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Post by curmudgeon on Feb 9, 2021 17:54:54 GMT -6
danvers glad to hear you’re feeling better! Hope you and the girls had fun sledding.
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Post by curmudgeon on Feb 11, 2021 10:47:52 GMT -6
No posts in over a day!
Do you do Valentine gifts for the kids? What about your H?
My H will be gone during the evenings all weekend so maybe I’ll make more V-day cookies with the boys.
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Feb 11, 2021 16:12:48 GMT -6
I saw some candy heart M&M things a while ago at Target and grabbed them for the girls. We had to pop into Dollar Tree yesterday and they loved all the helium balloons that were up so may get them one of those too as a surprise.
H and I don’t normally do gifts for each other but he surprised me with an Apple Watch as a Vday/early Bday gift. The watch is way smarter than me and I’m a bit overwhelmed but it was a super sweet gift.
I think I’ll make cookies with the girls this weekend. I might try to find a place that has cheesecake slices for H and I. I do not need a whole cheesecake sitting in the house but I do love me some cheesecake too.
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Post by curmudgeon on Feb 11, 2021 19:17:12 GMT -6
Cheesecake sounds so good right now.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Feb 12, 2021 0:17:56 GMT -6
duskymonkey Gong xi fa cai! Happy Chinese New Year O17! May the year of the Ox bring happiness, prosperity, and good health to all of you and your families 😊 🐂 🎉🧧 Chinese New Year is a pretty big thing where we live, and it’s very close to Valentine’s Day this year, so we’re just going to focus on CNY stuff. I have “hong baos” (red envelopes filled with some money) for the boys, which I will give them after school today. We might bake some Valentine’s sweets over the weekend, we’ll see. H and I don’t have any plans for V Day, but we should! Maybe we’ll do a belated date night next week. We normally don’t do presents, just a fun dinner out.
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Post by curmudgeon on Feb 12, 2021 7:14:04 GMT -6
I signed DS1 up for a “Parents Night Out” tonight at his coding class. But H and I don’t have plans to go anywhere because DS2 will be with us. We may go buy some shoes for the kids. Exciting!!
I’m looking forward to a holiday Monday. It may snow also!!
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Post by CoachTsWife on Feb 12, 2021 8:28:57 GMT -6
We are having an arctic blast. Current temp is 3 degrees with a windchill of -14. Most of the schools in the area are closed or doing virtual to keep the walkers and bus riders safe. The weekend is going to be brutal, the highs for Sunday and Monday are 0 (zero) and 2. The lows are -8 and -13. BRUTAL. DO NOT LIKE. We got snow last weekend and it is still on the ground, which is fairly unusual here, and it'll be at least another week before we get above freezing.
I don't think we have seen the sun all week, so send some sunshine to the Midwest, PLEASE!!!
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Feb 12, 2021 20:24:39 GMT -6
DD2 finally got a bed frame and box springs tonight. She’s been on a mattress on the floor for over a year. 1.5hr later she’s still up and fussing on and off so here I sit.
I need to get up early to go shopping tomorrow before a snow storm blows in. All the pickup spots were taken so I want to head in early. I haven’t needed to run into our stores here in awhile and generally try to avoid it because everyone is so bad at mask wearing here.
I’m tired before Saturday has even started 😴😴😴
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Feb 13, 2021 8:08:27 GMT -6
curmudgeon Shoe buying with just 1 kid is easier than with 2! My kids haaaaate trying on shoes or going shopping for them. Hence, it’s crocs life for us, lol. danvers Hoping your DD gets used to the new bed! Good luck with the grocery shopping too. CoachTsWife Ugh - that sounds too cold for me to bear. I used to live in the Midwest and I remember the inside of my nose freezing and my eyelashes freezing too....but after so long in Southeast Asia, I just don’t know if I could ever put up with it again. Stay safe and warm!
