Recreating Pinterest Bachelorette Shirts

There is something about personalized event shirts that make the gathering more fun. But the thought of a single use shirt seems like such a waste and does not align with my goal of reduce, reuse, recycle or repurpose.  So when my friend mentioned making shirts for a bachelorette weekend I was on board and suggested they send me an old favorite shirt that I could add the vinyl onto. However, not knowing the blend and if the vinyl I had would work, we opted to purchase shirts and picked designs that will be fun for the weekend and beyond. 

We decided on a V-Neck soft blend shirt and should drape nicely on each of the women attending. This was my first time ordering from Jiffy Shirts 

The shirts arrived very quickly. I ordered on Jan 20th and they were delivered on Monday the 25th and Tuesday the 26th. For 12 Shirts the grand total with shipping was 115.24

I do not feel like the rose bloom is rose at all, it is more coral or salmon but still a nice color. The Army green are exactly what you would expect. 

Here is the Pinterest inspiration:  

I pay for Cricut Access and used the following fonts:

  • Text: Euphemia Ucas For the Caps
  • Text: Loop-di-Loo for the cursive 

I used a square in Design Space that was about 9 X 9 Added the font and then used the Align Horizontal Center. 

Before sending it to cut I removed the box and “Attached” the wording. This will keep the words in the exact placement you want it. 

Vinyl: I used the  Cricut strong bond Heat Transfer Vinyl, from Michaels. 5.99 I typically check online to see what craft store is running vinyl promotions. I’m lucky there is a  Michaels, Hobby Lobby and Joann’s nearby and they typically alternate promotions weekly so I can find it for buy one get one or 30% off.

 While in the cut preview screen make sure you mirror your image. The prompts tell you this but I’m going to say it again 🙂 

Send it to print and get your iron started, I set mine to cotton.  I don’t have a heat press or anything fancy. Just my regular iron and portable ironing board. I don’t see the point investing in something more with my current needs. 

I’m part of the Jennifer Maker FB group and gathered the following tip from the members in there. 

Fold shirt in Half horizontally and vertically to create a guide for the center placement.

After I removed the excess vinyl (called weeding) I folded the design in half to line it up with newly created iron marks on the shirt. 

Place it down, you can place a thin material over the top like a pillow case, parchment paper or just iron directly on the plastic. Keep the iron on there for about the count of 15-20 secs.  

Remove the plastic – s l o w l y — and you’re done. 

 

Finished product.

 

 

Shirt: 9.60 Vinyl: .99 = 10.59

The pricing for the original version is very well priced considering how long it takes to find the font, place it and iron it down. Looking at the design today, I should have made the cursive larger, the full width of the wording but it’s ok and will work great for our weekend.

Missed Opportunity

Have you ever stopped to think how thankful you are for a missed opportunity? 

Almost daily I drive by a restaurant that I interviewed to work at when I was a teenager. They turned me down because I didn’t have waiting experience. I was 18 and eager to work but wasn’t the right fit for their restaurant. I ended up leaving that interview and getting a call a few days later from my good friend. Her mom wanted to interview me for a data entry position.  Her mom “D” knew that I wasn’t always available to hang out because her daughter would make the comment I was busy working. She didn’t know much more about me than that. D had a position open and needed it filled. It was end of the qtr and she needed someone to enter some information for their reporting. I was hired and learned 10 key, trial by fire. In fact, I didn’t know how to type or send an email but I was willing to learn. I was willing to learn to wait tables too, but they were not willing to train me. However, someone was… And from that entry level position I helped other people in the office and eventually worked as an account manager. That was my start in the corporate world and I essentially never left. I’m so thankful for that missed opportunity. Today when I drive by that restaurant, it is empty. That business left and there hasn’t been a replacement for many years. If a restaurant or bar does open in that location, it doesn’t last very long. 

I’m currently listening to the book “The Dip” and it speaks about knowing when to quit and when to stick it out. I know it’s time for a change and I’m working on do just that. The book has me thinking about the different times when I quit in my life or when I thought I missed out on something. Only to find exactly what I needed on the other side of “Loss”.  If you’re in a place of what feels like a loss or missed opportunity, keep going. The next call or contact could be the opportunity that you really need. 

