Seconding the Elephant & Piggie rec.
We've had several Christmases with just the three of us in recent years. My brothers and I and our families haven't done the holidays together since our parents died, and we typically go to Oklahoma to see Dylan's people at Thanksgiving. But normally there are all the other trappings of the holiday--the late Christmas Eve Eucharist with ALL the carols and champagne and desserts at midnight (Episcopalians FTW!), me going to up the three different Messiah sing-alongs around town, etc.
So we've got existing traditions in place for Christmas Eve and morning--Christmas Eve is a specific homemade spaghetti sauce with garlic bread and hot Italian sausage that was traditional in Dylan's family, and then waffles for breakfast after we open our presents. I used to try to make a three-person simulacrum of my mom's Christmas dinner for dinner, but this year I'm not going to try. This is less to do with covid and more that it always feels like a bit of an afterthought after the spaghetti and waffles, and also I realized while talking to my therapist that while I love to cook SOMETIMES, it stresses me out to cook ALL the time, and that is perfectly OK. So we don't have an exact plan yet, but it will involve someone else cooking and may well be Chinese food to be eaten while watching WW84.
The Gruffalo and Elephant and Piggy. Thanks!
Baltimore is shutting down all indoor and outdoor dining starting Fri at 5 and reducing gathering #s and occupancy #s.
Doesn't affect me at all, but going to make sure I order out at least twice a week (I usually order 1.5 or 2 meals when I order).
The numbers are going to be grim through Feb, I think.
Timelies all!
Today was not a great day for Mr. S. Started with a meltdown over breakfast, and ended up with me sitting in his room for most of the afternoon with my tablet, which he grabbed for "one jewel game" and played around with a bunch of stuff for a long while.
books for a soon-to-be 2 year old, please?
Stella Luna
Where Is My Cow?
And I feel that The Gashlycrumb Tinies is an excellent read-aloud book for small children, but I'm biased.
ION: Workflow diagrams, motherfucker! Have you heard of them?!
G-D I miss waterfall software development. This agile nonsense doesn't work for anyone but developers, and even then it's hit or miss.
I feel you on Kaiser docs, juliana. I feel like their whole system limits dr-patient interaction to my detriment. But they have all my records, when I had different insurance and a different doctor my PCP had trouble finding out what happened at my ER visits, so that wasn't good either.
Yeah, I'm going to miss the all-in-one aspect of the Kaiser clinics, but maybe I'll get a doctor who, when I tell her that I have a paradoxical reaction to most medications, won't say, "That's really rare. So, we're going to start you on [medication that I just said I have a paradoxical reaction to], and we'll adjust if needed." Or, my favorite, "I know you said you think you need to see a podiatrist, but I need to see you first." And then promptly send me to the podiatrist after a 5-minute exam. Or! My favorite! After I tell her that both of my parents have/had thyroid issues, and that it took my mom TEN YEARS to be diagnosed with hypothyroidism (since she has a weird form), only order the basic thyroid test and say, "Well, your numbers are fine, if low, so I don't need to see the other test (that is the one that finally allowed my mother to get diagnosed)."
Okay, perhaps I'm angrier about this than I thought. But no wonder I don't want to deal with finding a new doctor - I'm too afraid I'm going to relive all of that.
books for a soon-to-be 2 year old, please?
Sandra Boynton anything, really. But especially Perfect Piggies.
Sheryl, I'm sorry about Mr. S's no good very bad day.
Strops, ltc loves The Gashlycrumb Tinies. The one time she asked my mother to read it to her, mom was so horrified.
Ugh, juliana, that is an accumulation of awful, for sure. Finding a new doctor is hard and stressful, I hope a good one falls into your lap, somehow.