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Feb 13, 2021 8:13:53 GMT -6
H and I decided to go out for a date on actual Valentine’s Day this year. We’re going to one of our favorite restaurants, and I’m looking forward to it, we haven’t been out for a date in a while. I also made chocolate crack (like chocolate toffee saltine crackers thing) today, and it turned out okay. Will give it away as V-day gifts to the boys’ teachers at school on Monday. I normally love the chocolate crack, BUT, I just made below recipe last weekend, and it turned out amazing. So, now I think my expectations for chocolate/caramel/crunchy/sweet/salty desserts have gotten higher. The title of the dessert is misleading (IMO), I don’t drink coffee and don’t care for coffee flavors in desserts...I couldn’t taste the espresso in these at all. But the espresso does add a salty/subtle depth to the chocolate, which is really nice. I sprinkled sea salt on top - so good. www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/espresso-caramel-bars-recipe-1917359
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Post by curmudgeon on Feb 13, 2021 8:28:32 GMT -6
I wanted to make muffins but couldn’t find my muffin tray so I’m attempting to turn them into donuts. We didn’t go shoe shopping last night because I was just too cold to leave the house, so I may go alone today. DS1 says his stomach hurts, and I’m hoping it’s from the valentines parties and candy at school, then pizza and cookies at PNO.
Since the weather will be too cold to function (for Texas. 20 is hardly ever seen!) I’m going to tackle the play area. Get the ikea shelves fastened to the walls, toys organized, etc. I’m very excited.
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Post by duskymonkey on Feb 13, 2021 22:46:44 GMT -6
Taitai Happy New year to you too. I know you don't celebrate but it's hard not to when everyone around is in the spirit much like Christmas with us lol! Happy Oxen year to everyone! I am so exhausted with DS' new class schedule plus I've been upgrading our masks with a stretched chiffon and that is killing me. It takes me 2x as long to unpick and resew 1 mask than it is to just make a whole new one. Covid sucks! Anyways we spent the day watching lion and dragon dance videos yesterday and lil fella and I painted a dragon ( his idea after watching the dragon dances ). I broke out my steamer and made Bao ( roast pork steam buns ) today and will be making Kuih Khoo ( Tortise cakes ) below tomorrow. I made the filling today and trying my best to not eat it. Now I remember why I don't always make traditional food stuff. It's so laborious and a multiday process or a whole day. I also forgot to pick up banana leaves the last time I was at the Asian market and almost did an emergency store run for corn husks as an alt lol! but then I remembered I had bamboo leaves I can sub so I spent last night washing and soaking a bunch of them and trimming them today. I hated doing that when I was a kid and I still hate it now hah! Can't wait for the kids to help with that. It will be their first time and am excited for them to have a taste. I really hope they like it. It's one of my favorites as a kid. Tonight I made long noodles dish with mussels and the I was so happy the kids liked mussels. So really our new year big feast is being spread out over the weekend. Hoping we can go deliver some red envelopes, oranges and tortoise cakes to a couple of DS' friends in the neighborhood tomorrow if it's not like -10. I need to get the kids out though.
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Post by duskymonkey on Feb 13, 2021 22:51:59 GMT -6
We are having an arctic blast. Current temp is 3 degrees with a windchill of -14. Most of the schools in the area are closed or doing virtual to keep the walkers and bus riders safe. The weekend is going to be brutal, the highs for Sunday and Monday are 0 (zero) and 2. The lows are -8 and -13. BRUTAL. DO NOT LIKE. We got snow last weekend and it is still on the ground, which is fairly unusual here, and it'll be at least another week before we get above freezing. I don't think we have seen the sun all week, so send some sunshine to the Midwest, PLEASE!!! Same here! It snowed lightly all week too and it was -6 when we woke up this am. Brrrrr! I am going to make a batch of granola with the kids tomorrow to warm up the house.
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Post by duskymonkey on Feb 13, 2021 23:01:34 GMT -6
DD2 finally got a bed frame and box springs tonight. She’s been on a mattress on the floor for over a year. 1.5hr later she’s still up and fussing on and off so here I sit. I need to get up early to go shopping tomorrow before a snow storm blows in. All the pickup spots were taken so I want to head in early. I haven’t needed to run into our stores here in awhile and generally try to avoid it because everyone is so bad at mask wearing here. I’m tired before Saturday has even started 😴😴😴 This is my Covid life, going to stores at the crack of dawn or after the kids go to bed once a week. i am exhausted and it's almost a year. I've gotten too many wilted, sad, bruised, partly rotten and bashed fruit and veg and I only go out for that plus I can only get fish from the fresh seafood case in person. We pickup all other boxed packaged items which isn't often. Hang in there. The new admin is recognizing and actually addressing that it's a dire situation.
