respond. The last thing he emailed me was thanking me for taking the time to write. That he <i>realizes my values and opinions are important to me</i> <span class="x4k7w5x x1h91t0o x1h9r5lt xv2umb2 x1beo9mf xaigb6o x12ejxvf x3igimt xarpa2k xedcshv x1lytzrv x1t2pt76 x7ja8zs x1qrby5j x1jfb8zj">
<i>and not just another flippant face booker with no real valid opinions,
just insults and insinuations.</i> He said he'd take the time to write back when he
could</span>. He never did. </p><p>I'd look at his page from time to time. I liked seeing him happy, seeing photos of his daughter. Also having a child by then, close in age to his, I'd think back to our times in that crazy business and sometimes, it was hard to believe any of it was real. It was a real, strange, trip. We'd discussed religion and politics, deeply. That was the thing though, and I don't know know how we would've faired through the Trump years, as our last email conversation was in 2015, but he was always willing to listen to another side. He might not have agreed, but it never got ugly, which is definitely a rarity these days. <br /><br />You just always feel like there's <i>more time</i>. You'll reach out when you get a minute. A break. Some extra free time. That time never comes. You put it off and put it off. Then you see someone post an obituary or a tribute, and you feel your stomach drop. <i>Why didn't I just get in touch sooner. Why didn't I say something about a photo they posted. Something...anything?? </i></p><p>When you find out someone died, months later, via social media, it feels really weird. You scour social media and the internet at large for any explanation because you just can't believe what you're seeing. You're just starting to grieve and the people that knew are already well on their grief journey. You wonder if it's appropriate to reach out to their loved ones to share your condolences and maybe a nice story or funny memory. It's really hard to process. It's especially hard when the person was young, vibrant, positive. When you just would never expect it to be them in that obituary. </p><p> I know it can be really hard for families to keep a loved one's social media up after they pass. For some, it's too difficult a reminder. I've had two friends pass, (who I was close to in real life and knew they passed), whose families deactivated their Facebook accounts out of self-preservation. I'll just say that I totally understand, but it's still hard to never be able to see old photos or old conversations etched into history via social media. To me, being able to look back in time like that is priceless. I would give anything to look through those pages and memories. <br /></p><p>So, I just want to say some kind of farewell, a <i>Goodbye old friends, </i>to L, C, A, S, and A. You all left a mark on my life that meant something to me. Rest in peace. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EbD7lfrsY2s" width="320" youtube-src-id="EbD7lfrsY2s"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-13105324393378428972022-12-04T15:19:00.006-05:002022-12-04T21:32:46.747-05:00The Female Dr Now and Diet Food<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJotGQLkZB-JcFTeMzpa5BYYAxgJxcCbRql9u9b3oLp5uH4MGj4OaDEQgGGFLO7O58lJMMQ_Veq-1JXG4V3Z8UawD3wyM7_EvLSZTJIG1Krw4vhoBeWMhEgvWiIjdiVUp8nKs9fBx6u0C2ZCTrmz8ezUGsbKja2fqnlYf4fW82QPMV6-pMmkdyjoGP/s480/food.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="274" data-original-width="480" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJotGQLkZB-JcFTeMzpa5BYYAxgJxcCbRql9u9b3oLp5uH4MGj4OaDEQgGGFLO7O58lJMMQ_Veq-1JXG4V3Z8UawD3wyM7_EvLSZTJIG1Krw4vhoBeWMhEgvWiIjdiVUp8nKs9fBx6u0C2ZCTrmz8ezUGsbKja2fqnlYf4fW82QPMV6-pMmkdyjoGP/w320-h183/food.webp" title="BistroMD food" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I'm a Howard Stern listener - I feel like I have to preface that for those that aren't aware. I've been listening since I was kid because my parents were avid listeners. I stopped here and there when I didn't get a good radio signal in the 90's or my lifestyle didn't mesh with getting up early. Or when I had to had to get up at a ridiculous hour to get into NYC and all I had was an iPod. Since the Covid lock down though, I've become a listen-to-the-whole-show-in-order kind of person. I'm perpetually behind but I'm pretty OCD about listening to the whole show. I listen from my phone and I just pick up where I left off.<br /></p><p>Howard loves to talk about the TV show <i>My 600 lb Life </i>and the doctor on the show- Dr Nowzaradan - who is just known to all as <i>Dr Now. </i>One of the Stern staffers, Chris Wilding does an impression of Dr Now- I'd never actually seen the show until last week, but the main idea of the impression is that Dr Now tells the people how they're <i>not doing the work. </i>He tells them very matter of fact how they gained weight, they shouldn't have gained weight, and they're not following directions. </p><p>I just wanted to give a little explanation so you can really imagine my experience with a new doctor recently. I hadn't been going to a regular internist for years because it seemed redundant. I had been going to my gynocologist for everything. He did blood work, meds, sent me for tests. Even for just a regular cold, he'd deal with that too. He would do my yearly physical, order the blood work, go over it, etc, so it seemed weird to go to an internist for essentially the same thing. Plus, we had criminally high insurance premiums for self-employed people, yet, we had a ton of rules as to what doctors were in-network and high co-pays. It was a fifty dollar co-pay to go to the doctor! I didn't want to go to any extra doctors. I have a relationship with my Gynocologist so I didn't want to go anywhere else. </p><p>All these years though, people kept recommending this local female doctor. She hadn't been in-network for me though. Then, B took a new job and we got brandy-new really great health insurance. All of a sudden, this woman doctor was in my network. I was thrilled. Copay cost is like ten or fifteen dollars to go see someone. I started making appointments. I made an appointment with this woman. </p><p>I can say this- she was thorough. I think I was there for over an hour. They did blood work in the office instead of me having to find a Labcorp and make an appointment at a later date. However, I felt like I was talking to Dr Now. She told me that I could lose twenty pounds and I'd still be overweight, but it's okay because I have big bones. I wasn't sure I heard her correctly. </p><p>Have I gained weight? Sure. Oddly, I lost weight in the Covid lockdown. When everyone was baking breads and eating them, or drinking alcohol or whatever they were doing to gain weight, I wasn't eating. I don't know why. I just wasn't. I was no longer in my same routine so it changed my eating habits. Plus, I guess not going to the supermarket helped. If we didn't have it, we just didn't have it in the house. I would've had to prepare food and I don't like to prepare food. </p><p>Somehow though, in the time since we've been let out, I don't know what's happened. I was one of those people who yo-yo dieted, took the <i>Kelly Taylor </i>over-the-counter diet pills in the 80's and 90's, and took prescription diet pills. I probably ruined my metabolism that way, plus it's the mix of my predisposed body and nearing the age of fifty. I was never one of those people who had a fast metabolism, just losing weight easily. I know people like that. People who DO eat but they eat to live, not live to eat, and they are just naturally thin no matter what. </p><p>I also used to go on the treadmill every single morning for anywhere from sixty to ninety minutes. Sometimes I did more. I wasn't always running but by the end of any given day I'd have eighteen thousand to twenty-one thousand steps. </p><p>During the Covid lock down, B and I started walking every night. Our main route is about three and a quarter miles that we finish in about an hour and twenty minutes. I started going on the treadmill less and less because I had work to do and I felt like I was going to be getting the steps in anyway. </p><p>I think I probably started gaining little by little as we were let out back into the wild. We were going back out to restaurants. I also love sweets. Cake, candy, you name it. I can't say I haven't been eating cake or candy. I just don't think I was eating more of it than usual. I don't know. I wasn't stress eating. It just happens. I seem to have different mirrors than other people. A lot of people look in the mirror and think they look terrible. I look and think I look fine. Then I see a photo and I'm like, wow, what's going on there?? </p><p>I left <i>Female Dr. Now's</i> office in a panic. I literally got in my car and looked up <a href="https://noom.com/r/dGrpBWvY">Noom</a>. I have had friends who have used it that they've said it worked for them. It was the first thing that came to mind. Well, actually Jenny Craig came to mind, because I did it for like ten years and was successful. I really liked the food. They moved their location though, where I had to pick up the food, and now it's just REALLY inconvenient. So I joined <a href="https://noom.com/r/dGrpBWvY">Noom</a> in the parking lot and then went home to look up food delivery services. </p><p>I can't be responsible for preparing healthy meals. I need someone to do it for me. Jenny Craig worked for me because it was quick and easy. I'm on the go all the time. I need to just throw something in the toaster oven or microwave and move on. I started reading reviews and looking at prices of meals that are delivered to your home. I remembered a million years ago that stars like Jennifer Aniston and such were having meals brought to them and there have been all kinds of services that have come out since. </p><p>What I found with most of the plans is that you have to pay before you pick your food. You can see a sample of the menu if you poke around, but you have to pay, then you put the meals in your cart. I found BistroMD and it was fine. I really liked the breakfasts, but I didn't love everything else. I also didn't realize it would be frozen instead of fresh. There's nothing wrong with frozen but I wanted to see if I could find one that wasn't frozen. </p><p>I found <a href="https://go.factor75.com/plans?c=HS-OAOFZKS1R&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt">Factor</a> which says the food is refrigerated. I got the eighteen meal plan because it was a really good deal for the first order. The only thing I didn't understand is that breakfast in their plan is considered an <i>add on. </i>So I paid for eighteen meals and none are breakfast. They have a different menu each week so there's always different items. I did have to order doubles of a lot of stuff because I am extremely picky and have the palate of a first grader. A lot of diet food is spicy because I think that's supposed to suppress your appetite or something but I really loathe spicy food. It's not even the taste, but it hurts. I don't want my food to hurt. Also, I like simple. Companies are always trying to make diet food more <i>interesting</i> and I guess more like regular food. So they try to get all exotic. I don't want exotic. </p><p>I didn't get the <a href="https://go.factor75.com/plans?c=HS-OAOFZKS1R&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt">Factor</a> food yet so I can't say how it tastes. I'm optimistic. It should be here this week sometime, so I'll update once I've eaten a few of the meals. If you use my link for <a href="https://go.factor75.com/plans?c=HS-OAOFZKS1R&plans_ab=true&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share-hpt">Factor</a>, you get $150 off the cost. My first box with the eighteen meals cost me less than one hundred dollars. I thought that was pretty good. It cost me way more plus membership for Jenny Craig. Neither BistroMD or Factor require any kind of membership and you can cancel at any time. I already skipped my second delivery of Factor because I haven't even gotten the first one.<br /></p><p>Of course B got a foot injury, pretty much around the same time I went to the doctor. We haven't been able to walk at all so I am back on the treadmill. It's definitely harder than walking the three miles around town. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9u-7UTQ3TYJsFOAD-R_DhyOoR_HYBiZ3BSxL4aXzw_pIRl49Uzyjdd6Y4Uc6ZKD87Xt6v_IHLzZw88Cp8AX3oQufz-A1c7tADs20Vehc2Ma9YWDneT2gU0S8sYO0cATv0QqX3nypksVLe6IOMTFA5bFKQrWeMTDp2tlMPPsyAX0-UruzJWbqIpuRj/s1632/dietlogo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1632" data-original-width="1632" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9u-7UTQ3TYJsFOAD-R_DhyOoR_HYBiZ3BSxL4aXzw_pIRl49Uzyjdd6Y4Uc6ZKD87Xt6v_IHLzZw88Cp8AX3oQufz-A1c7tADs20Vehc2Ma9YWDneT2gU0S8sYO0cATv0QqX3nypksVLe6IOMTFA5bFKQrWeMTDp2tlMPPsyAX0-UruzJWbqIpuRj/s320/dietlogo.