Coping Strategies for Dealing with COVID-19

[Maggie Mae]

On 11/15/2020 at 1:13 PM, Coconut Flan said:

Was the water too warm?  

Paul Hollywood claims that salt will kill it, so he suggests putting the salt and yeast on opposite sides of the bowl before mixing/turning on the kitchenaid. I don't believe that for a second, but I do it anyway. 

[Mama Mia]

Just found out that most of the kids in the family will be doing distance learning at least until March. I’m relieved for my daughter and SIL, who both work at a school, and were very worried about the safety and logistics of hybrid that was going to start in January, but ......aaaaaaaggghhhhh, aaaagggghhhh,aaaagggghhhh. This is not going very well emotionally for the kids. Academically, some are flailing, some are doing great - but the isolation is really getting to them, especially the older ones. Any suggestions for tweens? 

[47of74]

4 hours ago, nokidsmom said:

Mr. No and I are doing the same thing, preparing for another shutdown.    I actually called my salon today, got an appointment for tomorrow because somehow I think it's going to be awhile if I wait.   Doing more shopping online or going to the stores at off hours.   

My anxiety was off the charts between Covid and all the pre-election nonsense.  Having the election behind us helped for a bit but seeing the Covid cases spike now I am all wound up again.   The prospect of this winter is terrifying.

If I have to here in Iowa I'll just do what I did last spring and shave it all the way down to nothing.  That'll give me about two months before I need another visit. 

2 hours ago, clueliss said:

I’ve managed to reduce paper towel usage this year.  I’m using cloth rags and cloth napkins etc.  good for the environment and less need at least on that front to worry about what hoarding phase we are in.  
 

and I’ve been slowly building up non perishable food stores for some weeks now.  But that was motivated by our heading into winter as well as the departmental covid scare in early October.  
 

As I mentioned before earlier this year I bought a Tushy so the 30 pack of paper I bought the other day should last me a good long time.  And that's after I finish off the current pack.  I don't use that much now but have to use a little to dry off down there.  If you're going to order one on line the site is hellotushy.com.  By itself tushy leads to a very NSFW site.  I think I mentioned that I was at a brewery last spring and went to look up the product site to place an order and went to the NSFW site.  Fortunately no one saw what popped up so there weren't any awkward questions.

We're pretty well stocked up on food around here now.  We're actually out of steak right now and the soonest we can get one of our steers processed is next May.  Still plenty of ground beef and plenty of beef roasts.  The locker plant is going to try to get us in sooner if someone cancels.  Mom got that appointment for May last summer - they're booked out that far.

We have that 12 pound turkey that we'll fry up for Thanksgiving - it'll just be my household so that should last a few days.  If they were much bigger I would have tried to get a ten pound one since the most the fryer can hold is 14 pounds. 

[47of74]

Well I shaved it all the way down to nothing this morning.  That way I can push my appointment from early December out to the middle of January.  Calling it my Covid trim. 

[clueliss]

I could use a trim/cut.  It's not happening right now.  I'll live with split ends for a while. 

[NotQuiteMotY]

On 11/15/2020 at 2:47 PM, nokidsmom said:

I usually use canned pumpkin for this but made pumpkin breads with real pumpkin this time.    Learned that the best pumpkin for baking (and what is usually in canned pumpkin) is so-called sugar / pie pumpkins.   Decided to try it though I was warned that real pumpkin can vary in sugar and water content versus canned so results may not be the same.   They turned out fine but next time I think I will stick with the canned, cooking real pumpkin took most of the time!

I usually use crookneck pumpkins. There's a farmstand near me that sells them in the fall and I'll cook, puree, and freeze them in the fall for baked goods all winter.

On 11/15/2020 at 5:07 PM, WiseGirl said:

Quoting myself because I killed the yeast. I never knew you could do that!? I can't go out and get any right now because of possible COVID  exposure. I need to get tested but don't want a false negative so I'm waiting for the 5 to 7 day window. Fortunately I'm teaching from home.

Now what can I screw up? I mean try. Lol

Water maybe too hot? 

This was a few days ago, so may not help you now, but you can try wild yeast!

[Black Aliss]

On 4/16/2020 at 6:17 AM, thoughtful said:

So did I!