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Post by duskymonkey on Feb 13, 2021 23:10:15 GMT -6
curmudgeon we don't really do anything for Vday. DS asked for cookies but I already made sweets last weekend; sugar cookie bars for the kids to have when we had a video birthday celebration with my nephew ( his birthday ) I spaced out and thought we were doing it on Sunday and only had 1 egg left on Saturday and grocery pick up wasn't until Saturday afternoon. So I finally got to make the sugar cookie bars which I had been on my radar for a while. Kids approved. I am unsure what to make of it. I did mod the recipe and reduced the sugar in the frosting. Anyone interested here it is. link
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Post by duskymonkey on Feb 13, 2021 23:16:47 GMT -6
H and I decided to go out for a date on actual Valentine’s Day this year. We’re going to one of our favorite restaurants, and I’m looking forward to it, we haven’t been out for a date in a while. I also made chocolate crack (like chocolate toffee saltine crackers thing) today, and it turned out okay. Will give it away as V-day gifts to the boys’ teachers at school on Monday. I normally love the chocolate crack, BUT, I just made below recipe last weekend, and it turned out amazing. So, now I think my expectations for chocolate/caramel/crunchy/sweet/salty desserts have gotten higher. The title of the dessert is misleading (IMO), I don’t drink coffee and am don’t cafe for coffee flavors in desserts...I couldn’t taste the espresso in these at all. But the espresso does add a salty/subtle depth to the chocolate, which is really nice. I sprinkled sea salt on top - so good. www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/espresso-caramel-bars-recipe-1917359You have to share your menus with us lol! OMG! I don't even know when it will be safe for us to go out to a restaurant again. People here just suck. I will have to check out that recipe. I love slated caramel anything too. There's a salted caramel gelato that I get all the time here yum! Also per my dessert gal, Stella Parks, coffee enhances the flavour of chocolate.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Feb 14, 2021 8:12:01 GMT -6
H and I decided to go out for a date on actual Valentine’s Day this year. We’re going to one of our favorite restaurants, and I’m looking forward to it, we haven’t been out for a date in a while. I also made chocolate crack (like chocolate toffee saltine crackers thing) today, and it turned out okay. Will give it away as V-day gifts to the boys’ teachers at school on Monday. I normally love the chocolate crack, BUT, I just made below recipe last weekend, and it turned out amazing. So, now I think my expectations for chocolate/caramel/crunchy/sweet/salty desserts have gotten higher. The title of the dessert is misleading (IMO), I don’t drink coffee and am don’t cafe for coffee flavors in desserts...I couldn’t taste the espresso in these at all. But the espresso does add a salty/subtle depth to the chocolate, which is really nice. I sprinkled sea salt on top - so good. www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/espresso-caramel-bars-recipe-1917359You have to share your menus with us lol! OMG! I don't even know when it will be safe for us to go out to a restaurant again. People here just suck. I will have to check out that recipe. I love slated caramel anything too. There's a salted caramel gelato that I get all the time here yum! Also per my dessert gal, Stella Parks, coffee enhances the flavour of chocolate. You would really like these caramel espresso bars dusky! They are soooooo good. I made mine in an 8 x 8 inch pan, and they turned out just fine (in case you don’t have 9x 9 which the recipe calls for. I also used parchment paper and not wax paper to line the pan - worked out just fine. I find that you have to freeze the bars to get them hard enough to cut them into squares without the caramel center squishing out. So, what I do is follow the recipe as written, but after it’s all done and has been in the fridge for an hour, I then transfer it into the freezer for half a day to really harden up. Then I take it out and cut into squares. So good! As for our V Day dinner - it was really tasty. We went to our favorite Indian restaurant, where they had an awesome buffet and live cooking stations. Dosa with a coconut chutney, lots of curries that I can’t name, lamb biryani, garlic naan straight off the stone, mango lassi, masala chai, spinach paneer, sooooo many other things I forget. Oh, papri chat. I ate way too much, but it was worth it. We had a great time.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Feb 14, 2021 8:17:01 GMT -6
