Dogsitting

Earlier this week a mom sent an email to people in the homeschool co-op in her search for a teenager to dog sit their female cavapoo for ten days. Nadia got the job, and Cookie was delivered to our house last night. Nadia loves dogs, cats, guinea pigs, etc. so she was excited at the prospect of having two dogs for ten days, plus she likes to earn $100. She's only earned money from someone other than me one other time in her life (she and her friend babysat a boy together once). I'm happy that someone else is paying her this time! Milo usually alternates between Nadia and Ian's beds. Last night it would normally have been Nadia's turn to have Milo, but because Cookie was crying in her crate for an extended period of time, Cookie slept with Nadia, and Ian had Milo two nights in a row. Normally Cookie sleeps in a crate, but it seems that in a foreign environment she preferred to snuggle with someone. We were told that Cookie doesn't have accidents in her crate but does have accidents in the house. She's had one accident so far. We thought Milo would be thrilled to have a playmate, but so far Cookie, despite the fact she's smaller than Milo, has been aggressive toward Milo (growling and jumping on him). Hopefully they will learn to get along as we hate having to keep Milo in his crate just to keep the two of them separate. 

In early December I joined Sam's club for the first time in my life. Time will tell if I keep the membership more than one year. It definitely made sense the first year as they refunded the membership fee during my first shopping trip. I had done one online order in December, but this Tuesday was the first time I actually went into the store. It was a quick trip because I didn't want to leave the boys at home longer than necessary and also because my ankle still swells up if I walk around too much. What I gleaned so far was that they don't carry everything we typically buy (ex. no skim milk), but they do have good prices on some things. The "find" that put the biggest smile on my face was turkey. Lunchmeat has been very scarce at Weis, Walmart, and Aldi, and also the prices have been skyrocketing. The package contained 2.5 lbs., which is more turkey than I usually buy at one time for Paul, but the price was good, and they had plenty in stock. I put some of it in the freezer. I didn't buy hotdogs there because I thought the price wasn't good. Then I went to Walmart after dropping Nadia off at her drama class and found out that the price of hotdogs had skyrocketed very recently. I hadn't purchased bacon or beef stew meat for months due to the price increases. I purchased them at Sam's. I paid more than I have ever paid per pound for those in the past BUT the price increase was smaller than it is at Lingle's, which is usually where I find the best prices for meat. I've also never purchased so many pounds of beef stew meat at one time. I shouldn't need any for at least a year! I'm not sure if I'll renew the membership in light of the $45 annual fee, but for at least the next about ten months I'm sure I'll shop there from time to time. It is definitely the best place to get Dorito's at the moment. I don't plan on buying eggs there again as #1 it wasn't the best price and #2 you have to buy at least 36 at a time which is definitely more than I usually buy at one time. 

Ian enjoyed his date with Paul last Saturday. They shared a pizza and bowled. The kids really enjoy these dates. Next year I'm planning to expand it so that they each get three dates a year. Today Oliver is going on a date with Paul to Treasure Castle Playland and KFC.

I'm very encouraged to see that some states are ending their mask mandates except for kids in school. Many have stated that masks other than N95 masks aren't that helpful, and I rarely see anyone wearing an N95 mask. Paul heard about a study recently that showed that the N95 masks are only helpful with Omicron if someone sneezes, coughs, or spits in your face. You need something even more powerful (a gas mask?) to prevent breathing the miniscule particles that are just floating around in the air. We've been using an air purifier at home that Paul's dad purchased. I'm even more thrilled to see that the cities which instituted vaccine mandates several weeks ago are already ending them or talking about ending them in the near future (Salem, Boston, Chicago, etc.). I was very encouraged when I saw that Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and England have scrapped their COVID restrictions, and I hoped the USA would follow their pattern. I have made most of the plans for our vacation in May. I'm still holding off on planning our fall trip, but now I have far more hope that we can take our unvaccinated kids on a road trip to New England or the Midwest.