COVID Vaccine Part 2- mRNA

This is a continuation of my thoughts on the COVID vaccine. In my last post I looked into the requirements for approval. We know that the FDA has approved two vaccines via an emergency order. The manufacturers are Moderna and Pfizer, both companies utilize the same technology known as mRNA. This is a big deal because this is the first time an mRNA based vaccine has been approved for human use. *warning* this is my basic high school science class understanding.

Let’s begin by reviewing the technologies. For this, we can refer to the background section of the FDA guide (pg 2 second paragraph)

“Commercial vaccine manufacturers and other entities are developing COVID-19 vaccine candidates using different technologies including RNA, DNA, protein, and viral vectored vaccines.”

Since I have never studied the science behind a vaccine or medical advances, nor do I have any connection to an expert in this field, I started following people during the start of the pandemic. Like Science.uncovered. I like her explanation on the types of technologies and her next post on the approved ones I am familiar with. Or take a look at this video https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/what-are-nucleic-acid-vaccines-and-how-could-they-be-used-against-covid-19. It provides a good visual for how the vaccines work. I provide two alternate sites to the CDC, since they only give an explanation for 3 specific types. I’m guessing they included 3 types as this is what has made it to stage 3 of clinical trials. Not sure, but I like to get information from a couple of different places to see how they compare.

I’m focusing on mRNA, which is known as a messenger RNA. It can be produced the fastest, and it enters our cells with code, not the actual virus. Naturally, the biggest question I have, WHY now? How did we go from never approved to now approved and awesome?

When the CDC states “mRNA Vaccines Are New, But Not Unknown Researchers have been studying and working with mRNA vaccines for decades” I’m the kind of person that wants to know exactly when the research began.

So I googled medical journal + mRNA and got the following entry.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3597572

Full disclosure, I don’t understand much about this document. I focused on the Abstract, Introduction, mRNA design and mRNA vaccine portion along with conclusion. I feel comfortable with the technology and research has been around longer than 2020. I really like the idea of this helping in the fight against cancer.

Things I like to hear about this method:

  • It does not contain Thimerosal (Thimerosal is the mercury stuff that many people feel is linked to Autism)
  • It does not contain the actual virus
  • The research and science predates the pandemic by a comfortable time span for me. (Since 1989)

Things that concern me:

  • The genetic code/genome stuff
  • It must be kept at a specific temperature
  • The variance in ingredients/approved age range for Pfizer and Moderna products.

The genetic code with mRNA sounds scary. I already side eye genetically modified food and avoid them for human consumption. So the thought a vaccine might interfere with the human genome is scary. The various news outlets or guest experts advise it doesn’t. Where I’m hanging my hat on this, is from the the introduction of the journal entry. It indicates it does not interact with the genome. Seeing it in the document does provide a stronger argument in that it is peer reviewed and should have a correction or additional studies to dispute the information. With this paper being 8 years old and considering the fact the manufacturers are competing to produce a vaccine. The two who are already approved didn’t work together. They didn’t share to co-create or in cahoots. They selected this route, other manufacturers are taking a different route. If you do not want to take an mRNA you can wait for the AstraZeneca to finish its clinical trial, It will be viral vector method. Or if you want to go with Janssen it is supposed to be a single dose. Novavax has an engineered patented nanotechnology and 2 doses. As I understand it, all vaccines enter the body and essentially command it to trigger a response. My thoughts are, they all communicate and program is some fashion.

Final Thoughts:

I no longer have a concern about the safety of the vaccine or the mRNA technology. I feel that by the time a vaccine is rolled out for me it will be well vetted. With the front line members of society taking this vaccine they will also be able to report any adverse reactions. In fact, anyone can report reactions to vaccines, and encouraged (link below) I’m not sure which brand I think is better. Pfizer has an approved vaccine on the market and partnered with Biontech who has the mRNA experience in their history. This is the debut vaccine for Moderna, who have focused on this technology since 2010. Moderna has fewer ingredients and a slightly better storage life. What are your thoughts? Take a look at the 2 information sheets linked below. You might be part of the population who shouldn’t take it due to other health issues. I was vaccinated as a child, had chicken pox as an infant and shingles in my 20’s. I’ve never had a reaction to a vaccine and do not anticipate a reaction to this version. I have the advantage of time and the game plan of promoting overall immune health as my first defense.