Probably not enough speakers of any Karen dialect to make it worth while. All of the Karens I encountered in Laos spoke Lao. In Lao, [a] Karen would say, "khony tongkan vaokab phuchadkan"

[Mama Mia]

Advice / feedback requested.
More uggg. One of my kids, a single parent, has Covid symptoms, and was notified a co-worker tested positive. My kid also has some mild chronic health issues-but ones that could be worse with Covid (heart and kidneys) I usually have her kids during the day when she’s working, and overnight weekly.  I don’t know if I should go stay with her to help out, bring the kids here, bring just the younger one (handful 8 yr old) and  have the responsible low-key tween older one stay and help mom while distancing? I have health issues myself- but more logistics/ mobility related ( ie deep cleaning, shopping would be out of my realm) . Also have a small home, with another adult kid who is trying to work and not get exposed living in my living room - maybe try to find him a Cheap motel ? Just ....arrrgghh. I want to do something to help, and am feeling helpless. She’s trying to keep me from getting more exposed, but I’ve been around them Pretty much every day. Last time kids were here was Sunday, she started feeling sick (sore throat, fever, aches, spaced out ) Monday night stayed home from work Tuesday and got notice in the afternoon about the co-worker. She’s supposed to get a test today, but there’s a big storm and the 1st available test is in another town, I’m also worried about her driving in it while sick, especially if she takes the kids. So much anxiety. Sorry, mostly venting, didn’t get much sleep last night. 

Edited November 18, 2020 by Mama Mia

[Ozlsn]

@Mama Mia - that sounds so stressful, I hope you're ok. Is it possible for you to move in and not share a bathroom while living with your daughter? If they have the capacity for one bathroom solely for their use and one for the rest of the household that would help reduce the chances of transmission. Obviously this isn't possible in a lot of homes - if it's not then having the potentially positive case stay as much as possible in one space while everyone else is in the rest of the house, and doing lots of handwashing after touching anything the positive person might have come in contact with. 

Certainly if one/both of the kids get sick it would help to have another on site adult.

If you can drive her to the test I would suggest that both of you are masked, having air circulating from outside the car in rather than internally and blowing towards you, and again hand handwashing/sanitising after touching anything. 

It comes down a bit to how much risk you want to take on (and possibly to how much your daughter will agree to).  Best wishes.

[Mama Mia]

14 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

@Mama Mia - that sounds so stressful, I hope you're ok. Is it possible for you to move in and not share a bathroom while living with your daughter? If they have the capacity for one bathroom solely for their use and one for the rest of the household that would help reduce the chances of transmission. Obviously this isn't possible in a lot of homes - if it's not then having the potentially positive case stay as much as possible in one space while everyone else is in the rest of the house, and doing lots of handwashing after touching anything the positive person might have come in contact with. 

Certainly if one/both of the kids get sick it would help to have another on site adult.

If you can drive her to the test I would suggest that both of you are masked, having air circulating from outside the car in rather than internally and blowing towards you, and again hand handwashing/sanitising after touching anything. 

It comes down a bit to how much risk you want to take on (and possibly to how much your daughter will agree to).  Best wishes.

Thank you so much for the support. She drove herself to the test while I watched the kids ( I can’t drive). She’s stocked up at home with food, and I shamelessly bribed the younger kid with video game virtual currency to keep him obsessively (And quietly) on his screen. Older kid is keeping them both fed and sanitizing things. I’ll check in frequently to see how it’s going and decide if more needs to happen from there. I doubt he’ll get much virtual school done, but whatever. 

[indianabones]

5 hours ago, Mama Mia said:

Thank you so much for the support. She drove herself to the test while I watched the kids ( I can’t drive). She’s stocked up at home with food, and I shamelessly bribed the younger kid with video game virtual currency to keep him obsessively (And quietly) on his screen. Older kid is keeping them both fed and sanitizing things. I’ll check in frequently to see how it’s going and decide if more needs to happen from there. I doubt he’ll get much virtual school done, but whatever. 

Make sure she has a pulse oximeter if she tests positive- I have a family member in the hospital with Covid and her usage of one was how she knew it was time to go in (her percentage went down to 89.) Hopefully she'll test negative, and if not then I hope she has an easy recovery!

[clueliss]

A coworker who just recovered from covid (without a hospital stay/visit) recommended a pulse oximeter.  Said that he knew his oxygen level was better resting sitting up than laying down with it.  And that it probably kept him out of the hospital as a result.  You can get them off of Amazon (I did)

[HerNameIsBuffy]

19 minutes ago, indianabones said:

Make sure she has a pulse oximeter if she tests positive- I have a family member in the hospital with Covid and her usage of one was how she knew it was time to go in (her percentage went down to 89.) Hopefully she'll test negative, and if not then I hope she has an easy recovery!

