{{hugs}} to Hil and msbelle.

Concur on the cleaning issues. I really really need to vacuum, but I hate my vacuum cleaner, although it's fairly new. I may blow some of the cash from my promotion on one of those fancy Dyson cordless vacuums.

Definitely want to hire a regular house-cleaner. And I want a massage. Multiple massages.

I hated the fact that they resorted to name calling (e.g. the scientists who wrote the articles they cited were "geeks," "nerds," etc.) and were far too cute by half for me

Mostly the writing style makes me roll my eyes, but there is a lot of good content, which is stuff I know but the reminders are helpful. I haven't talked with the other people, but I get that the buddy system works for a lot of people. I know lots of people who love WW, but I never tried that. My SIL uses My Fitness Pal, which is another of the same type of tracker.

{{Hil}} Yes, try and get someone in to help with the cleaning. I don't know how I would survive without help because my floors would never get done. Trust me, they are used to clutter! If you can get a recommendation from someone, or maybe from NextDoor that might work better than the services, but I have had luck with both.

Ugh, sorry, Hil. I definitely see people advertising home organization businesses in my local internet groups (FB, NextDoor), so I would start asking there.

Consuela, I love my Roomba, because I hate vacuuming. It's not perfect, and it's loud, so I'm not running it as often as I might, since I'm currently home 95% of the the time, but it's way better than vacuuming! (even though it gets stuck on carpet fringe and doorway thresholds a fair amount.)

Consuela, I love my Roomba, because I hate vacuuming. It's not perfect, and it's loud, so I'm not running it as often as I might, since I'm currently home 95% of the the time, but it's way better than vacuuming! (even though it gets stuck on carpet fringe and doorway thresholds a fair amount.)

My Roomba won't go over the black patches on the rug in the den because it thinks they are cliffs it can fall off, but it does vacuum everywhere else on the first floor which is more than I'm willing to do twice a week.

Hil, I'm sorry everything is so hard all at once.

I would love a Roomba, but I think it would freak out my dog.

I try to keep in mind that the 1918 Pandemic - for which there was NO vaccine - still ran its course in about 18 months. (with, of course, massive fatalities)

Overall, Hec, I don't think you're wrong, but you're a bit more optimistic than am I. We're just so much more mobile than we were 100 years ago, and there are three times as many of us (in the US). I think we'll be getting booster shots for variants for a while, provided they can develop them.

Me too! I got in somehow this morning when Walgreen's released a bunch of slots. They're doing 1b+, which in Illinois means certain comorbidities qualify. So while my history of PE and DVT blood clots don't get me in, my chonkiness does.

brenda, my chonkiness — and being an inch shorter than I thought — are what got me in. On my birthday, I had DH measure my height, and I'd put on 5 lbs, which put me in the minimum BMI for a shot. My very smart daughter ordered me not to weigh myself again until after I've got the shots, so I don't second guess myself out of them.

Being chonky isn't a comorbidity that qualifies for the vaccine in Ohio. WHAT EVEN AM I CHONKY FOR THEN

My very smart daughter ordered me not to weigh myself again until after I've got the shots, so I don't second guess myself out of them.

In NY they don't actually check to confirm comorbidity, and I'm in favor of everyone getting vaccinated as soon as they can.

I managed to qualify due to my age, being fat and having comorbidity issues. I'll take what I can.

In good news, it seems that last year one child died of the flu ... which is bad, but the year before there were 200. Wonder why that is ....

My Roomba won't go over the black patches on the rug in the den because it thinks they are cliffs it can fall off,

Ha! That's super funny. And, I mean, it makes sense, but... still funny.

Noon worked well for me for a while. I didn't mind the overly cutesy stuff, and I think we ask know most of what they suggest, but reminders are good. I did like the easy categorizing of food type: I did eat more healthily and/or recognized when I wasn't.

Washington is still "arrrrrrrrgh, when?" for me; Jim is looking at end of next month. The island is doing better than the county: a quarter of the population is over 65, and as of the weekend 78% of that cohort had received at least one shot. This weekend the community pharmacy opened up to teachers and child care providers - "We have 90 first-dose slots!" Five minutes later: "And they're gone." Our teachers went back a week ago, and it's a different world - on top of all the precautions, the high school alone has 200 fewer students on the rolls (parents lost jobs and the family moved off-island, they're in private schools/switched to full-time homeschooling, or they've dropped out).

I replaced my shoes - including, in a fit of optimism, my sandals - and after doing a side-by-side comparison? I am hard on my footwear.