Moderna Fact Sheet:

https://www.fda.gov/media/144638/download

PFIZER-BIONTECH Fact Sheet:

https://www.fda.gov/media/144414/download

Repoting adverse reactions to vaccines: https://vaers.hhs.gov/index.html

Per CDC: 

As of December 28, 2020, large-scale (Phase 3) clinical trials are in progress or being planned for three COVID-19 vaccines in the United States:

You follow clinical trials: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/

COVID Vaccine

The hot topic of winter 2020. Will you be getting the COVID vaccine? If so, WHY? 

Oh boy, I’m having flashbacks to when we decided on a vaccine plan for our 3 children. The endless google searches to try and make the right decision. Similar to that experience, I heard a lot of things about vaccine safety, spacing and requirements. I didn’t really get involved until we were closer to delivery AKA required to make a decision. 

The beauty about 2020 is access to more information and searching in the right places. Example, understanding that a news article is not going to include the information in a medical journal. That a medical journal is peer reviewed and different from a medical publication. Also, having more direct access to real process workers on the front lines. Meaning, I can go follow an infectious diseases researcher like Laurel Bristow or PH.D student like Kennen Hutchinson, on Instagram. 

Today, I am a ‘healthy’ middle aged woman with no underlying health conditions. I’m average weight and activity level. I work from home and do very little traveling by plane or outside of the states. I might get swollen tonsils yearly but that is really about it. To my knowledge, one time I had the flu but it was the mild type that makes you feel tired NOT sick in bed for a week.  I do not take a lot of prescriptions and I am not quick to medicate myself, even with stuff like Tylenol. I tend to drink some water, close my eyes and wait it out. So with all that said, I don’t feel very concerned about COVID, but I understand the severity and real effects. I do not believe it to be a hoax and realize this is a GLOBAL problem with many educated people from varying backgrounds working on the problem. 

I feel like I’m no where near the top of the list of people who need to consider this so I haven’t. I’ve been consuming some of talking points and doing a bit of investigating to better understand the concerns to develop my personal policy on the matter. 

My personal concerns include: 

  1. The timeline for development and production of a vaccine
  2. Messenger method 
  3. Fetal tissue/aborted babies
  4. Bell’s palsy 
  5. Government overreach/money, money, money 

So how did they whip this up so fast?!? I mean we’re still researching other major health concerns such as cancer and isn’t the flu vaccine whack? Side eye + scrunch face= visual of my thoughts.  Well, you’re going to have to read. And I don’t mean an article on Fox or CNN but the actual document that outlines guidance https://www.fda.gov/media/139638/download. 

So this is MY interpretation of what I read. 

  1. So the first thing they cut is the public comment waiting period on the federal registry. It wasn’t removed completely but rather open for comment WHILE the development is underway and will be replaced on the registry after. (Per the introduction.)
  2. Then in general considerations III. A bullet point 2 it points out development acceleration based on knowledge from similar products manufactured with the same well-characterized platform technology, to the extent legally and scientifically possible. 
  3. Acceleration approval- from what understand, that last portion of the post trial requirement is not quite met at the time of approval.  Also, when a manufacturer meets the requirements outlined they’re moving to the front of the “approval” line. 
  4. The document further outlines requirements for study groups, facilities, quality control. The process for using a novel product (toxicity studies) Clinical trials, selecting participant etc.  You’re going to need to read the document to pull out the items of concern for your  research. 
  5. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/basics/test-approve.html look into how vaccines are historically approved and the requirements for each study. The .gov link will at least provide the sites for additional review and research on your part. 

MY final thoughts on the development and availability of the vaccine for public use. I believe there are protocols and regulations in place that all manufacturers must meet to be considered a candidate and eventually receive accelerated approval. Various populations were tested which included a person that likely has a similar health history. The vaccine in itself must safe and effective to receive an approval, so why do I still feel apprehensive about receiving it? For me it is time, I want a minimum of 6 months history from administering a vaccine to my population group to consider all adverse reactions. I do not see myself being offered a vaccine for quite some time and I would likely start my personal 6 month timeframe from that point. Short answer, I will not be first in line when the vaccine becomes available for me. I’m not shutting the door on ever taking it or saying I will NOT take a vaccine.