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-25982881132031258692022-12-01T10:26:00.002-05:002022-12-05T21:07:00.440-05:00Rock Your Socks<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ieTsFmHnb0Vwqx1FUUnaFRQCBdq6gz2w3uazamcVzd-wXTeQEmllCSFZOKTj_bVB1lHTsrLUUMEB6xeEbCAv9JRTokPcH_E80zQzIYEsIi2e3nHjDLejhe4bSj4nJLJsGDRz9_qqpOGvYREgfxdGtIlTbc_S_CmBknETsxxIVt6w0UWjlqwZgpUO/s175/1rockyoursocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="175" data-original-width="175" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ieTsFmHnb0Vwqx1FUUnaFRQCBdq6gz2w3uazamcVzd-wXTeQEmllCSFZOKTj_bVB1lHTsrLUUMEB6xeEbCAv9JRTokPcH_E80zQzIYEsIi2e3nHjDLejhe4bSj4nJLJsGDRz9_qqpOGvYREgfxdGtIlTbc_S_CmBknETsxxIVt6w0UWjlqwZgpUO/s1600/1rockyoursocks.jpg" width="175" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p> Shameless ask time! E's 8th grade class is raising funds for their class trip. As we're trying to get back some semblance of normalcy since Covid, they're getting their 8th grade trip. Since I'm pretty much never getting over all they lost in fifth grade - that was their "end of elementary school" year- which was supposed to be the <i>dessert </i>to the <i>dinner food </i>of the earlier years of elementary school. </p><p>I know I know- people love to say, <i>"at least...." </i>about the fifth graders. As in- <i>at least they weren't eighth graders. At least they weren't seniors. At least they weren't in college. </i></p><p><i> </i>Well, guess what? Those fifth graders lost a lot. Not only did they lose all their fun activities, they lost the last bit of time with their innocence. They lost the ability to socialize on the cusp of puberty. As families, we lost our time to get to celebrate them WITH them. Does it sound dramatic? Maybe. Not to me.<br /></p><p>Fifth grade "graduation" is where they're at that age where they're still cool with parents being around. They expect you to be around. By the time they're in eighth grade or seniors, any work you do to celebrate their graduation is about them being with their friends. You work together with other parents for the kids to be with their friends, which is fine, and how it should be, but it's different than the sweetness of celebrating with your fifth grader who has no idea what tornado is going to hit them in middle school. And boy, has it been a tornado. </p><p>Middle school, especially navigating Covid, has been interesting. And hard. Middle school on it's own is difficult. Add in the extra weirdness of Covid and I don't know what to call it. </p><p>As we try to get back to whatever our new normal is, school is trying to give them back their traditions. One is an eighth grade trip. This is their fundraiser- <i><a href="https://onlyfundraising.com/grms8/socks">Rock Your Socks</a> (click the link) - </i>One pair will be donated for every pack purchased. Can't beat that- who doesn't need socks? <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeS-5n2OAA7fhQe4CnGlGr2k2LVITfbQNCaOVVrQlTpO2eSh6PE1tWmRpD9wJ7oR30ZrwzsFZ_XUuawMCV965GixiK_hFVhInftseXoGVtCykorrBok3KXGZJtrBxpGhMxM7KpTymeO7zUhlGUsS0YCO3NPI6TRYfoNUtJ0Z375ZN_zQRRF-7jMfox/s2000/RockYourSocks.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="660" data-original-width="2000" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeS-5n2OAA7fhQe4CnGlGr2k2LVITfbQNCaOVVrQlTpO2eSh6PE1tWmRpD9wJ7oR30ZrwzsFZ_XUuawMCV965GixiK_hFVhInftseXoGVtCykorrBok3KXGZJtrBxpGhMxM7KpTymeO7zUhlGUsS0YCO3NPI6TRYfoNUtJ0Z375ZN_zQRRF-7jMfox/w400-h133/RockYourSocks.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://onlyfundraising.com/grms8/socks">Rock Your Socks</a></span><br /></div><div><p>So please help E's grade reach their goal! It would be much appreciated!! <br /></p></div>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-40685824615672456182022-11-28T10:03:00.006-05:002022-12-01T09:04:21.693-05:00Motivation, Positivity and a TikToker Visit<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBQdS1Bd8_phmdn5wXU5vhqv02SoHeh4vKbBDmkdICb8HqUyBFUIlKYmFa1u3PqovYw1poffYMr9gvsJoPHa6MFFEaWbf_Hl_vCOYZ7Z7armBbYS_TtdWBeRdcMUEQoY4YCveg7fwtoO56Gg5HjNisIPx9Pm6AdGIUOT4i0KB981B0GTxbgLxMO0NO/s1127/JordanToma1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="779" data-original-width="1127" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBQdS1Bd8_phmdn5wXU5vhqv02SoHeh4vKbBDmkdICb8HqUyBFUIlKYmFa1u3PqovYw1poffYMr9gvsJoPHa6MFFEaWbf_Hl_vCOYZ7Z7armBbYS_TtdWBeRdcMUEQoY4YCveg7fwtoO56Gg5HjNisIPx9Pm6AdGIUOT4i0KB981B0GTxbgLxMO0NO/s320/JordanToma1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>My last entry was about middle school and how much it sucks. It's kind of interesting, as I watch a LOT of Law & Order SVU reruns, and I watched tons of it over Thanksgiving week, there was a lot of school themed episodes. They dealt with online and in person bullying and tying it to social media. </p><p>I'm old-ish. I'm in my late forties. I know a lot of my friends have jumped on the TikTok and Snapchat bandwagon, but I never got there. Truth be told, which I'm sure I've said in here or somewhere, I don't even like Instagram. I've gotten used to it, but I'm an old school Facebook kind of girl. </p><p>I also almost never have the sound turned on my phone, another thing I've probably mentioned before. I don't know why but the sound annoys me. I don't want to hear ads and whatnot. That's probably why I was never interested in TikTok, because I'd have to turn the sound on. Facebook has "Reels" though, I assume it was to compete with TikTok. As I'm scrolling Facebook, I will see the Reels section come up and DO get sucked in every now and again by whatever the first one I see in my eye line. </p><p>I must have clicked on a Reel, then scrolled up a few times. I'm not one of those people who end up on Reels or TikTok and hours have gone by. I get bored pretty quickly, because whatever algorithm vortex I'm in has me looking at stuff that usually doesn't make any sense. For instance, one of those that say- "I was today years old when I discovered this..." or "You would have to be born before x date to know this..." and nothing happens. I look in the comments and no one else knows what's going on either. </p><p>I had to be scrolling and I came across <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/imjustakidwithaniep">I'm Just a Kid with an IEP</a> </i>and Jordan Toma. Ok, I admit, he's easy on the eyes, and, I say this in only the most complimentary way, and I didn't know ANYTHING about him, but he seemed very Jersey (He *is* from Jersey as it turns out). He was talking to the camera, but to kids, saying how <i>your mom is always there for you, pushing you, wanting the best for you, wanting you to be your best, not letting you quit.... </i>I immediately started welling up. He was saying all the things to kids, kids who struggle in school, that they need to hear, but don't particularly want to hear, from their moms. </p><p>I don't <i>follow </i>anyone on Reels or Tiktok. I followed his Facebook page, where his Reels live. This is his <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@imjustakidwithaniep">TikTok</a> if you are a TikTok kind of person.<br /></p><p>I'm not going to tell Jordan's story for him- he wrote a book that you can buy- <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Just-Kid-IEP-Jordan-Toma/dp/1667839977/ref=sr_1_1?crid=NVDGW2LNPALD&keywords=i%27m+just+a+kid+with+an+iep+book&qid=1669641909&sprefix=I%27m+just+a+%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-1">I'm Just a Kid with an IEP</a> - I've started it and it's worth the read. In a nutshell, he's thirty-three now and a college graduate (not that a degree matters), but he struggled, hardcore, his whole educational career. He tried to blow off school, run away from school, and did whatever he could to fail, because he didn't know how to succeed with learning disabilities. He had a mom who wasn't going to let that happen. He has a dad too, who he is also close to, which I must mention, because he gets a lot of heat for not mentioning involved dads, but he said it was his mom who was physically present more for this type of thing and she is the one who really dealt with the lion's share of his school life and academics. He <i>says </i>"mom", but he means it as whomever your personal cheerleader happens to be. <br /></p><p>E does have Tourette's Syndrome, but he doesn't have ADHD or the other typical comorbidities that can come along with having Tourette's Syndrome that make it really hard to do well academically. He IS having a hard time in Algebra but hopefully that's a temporary setback. Having Tourette's Syndrome, though, in middle school, is hard enough, whether it's "just" Tourette's or Tourette's with a side of other things. Regardless of grades or having learning differences or whatever, I felt like Jordan's messaging could be useful for any kind of struggle. MIDDLE SCHOOL IN GENERAL IS A STRUGGLE, in just about every way. <br /></p><p>Middle School, especially for this particular class, his age group, due to Covid. They are emotionally and socially stunted. They left school, mid-fifth grade, while still really babies, in March 2020, to be locked up at home, at the start of puberty. They left school, where everyone was friends, hanging out, regardless of gender, where kids were just being kids. They were locked inside, <i>isolating and isolated </i>for months. Then, they had to begin sixth grade, middle school, in a weird hybrid scene. The beginnings of puberty also made them weird. They couldn't just hang out with the same people as before. Their former friends of the opposite gender were now aliens that they couldn't seem to even just have normal conversations, nevermind hanging out like they did since kindergarten. <br /></p><p>For E, it was school every other day, in person, but where four elementary schools came together, and he didn't even know who anyone was because they had masks on. I would ask him if he knows this person or that, and he'd tell me they don't go to his school. I knew they did, in fact, go to his school, because I know the parents, just from being around town. His school not only separates the kids into two different groups, from some unexplained reason, but here they were also being split by the alphabet to allow for Covid guidelines of how many people could be in school at once. </p><p>E wasn't with his friends because he's closer to the beginning of the alphabet and his good friends are at the end. Even if they technically had classes together, he never actually SAW them, except on Zoom. It was a terrible situation for socializing. Seventh grade was a little bit better because he had in-person school daily. They still had masks on though so it made for a kind of wall up to communication. </p><p>We had put him on medication for Tourette's for the first time that December of seventh grade. We will never know if it was the medication or puberty but he developed some kind of awful skin condition all over his face. It looked like what I imagine measles would look like. In that respect, wearing masks to school wasn't the worst thing. I don't know how much worse it would have been for him emotionally or mentally if he had to just have that skin condition fully out in the open. His face, his skin, that was generally pretty clear was a mess and it knocked his confidence in a major way. Even with the mask, you could still see some of it, and kids ALWAYS have to say something. </p><p>I tried everything. I bought a four hundred and fifty dollar LED light, doctor developed, medical grade, facial mask that definitely wasn't in the budget. We went to dermatologists. I can't even explain the painful treatments he went through. We took him off the medication he was on for Tourette's. He said that he'd prefer to have tics than what was on his face. I was up all night for months, researching what we could do for him. It's now been almost a year and it's under control. For a thirteen year old, a week can feel like forever, let alone a year. The whole situation already had taken it's toll on how he feels about himself. </p><p>He's also just never going to be <i>typical. </i>He's an actor, singer, musician in a sea of Friday Night Lights small town suburbia. He's the kid who doesn't play football or lacrosse. He doesn't wear Under Armour athletic wear to school every day. He takes care of his appearance. He's more nineties grunge, with jeans, a henley shirt and a flannel. He wears a necklace and rings he made on a lathe. He has earrings that seem to imply to some retro-minded or just small-minded kids that he's gay. Living in today's world, coming from an extremely liberal-minded home, while he isn't gay, he doesn't even know how to respond. He knows they're using that as an insult and he doesn't want to respond in a way that makes it seem like he is in agreement that it's an insult. Though, when you're not typical, you take a lot of crap about it. When you're also not inherently a dick, you also don't have a quick burn to shut them down either. </p><p>What does any of this have to do with Jordan Toma? Well, in listening to many of his Reels, the common theme is pushing through struggle to be whoever you're going to be. To find the greatness in you. Not to worry about the haters. To <i>SHOW UP - </i>for YOURSELF. I just think that's a great message for anyone, whether you have an IEP, a 504, or just struggle with being a tween or tween in today's world of academics, social media pressures, keyboard warriors, middle school blues, puberty, family dysfunction, whatever. Some kids give E a really hard time about being a musician. They like to poke at him and goof on his original songs. We can tell him those kids don't matter but we can't stop their words from taking residence in his head and hampering his creativity or stopping him from putting himself out there. I thought Jordan's message of rising above what other people think would be a great motivator for E. <br /></p><p>I didn't even know there was a subscription to his content or that he usually only visits subscribers. I saw a Reel on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving where he said that for <i>ONE DAY ONLY</i>, he'd be visiting homes, regardless of subscription status, bringing books and talking to kids and families. I saw it too late though- he was doing it on Monday. I wrote him and said that I missed it, but if he's ever in my area, I'd love to have him come to our home. He got back to me very quickly and wrote- "How about Wednesday?". I was floored. Of course I told him, "Sure!". </p><p>I didn't know how he was planning on driving around on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, on the most traffic heavy travel day of the entire year. Even the fact that he was going to be spending his day and night doing this is a testament to his character. He could've been home with his wife and child just relaxing before the impending holiday. Instead, he spent it, voluntarily, in traffic, and with strangers. <br /></p><p>He asked what time would be good and I told him that E would have a half day so one or two o'clock would be good. I didn't want to tell E that Jordan was coming. I wanted it to be a surprise. I'd shown E some of his videos prior but I thought it would be better as a surprise. Jordan messaged me around noon and said he'd be over closer to two o'clock. I still didn't think that he'd be on time because I saw on his morning Reel that he was going to be all over Brooklyn then on to New Jersey. </p><p>I picked E up from school instead of him walking with his friends. He was confused and kept asking me what was going on. For an hour at home he kept asking. He finally did guess with about ten minutes to go before Jordan was set to arrive. Once he guessed correctly, we watched a bunch of Jordan's Reels. <br /></p><p>I'm glad I didn't bet against Jordan. He showed up, as promised, with his camera guy, at about ten minutes after two o'clock. B was home by then and suitably impressed by Jordan's ability to be on time in Thanksgiving traffic. Now, let me mention B for a second. The day before, he'd called me from work just to tell me something and it went something like this: <br /></p><p><i>Me: Oh, by the way, you know that TikTok guy I watch... </i></p><p><i>B :::interrups::: You don't watch TikTok</i></p><p><i>Me: Yeah, I know, but that ONE guy....he's coming over tomorrow".