I used one when I had pneumonia years ago and it really is helpful to have an empirical metric to look at when you are so sick your judgement isn't great.

[FiveAcres]

1 hour ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I used one when I had pneumonia years ago and it really is helpful to have an empirical metric to look at when you are so sick your judgement isn't great.

For anyone getting one, test it out several days running when you are sure you are healthy so you have a baseline. My friend got one and it read consistently low. I actually took mine, inherited from my mother, over to her house so she could use it to calibrate. She got another one from Amazon that worked better.

[Coconut Flan]

I bought a fitness watch so I'd have pulse ox, temperature, heart rate, and BP monitored so I don't have to use the other individual monitors as often.  I have them and if something on the watch starts going out of normal, I'll go get the individual monitor that seems probably more accurate.  

[mamallama]

Decreased circulation in the hands can mess with pulse oximeters.  If it's reading low and you feel fine try warming up hands.

[church_of_dog]

Mine actually just arrived today, so I appreciate the timely discussion.  I opened the box and tried it out and got a reading of 93-94%. 

That seems ... lowish?  

But I will take readings at various times of day, with my hands warm vs not, etc.  And I do have bradycardia (low heartrate) and not low but definitely not elevated blood pressure.

Worst case I'll bring it with me next time I have a medical appt and make sure it gives the same reading as they get.

Peace of mind, it's a good thing.

[Emma]

According to my doctor, the cheaper model for home use is good for measuring trends. 93-94% isn’t bad. If it reads that daily when you’re feeling okay, consider that your baseline. If it all of a sudden drops to 85% or something,  then you should worry. If you feel okay, wait a couple of hours and take a couple of more readings and see if it stays low. If it does stay low, call your doctor or nurse. Obviously, if you feel bad, call sooner.

 

[indianabones]

I ordered one online when it became clear the surge was coming. My baseline is 99%. I'm very proud.

[clueliss]

Mine varies depending on which finger I use.  And can vary depending on how congested I am ( sinus issues and congestion is my ‘allergic’ sort of reaction to stuff).  So I do use it on days when I’m feeling rather congested so I have that level baseline vs legitimately ill. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

I am all about masking and being super careful, but the new regs in effect today requiring me to wear one when alone in my private office is going to take some getting used to.  Also making me hate phone calls even more than I did before, which I didn't think was possible.

[therulesofjinx]

1 hour ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

Also making me hate phone calls even more than I did before, which I didn't think was possible.

Fellow phone call hater!

Masks do make it hard to hear others who are speaking. We use Microsoft teams for all of our office meetings now and there were two folks in the office who had to wear masks during a meeting the other day while everyone else was remote. One guy had to repeat everything he said because no one could understand him. I imagine he was frustrated but my office is super serious about safety- and he's not one to complain!

[Mama Mia]

On 11/20/2020 at 9:42 AM, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I am all about masking and being super careful, but the new regs in effect today requiring me to wear one when alone in my private office is going to take some getting used to.  Also making me hate phone calls even more than I did before, which I didn't think was possible.

In the spring my homeowners board, that I’m on, had an emergency session about some contentious issue. A couple of members joined through zoom, the rest many feet apart and in masks. The meeting ( as usual ) got heated, and you had a bunch of older folks trying to yell at each other and having to repeat everything many times, while one person held a phone up so the zoom callers could yell too.

 It was pretty hilarious, and very 2020.

In an update- my daughters test came back negative!! Just a regular bug. So relieved and happy.
 

It really hi-lighted though how hard winter is likely to be, and how big a ripple effect this has! 

[Not that josh's mom]

I was just reading about people who are traveling for Thanksgiving. Some people sound as though they are trying to be safe, others are "you can't make me"  then there are the ones that make me the most upset. "We need to go because we are tired of staying home". Dang! We're all tired of staying home! Get over it Sweet Pea!!! You might get to see the people you miss seeing next year. If you don't kill them this year. Thanks for listening to me rant.

[Audrey2]

Sadly I think the whole coronavirus has proven that for a large swath of America, their average mental age is somewhere between two and three. Have you ever tried to tell a toddler no? Their meltdowns remind me of these folks meltdowns.