Since this is already a lengthy post, I will tackle the remaining areas of concern in future posts but I thought I would summarize my thoughts on my first area of concern today. Who knows, I might change my mind in the future. 

I’m clearly not an expert in vaccines or infectious diseases.  I am only in expert in MY body and MY health advocate. I have to consider the pros and cons for what I believe to be true for my health and the safety of people around me. I’m sharing with you, so you can get a better understanding of how I’m coming to my personal decisions. 

Fetch: 1 year later

In Nov 2019 my friend and coworker told me about the app Fetch. You scan your grocery receipts and are awarded points. 25 points minimum for each grocery receipt.  If you happen to purchase items that are part of their promotions you get additional points. I think my highest reward summary was 300 points. {Buying kid junk food can pay in certain situations} 

What I like about the app:

  1. You do not have to link a credit card.  I’ve even scanned receipts that I found at the register or receipts from when my husband purchased something
  2. You don’t have to buy certain products to get a reward. Now, you are given more points if you have a particular item, but there isn’t a ‘Load it on the list to get credit’ type of requirement. 
  3. Redeeming your points for gift cards is very simple. You just go to the app, go to my rewards and select the denomination and retailer you would like to use. I redeemed my points for Amazon. 
  4. See how much we spend on groceries.  I find this interesting as I never really looked back on a year total. We try to stay in the 200.00 a trip range for eating out. But according to my 2020 recap. We’re sitting at approx 7K in groceries and that is 83 receipts. 

What I don’t Like:

  1. You’re basically rewarded for more processed/commercial foods. I haven’t noticed any rewards for plain old fruits and veggies. 
  2. You need a ton of points to get a certificate with any type of value. 10,000 points equal a Ten dollar certificate. It took me nearly all year to get that amount. 
  3. The 2 week expiration on receipts.  Look, for some reason I hold on to the receipts instead of just scanning it when I get home. The next thing I know it’s been 2 weeks and my receipt is rejected because it’s considered expired.  
  4. Just my general side eye on data collection.  Clearly that is the benefit, why else would they pay you to scan receipts? Knowing what the population buys, how much they spend and when they shop is, pretty good information for advertising and marketing. 

With all this said, I’m still using the App. I just don’t use it religiously or promote it to get a referral bonus. Although, I would refer it to anyone that wants an app that that is relatively easy to use and will pay out as advertised. In fact, I used the 10.00 gift card for Amazon the other day when I purchase a Christmas present for my nephew. It worked great and I was thankful to have it.  I think I’ve covered the ends and outs of this one. 

Neuro Testing

Yesterday we had our first official appointment with Dr. Jay to start the neurofeedback process. It begins with testing.

His office is connected to a small private school. So you enter in his suite but it’s actually connected by an atrium type room to the school and additional offices/conference rooms. We sit in his office to ask questions, which we didn’t have, then move to the smaller room with 2 computer monitors and a couch. I take a seat on the couch and F takes a seat in a chair. He is very nervous but isn’t acting that way outwardly. Instead, he opts to be sassy and annoyed by the whole process by talking back and trying to be shocking with his choice of words.

First, the Dr needs to measure his head to determine the best cap that will be used. F will get the red cap, it has 19 different white plastic sensors and a multicolor band of wires from the top. To place it on the head the Dr. wipes down his forehead and earlobes with alcohol. This is used to clean the surface and get a good seal for the testing. 

Next, he takes a syringe type device that is filled with a saline solution. The solution will go into each white sensor, and will be used as a conductor for testing. This portion took longer than expected because my child has crazy thick hair and it’s relatively long. So it took multiple syringes of solution to get down to his scalp. This of course, got my sassy child more flared up and I started to regret planning a 4 pm appointment. 