</i></p><p><i>B:::bewildered::: To our house? </i></p><p><i>Me: Yeah</i></p><p><i>B: How....how did that happen? The "Your mom" guy??? </i></p><p><i>Me: Yes. He said he's coming. He's going to people's houses for just today. I'm just letting you know. </i></p><p><i>B: :::sighs, then laughs::: Uh...ok. I'll never be bored with you. Just add this to...the Tara Chronicles. <br /></i></p><p>Jordan showed up. He was great. I think he'd been at this since, I don't know, the crack of dawn? He'd already been to Brooklyn and I don't know how many houses he went to before ours. You'd never know. He's so high energy and talks so fast and so much, I don't know how he wasn't exhausted. He comes in, and you feel like you know him already. Not just from watching the videos, but it's just his...spirit. I guess that's the secret sauce to being a <i>motivational speaker.</i> I've heard other people who call themselves motivational speakers though and I didn't really find it to be as...<i>motivating. </i>Maybe that's why I've never been susceptible to being in a cult. Or an MLM. Or, he just knows how to hit home when it's your kid, because he's actually struggled too. We'd all do anything to make life less of a struggle for our kids, and if someone can get through to them, we sure going to take it. Plus, Jordan....he's cooler than us, just by virtue of being younger and having over a million followers on social media. He has social media street cred. <br /></p><p>I don't know what Jordan's typical time schedule is when he does this or if he even has a <i>typical.</i> He mentioned to us that every home is different, every kid is different, and every situation he walks into is different. He's almost like a traveling social worker, I imagine, depending on the level of difficulties a kid has, where they are emotionally, and how they respond to a stranger walking into their home to extol his message. It's actually pretty brave of him to just go to people's homes, not knowing what he's walking into. He didn't ask me anything but my address when he said he'd come here. I did give him a little background but it's not like he needed or asked for specifics before he chose to come here. There wasn't prerequisites in any way. I asked, he came. That alone really takes some balls because having actually been a social worker, having walked into some really contentious situations, there is a lot of unknown, and frankly, probably somewhat uncomfortable. Just because a parent wants Jordan to make a visit doesn't mean a teenager is going to be receptive or amenable in any way. <br /></p><p>He was here for probably forty-five minutes or longer, which I feel was extremely generous. He wanted to get to know E, and us too. He signed his book and gave it to E, which, I already started reading. Getting E to read, well, that's going to require some more pushing on my part. </p><p>Having Jordan here was a really amazingly uplifting, positive experience going into the long Thanksgiving weekend, for all three of us. We all know that we can talk to our kids until we're blue in the face, but sometimes, having a different person do it can be that little bit of difference it takes to get them to really listen and take it all in. Jordan is extremely relatable and I think kids really respond to him in a way they may not respond to a parent. He tells personal stories that are really impactful. When he left, I felt like if E was having any kind of hard time, he could get in touch with Jordan and he'd give him a pep talk. I haven't even felt that with any therapist or doctor I've ever encountered. They just want to know if your insurance is going to pay them or not. <br /></p><p>I just want to give thanks for Jordan, his visit, and his book. If you're on a PTA, HSA, or in any way responsible for booking speakers for your kid's school or a school you work for, I highly recommend getting him on your schedule. </p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span> </span><a href="https://linktr.ee/jordantoma?fbclid=IwAR2bFd1GTIpgevYn1MEO_Nwk167EHvhP57KSunWPFfeNSFzJQzlEBPXM-PM">Jordan Toma linktree</a></b></span></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://www.jordantoma.com/shop?fbclid=IwAR1Gjum7jv9WvhT-jS7KdiPulPcwKAwmbZdWGQ9IkGsfLXSnpf-h7cJcgRc">I'm Just a Kid with an IEP MERCH</a> </b></span><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtKXY4bQP_4NwgJm8dL110jcV644B16reFn2xe6KoJfXg1D00otZJOWeD9N-DMIUQGF-cpX5xXQxsX1xUlbrwJjSfMy9vceV3ORvZOVqFwhb00Wz9ZJMD584Ds7obgpHmj5nhdj7b39kqi7DHgE6XVwWXDY94-PEuaZ1wpfJI15pWOAjn5_D85BKoR/s738/JordanToma.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="738" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtKXY4bQP_4NwgJm8dL110jcV644B16reFn2xe6KoJfXg1D00otZJOWeD9N-DMIUQGF-cpX5xXQxsX1xUlbrwJjSfMy9vceV3ORvZOVqFwhb00Wz9ZJMD584Ds7obgpHmj5nhdj7b39kqi7DHgE6XVwWXDY94-PEuaZ1wpfJI15pWOAjn5_D85BKoR/s320/JordanToma.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Follow E and his music:</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://www.instagram.com/ethankulemusic">Instagram</a></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ethankulemusic">Facebook</a> </b></span><br /></p><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-19677684434840836862022-09-28T09:26:00.000-04:002022-09-28T09:26:08.679-04:00Middle School Mind Fcuk<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcmH1xlXQg_TULKelu5jCnLr-U5vpuqz1-g_E-Q45zvltsnoIKJgQaxTP9stFxTDCKHPHjpSxDV5kaBFqlm8zf2ES7EJCFwXTV_qcX3KsVad8VYGPmqDeVgpzcaXiN0L4-b__Ig0TK_HAS3aDZqbY_8U5AEjLRUYnoMI7SC42vPWzvIoCyP5BK9E3e/s1000/Middle%20school%20sucks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcmH1xlXQg_TULKelu5jCnLr-U5vpuqz1-g_E-Q45zvltsnoIKJgQaxTP9stFxTDCKHPHjpSxDV5kaBFqlm8zf2ES7EJCFwXTV_qcX3KsVad8VYGPmqDeVgpzcaXiN0L4-b__Ig0TK_HAS3aDZqbY_8U5AEjLRUYnoMI7SC42vPWzvIoCyP5BK9E3e/w320-h201/Middle%20school%20sucks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <p></p><p>Middle School Sucks. Isn't that what they say? Sure. But does it have to suck? </p><p>I remember middle school. It wasn't great. People were mean. I think it was different though for one reason. Our MOMS weren't involved in the drama. Now, it's a whole different ballgame. Moms seem to not only be involved in the drama, but they're orchestrating it, at least to some extent. </p><p>I know there are books out there-<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Queen-Bees-Wannabes-3rd-Realities/dp/1101903058/ref=sr_1_1?crid=39CEN3EOQFJT4&keywords=queen+bees+and+wannabees+book&qid=1664366443&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjk5IiwicXNhIjoiMS4zNCIsInFzcCI6IjEuMjQifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=Queen+Bees+%2Caps%2C95&sr=8-1"> </a><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Queen-Bees-Wannabes-3rd-Realities/dp/1101903058/ref=sr_1_1?crid=39CEN3EOQFJT4&keywords=queen+bees+and+wannabees+book&qid=1664366443&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjk5IiwicXNhIjoiMS4zNCIsInFzcCI6IjEuMjQifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=Queen+Bees+%2Caps%2C95&sr=8-1">Queen Bees and Wannabees, by Rosalind Wiseman</a> </i>is one of them, that can help explain or navigate this stuff. But I have to just get this out of my system here, where I can just speak freely, hoping it reaches some of those it needs to reach. </p><p>It seems like the thought of some parents is, <i>my child will be happy if they're popular. Therefore, I need to help them be popular. If that means helping exclude or be mean to other kids, so be it. It's a dog eat dog world and best they learn about social hierarchy now. </i></p><p><i> </i>No. NO NO NO. </p><p>Navigating the social scene in middle school is difficult for all kids, all genders. I have a boy. Of course there are problems for boys, with popularity. My son isn't a sports kid in suburbia. He has had earrings since kindergarten because when he was three and a half years old, he saw an older male camp counselor he idolized with them. He HAD to have them and didn't stop badgering us until he got them. Kids have been asking him if he's gay for years. JUST because he has earrings. What is this- 1986?</p><p>E is not an alpha male. He also doesn't have siblings he's learned to roughhouse with. He doesn't gravitate toward being physical. Put that all together, he's <i>different</i>. He's not quick with the <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=burn"><i>burns</i></a> and he gets crap for being <i>different. </i>Being a musician instead of throwing or kicking a ball on a team is cause for kids to take his music off the internet and harass him with it in school hallways. It prompts kids to just randomly tell him he sucks. </p><p>Guess what- right or wrong, I've already told him, his guitar, drums, voice- all those things will be the <i>panty-droppers</i> later. In my opinion, those guys who harass E are probably going to be living in their parents basement, drinking beers, literally playing <i>Monday Morning Quarterback, </i>talking about how "we" won or lost a game they didn't play. And yes, I said the word <i>panty-dropper </i>to my kid. </p><p>I'm not to be believed though. He might believe me. He just doesn't care what I have to say, while he's in the throes of middle school hell. I'm not <i>in it</i>. These are the people he sees every day. Middle School has sucked but I also think there's a level of personal perception there that makes it seem worse than it really is for him. Meaning, he takes things personally that I'm not one hundred percent sure are really personal. For example, I think certain kids just like to bother kids they know they're bothering. They would say mean things to anyone, but then when they get one they see they're actually getting to them, they focus their attention on those kids. It's not fun to harass people that don't register any sort of feelings about it. E has no poker face. <br /></p><p>I'm actually more concerned about the girls. I feel like it's the same difference between sorority and fraternity pledging. Girls are guilty of mental and emotional cruelty that the boys don't seem to engage in the same way. Boys can be dicks. I hear they cut their own sports teammates down instead of helping build them up. They seem to get over stuff pretty quickly for the most part. I'm talking in a general sense. I'm sure it's relentless with some kids, I just haven't heard as many of those stories. Girls seem to mind-fcuk in a long game. One day you're in, the next...you're out. Grudges are held, social media bullying seems to be invoked. Girls seem to also post more on social media, so it's easier used as a tool of social destruction. It's down and dirty. <br /></p><p>With the boys, the MOMS aren't as involved in trying to orchestrate things. I've never had moms getting in touch to organize a group Halloween costume, a joint party, a class trip room or bus sitting situation, or anything. I'm not on a text chain with any of my kid's friend's moms about anything. We talk here and there when it's appropriate, but we're not organizing or orchestrating anything unless it's a carpool to a specific event.<br /></p><p>Boys do the mental and emotional damage too- don't get me wrong. They go for whatever the Achilles heel is and exploit the shit out of it. When the alpha sports douchebags rip on my son's music or say he sucks as a musician, it chips away at his confidence. He can roll with it, for the most part, because the kids who say stuff to him aren't using their power to turn everyone else against him. It doesn't seem to be about a hierarchy situation where boys that were once friendly with him or even just neutral all of a sudden turn on him because they were told to do so from a <i>King Bee</i>. No one is making him uncomfortable sitting at certain lunch tables or whispering about his clothes. Boys can say something, ripping on each other one minute, then be friendly another minute. I think if an <a href="https://www.state.nj.us/education/students/safety/behavior/hib/">HIB</a> was opened on one of these kids, they'd be surprised, because I don't know that they think they're doing anything wrong.