Taitai Happy New year to you too. I know you don't celebrate but it's hard not to when everyone around is in the spirit much like Christmas with us lol! Happy Oxen year to everyone! I am so exhausted with DS' new class schedule plus I've been upgrading our masks with a stretched chiffon and that is killing me. It takes me 2x as long to unpick and resew 1 mask than it is to just make a whole new one. Covid sucks! Anyways we spent the day watching lion and dragon dance videos yesterday and lil fella and I painted a dragon ( his idea after watching the dragon dances ). I broke out my steamer and made Bao ( roast pork steam buns ) today and will be making Kuih Khoo ( Tortise cakes ) below tomorrow. I made the filling today and trying my best to not eat it. Now I remember why I don't always make traditional food stuff. It's so laborious and a multiday process or a whole day. I also forgot to pick up banana leaves the last time I was at the Asian market and almost did an emergency store run for corn husks as an alt lol! but then I remembered I had bamboo leaves I can sub so I spent last night washing and soaking a bunch of them and trimming them today. I hated doing that when I was a kid and I still hate it now hah! Can't wait for the kids to help with that. It will be their first time and am excited for them to have a taste. I really hope they like it. It's one of my favorites as a kid. Tonight I made long noodles dish with mussels and the I was so happy the kids liked mussels. So really our new year big feast is being spread out over the weekend. Hoping we can go deliver some red envelopes, oranges and tortoise cakes to a couple of DS' friends in the neighborhood tomorrow if it's not like -10. I need to get the kids out though. Wow!!!! Those Khui Khoo look amazing! I am sure the bao and everything else turned out amazing too - you are such an awesome cook duskymonkey! I like the idea of spreading the feast out over the weekend - it’s more fun that way. And you are right - many of those dishes take so much time to prepare! I am not good at cooking, so I can’t do it. However, I am positive your boys appreciate it, and they are lucky to grow up in a household where you still celebrate with traditional recipes. That is really special. Oh, and we saw a few lion dances on Friday. I love how the guys get up on each other’s shoulders to make the Lion stand up. Our boys love that. They had a little parade in the mall that gave out hong baos (coupons inside) and fish balloons. It was fun!
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Feb 14, 2021 19:01:13 GMT -6
We are supposed to get 6-9” of snow in the next 24-36hrs.
Tomorrow is a teacher inservice day for professional development (no students present)
We got a group text saying we may show up at 8:00am so there’s better light to see road conditions.
Our normal contract time for work is 7:45am. 😑😑😑😑😑
Fingers crossed we’re one of the areas that might get 9+ Inches because I love snow and snow day from school. I love to get away from ridiculousness too 🙄
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Post by curmudgeon on Feb 15, 2021 8:18:10 GMT -6
We have maybe .5-1” of snow. The boys liked playing in it for about 5 min and then ran back inside.
It’s 18 degrees and we just aren’t cut out to handle this weather throughout the entire state at the same time. The electric council whatever started rolling blackouts planned for 15-45 min and a time. Don’t think it’s going as planned. My parents and in laws are both going on over 6 hours without power, other areas are 3 hours at least. Seems like once they shut you off, they can’t bring you back on.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Feb 15, 2021 8:53:16 GMT -6
curmudgeon Oh no - 6 hours without power when it’s 18 degrees outside sounds dangerous. Do your parents have a fireplace or anything like that? What are people doing if they can’t get power back? I hope the weather warms up for you all really soon.
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Post by curmudgeon on Feb 15, 2021 9:38:58 GMT -6
curmudgeon Oh no - 6 hours without power when it’s 18 degrees outside sounds dangerous. Do your parents have a fireplace or anything like that? What are people doing if they can’t get power back? I hope the weather warms up for you all really soon. no fireplace. I think they’re just bundling up indoors. MIL is sitting in the car with a heater for a bit before returning inside. That specific electric company reported over 97,000 without power, and have delayed sending crews out because of road conditions. I offered my parents to come stay over here but no one wants to drive. I’m reading through FB comments and feel for those with elderly relatives who have no heat.
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Post by August Blooms on Feb 15, 2021 12:44:49 GMT -6
curmudgeon I always forget about how dangerous it can be for you guys down south to get snow since we are so used to having winter here. Hopefully they can get the power back on soon and they can stay warm. And safe. danvers What’s your snow situation like? duskymonkey Happy new year! As always your cooking/baking amazes me!
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Post by August Blooms on Feb 15, 2021 12:57:26 GMT -6
I have finally escaped Groundhog Day! I got offered an assignment at work not the job I wanted but something else. I get to work from home for part of it and it’s a M-F, so no more shift work for now. And I finally ordered the treadmill I wanted since it’s tax refund and bonus time we have a bit of extra fun money. It will hold me over until the weather is better.