After some adjustments and dials turned, the monitor in front of the Dr shows the output from his brain. 19 lines of what looks like graphs with various peaks and valleys. F says “I know what this is! If it goes flat then it means you’re dead”  yes, something like that. 😉 Although, I prepped F with what the test is. I explained it is just to read how strong his brain is, he apparently had it in his head the Dr could read his thoughts. So he starts doing things the Dr specifically requests he not do. 🙃

For a good reading the Dr needs a certain amount of time of specific brain activity. The activity needed is when a person is in a relaxed state, staring at a fixed object, with minimal blinking and no body movements. You know, like a statue. So of course the minute you’re asked to do that your blinking and shaking like a Chihuahua.  We manage to get enough of the focused attention and reading for the session to end. After we sit there for a minute to discuss when the results would be shared; we were escorted out of the building to our car. 

Immediately, F returns to his happier more cooperative self and said “that wasn’t that bad.”  Me: 🤔

Me: “I know, I just don’t understand why you weren’t nicer in there.” 

F: “I thought he was going to read my mind”

Me: “No babe, it’s just to see how strong it is. After we get the results we start the next session. How do you feel about that?”

F: “Ok”

The entire appointment was less than an hour and relatively simple. I just wish I knew to prepare him for sitting still and the saline solution stuff. Apparently it was a little cold and of course wet, so F used that as fuel to his annoyed fire. I’m hopeful the results will give us a good plan and F can start on a fresh slate with his next session. 

Acorns App: An average user perspective

Let’s start by saying I’m not an investment guru, or anything even close to it. I’m just the average person that is trying to save money and sharing my experience with using this service.  This is in no way sponsored and I am not affiliated with the app. You need to make sure you chose an avenue for your finances that makes sense for you.  So with that, let’s begin. 

What is Acorns?    The Acorns app rounds up your purchases and invests them according to your plan, to help you grow your spare change into something more significant over time. 

It really is a super easy process, but can feel quite invasive. Especially since If you do not like participating in apps that want personal banking information. By linking your bank account it will monitor your purchases and roll the spare change into your acorns account.  It rolls the spare change once it reaches a certain dollar amount, mine is set to 10.00*. So if I buy something from target and it’s 25.75, the .25 will be moved to the acorns account AFTER I accumulate more change to get to 10.00*.  The withdrawals are random so that can be a negative if you keep your account pretty lean. I also have a 10.00 monthly recurring amount. On a particular day that will go into my acorns account to help me grow my account.  They also have an option called ‘Found Money,’ its an area in the app with various retailers that offer a cash back or deposit a $ or percentage amount into your account.  The only found money option I use is occasionally getting gas from Texaco and then I will get .25 cents deposited into my account. 

Let’s talk what it really looks like for the average user. 

When I logged onto my account today, it indicates I’ve invested 64.73 in the last 30 days.  

The breakdown looks like this: 

*During the making of this post and sharing the round up amounts it is clear that 10 dollars is not my limit. In fact, It appears to be totally random when it transfers and it is between 5-10 each round up.  

I’ve been a member since 2017, after being referred by my husband. He mentioned this app and that it was an easy way to start saving. At the time, there was a 10 dollar referral code for him and the recipient. So I signed up, indicated I was an aggressive investor and linked my personal banking account. 

Per the app: I’ve invested 2,586.50 (Since Nov 2017)

The reality: I withdraw the money when I get to about 500. I’ve taken a withdrawal to buy cryptocurrency in 2018, I’ve taken a withdrawal to buy Christmas presents and most recently I took a withdrawal to pay for the neurofeedback therapy I would like to start in November.  So I’m sitting at about 100.00 and that is it.

The negatives: 

  • The round ups are random
  • It costs money to use this service. I’m on a 1.00 a month subscription plan. Which isn’t a lot on the surfaces (Approx. 17% of my balance)
  • You cannot select specific stocks or funds to invest. So if you wanted to place your account into a particular stock like Tesla, this isn’t the way to do it. This is for the novice investor who just wants to select a plan. Like moderately aggressive or aggressive.

The positive:

  • This pays a higher yield than a traditional savings account. which is typically 1% (.01)
  • It’s hassle free in the sense that you just set it up and move along. You don’t have to watch the market, move your money around or work the account in any way.
  • You can access your funds fairly easily. You just log on and request a withdrawal for an amount that you have available. It takes about 3 business days for the funds to be deposited into your bank account.