<br /></p><p>Back to the <i>Queen Bees and the Wannabees...</i>The girls. What I'm seeing and hearing is really disgusting. The mind games. The mental <i>mindfuckery</i>. The group-think. It seems like every day is a mine field where you're just sidestepping being the target. <br /></p><p>I've heard endless sad stories from moms saying that one day their daughter was just turned on and iced out by her group of friends. Made fun of to her face and/or behind her back for clothing, accessories, make-up. Not allowing someone to sit at a lunch table. Gifting a dirt surprise over candy in what in younger years was a fun tradition. Making mean spirited TikTok videos against one person by a group of former friends. Making it public that they don't want to be paired with a certain person for class group projects. Trying to ruin a dating relationship of a target by telling a boy not to date the target. Simply walking up to someone at a school event, out of the blue, and saying, "I hate you". I could go on and on. <br /></p><p>You could try to say all the things one might think- <i>well, there are three sides to every story, the parents may not be aware, maybe the one getting picked on actually did something</i>. Maybe. What I see is that they're mostly just jockeying for social position. They'll do anything to be the Queen or in the Queen's court.<br /></p><p>Like Carl in <i>The Breakfast Club</i>, I am <i>the eyes and ears of this institution</i>. I am everywhere. I don't even want to know some of these things. I just happen to be out and about daily at the end of the school day and I see these kids, in the downtown, at Starbucks, in CVS. I see and hear how they act in stores, treat staff, treat each other. I hear their conversations, see their TikToks being made. I READ EVERY TEXT ON MY SON'S PHONE. I know a lot of these kids since they were little kids. I know their parents or at least know of the parents. When I hear the stories about <i>Mean Girls</i>, there is unsurprisingly little difference between each horrifying tale. It's also always the same cast of characters or some configuration of overlapping crowds. Not even a small surprise. <br /></p><p>Moms? What'cha doin'? Are you having conversations with your kids? You okay with this stuff? Think it's funny? Do you not care when you hear your daughter's a witch? That your son is a bully? Is no one telling you? My money is on you already knowing about your kid's behavior. Thinking that your <i>precious</i> couldn't possibly, OR that your <i>precious</i> probably has good reason to ride her broom through town like she owns the place. Maybe there's pride that they're so <i>cool. </i>They're invited to parties! They're liked! It's all good!<br /></p><p>If I heard my son was treating anyone poorly, I'd be mortified and my son would be in such<i> </i>a deep pile of excrement, I don't know when he'd see the light of day. So, if you hear something, say something. I'll be <i>ON IT. </i>If it was to the level of the stories I hear about some of the girls, he'd probably be in some kind of counseling, we'd be in counseling to see where we went wrong, and I don't know what else. These <i>Mean Girl</i> moms are something else though. The ultimate goal seems to be their daughters popularity. They have no concern whatsoever if their daughters are good people, good friends, or good humans. The only other conclusion I could come to is that maybe they're scared of their own offspring. If that's the case, we're all in the excrement pile. </p><p>Parents of kids of any gender kids: How about instead of trying to make sure your kid is popular, whatever that means to you, instill the values that it's more important to just be a nice person? I know it's a novel concept. Many of the parents seem to trying to live vicariously through their kids to feel the popularity maybe they didn't during their own middle school experience. Or maybe they're just happy that their kid isn't a target and want to ensure that it never happens? But listen up and take heed. If your kid is hanging with the mean ones and helping dole out a handful of <i>assholery, </i>it will come back on them. Not because of karma or something, but just because that's how it works. The mean kids always turn on someone in their own group when they don't have anyone else to harass. Just wait. </p><p>If you think this might be about your kid- it probably is about your kid. Talk. To. Your. Kids. Talk to them about being a friend. If you even had the inkling, while reading this, that it could be your kid, it's time for a reboot. A HUGE part of your JOB as a parent is to talk to your kid about how they treat other people. Discuss, daily or weekly how to be a good friend. Tell your kids not to just be bossed around by the <i>Kings and Queens</i>, and try actually being different. How to be the one who stands up for the underdog, instead of being part of why the underdog doesn't want to go to school. It's called <i>PARENTING. </i>Parents- <i>we can do better. </i>It does take a village. Unless you're okay with that village being burned to the ground, it's time to have some very important conversations. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmp3KIjgC9EI6-KWbRy2yUTW4u8Y1fxA1FX9S863y3CwxqtxsMl1punJ9DHnjExhuuJL55E9ICww_Dg0sTp3EsCJLZWhBdfEsAURjYkLqQGKfIyFdcWoBWHcu-GIyMlBjXNbfVUOtV5tr_WixqHyKbVumfMNaYakYhcPLApUbN690Oa9nBElqD2M2Q/s660/MeanGirls.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="341" data-original-width="660" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmp3KIjgC9EI6-KWbRy2yUTW4u8Y1fxA1FX9S863y3CwxqtxsMl1punJ9DHnjExhuuJL55E9ICww_Dg0sTp3EsCJLZWhBdfEsAURjYkLqQGKfIyFdcWoBWHcu-GIyMlBjXNbfVUOtV5tr_WixqHyKbVumfMNaYakYhcPLApUbN690Oa9nBElqD2M2Q/s320/MeanGirls.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-85823385622280180652022-08-18T00:08:00.003-04:002022-08-19T10:23:41.264-04:00Happy Camper 2022<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3kUDOYw2IYmEJu7PiEW-e12TGOcVCb0xoQa0WaefJMs8lTlvLUIva5tONp6E2Jny3MqcpYsEsolnsFDhghjbUdcVgKM_WrK6Oq57kDQxp76GWuJYOpdLO-U2Z1YHCQ3fNZEFGO6M3J_ODGmRP0h8jpKtYij1IwVt4oNps7R9V84pgE5faUtKFPau/s3264/Wekeela2022a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1667" data-original-width="3264" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3kUDOYw2IYmEJu7PiEW-e12TGOcVCb0xoQa0WaefJMs8lTlvLUIva5tONp6E2Jny3MqcpYsEsolnsFDhghjbUdcVgKM_WrK6Oq57kDQxp76GWuJYOpdLO-U2Z1YHCQ3fNZEFGO6M3J_ODGmRP0h8jpKtYij1IwVt4oNps7R9V84pgE5faUtKFPau/w400-h204/Wekeela2022a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <p></p><p>Every year, around this time, I write my <i>Thank You Wekeela</i> blog post. As you know, I don't really write much anymore- who has the time? However, I do like to write this one because it's so important to me. To all of us- B and E, and most especially E. </p><p>I think that every summer I think to myself, <i>wow, do kids need camp more than ever. </i>The thing is, I don't think in any other summer I was wrong, but I realized something this time, as E is on the cusp of starting eighth grade, that while it was great for him at ten, eleven and twelve, it was imperative at thirteen. You don't realize how much they need it until they're too old to hang with you, but too young to be fully on their own. When you know you don't want them roaming around town all evening in the dark, but they don't actually need to BE anywhere the next day either. They're just aimless and schedule-less and just ripe to get into shenanigans. <br /></p><p>At ten it was new and fresh, and cooler than day camp. It gave him that taste of freedom and independence so often missing in kids that age these days because of parental helicoptering and micromanaging. While it was awesome for him, it was just as much for me. That mental recharge that you get when you don't care if there are any waffles in the house or if someone else's laundry is done, is EVERYTHING. At eleven, it was the first Covid summer after being locked up in the house for months. We ALL needed camp. I barely remember that summer. Last summer, at twelve, it was E's last summer in "kid camp" at his camp so it was very similar to his first summer. He was still coming out of a weird hybrid first year of middle school and he needed the escape. <br /></p><p>At thirteen, this summer, it was a transition for him to Teen Camp and a sigh of relief for both him and me. Middle school is no joke. He kept saying before he left, "<i>I can't wait to go to camp where there aren't assholes". </i>Of course, there are always going to be assholes, but he meant it in the way that it isn't the same as school. He and his friends aren't "misfits" at camp. At camp, for whatever reason, he doesn't feel "less than" the way he does at school when he's being mocked by who he perceives as "popular" for being a musician versus a team athlete. At camp, he's appreciated for his music and people consider him talented. At camp, you can be whoever you want to be and that's okay. <br /></p><p>He's also too old now to really supervise him all day and evening. He has always had a lot of personal freedom around our town. Due to being in middle school, he's made some new friends. Friends whom I don't know their parents or their stories. When he has free time at home, he's out with old friends and new, and even though I can track where he is physically, I don't know the nitty gritty of what he's doing. As a parent, that's a nightmare. I let him go, because that's what you have to do. You teach and talk at home, and then you have to set them free. It's still nerve-wracking though, when he's just out and about, it's getting dark and I have to figure out where he is, who he's with and what he's doing.<br /></p><p>He left for Wekeela on June twenty-sixth this summer, two days after school ended here. No time for messing around. Well, we both left, because I chaperoned the younger kid bus. I actually really like doing the chaperone thing, coming up there for a couple of days, because I get a peek into his camp world but then I go home and leave him to his life there. I got to meet his counselors and I know a decent amount of the kids, just from this being his fourth summer and having chaperoned previously. I got to joke with his Cabin Leader about the fact that somehow the thirteen year old boys and thirteen year old girls had cabins right next to each other this summer. He told me he was going to sleep by the door. <i>Good luck Sam, good luck. </i><br /></p><p>I stayed from Saturday to Monday morning, when I flew home. In that short time, I got to see how my kid was so happy to be there, living his best life, but is fully supervised, no electronics, having face to face conversations, resolving conflicts, living with people of all different backgrounds, and it had zero to do with me. He was learning life skills, managing relationships, and figuring himself out in an environment that is safe, nurturing and most of all- fun. </p><p>However, I don't think a parent can fully realize how important camp is at this age until they come home. E came home and the three of us did the whole download about his time at camp. We were in awe and so proud of the personal growth he came away with. It isn't just that though. When he comes home, now it's a lot of free time before school starts. He almost has a second summer. He came home August ninth and doesn't start school until September eighth. He has a month of roaming around and having to find productive things to do. </p><p>It's a lot of just hanging out with friends, and while everyone needs downtime, it's back to pizza all day every day, if he eats at all. It's a lot of boredom and stupidity. This morning, I happen to have come upon a video of him and some friends on another friend's Instagram story of them, in a parking lot, putting Mentos in a full Coke bottle, shaking it up and throwing it to see it explode. Is it anything <i>bad?</i> No. It's just dumb. There are way better uses of his time. Back in the day, I guess I wouldn't have even known that's what he was doing. Now, everything goes on social media. So there he is, in all his glory, being <i>Jackass.