I got the girls a little bit of chocolate for Valentines Day and some bath bombs which they love. DH tried to make a great dinner but it didn’t work out the way he planned, I thought it was still good. These days I don’t complain much when it’s not me doing the cooking, I’m usually grateful for the break.
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Post by curmudgeon on Feb 15, 2021 13:44:28 GMT -6
August Blooms the new assignment sounds great!! It’s only temporary or could it turn into a long-term thing?
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Post by CoachTsWife on Feb 15, 2021 13:53:19 GMT -6
It is snowing again here and it was -7* this morning. It is -3* right now with -21 wind chill. Our energy company just announced rolling outages and I'm nervous. Our furnace can barely keep up. Thankfully we have a fireplace and can use that but it really only heats 1 room. But that is way better than not having one at all, so I'm very thankful.
We had a real low key Valentine's Day. We had invited MIL over but with the weather (it snowed yesterday, too) and dangerously cold temps, she stayed home.
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Feb 15, 2021 14:23:05 GMT -6
August Blooms 9-12 inches expected. We currently have about 4 but it’s supposed to snow steadily till midnight tonight. I love snow and grew up in an area with lake effect amounts of 12+ inches at a time off of the Great Lakes. However, my brother lives in Austin, TX and said it’s a mess there right now and understandably so since those areas aren’t equipped for the ice and snow. Thoughts for everyone across the country right now with this weather! I hope your heat works and your kids don’t go stir crazy too quickly!
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Post by duskymonkey on Feb 16, 2021 0:02:12 GMT -6
danvers , I really hope you get your snow day tomorrow! and the girls get to go out to play. if you do have to go to school I hope the roads are safe and you're close by. That's a lot of snow BTW. CoachTsWife yeah....that's cold...we have similar temps here. August Blooms That's great news and I am so happy for you to have a set schedule. Glad you got the treadmill, you deserve it and I am certain will get a lot of use. We're in for the long haul on COVID. Meh. Also that pic of the tortoise cakes aren't mine lol! Below pic is what mine looked like and lil fella loves it! DS is uncertain if he likes it or not, he says he thinks he likes it but not enough for 2nds... They turned out pretty good considering I haven't made them in like 20 years or so? But man they are a PITA to make but totally worth it. Taitai incredible you were out dining and a buffet on top of that lol! you picked the right country that's for sure! I lurrveeee Dosa. Gives a thought, maybe we could take the kids for a drive next weekend and get Indian takeout and possibly squeeze in a hike.
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Post by duskymonkey on Feb 16, 2021 0:14:17 GMT -6
curmudgeon I saw the news. It's awful. I am sorry you guys are having to deal with cold temps. Snow is one thing but ice and black ice is treacherous. We get ice storms a lot up in the NE so I've gotten careful with driving in those conditions. I am thankful we have a fireplace even though we don't often use it because of lil fella but he seems to have some common sense about safety and have asked to turn it on a few times so maybe we'll get to use it more now. I noticed some of the newer homes doesn't have one or maybe the homeowners opted out? Anyways I think where we are it's essential during power outage. I remember we did have to use it once but luckily the power came back on around 9pm and I think we lost power around mid day. Do your in-laws have a basement? Our basement stays a steady 68 all year. Hopefully it's resolved by now.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Feb 16, 2021 0:43:30 GMT -6
curmudgeon I hope your ILs and parents are doing okay and that they have power back - thinking about them. CoachTsWife Yikes - rolling power outages for you too, and your weather is super cold. Fingers crossed you don’t have to use the fireplace - but it is good that you have one. danvers Did you end up with a snow day? Hope it’s warm enough for the girls to play outside if you did. duskymonkey Your tortoise cakes look amazing too!! Glad DS liked it - I would have gobbled them all up! And yes, we’re feeling really fortunate to be where we are. There have been about 7 cases in our entire city of 14 million people for the past week - 0 cases the last two days. People are still worried about the new strains that are more contagious, but for now, doesn’t seem to be around. Life is as normal as we can be right now, and we are thankful. I am sure if more cases start cropping up, they will put in restrictions again (and everyone here is good about following those).
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