 

The take away: 

I’ll continue to use the app and will probably share my referral code if any of my family or friends would like to sign up.  By the way, all members can get a referral code. Its found in the app labeled as “invite friends” right now the promo is for 5.00 for the person that signs up and I would get 5 dollars too.  If you would like to sign up — the code is CQ9949.  Again this is not sponsored in anyway by Acorns. I just decided to withdraw some money and thought I would share my experience with the application. 

Next, I plan to discuss the App Fetch.

Officially an Officiant

I envisioned me becoming an officiant when we moved to the country and onto some land. My plan is to have an area outside that will provided a nice backdrop for simple elope style weddings. A drive out and wed option for couples that want to bypass the big wedding event but want something a little more personal than a Justice of the Peace. Ideally, I’ll offer wedding packages with some light photography of the event. However, we’re not in the country and will not be moving anytime soon. I went ahead and got ordained so I can offer some assistance to the multitude of couples that will not be planning a wedding due to COVID 19. Or simply just want to keep it simple. Within a reasonable distance, I can meet the couple at the desired location and officiate the exchange of vows.  Texas requires a 3 day waiting period from the receipt of the marriage license to the exchange of vows. So with a 3 ay advance notice I should be able to accommodate the couples request.  If you’re looking for traditional vows, non traditional or create your own, I can assist.  Reach out using my contact me page and we can work a time and location for you.

Neurotherapy/ADHD/ Brain power

A few years ago I attended a work conference and one of the breakout sessions was on the brain. I don’t remember much about the session except that the brain does not like multitasking and the speaker advising that a lot of what is known about the brain was discovered in the last decade. The imaging and testing available has made a huge difference in brain health and diagnosis. She also shared that foods and activities can make a difference in brain health. This goes right along with my interest in healthy eating and whole body health. When an article appears online about brain foods and brain health I tend to click on them.  

I can’t remember if that time we had an ADHD diagnosis or just worried about a speech delay. In the last couple of years ADHD has been a big topic of conversation in our household. How to treat… if its real… can removing red dye really make a difference? How much medication and is it really just lack of will power? Oh the things I have googled. Maybe it is just too much sugar. All this, while living in denial of my own battles with ADHD. 

I started with looking further into ADHD when I downloaded Healing ADD by Dr. Amen. He shares his thoughts and advice on brain scans and describes 7 different types of ADD.  My biggest take away from his book and youtube videos is that ADHD is real and it can be displayed visually in the form of scans. The connections and processing in our brains can be very different and yet all fall under the umbrella of ADHD. In his book he used prescriptions to treat along with other forms of holistic health like omegas and probiotics. 

In 2019 we felt like we needed a second level review on the ADHD diagnose and medication treatment. We wanted to try alternative therapies to help address the issues. Using prescription medication is still not our preferred method since it can be … out of stock… have side effects…become addictive….

We’ve been told that you can get a blood test that can help determine what type of medication will work best. That was about the extent of additional testing we were told about.

In our search for play therapy-both therapists mentioned Neurofeedback/Neurotherapy. Each Dr. referred us to a different person who is trained to perform Neurotherapy. 

It sounded interesting but a bit confusing on how this non-medicine approach should retrain the brain and help reduce some of the focus issues  present in ADHD patients. It can work with young or old and can eliminate the need for prescription medication.  In my head i’m thinking… new age and not covered by insurance. 

Yesterday we had our first meeting with a Dr. He shared a lot of information and it was really exciting to think this could be a good option for our family. 

This is how I understand the process based on our 1 Hr call yesterday. 

It starts with brain mapping called Qeeg- this is where you wear an electromagnetic cap thing that can read the frequency of the brain when you complete/ view certain things. That session is about 30 mins and produces a 35 page report.  The report will detail the quality and duration of the connections in your brain. This initial test is 300.00 but is typically 700 with other practices.

The report is then reviewed and evaluated by the Dr. This will be what determines the therapy plan. As in the # of visits and the type of focused training that will take place.  

The therapy itself is very targeted, so it can be for emotional regulation, stress, anxiety or sleep. EMF frequency is used to stimulate the brain in the focused area. This creates a new connection that the brain will then be trained to use moving forward. It is non invasive and the patient doesn’t feel or notice much during the sessions.  A person will typically need 15-30 sessions to make the lasting connections and each session is about the price of a typical play therapy session.  125.00

Insurance: it pretty much sounds like some companies may reimburse but the patient will do all the paperwork. It can be covered by flexible spending accounts.  The office we spoke to said they offer reduced pricing for bulk session purchasing. I think he said 10 sessions for 800.00 So we’re talking quite a bit of money upfront to get something like this started.  