</i> </p><p>Of course, everything is a teaching moment and we had to talk to him about how someone is <i>always </i>filming. He may not have access to social media, but most of the kids do, and they post incessantly. He needs to be aware of what he's doing, where, and is someone filming. Good conversation, but having him here is like a hose with a thousand little leaks. You plug one, another one immediately comes up. <br /></p><p>I would give anything to have him back on Little Bear Pond, doing <i>Rituals</i>, coming up with skits, white water rafting, playing cards, and doing whatever he does there that makes him count the days until he goes back. I highly suspect, so would he. </p><p>When E comes back from Wekeela every summer, he's a better person. It's not just "sending a kid to camp" or "getting rid of him". They aren't just having them play tennis or participating in lip sync battles. The emphasis is on the whole mind, body, spirit and the connections that are part of being in this special camp community. I can't even speak to it myself because I wasn't a camper and haven't spent enough time there for specifics. I can tell by how E is when he gets home. I can tell by the videos I see, the emails I get from both E and the camp, and I can see it in the extraordinary retention of campers and staff. </p><p>All I can say is that I feel for kids and parents who don't, won't or can't experience the magic of sleepaway camp, the way E has experienced it. E has gained so much positive from being there that I'll never be able to thank them enough for all they've given him. In this age of constant bombardment of electronics and social media, this returns him to a simpler life, a face to face life, a somewhat retro life, that unfortunately not everyone gets to experience. </p><p>B and I watch Meatballs every summer when E leaves. The camp owners hate that we compare Wekeela in any way to Camp North Star in the movie, but for us, it's a positive. It's the relationships, the caring, the inside jokes, the heart, the way they all loved being there. The way they were all engaged because of the lack of real world distraction of likes and follows. Even if it subconscious, Wekeela has instilled in these kids the realization that they don't always need the online validation to know their worth. That, to me, is priceless. </p><p>Thank you again Wekeela Family. It was another great summer. Hopefully, we'll have visiting day next summer and we can thank you in person. </p><p><a href="http://www.campwekeela.com">Camp Wekeela</a><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV32JZk-KyR-6xzxwYeZnrn_63F041QajugKyKAYrkg1YtUtJdcU2wC02iHqTFCbO3cfbXtlepQfpajGae3pPZ85TQrlsbcu3qJWEHugJoIQoMrL-CCEbo6ILTrVj1Tf7zIHVPrkTV_2zq6xWH1aX6ytAy_87TT2ReFIAOw8Wp6ZG855lYn4ZZrCP-/s3264/Wekeela2022b.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="3264" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV32JZk-KyR-6xzxwYeZnrn_63F041QajugKyKAYrkg1YtUtJdcU2wC02iHqTFCbO3cfbXtlepQfpajGae3pPZ85TQrlsbcu3qJWEHugJoIQoMrL-CCEbo6ILTrVj1Tf7zIHVPrkTV_2zq6xWH1aX6ytAy_87TT2ReFIAOw8Wp6ZG855lYn4ZZrCP-/s320/Wekeela2022b.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Above: Nighttime Activity</b></span><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzwBkSfBVVVMXFxr1sJz06DnbeSIh4mjhIsodgMC03cvOfHOgKdceNPdPD-0BS3a_ik9_1VXMMO09OpYxVVYQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Above: Singing at Campfire, see this and other songs <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ethankulemusic/">@ethankulemusic</a></b></span><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3yP6F9xAkdNjJ1PiM1k3hFPMPnj5J5kbus0Wlbl_fsrFS4cEe_fqYryClb3JN8ANy4_Hwot1ssDORekRi4YAiorGjaq_9r8_RPiooR7-xEdX4e934uJo1QLsR9mIec1sa88CZx6lXGiInbEHXlm6NDaiu9An7W6uC5JvT6E2ytDoeWT-xGkqMEL-/s3264/Wekeela%20Last%20Night%202022.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="3264" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3yP6F9xAkdNjJ1PiM1k3hFPMPnj5J5kbus0Wlbl_fsrFS4cEe_fqYryClb3JN8ANy4_Hwot1ssDORekRi4YAiorGjaq_9r8_RPiooR7-xEdX4e934uJo1QLsR9mIec1sa88CZx6lXGiInbEHXlm6NDaiu9An7W6uC5JvT6E2ytDoeWT-xGkqMEL-/s320/Wekeela%20Last%20Night%202022.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Above: Last Night on Little Bear Pond, Inters '22 singing</b></span><br /></div>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-21674020000738348982022-07-25T22:14:00.002-04:002022-07-25T22:14:46.711-04:00Amazon Fresh Store Review<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy2PiXf9QbUcLGV_lSSYfa6eFPqUk-cLJG_e7kFI94dIYZDeQmPyiCKpJFfgdV11ZJG5orUCHwYTbOlpuiinTlHMWkQbfChUF02lG3I8Fwh6Vp6aQ7WO-Nebqo8GmFsg8cgdqyL0ct9PHrYucC8NnIHviEuwoPS5vXlosCdcmARDslclFV0o143xzc/s800/Amazonfresh.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="800" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy2PiXf9QbUcLGV_lSSYfa6eFPqUk-cLJG_e7kFI94dIYZDeQmPyiCKpJFfgdV11ZJG5orUCHwYTbOlpuiinTlHMWkQbfChUF02lG3I8Fwh6Vp6aQ7WO-Nebqo8GmFsg8cgdqyL0ct9PHrYucC8NnIHviEuwoPS5vXlosCdcmARDslclFV0o143xzc/s320/Amazonfresh.png" width="320" /></a></div>Everyone online locally has been a buzz about the new Amazon Fresh store in Paramus. It's where the old Fairway was located. E is still at sleepaway camp, so you know, why not a Monday evening excursion for the hell of it to a supermarket. That's what all the cool kids are doing, right? <p></p><p>B was like- what's with the interest in this market? I wasn't THAT interested, but I was a little curious. </p><p>We went inside and you can't even just get in. You have to pull up your Amazon account, click through to the in-store QR code and scan it to have the gate open. Also, you have to make sure that the default payment credit card that it would charge is the one you want to use or you have to change it before you depart the store. They have a couple of regular check out stations but they don't tell you that prior to going in. I didn't know I had a choice of a regular check out. It was very confusing. </p><p>I had brought my own bags, as I have like thirty. I definitely don't need more. But there is a display right in front of you when you go through the gate with green reusable bags that has signage saying, "Take one and fill your bag as you shop". I thought taking their bag was part of the process- that you HAD to use their bag. There was no sign that says the bags cost anything. I took one of their bags. </p><p>There are hundreds of little hanging cameras everywhere. Somehow, the cameras seem to know what you're picking up and they know who to charge for each item. If you take something, then don't want it, you need to put it back where you found it or you're going to get charged for it. You really don't want to touch anything for fear it's going to somehow end up on your bill. I can't even imagine coming in there with a child under, like, twelve. <br /></p><p>I don't know if they just weren't prepared or it had been so busy in there that they didn't get a chance to restock, but I'd say they were out of 35% of the items that should've been on the shelves! There was nothing at the olive bar. Nothing at all at the hot bar. A few, like literally, FIVE items in the refrigerated bakery section- like where cake is supposed to be. B wanted frozen pizza. We saw they carry the Whole Foods 365 brand. There were maybe three different choices available. That's not because they don't carry more choices. They just didn't have the freezer stocked. Again, I don't know if they had these items on the day they opened and they're having restocking issues but it seemed more like it's a soft opening vs just being open now on the daily. </p><p>In our mind, we were going to pick up food for dinner and dessert. Normally, we'd go to Shop Rite in Wyckoff. That Shop Rite in particular is stocked with prepared food. This Amazon Fresh store had shelving for prepared food- there just wasn't any available. Same with dessert. There were display stands that had a few store baked goods on them, but there were literally just a few clear clam shell containers with some sad looking croissants in them. B grabbed a container with some mini chocolate croissants but that's because it was either those or some processed baked goods like Ring Dings or Twinkies. </p><p>The only "prepared" food he could readily access was the salad bar. He said there wasn't much he was interested in but he'd get some of that. We didn't understand the pricing but soon realized that the containers come in small, medium and large. He had just luckily grabbed a small container on his first try. He filled it as best he could with the things that were available to him. A small container costs $6.99, no matter how much it would weigh. I don't remember what the medium costs and the large costs $12.99. Remember, you also better not make a mistake and pick up the wrong size container, because you get charged every time you pick up a container. <br /></p><p>We'd picked up blueberries, a party size Pringles, a 365 frozen pepperoni pizza, a twelve-pack of small gatorade, a mouth wash, the salad container, the croissants, two Lean Cuisine meals, and something else. We had a coupon for ten dollars off twenty dollars. When you get to the gate things at the end, you scan your QR from your Amazon account and your coupon(s). Then the gate opens and you can leave. But unless you have a photographic memory and the ability to add it all up mentally, you have no idea what you spent. Then it takes HOURS for you to know, and to get a receipt emailed to you. We left the store at six o'clock this evening. It's almost ten o'clock tonight and I just checked my email. The receipt came to my email at 9:41pm. About an hour ago I did check my Amazon account online and saw my purchase and the amount owed, but I'd looked a few times prior to that and it wasn't there until hours later. </p><p>I tried to get reimbursed for the reusable bag before receiving the receipt in my email. I could pay the $0.78 or whatever, but it was on principle that I felt duped into taking it. You can't do any refunds or credits until you get the receipt. </p><p>Was this food shopping experience any less expensive than other supermarkets? NO. I know the prices of food like <i>The Price is Right.</i> In fact, some of it was more expensive. Pringles are usually like $1.99 in Shop Rite. They were more in here. Blueberries were around $3.50. I feel like they're usually on sale in Shop Rite and Stop and Shop. Sometimes $1.99 a pint or buy one, get one. They didn't even have the ones I really want- the Driscoll's special giant ones. I didn't see any watermelon at all, but maybe I just missed it. The produce all looked decent, but I didn't feel like buying any besides the one pint of blueberries I got. </p><p>None of the prices of anything seemed that great that I was compelled to buy. Shop Rite has so many sales, I almost never pay full price for Lean Cuisine. They were $4.69 each. That's high for Lean Cuisine. However, they did actually have a much larger selection of Lean Cuisine than Shop Rite and I was able to get an entree I really like, that I haven't been able to find at any other supermarket. </p><p>I can say confidently, that I will never go back there. It isn't convenient for me to go there. They don't have the general selection of Shop Rite, and for being an Amazon store, which online, has EVERYTHING, it was a huge disappointment. I don't like feeling like I can't change my mind and put something back without fear of being charged incorrectly for it. I mean, it's great for them, because essentially they don't have to do much cleaning up to close at night, because I have to assume most people don't want to be charged for stuff they didn't actually take with them. So they're going to be careful about putting stuff back where it belongs. </p><p>It just wasn't any better than Shop Rite, and as a brand shopper, that's way more important to me than being able to check out with my Amazon account. In fact, that's annoying because I'd have to change my default card every time I went in there and have to remember to change it back when I leave. Worse yet, whenever you change the default, you have to re-input the whole card number in to verify. I do know both card numbers, but sometimes it takes me a few minutes to remember. It's a giant pain. </p><p>So my rating, if it was school grading, would be a D. I won't give it an F, because it was interesting? It's an interesting concept. But I also don't see how older people are going to do this. There's no way someone as technologically inept as my mother-in-law would ever be able to figure this out. It's not that it's SO difficult, but there is more thinking involved than should be in a supermarket trip. </p><p>**I just went into my items and the only option for the reusable bag is to return it. I'm not driving to the UPS store to return it for $0.78. I'll just keep it, but I'm annoyed. <br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-89077545037591263402022-03-23T12:37:00.002-04:002022-03-23T12:37:51.240-04:00E's Journey of Tourette's Syndrome <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkl97hhxWEadQuqiTK-IpWO85SBAyGHewx5ZXSD3CNANal6FSKzJRiaTLwWjemc_j5aw_KTVhAMe89fBlSKiUJiYZJ9ptMPYTNNct7DUdeLOKObIGd_UKWtlzz-gf4Exe81yq8IZwJhm3wklyp4_ZuHc79EO3WXo9-__gu-o_Pqje7Kd7OrKZJDCGu/s2932/dr%20meds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1928" data-original-width="2932" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkl97hhxWEadQuqiTK-IpWO85SBAyGHewx5ZXSD3CNANal6FSKzJRiaTLwWjemc_j5aw_KTVhAMe89fBlSKiUJiYZJ9ptMPYTNNct7DUdeLOKObIGd_UKWtlzz-gf4Exe81yq8IZwJhm3wklyp4_ZuHc79EO3WXo9-__gu-o_Pqje7Kd7OrKZJDCGu/s320/dr%20meds.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I think the last time I wrote about E having <i>Tourette's Syndrome</i> was a brief mention of when he was diagnosed, finally, at the end of 2016, I wrote a blip about it in a January 2017 blog entry. Just to catch you up, after having gone through six years of twenty three doctors in approximately eight different specialties, being misdiagnosed and mis-medicated for ailments and syndromes he didn't have, I finally got to the neurologist who said, <i>Oh, of course he has Tourette's. I knew from reading all the paperwork you sent in, but I needed to see him in person. But yes, he has Tourette's Syndrome. </i><p></p><p>E was seven or and in second grade when I finally got that diagnosis and I could have made out with that doctor when he told me. Why? Because as a parent, you can't imagine just knowing something is wrong with your kid for SIX YEARS, but no one being able to figure it out. Then, having different doctors just throwing out what could be some of the most scary possible diagnoses there are, poking and prodding, still getting no answers, no relief, putting your kid through endless tests, medications, appointments, and getting nowhere. It was exhausting. I went big pharma, little pharma, holistic, you name it. I was ready to take him to a sweat lodge or a Salem witch. <br /></p><p>Luckily, I knew someone who had a neurosurgeon husband at the time who recommended this particular pediatric neurologist who was the person to see. You want to know what made him different than the other three neurologists I saw before him? His office sent forty-minutes worth of paperwork I had to fill out prior to going to the appointment. Then he actually READ it before we went there. That's all. I didn't feel rushed, or like I had to quickly give him a timeline in five minutes and remember everything that had gone on in six years. He already knew. He was well versed in our history BEFORE I GOT THERE. You have NO IDEA how important that is when diagnosing a problem.