I am sorry that parenting is so fraught for so many. Finally, as Brendon Jr turns 30 next month, for the first time in his life I feel like he will survive without me. That is a biggie. For too many years it didn't seem like it would ever happen.

Oh, mac.

I worry because Robin has the survival instincts of a cheeseburger, but she has shown remarkable progress recently (getting and keeping a pretty crappy job that pays okay, planning for some sort of school and coming out).

I don't worry about Oliver because I feel like he could survive the zombie apocalypse without us.

But still. Oy.

Came to Indiana to see my nephew in Elf: The Musical. It's delightful. He's adorable. But only about 10% of people in the audience were wearing masks. And Ft. Wayne's ICUs are running at 150% capacity. UGH.

DH has gone to the tailgating memorial without me and sending my regrets. Still up in the air about going to a Christmas evening food feast at a friend's house. Maybe a short visit to give a gift and check out if staying outdoors is an option? There will be a number of people I don't know. I have a bit of time to decide.

Dylan has a group of friends over watching a Matrix movie marathon in the basement. This is the first time he's had a group of friends over since March 2020 (all fully vaxxed, all regularly tested at school) and I am realizing a couple of things.

1 - I thought I made a MASSIVE amount of veggie chili for lunch. Five 14 year-old boys later, I have discovered I was mistaken.

2 - There is not enough Febreeze in the WORLD for the fumigation I'm going to need to do after these kids leave. I went down to tell them lunch was ready and dear lord, teenage boys do not smell good.

I know many people are zoomed out from work, but I miss people and would like to have you all over for a Holiday Tree Trimming party today at 4pm ET, so...

Link to Zoom "party" [link]

Copying to Buffistas group on FB.

2 - There is not enough Febreeze in the WORLD for the fumigation I'm going to need to do after these kids leave. I went down to tell them lunch was ready and dear lord, teenage boys do not smell good.

They're stank!

When Emmett was 14 the only way I could afford to keep him fed was to buy Trader Joe's bananas in bulk. A banana will stave off a proto-teen between Second Breakfast and Elevenses.

Tippy I'm so sorry about Tim's dad . I hope he has the best care he can get.

msbelle that really sucks about Mac.

Dad is coming up here Dec 23 and will be here through 26th and then going up to my brother's to have Christmas there.

I found out that Grandma left $1000 to each of the grandchildren. There is an issue with Merrilll Lynch right now that I don't understand but Dad said he would write me a check when I needed it. It made me cry a little just because...

I have been limiting my screen time and I have my phone and monitor and everything else turned to low or vision friendly settings. I've been using my Kindle more so that helped. Altogeth getting fanfic on it is a tedious process.

I thought there was more I was going to say but I forgot.

Oh I've read a few things about how anti vax daily members are giving nurses etc hell over limiting visitors and acting like they are being persecuted.

Also I saw something where a lady on FB has been advertising for people to help her with her fraud vaccine cards. Someone answered her to find out and she was looking for people who worked at Walgreens or Cvs. So they could input info of real people who paid her for authentic Vaccine Cards with real lot numbers.

So I guess we can't even tell who has been vaccinated based on if their info is in a system.

I have managed to watch School of Chocolate in bits and pieces. It's really good.

At this point avoiding spoil4ers for Spiderman is easier than the Witcher so I'm going to see if I can watch it in small bits. Although I'm pretty sure I won't be able to.

Covid is EXPLODING here in NYC. It’s gonna get real bad.

Rₜ is already at 1.5, but I think it’s going to be recalculated to be 2 in the next couple of days.

Now I have to tell my family that I’m not coming home for Christmas. That’s going to be fun.

I hope your FiL recovers quickly, Steph.

Mac, dude. Get it together.

It is a chilly, rainy day here. I’m trying to be as careful as possible before heading to MI on Friday (which is very much a COVID hotspot at the moment—yay).

Tom, I'm sorry. I hope the family takes the news better than you're expecting, and I hope you stay safe and healthy.

Also I saw something where a lady on FB has been advertising for people to help her with her fraud vaccine cards. Someone answered her to find out and she was looking for people who worked at Walgreens or Cvs. So they could input info of real people who paid her for authentic Vaccine Cards with real lot numbers.

So I guess we can't even tell who has been vaccinated based on if their info is in a system.

askye, I'm furious at all this stuff, but at some point, I do think God, the Universe, karma, natural selection, or plain old depletion of luck, will get these people better and more fully than we (as a society, or a country with a criminal justice system) ever could.

Also, except in select cities, vaccine passports don't exist. You might need proof to fly here or eat there, but mostly, our government(s) has/have done jack-all to end this thing, so the relatively few people who buy these cards and don't get caught are not our biggest problem.

Our biggest problem is, or soon will be again, our hospitals. Omicron is going to take a lot of healthcare providers off the board for a while.

We're fucked.