It also made me think — what if your brain got in the hands of the wrong person? Then when I heard EMF frequency… isn’t that in the news about cellphones or something?  Flash back to movies about subliminal messaging…oof the cost… 

Looking at our FSA spending for this year-we’ve spent 1507.64 that is on medical and pharmacy combined. Yes, this is for stuff like ear drops from an earache etc but it does show that we’ve spent quite a bit medically. In the past we hardly had any medical expenses… in fact I never even had an FSA until a 3 years ago.  I just paid for glasses and such out of pocket.  

When we take into account therapy sessions are 120.00 per session and we did 5 weeks of sessions that is about the price of 10 sessions for neurotherapy. 

Writing my thoughts out here online, it appears that if we wanted to make this happen we could financially. I think I’m going to do a little more research online to see if there are posted medical journals/papers on the results and safety. It honestly seems too good to be true, yet not really talked about.

Here is a link to the organization that spoke at the conference. Looking at the site today- this organization uses MRI technology. I’m going to reach out the the prospective Dr. and ask about the differences in approach.

https://brainhealth.utdallas.edu/what-is-brain-health/

7 weeks

We have made it through 7 weeks of elementary school. 3 weeks virtually and 4 weeks in-person learning.  We’ve all learned a lot during this time. 

I’ve learned that I have poor time management skills and unable to keep my boys engaged in virtual learning while I work from home in non-stop conference calls. 

The boys are resilient and able to wear a mask all day long. They needed the social interaction and change of environment. The school is not kidding about no visitors. The first day of in-person, lunch was forgotten and I was not allowed to drop it off. “No deliveries” . They boys can make it through a full day of learning, as long as they are out of the house. When they were at home they quickly figured out that if they ask me for electronics while I’m on a call…presenting. I’ll agree to get them out of the office… {grin} 

A typical school day looks like this: 

6:00-6:15 lights on to start the wake up process. While I’m drinking my coffee and half asleep.  Hug/Kiss on the forehead to check temps. 

6:30 – TV turned on, breakfast decided, medicine / vitamins, gathering clothing.

7:00 Should be dressed but usually when I start making the rounds to motivate the boys. 

7:20 Dressed, shoes on, Mask decided, water bottles filled, snack check and chrome books unplugged/back in bags. 

7:30 Need to be in the car for drop off. J takes them to school  and I log onto work. 

7:40 – School Starts

8:00-Stella is typically awake by all the commotion and watches some TV until it’s time to get dressed and go to preschool. 

8:30-I have a reminder on my work computer to make sure her lunch is packed, she all dressed and ready for preschool.

9:00-Preschool starts-J takes her to school and goes to work after.  

2:45-I leave the house to go get the boys 

3:05-home and I’m logged back onto work by

4:15-time to get Stella

4:45-Back home and logged on to finish up any items and log off by 5:30

  • Dinner
  • TV
  • Homework
  • Bath
  • What should be an evening walk
  • Chores 
  • {Everything is in this block of time}

7:30 Electronics off

8:00 Remotes and electronics officially picked up

Bedtime routine — reading with each kid/hang talk time/Brush teeth

9:00 should be lights out and typically when I pass out

9:15 – Someone is out of their bed, needing a hug, needing a kiss, needing a drink etc

10:00 the kids should be asleep to start the routine over the next day. 

Thurs/ Friday J does all the toting of kids and I get more of an uninterrupted  productive day. 

Next week is the start of a new grading period and the first chance to change learning styles. We will remain face to face. Thus far we have had 4 positive COVID tests-non of which had direct contact with the kids.  I’m not sure if the boys will have changes to their classrooms.  Right now I think they’re doing pretty good with all the requirements. Masking all day, plexiglass looking shields around their desks. Distance in the halls and distance lunches. I don’t get a whole lot of feedback from them. It’s mainly “school was good” and handing over their masks when they get in the car.