</p><p>This neurologist is still like that- he takes his time. Granted, I've waited there a half hour or more to see him for our appointment. I understand though. I've been in there for our appointment for forty-five minutes. However long it takes, that's how long he spends with you. There's no just looking you over and sending you on your way. </p><p>Back to E. When E was diagnosed in second grade, he didn't fit the criteria to medicate and we weren't looking to medicate. We just wanted to know what was going on with him. His tics weren't that bad at the time. He wasn't suffering academically, socially and the tics didn't bother him- all three of which are the criteria to medicate. He didn't really have any of the comorbidities that can go along with Tourette's, or anything we really noticed or affecting him, so medication was not on the table. Many time with Tourette's, there is ADHD, OCD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Anxiety, Depression, and other things. He wasn't exhibiting any of these other things so we left him be. The neurologist said that Tourette's often ramps up during puberty so just to keep an eye on it and if it gets worse, to come back. </p><p> He still had tics, and they'd wax and wane. None of the tics really impacted him negatively and nothing was so visible that anyone bothered him about it. His standard response to us was just, <i>these are my tics and they're just part of me. </i>That was that. </p><p>Until around the summer of 2020. Maybe it was the combination of puberty, Covid, the consequences of Covid, I don't know, but 2020 was rough. I don't remember if he was exhibiting more tics during quarantine but he definitely had more irritation and anger from having to quarantine and losing the second half of his fifth grade year in school. He lost all the special things that the fifth graders were supposed to get to do as the culmination of their elementary school time. However, his sleepaway camp, in Maine, was one of the few sleepaway camps that decided to open that summer. He was so happy and we were happy to let him go, even though we were nervous about Covid. They had extensive Covid protocols in place, and he'd been in quarantine so long, we were happy to let him go. </p><p>However, due to so many camps being closed, there were a lot of kids there who were just using his camp as a place-holder and going there because their camps were not opening. There were a lot of new kids and a decent amount of those kids were not respectful of the rules and traditions of his camp. He found this to be stressful and I don't know if this exacerbated his tics or if it was just puberty or both. When he came off that bus at the end of the five weeks away, we could see tics immediately. He was blinking like crazy. He said it was bad the whole time he was there. </p><p>We thought maybe it would just slow down in time at home. We didn't really know what to do. He never really had a visible tic like that. So we just let him be and it did slow down a bit being home. Other tics came and went but they were stronger. Middle school was starting though, which was new, and it was starting in this whole weird hybrid system with him being home every other day doing school virtually. We had a whole Covid protocol school thing to deal with and the tics weren't terrible. Being home half the time actually wasn't terrible for him. He did really well academically, not having to be sitting at a desk all day. He wasn't physically in school with his close friends because they were separated alphabetically, so he didn't even really want to be there in person. The tics took a backseat to everything going on with school and Covid. </p><p>The end of the school year came and it was time for camp again. For the 2021 summer, they were able to go back to the normal seven week session and Ethan was back to full-time. His three close friends were also joining him there for the second three and a half week session so he was really excited. They all went and had the BEST time ever. But when he came home, he was blinking and he'd added a shoulder tic and some others. </p><p>School started, normally. No more Covid protocols except the masking. He had the shoulder tic that with his heavy backpack was now hurting his neck and back. He wanted to go to the neurologist and talk about medication. I made an appointment. </p><p>We went to the neurologist in October and he'd put E first on Guanfacine, which seems to be where most kids start. Of course, for E, it was a no-go. The biggest thing we were concerned about was that it would change his personality. This was horrible. It made him like a zombie. He was so tired, it was like he was sleepwalking through the day. It lessened the tics at first, but it was just exhausting him. Being tired makes his eyes blink more. So we had to take him off it. </p><p>Then he put him on Trokendi XR starting the second week of December. That's basically time-release Topiramate. He started on 25 mg and it started to work. Less blinking. We went to 50 mg per the dosing instructions and thought it was great. We were on a roll! Shoulder tic stops. We're happy! </p><p>Except, cue, just after the new year, his face started to break out to where he looked like he either had some kind of extreme allergic reaction or extreme acne. This is a kid who had almost perfect skin, with maybe a few blemishes in the t-zone here and there, only to look like he literally had a DISEASE on his face. It was devastating. I was besides myself. I bought him a medical grade Dr Gross LED face mask for four hundred dollars that I'll be paying off for the next six months. </p><p>E, to his credit, rolled with it. He didn't complain. He was still wearing a mask to school, via state mandate, so it was mostly covered. He just wanted to know that it would eventually go away. We didn't know what it was, whether it had to do with the medication or just unlucky pubescent acne coming on. I was up every night until the wee hours researching what could be going on. We took him to a dermatologist. The doctor didn't know exactly what it was but said it needed to be treated from the inside out, so he put him on a conservative dose of Minocycline. I told the neurologist I was taking him off the Trokendi XR because I saw a photo online of a reaction to Topiramate that looked just like what was on E's face. The neurologist didn't think the Trokendi XR caused it but he said it was fine to take him off to see if anything changed. </p><p>As soon as I took him off the Trokendi XR, of course the tics came back full force. The Minocycline was doing nothing for his face. After two more weeks, we took him to another dermatologist for a second opinion. The new dermatologist took him off the Minocycline and put him on Bactrum. But it's a sulfa drug. B has sulfa allergy. We just had to hope E didn't also. But you wouldn't know for about two weeks on the drug to see a reaction. The doctor also shot E's face up with cortisone wherever he could. E was a trooper. He looked like a horror show and still had to go back to school. </p><p>The mask mandate ended just as E started the Bactrum. I think having the mask off is probably good for his skin too. The Bactrum started working within a few days! We were so happy. We put him back on the Trokendi XR also because the tics were too much for him and we determined that it didn't seem to be an allergy to it. Whatever is on his face didn't go away in the three weeks he was off the Trokendi XR. With the Bactrum, he was finally starting to look like himself again after about a week and a half. We felt like with the face getting under control, we wanted to get the tics under control too, if we could. </p><p>The Trokendi XR though, is not without it's own problems. E started the Trokendi in December and he'd had a bit of an attitude problem. Again, I chalked this up to puberty and being a thirteen year old boy. We'd spoken to him about it at one point, around when we took him off it, and he'd been better. We didn't put two and two together. When we put him back on, he'd gotten irritable again and had some surprising issues with some of his teachers. All of a sudden, I realized, I'm on the same medication, basically, for migraines. I'm kind of irritable. Maybe the Trokendi XR makes him more irritable and that's why he is more emotional and irritable and it isn't simply just puberty and hormones. <br /></p><p>I'll take the irritability but now we're at two weeks with the Bactrum, clearing his face up, which is my main issue right now, and E said, <i>oh, but I have this rash....</i></p><p>This past Sunday, the day before I'm supposed to take him for a follow up at the new dermatologist, he shows us the sulfa rash he has all over his arms and chest. It just looks like heat rash, not hives. So we say, ok, just take a Benedryl and we'll show the doctor. Of course, the Bactrum was actually working so B and I are devastated. </p><p>I took him to the dermatologist this past Monday and he said that as long as it wasn't hives, it wasn't dangerous, and if he could push through it with antihistimines, it would be okay. But, of course, as of today, the rash was worse, and he can't. He has to stop the Bactrum. He'll stop the Bactrum, wait a week and then go back on a stronger dose of Minocycline. I'm just so afraid that if he stops the Bactrum, his face will get worse instead of better. I'm so nervous for him to be on nothing for the next week.<br /></p><p>This whole thing- Tourette's, puberty, acne or whatever it is- it's all a dance. It's exhausting. It's like having a hose with a hundred tiny leaks and having to figure out where they are and how to fix them without making more or worse leaks. I don't know what's really interacting with what. I clear up tics, I maybe make acne. I clear up acne, I make a rash. He's on pills and he's irritable. I can't just let him tic because the tics can be painful. Or kids bother him about the tics, or the acne. I can't just have him be irritable and be an asshole to his teachers. </p><p>It's a lot. But I wanted to share where we're at right now. People are always surprised when I tell them that E has Tourette's. Most haven't noticed. It's funny, when it's your kid, you notice every tic. Just like when it's your baby, you feel like your baby has the loudest cry of all. He has it, it's just part of his story, and most of the time, he doesn't even care. It probably makes him more empathetic to other people who have stuff out of the norm going on with them that makes them different or unique. I just wish it didn't have to impact him negatively in middle school- because we all know how middle school can suck without having differences like Tourette's and acne. </p><p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw4jc3BjSYn4DbUpmgH7UWz6m-QqgoFR2D9TnvLZIJ3lvCdBylFSr8dtYHX9fIq2qyyRg1KC939tiE2iH0GdLkgPJPd9sSJnNTE9lvywWyBKGR-U9gGhQEouhwjJQFR6EmRHM1uqEjiX_RRn-7eUSkdbkyNchxvHc-L0h-NOA9Kd-dJL7t0ionqGsE/s2328/Dr%20Gross%20mask.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2328" data-original-width="2048" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw4jc3BjSYn4DbUpmgH7UWz6m-QqgoFR2D9TnvLZIJ3lvCdBylFSr8dtYHX9fIq2qyyRg1KC939tiE2iH0GdLkgPJPd9sSJnNTE9lvywWyBKGR-U9gGhQEouhwjJQFR6EmRHM1uqEjiX_RRn-7eUSkdbkyNchxvHc-L0h-NOA9Kd-dJL7t0ionqGsE/w176-h200/Dr%20Gross%20mask.jpg" width="176" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr Gross LED mask<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-73635744133546384702022-03-16T11:48:00.003-04:002022-03-17T07:34:56.271-04:00Ethan's Sock Drive for the Homeless<p>Ethan is doing a sock drive for his Bar Mitzvah service project. I said I'd post it here since there is a link to an amazon wish list if anyone wants to donate socks by purchasing that way. Here is the flyer he is giving out door to door and the link to the wish list- </p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/registries/custom/Q729RA89EUPL/guest-view?ref=cm_sw_em_r_gr_un_J0EIaQuSbCy6Z">Ethan's Sock Drive on Amazon</a></p><p>So, if you'd like to donate and you're local, you can donate in the bin at our house, or you can have them sent directly from Amazon to us and he will bring them to CUMAC the week before his Bar Mitzvah. THANK YOU!<br />
