My niece is doing all right so far. My mom tested negative 5 days after last seeing her, now waiting to see if the rest of my sister's family tests negative or not. I'll start testing myself soon for exposure while traveling.

I'm trying to take deep breaths and adapt around my parents' habits, although I did walk out of the room when Ted Cruz came on Face the Nation this morning until my mom offered to mute him. Bringing my noise canceling headphones was a good idea, since it's hunting season and I can't go scream in the woods.

Nightmare in Waukesha, WI—just north of Milwaukee—an SUV sped right through a holiday parade shooting and running people down. WTF???

I took the kids shopping for gender-affirming clothes today. Lots of fun sweaters!

Offer-ma!

Good job, Jen!

I just ordered an iPhone 13 (because my SE refused to charge anymore) and now I have to go pick it up downtown, then deal with the hassle of hooking it up to my service and getting Venmo etc. up and running on it.

Note to self: write Apple ID down before I go downtown because I can't fucking remember it and my old phone doesn't work.

eta: I forgot to post this. So now I have a new iPhone. Much bigger and redder. But it still doesn't work because I need an updated SIM card which should arrive by FedEx by tomorrow.

Can I just say it's Super Fucking Annoying to try to deal with Apple and my carrier when they want to send me Second Party Authentication numbers to my old phone when it's down to 1%. And that frickin' SIM card tool gets lost one millisecond after I put it down.

I did most of my running around today getting food for Thanksgiving, but you know what the cruel injustice is? I had no working phone to count my steps! Do they even count? Do they even exist?

Was it a Turkey Trot?

It was!

I day the steps count, David. You'll just never be able to prove it in a court if law. Or, mYbe wit receipts, you will be able to!

Good vibes your health and blood pressure's way, shrift.

Cash, awful news about the violence. But your gender affirming shopping trip makes me happy.

I took the kids shopping for gender-affirming clothes today. Lots of fun sweaters!

That's fantastic!

Our niecephew, the one who I've always thought is a Buffista spirit baby, who's late 20s at this point and has been on their own path with their sexual and gender identity, came out to Tim and me as transmasc several months ago. He also came out to his parents (again, again, again -- for real, he had to come out to his parents several times over the course of 2-3 years before it really stuck) and siblings. When we went to Vermont, this BiL and SiL shared a house with us, and we had some really good conversations about nephew's transition. (And! [This post is really meant to be about nephew, but this is SO awesome!] Tim had also previously come out to this BiL and SiL as genderqueer, and while we were in Vermont, hanging out at the house, Tim had asked BiL and SiL if they were comfortable with him wearing Ava clothes, which were pretty much long flowy skirts and modal cotton t-shirts [I think he didn't want to throw BiL and SiL in the deep end with high heels and boobs, which is thoughtful], so he was able to hang out dressed as Ava with his brother and SiL, and it was so fucking great!)

ANYWAY. It turns out that last week, nephew sent announcement cards to the whole extended family, introducing himself as T. (The mail in our neighborhood is notoriously, comically bad, so at some point I hope we receive it.) It sounds like the response has ranged from surprised-but-kind-and-thankful-for-sharing, to family members who called T. right away to tell him he's awesome and loved and 100% supported. (I am tearing up as I'm typing this.) I'm so proud of him, and I'm so fucking happy he's gotten such a good response from the family.

Cash- yay for taking the kids shopping!

And Teppy yay for your nephew and Tim for having supportive and wonderful experiences with the family.

I just ordered an iPhone 13 (because my SE refused to charge anymore) and now I have to go pick it up downtown, then deal with the hassle of hooking it up to my service and getting Venmo etc. up and running on it.

I got mine last week and the transition was so easy that I feel guilty! I absolutely love the new one in many ways. The one I swapped was a 6S.

Over the weekend I ordered the remaining items for my T'day prep for pickup on Tuesday afternoon. The only thing I haven't found yet is maple extract.

I took the kids shopping for gender-affirming clothes today. Lots of fun sweaters!

So fun. I love reading this.

It sounds like the response has ranged from surprised-but-kind-and-thankful-for-sharing, to family members who called T. right away to tell him he's awesome and loved and 100% supported. (I am tearing up as I'm typing this.) I'm so proud of him, and I'm so fucking happy he's gotten such a good response from the family.

This is such a beautiful update I actually got goosebumps!

Hang in there, shrift. Sending coping~ma. The world has indeed gone mad.

Please to continue the offer~ma. I am fairly calm about it because the fit is so good, and I know the universe has been kind to me since the value of the house has doubled since the last time we tried to sell it without success. But I am so ready to move on with my life.

Monday, whee?

Lots of -ma, Laura. The housing market is always so fraught but I hope you get a good offer.

Teppy, you and Tim always make me happy. And with such love and support, these kids will thrive and grow into decent human beings.

This shopping trip was so amazing. Usually, Robin is on edge—driven by society’s expectations, and nervous.

This time, though, she happily shopped in the women’ sections of all the stores we went into. I think she has my attachment to Athleta’s athleisure wear. Also, thank the stars for H&M for having such affordable clothes.

Do you also have a trans kid, Cashmere? My younger daughter, Ellie (formally Leif), is trans. Speaking of which she has accepted a job offer as a software engineer at the company she interned for. It seems crazy that she has a professional job at age 19.

I think I know where she gets her talent, Gud!