</p><p><a href="https://www.cumac.org/">CUMAC</a> (if you want to read more about it, click the link- it's an amazing organization)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipBimuhEDJQUcHk1qV8PBP_z-d3mlT9vZeCJlX1dCErcuCJtpvuraCy7km-HtSAXkNWd75TP8_2Ge05FpabWojlgaGo_7fY6k4IcHjKSNkuxPe2MNjikSlx55NS6b1cnWXuPFgfWBeZDEOIF50UljFi3B1qNxwijJuob4cuBFqMUnDKeFoTzknmVXg=s1580" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1580" data-original-width="1216" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipBimuhEDJQUcHk1qV8PBP_z-d3mlT9vZeCJlX1dCErcuCJtpvuraCy7km-HtSAXkNWd75TP8_2Ge05FpabWojlgaGo_7fY6k4IcHjKSNkuxPe2MNjikSlx55NS6b1cnWXuPFgfWBeZDEOIF50UljFi3B1qNxwijJuob4cuBFqMUnDKeFoTzknmVXg=w492-h640" width="492" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-34154647345691439162022-03-09T13:04:00.000-05:002022-03-09T13:04:21.398-05:00Bad News and Empathy<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDtkMP24jlT2hUP9A-PTxz7owrY6qf9mfonkdiDwHg9yKmxafmPlZPSp29biIgJCefMszIIgB_VqaXkGF8tqArgRPRajWOd6qzNdGObwZz30qnFrTOCNHBd_2rpiqGKlGF7viBDb4hHsFR4gAQ9kpNhY3acJSaEEYxUHQF8tlEmTJkNsMRrfAA_vTP=s3179" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="959" data-original-width="3179" height="97" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDtkMP24jlT2hUP9A-PTxz7owrY6qf9mfonkdiDwHg9yKmxafmPlZPSp29biIgJCefMszIIgB_VqaXkGF8tqArgRPRajWOd6qzNdGObwZz30qnFrTOCNHBd_2rpiqGKlGF7viBDb4hHsFR4gAQ9kpNhY3acJSaEEYxUHQF8tlEmTJkNsMRrfAA_vTP=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Our plates are pretty full these days with <i>bad news.</i> It's everywhere we turn. <p></p><p>Ukraine civilians are being bombed out of their country by a madman. It's the largest refugee crisis since World War II. You can't turn on the news without seeing the atrocities going on there.Which also means, it's here. It's not just <i>there. </i>We have Ukranian people here. Friends, family, people who have friends and family. And what happens there doesn't just stay there. It affects us here. You can try to stay in your bubble and ignore it if you so choose, because that's what people are good at these days, but everyone will be touched in some way or another by what goes on globally. <br /></p><p>We also have plenty of our own <i>bad news</i> going on here in the United States besides for what is global adjacent. Covid is still here. People are still getting sick. While Omicron might be a lighter form of it, I'm literally watching on the news right now how there are long term effects of getting any form of Covid that are coming out now. </p><p>Then, we have Texas and Florida who are fighting each other for the worst states for the LGBTQia population and those who love them. My husband and son can joke all they want but when I say that these are two of the worst places on the planet, where everything bad happens, I'm not kidding in the least. You couldn't give me a free house in either state. I certainly wouldn't raise a kid in either one. <br /></p><p>I'm horrified and disgusted to say that yesterday, the "Don't Say Gay" <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/08/1085190476/florida-senate-passes-a-controversial-schools-bill-labeled-dont-say-gay-by-criti">bill</a>, which prohibits any discussion about sexual orientation or gender identification in the state's primary schools, passed in the Florida legislature, which means it gets to Governor Death-santis's desk, and he's expected to sign it. (He may have already- I don't know) Probably with glee. </p><p>And in Texas, there is just an unrelenting <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25/1082975946/anti-trans-bills-texas">assault</a> on trans rights. I personally know parents with gofundme accounts and social media pages dedicated to getting their families out of the state before possibly facing persecution just for living. </p><p>This doesn't sound much different to me than having to flee countries for simply being Jewish. </p><p>Make no mistake, if you still vote GOP in any election, you're saying you don't give any F's about anyone but yourself. There is no such thing as <i>fiscally conservative </i>when people are fighting for their lives. When kids die from this law being passed, just know, and you've voted GOP anywhere, for any reason, you have their blood on your hands. So if you like to fancy yourself <i>pro-life, </i>just be aware, that won't be the case. Those who are truly pro-life actually care about the lives already in existence. Not just those of the unborn.<br /></p><p>I also have to laugh, or cry, about all these people who have been going on and on about how disgusting it was to make kids wear masks all this time. How abusive it was, how unfair it is that they couldn't be a spectator at their kids sporting events, and maskless on top of it, when people are literally fighting for their lives. In Ukraine, in Florida, in Texas. People mocked kids and adults over a thin piece of cloth, they bitched and complained, when others are sleeping on concrete, with only what they could carry, wondering if they'll ever see their spouse or kids again. As their homes, school, livelihoods, friends, and families, have been bombed into oblivion. People bitched about freeing the smiles when others won't or don't have the freedom now to even discuss who they are, or live as whom they are. </p><p>Please, with your masks. Seems pretty stupid, the absolute outrage, over masks, when there seems to be much bigger problems in the world. If you think masks were <i>abusive, disgusting, & taking away freedoms, </i>I certainly hope you're never in the position to have to flee a country on a moments notice. Or fear legal retribution and the detonation of your family, just because you support your kid's gender rights. <br /></p><p>I read an article this morning about the correlation between teens feeling the pressure for perfection and dying by suicide. One of the things mentioned was teenagers being required to do hundreds of hours of community service, where the author noted, quite sarcastically, that obviously forcing kids to do all that service must produce empathetic adults. </p><p>So I wonder, seriously, how DO we produce actual empaths. It seems that's what we're lacking. How did we get here? We have entitled adults care more about kids being freed from masks than we do about kindergartens being bombed. There are parents who care more about a kid possibly reading about rape in a book than someone actually BEING raped. Some people care more about what pronouns people use than how kids are feeling, whether they're suicidal, or whether they're comfortable in their own skin. I don't see how the parenting from humans like this is going to create any wealth of caring or empathy. All I see is people looking for a fight over control- how to control others. I don't see people caring how to best look out for all the greater good, I see people only looking out for themselves and only caring about what affects them. <br /></p><p>How do we get adults to take their puritanical blinders off and stop trying to drive us straight into the Handmaid's Tale? What are these people afraid of? Why are we going backwards? I'll tell you one big reason. Because when there is too much progress, white supremacy and bigotry have too much to lose. They're going to hold on with everything they've got. <br /><br /></p><p>Donate: <a href="https://novaukraine.org/">Nova Ukraine</a><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-39823548127696393002022-02-14T05:30:00.001-05:002022-02-14T05:30:00.192-05:00Pretty Woman<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEidRpA4T-XCKMIOn7T8Ynzhy7d9gpXKtvK1OwfuQWZC79DsdoRlHnfi-yvbv7eQvzMVIor9LkgVDLZ0l-Tzen8ynueUJyMPnlfeUoX09Buvx58UUs2qD2G3tNnQ8O3n0lpocDz8jlWObK_G21OkEHQqBtmhuBJlEyqeQANK3ZZqQ3sNkOUFHsAwzTxj=s1120" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="1120" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEidRpA4T-XCKMIOn7T8Ynzhy7d9gpXKtvK1OwfuQWZC79DsdoRlHnfi-yvbv7eQvzMVIor9LkgVDLZ0l-Tzen8ynueUJyMPnlfeUoX09Buvx58UUs2qD2G3tNnQ8O3n0lpocDz8jlWObK_G21OkEHQqBtmhuBJlEyqeQANK3ZZqQ3sNkOUFHsAwzTxj=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div><p></p><p>We all know that scene in Pretty Woman, where Julia Roberts goes into the store on Rodeo Drive, in her whole hooker get-up, to spend the money for a dress, and the snooty ladies don't think she had the money to purchase in their boutique so they shun her. </p><p>I had a moment like that this past week, while shopping for a dress for a milestone event coming up. The whole experience of dress shopping is humbling to begin with. The whole harsh light of the dressing room, wiggling into things, not being able to get out of things. That moment when you get that dress on just a hair past the place where you get the feeling you may not be able to get it off. Then you have Carrie Bradshaw-trapped-in-the-wedding-dress-hives-moment where she just rips it off, except you don't rip it off, you just see your life flash before your eyes as you somehow manage to get that godforsaken dress of your now sweating body. </p><p>One might think that bathing suit shopping is more humbling. The difference is, with bathing suits, you can buy a bathing suit, and wear it to a pool or beach, but never actually HAVE to be seen in it. You could wear a cover up the whole time. The bathing suit doesn't need to be a focal point. It's there in case you need to get wet. </p><p>A dress though, a dress is the main event. Everyone is looking for the dress. B keeps asking me goofy questions like, if he's supposed to match my dress. What color suit is he supposed to wear? My answer is going to be the same every time. NO ONE CARES. Not because it's B, but because no one cares what guys are wearing! Suits are suits are suits! Yeah, there are some differences and whatnot, but for the most part, it's a suit and no one really gives a hoot. </p><p>I didn't know I was going to go into Neiman Marcus when I did. I stopped into the mall because I was driving home from somewhere else, passing it, and figured I'd pop in to see what dress stores were in there these days. I haven't been in Garden State Plaza in forever. Since Covid, I'm just rarely in the mall. If we're not going to Grand Lux then I really have no reason to be in there. </p><p>I don't get <i>dressed</i> to go to the mall. Or anywhere. I have many reasons. I like to be incognito on the daily. I think I've said before, I have this odd ability to be so dressed down that no one recognizes me. Or maybe there is just such a huge contrast between how I look during the day to how I could look to go out in the evening. Or, my neurologist has changed my face so much with my Botox for migraine I'm pretty much anonymous. At any rate, I was wearing a hoodie, leggings, sneakers, and a beanie with all my hair in it. I don't like hair fly-aways so I just tucked all my hair in there. Being it was Garden State Plaza on a Monday, if I wasn't wearing pants I could've been Orthodox. I choose to go out like this also because I don't WANT to be approached by sales staff. I don't want help, I don't want questions. I just want to move along as if I was invisible. <br /></p><p>There's this brand of high end dresses, I don't even remember the name off-hand, but I saw some online, secondhand, because I'd never pay retail for these, but I needed to know how the brand fits first. It has Italian sizing so in my mind, that could mean it runs small. Sometimes the brand is on Rue La La, so I wanted to know what size I'd be. I knew the brand is sold at Neiman's so I walked in. </p><p>I found the brand and a dress in that brand in the right size. A saleswoman came toward me. I got looked up and down with disdain like I'd never seen. She asked me if I wanted a fitting room. I said sure but I'm going to come in right then. She looked pained. When we got to the dressing room she proceeded to tell me that I needed to step into the dress because there were no zippers. I looked at her curiously like she was a zoo animal. Did this woman think that just because I may have forgone one shower in over twenty-four hours that I also forgot how to put clothes on? That I couldn't recognize the absence of any zipper apparatus? </p><p>The dress fit, so now I knew my size in this brand if I ever see it secondhand somewhere. But I didn't love the fabric these dresses are often made of, so I was glad I saw, felt and tried it on in person. </p><p>I went to like eight stores that day. I went to Neiman Marcus, Macy's, Bou Bou, Bloomingdales Outlet, Nordstrom Rack, Marshall's, Burlington, and Saks Off Fifth. The next day I went to Bloomingdales and some other store in another mall. Every night for weeks I'd been scouring the internet. I knew the style and color I want. It just didn't to exist in real life. Finally, I ordered like eight hundred dollars worth of dresses from Nordstrom because I knew I could at least return whatever didn't fit. AND I ordered something for under seventy dollars from the UK. That one, I'll just have to keep. But if it fits, I can wear it to something else. </p><p>But damn. Trying on dresses sucks. The clothes on and off. Nothing looks good in those dressing rooms. Carrying around shoes. Spanx. Strapless bras. It's a scene, alright. In Saks Off Fifth, I saw a cute IRO dress that was marked down to around two hundred dollars from a thousand. It was small but it seemed to have some give to it, and in my mind, I figured I'd just try it on for the hell of it. I didn't even really want it but I wanted to see what a thousand dollar dress would look like. </p><p>What did you think I was going to say happened?? Of course I got stuck in that sucker. The second it got just past the <i>point of no return. </i>I was thinking, <i>what do I do? Do I call someone? Could I even tell someone this? Does the store ever have something like this happens??</i></p><p>It took me some extra time but I managed to get myself out of that nightmare. And into the fresh hell of a different store in a different mall. </p><p>In the end, I actually did somehow, magically find a dress, AND a back up. I even found shoes and a bag. I'm actually most impressed by bargain finding. I found E a shirt and shoes in person, and I ordered him a suit. Fingers crossed that the suit fits. I'm so glad the process is over because if I never have to see the inside of a dressing room again, I'll take it. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQKUakCI7HTa-v7VZIityP9x0VqnbXplLwMVqR300zYO12mZ5UbfaCvqYrD8uDwj_4qee8iD5-HxrNNg9sIrv-Ovh5Frh9w6LwRu_yoYOhNbp1BVJFTdvxGIe-26IlKAusA9t6c0psM1kOsLA3cPtBIWZMhTU4gdZwRtTCcdIalq_8jV4yX55WmEdk=s500" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="500" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQKUakCI7HTa-v7VZIityP9x0VqnbXplLwMVqR300zYO12mZ5UbfaCvqYrD8uDwj_4qee8iD5-HxrNNg9sIrv-Ovh5Frh9w6LwRu_yoYOhNbp1BVJFTdvxGIe-26IlKAusA9t6c0psM1kOsLA3cPtBIWZMhTU4gdZwRtTCcdIalq_8jV4yX55WmEdk=w200-h160" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048005951642289945.post-57813596673384582932021-08-19T18:50:00.009-04:002021-08-20T09:35:59.585-04:00Wekeela 2021: They Did It Again<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh76Uqonj5fszCEnfEXhjt_iJMNHIO6VemWckUbJ4JQ0LEEJTbB9irarz5EK-3vffiZsCcGtJMugNSRPoXg0BrlwPa2DiHZBeHGATBEPrdVG-Vu7GD-05w2txeDS1YjMzUKFOr9JqcbgK8/s1875/Little+bear+pond+2021.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="1875" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh76Uqonj5fszCEnfEXhjt_iJMNHIO6VemWckUbJ4JQ0LEEJTbB9irarz5EK-3vffiZsCcGtJMugNSRPoXg0BrlwPa2DiHZBeHGATBEPrdVG-Vu7GD-05w2txeDS1YjMzUKFOr9JqcbgK8/s320/Little+bear+pond+2021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>E has been home from sleepaway camp for about ten days now. It's been a whirlwind of chaos, Axe-bombing and laundry. I would've written sooner, but if you've read my previous blogs about the return home from camp, it's sort of like having a newborn and going from zero to one again. The first year his bags consisted of twigs, dirt, rocks, a ton of crap that wasn't his and much of his stuff gone missing. Last year was somewhat better after I looked like that Taylor Armstrong meme with the cat the first time. This time was leaps and bounds above the past two times but still involved wet towels and foul smells. <p></p><p>Enough about me and how I'm affected by his return. I'm focused on the negative aspect of his return because there's so much positive about what goes on there are camp for him. People who don't <i>get </i>camp always ask if I'm ready for him to come home. If I miss him. If I'm excited for him to come home. I don't really know how to answer truthfully without them thinking I'm a sociopath. I know they don't get it but the real answer is a big fat no. Why? For WHAT? What is he coming back to? </p><p>Should he come back to roam around downtown, going to CVS to buy candy to shove in his face? Can't do that at Wekeela. They don't allow packages and don't allow parents to send candy. Even though parents decided to just do their own thing this year, trying to hide candy contraband in tampon boxes and pillows. Too bad they got caught, candy confiscated, life threatening allergies of other campers they weren't thinking about, avoided. I'm happy to have a camp that doesn't allow packages. One less thing to think about and less garbage for him to put into his body. He does that enough for the ten months he's here. <br /></p><p>Should he have come back to endless news of the Delta variant of Covid raging, things shutting down again, and people getting sick, when they had a lovely little bubble of wellness, not even having to think about Covid? I loved not having to think about where he was, what he was doing, who he was with, and the possibility of any virus transmitted. <br /></p><p>Or, should he have come back to the wettest, grossest July in NJ since like the early 1900s, where I couldn't even go to the town pool? Although now, he's come back to pretty much the same weather in August that we had in July. </p><p>He left on the last day of school, June 24. We don't start school until September 9th. When people say to me- "I can't believe you send your kid away <i>for the whole summer", </i>they clearly have no idea what they're talking about. He comes home generally around August 10-12th. That means he basically has another whole MONTH of summer before school starts here. He basically gets TWO summers. An awesome time at camp, then a whole month to be bored enough here to be so grateful he gets to go to camp. So for anyone in NJ on the fence about sending your kid, which you don't even have to do for the full seven weeks, but they STILL have SO. MUCH. TIME. to...<i>summer</i> with you. Trust me, I have plenty of time to tell him to pick up his stuff, be home by a certain time, be a chauffeur, etc, <br /></p><p>So far, he's been back ten days. He's been in a theater camp this week, thank goodness, from early morning until mid-afternoon. Then he comes home and if I don't tell him to go do something, where do I find him? On his phone. There are no phones, no video games, and no internet access at Wekeela! I didn't have to read texts, receives FaceTime calls to my phone (don't ask), and hear the pinging of group texts all day and night. </p><p>He has rules for screen time and phone use when he's home. But for seven glorious weeks I didn't have to even look at that thing. It could've been a deck of cards. He didn't look at it. We all ignored it. He was seven weeks phone free and better for it. I have the screen time thing set on his phone but I haven't gotten around to changing it from when he was in school. Like I said above, he left for camp on the last day of school. I never had to set it for during the school day hours. I don't have time to police him all day. If I don't think about it or he's not in front of me, like today, he gets away with more time than I'd like until I get to changing it. It's just an annoyance I wish I didn't have to deal with. </p><p>Back to camp. This was a crazy summer. There were employee shortages everywhere. I know restaurants had that problem and then I heard about camps. A friend of a friend had to pick her kid up after six days at sleepaway camp in New Hampshire because they didn't have the staff to keep the camp running. I read an article in the New York Times that said there were numerous camps that had to close because of staff shortages. Camp is not somewhere you want them getting by on bare bones. Another camp I know with what I thought was an impeccable reputation had like thirty-five cases of Covid run through the camp. All I know is that Wekeela went on for the seven weeks with enough staff to stay open, fully operational, and no Covid. </p><p>This summer was the first time E had any of his friends from town come as campers. Three of his friends came for the three and a half week second session. I was a little nervous how that would be since this is <i>his place</i>. However, it turned out great. Two of the boys are his closest friends. He was friendly with the third boy but they weren't close. It turned out they became very bonded after being there together and now that boy is going for the full seven weeks next summer. And he was the one whose mom was the most unsure he'd want to go back because he'd never gone to sleepaway camp, wasn't that keen on going in the first place, and just doesn't get that excited about much. But, he LOVED it and had the best time. </p><p>Especially, in this weird time of Covid, I feel like sleepaway camp is one of the best, most important gifts you could give your child. After a year and a half of virtual or hybrid learning, fear of getting sick, possibly losing friends and loved ones, political fighting, etc, kids don't even know how to relate to each other. It's like in Footloose at the dance when the kids are all just sitting there until Wren gets everyone up. Kids who used to be somewhat normal, or whatever is normal for tweens and teens, don't even know how to talk to each other! They've barely been in the same room for eighteen months or so. It's really sad. There has been a huge uptick in anxiety, depression, anger, lack of confidence, etc. They need a win. The win can simply come in the form of normalized socialization. Now that we're going back to uncertainty in what school will look like AGAIN this year, they are going to need camp more than ever. <br /></p><p>If you're going to send your kid to sleepaway camp, you want to send them to a place who has managed to do it really well over basically two Covid summers. Kids are really messed up emotionally from being schooled virtually, being home with their families almost full time. Who knows what they've been dealing with since this mess started in 2020. To be able to send your kid away to some kind of normalcy, where they can re-learn how to interact with their peers of both their own gender and the opposite, is priceless. It's something we'd have taken for granted in the past, but so needed more than ever now. </p><p>Every summer my son comes home there is more and more personal growth. This summer was no different. He said he had a great time. He wishes he was still there. Three out of three of his friends had a great time. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. All four boys are bonded in a different, better, stronger way than before they left that only comes from living together for that time, in that special camp way. Sharing their inside jokes, color war, and of course, wearing each others clothes, much to my chagrin. <br /></p><p>Every time someone says to me- "I could never send my kid away. I'd miss him/her too much...". My answer is always- "It's not about you". And it isn't. Sure. I miss him. But I also know what I'm doing for him. Giving him. It's a gift of independence and maturity that I couldn't replicate in any other way. It's also the only time in his entire life, I know he's fully taken care of, and I have absolutely nothing to do with it. And being able to grow at Wekeela, where they teach and believe in becoming better people- I couldn't be sending him to a more amazing place. </p><p>The only thing I hope for in the future, is being able to return to having visiting day. Since Covid, B sort of became adept at using the hair clippers and E could definitely use a mid-camp haircut. Plus, I LIKE TO GO THERE. B thinks foregoing the trip to Maine is totally fine. I LIKE IT and I WANT TO GO. It's our one chance to see him in his element and I enjoy it. </p><p>If you're ready for your kid to have the summer of their lives, and then by extension you to have the same, I'll be happy to talk your ear off about all things sleepaway camp, Wekeela, and E would be more than eager to hook up with your kid to do the same. Psst- Earlybird enrollment is now open - I know you probably think it's really soon to be thinking about next summer, but it certainly isn't. Before you know it, you'll be wondering what your kids are going to be doing and it will be too late. I'll never forget learning this lesson in pre-school. Signing E up for only three days going into the 2's class because "he seems so little". Only to get there and he totally could've done all five days. Except I was shut out by then. I had to scramble to figure out what to do with him for those other two days a week because he wasn't a "sit around" kind of child, ever. Grab your kid's spot now! <a href="http://www.campwekeela.com">Camp Wekeela</a></p><p>Thank you Cafluns, Wekeela, and Maine, for yet another amazing summer! <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ03ZWfZTF-pKTJab6sJFarqxPbQMPYmC1P5Ihf1gqGO_nP6iQiGBkeRoTn5KVcfNmxYqleeoYoY2OgrZQVhEXuDG_jtyPVJxwTtDuTuTemDJ6NUAdrzpG_h8eLMjUZr3celRMmoYTbkY/s750/ethan+july+2021.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="750" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ03ZWfZTF-pKTJab6sJFarqxPbQMPYmC1P5Ihf1gqGO_nP6iQiGBkeRoTn5KVcfNmxYqleeoYoY2OgrZQVhEXuDG_jtyPVJxwTtDuTuTemDJ6NUAdrzpG_h8eLMjUZr3celRMmoYTbkY/s320/ethan+july+2021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJjvgsmsVHtGvVBkIyTUvZkuKPT9psF4Mqoq0d0D91NMPO0kXF0lmPsT4rtMg_Yc1uYwl6wiL0nPjqCXhZlQtaLiiicMgIMPlMIajDLopOkaz7ZPFxxu81L0pzyxji0AffB6en8hJ8JHU/s851/Ethan+July-Aug+2021.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="851" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJjvgsmsVHtGvVBkIyTUvZkuKPT9psF4Mqoq0d0D91NMPO0kXF0lmPsT4rtMg_Yc1uYwl6wiL0nPjqCXhZlQtaLiiicMgIMPlMIajDLopOkaz7ZPFxxu81L0pzyxji0AffB6en8hJ8JHU/s320/Ethan+July-Aug+2021.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRZjFVkA5qfxu8XGDXPk0-coRa9UrT2PP_YW6tNbmBJLCEObDPandOAxf3oKe1tdWJphZhYrxEtpGLWiFWeLmOTRIlp-PG8o_ZEbWs6LK4o7CzNhEuGaFpjENjfsLQMTSTzwAA9dJY0iw/s827/ethan+perform+weekeela+orange+2021.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="827" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRZjFVkA5qfxu8XGDXPk0-coRa9UrT2PP_YW6tNbmBJLCEObDPandOAxf3oKe1tdWJphZhYrxEtpGLWiFWeLmOTRIlp-PG8o_ZEbWs6LK4o7CzNhEuGaFpjENjfsLQMTSTzwAA9dJY0iw/s320/ethan+perform+weekeela+orange+2021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9erszwcMQFpl5f-755x-W5a2HB-oxblYbToBtVbzvKE6UQhIG8IxC_E6lMJ266fzt_ibdkvUahVhfeyGjM5wYhpjXOHlpq8ojWp7HSZWhkCA9pqaG9oE6hxFDRAcLVfOc3CbuikIq4EU/s827/ethan+perform+wekeela+2021.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="827" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9erszwcMQFpl5f-755x-W5a2HB-oxblYbToBtVbzvKE6UQhIG8IxC_E6lMJ266fzt_ibdkvUahVhfeyGjM5wYhpjXOHlpq8ojWp7HSZWhkCA9pqaG9oE6hxFDRAcLVfOc3CbuikIq4EU/s320/ethan+perform+wekeela+2021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>tsdkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01189079795462754389noreply@blogger.com0