It is so hot here this weekend and has been all week. I just want the heat wave to break. I think we're doing a happy hour of sorts with friends today that we haven't seen in a long time! Should be fun.
I may delete this part On a separate note, I am possibly going to be filing an OSHA complaint against my employer next week for a health safety issue at work that isn't getting fixed. I don't want to say too much about it here, but I'm sure they will know it's me who filed as I am one of the only people affected by the issue. I know they can't retaliate, but still a bit worrisome. I am also going to be getting input from my union, but the union has been previously involved and it wasn't fixed so...
Post by RoxMonster on Aug 26, 2021 20:21:50 GMT -5
I agree with the people who said irrationally worrying about things. That's my mom and my grandma.
A sillier one is buying chocolate-covered raisins as a snack and putting them in the fridge to eat cold. My mom always had them in the fridge to snack on growing up and now I put them in there, too.
Illinois's governor is set to announce an indoor mask mandate for the whole state today, as well as a vaccine mandate for K-12 and higher ed employees.
I'm sure lunch will be interesting today since some of the people in my lunch (all are fully vaxxed, though) are anti-mask and will I'm sure have things to say about this mandate.
Post by RoxMonster on Aug 23, 2021 17:42:25 GMT -5
I am wearing cloth masks. I have a fat face. I have not been able to find a single surgical mask or KN95 this entire pandemic that actually comfortably fits my face. And I have ordered from several different brands. Every KN95 is too tight/small and every surgical mask rides up into my eyes and I'm constantly messing with it, which is not effective, and they're also too small so there are gaps on the side and it's not a proper fit.
I'm vaccinated. I have masks that fit properly. And before I was vaccinated, I wore a filter in my cloth masks. I also talk for 8 hours a day in my mask as a teacher, so yes, I'm going to wear what's comfortable and actually fits my face.
Post by RoxMonster on Aug 22, 2021 16:50:53 GMT -5
No kids, but I'm a teacher. We have a mask mandate but otherwise, no real mitigations (no physical distancing for instance).
We just started last Monday. Coming into the school year, a few students had tested positive (exposed before school began) and others are out for symptoms, testing, or being a close contact. The office keeps a spreadsheet updated that we can access. So far, so good for the most part. We only have a handful of kids out for Covid-related things. I am very thankful the governor put in a mask mandate, otherwise my district would not have done them. I wonder how long the mandate will last.
At Old Navy's 1,200 shops, all of its women's offerings starting Friday will be showcased together, along with new mannequins throughout the store in sizes four, 12 and 18. Signs will highlight the changes, and prices will be the same across sizes.
The problem with this is that the 3 mannequins still don’t represent the whole range of sizes. There is only 3 sizes between the two biggest models. Why not do a 22 instead. Also are they going with W in the bigger sizes or just a straight number. An 18W is actually closer to a size 20. Some women don’t realize this and are going to be upset they can’t find anything.
Yes I wish they had a wider range of mannequin sizes. I am a size 28 so I would love to see above a 22 even, as I feel even brands that are mainly PS have not been great about using superfat or infinifat models and mannequins in their stores. We often get left out of even actual "plus size brands."
I am just happy to have one more place I can actually try on clothes in store instead of doing the game of waiting sometimes weeks for orders to come in, they don't fit, send them back, reorder and wait another 2-3 weeks, rinse and repeat. Hopefully they will be able to keep the plus sizes stocked.
At Old Navy's 1,200 shops, all of its women's offerings starting Friday will be showcased together, along with new mannequins throughout the store in sizes four, 12 and 18. Signs will highlight the changes, and prices will be the same across sizes.
Post by RoxMonster on Aug 14, 2021 13:19:48 GMT -5
At our "welcome back" assembly this week, many teachers in my district booed the state mask mandate. Oh well. Too bad so sad. I know not all teachers in my district are even vaccinated, much less the students. Our rooms are small and crammed full of 30 kids in many class periods. I am very thankful for the mask mandate. If we didn't have one, I'd still mask up during class, but like having the extra protection of kids masking as well.
Classes don't start until Monday and we already have some positive students and others who are in quarantine. We are thankfully not being forced to teach concurrently again but the district currently doesn't really have a remote plan in place so :/
Even though IL has a school mask mandate, I know of at least a couple districts ignoring it and going masks optional. It’ll be interesting to see if anything happens to them regarding funding etc. or not.
ISBE sent a letter to all superintendents today that outlined consequences. It’s my understanding that a private school in Illinois lost its status as a recognized nonpublic school today due to this.
Plus students would not be able to participate in IHSA sports. Like usual, I expect the sports aspect to be the one thing some people will actually listen to.
This part makes me nervous: "A district would have multiple opportunities to remedy the deficiencies that present a health hazard or a danger to students or staff before becoming unrecognized.." Maybe the state HAS to go through a certain process, but all I see is weeks or even months? of the district still not requiring masks and in the meantime, kids (and staff) are at risk. I'm hoping it's not drawn out like that. I feel like some of these districts are trying to call their bluff. It shouldn't take multiple times to remedy anything - it takes one day to institute a mask mandate in school (that should already be there). UGH!
Post by RoxMonster on Aug 11, 2021 18:49:27 GMT -5
If interested in supporting brands that are size-inclusive, Saucye West has a list of brands that carry above a 4x on her Instagram in alphabetical order: www.instagram.com/saucyewest/
It's the post from 3 days ago on her feed with #fightforinclusivity
Many of the brands listed also carry straight sizes so this is not just for PS folks.
Post by RoxMonster on Aug 11, 2021 18:36:58 GMT -5
I'm a teacher and last year when we went back to full classrooms (my school decided to not do the social distancing thing so....), I wasn't vaccinated yet. I wore a well-fitted multi-layer cloth mask with a filter in it until I was fully vaccinated and then I dropped the filter (it made me sound so muffled!) I tried double masking but it was just so hard to talk like that for 8 hours a day all day and surgical masks don't work for me. I have tried multiple brands and they all ride up into my eyes. I think it's because I have a fat face and they don't fit me well.
Do you have a window? I kept my windows open or at least cracked even in cold weather to improve ventilation in my room.
ETA: Fully vaxxed and masks required makes me feel a lot better. In your case, I would feel pretty good about it. Not discounting your anxiety at all, just trying to make you feel a bit better. You have some good protection with vaccine + masks.
Post by RoxMonster on Aug 11, 2021 14:49:11 GMT -5
I'm in a FB group for teachers in my state, and in one town, a group of anti-mask parents are going around putting signs on everyone's doors about how masking children is child abuse, kids don't spread or get affected by the virus, and they need to protest at their school districts. I know this group is going around to different school board meetings causing an absolute scene and supposedly sending all their children to school on day 1 with no masks (we have a school mask mandate).
I just....can't understand what goes on in these people's heads to want to put not only other children but their OWN in danger like this. Also, we did school last year with masks (unless they kept their kids remote, but I kind of doubt it) and they obviously did fine.
Post by RoxMonster on Aug 11, 2021 13:53:56 GMT -5
Even though IL has a school mask mandate, I know of at least a couple districts ignoring it and going masks optional. It’ll be interesting to see if anything happens to them regarding funding etc. or not.
Post by RoxMonster on Aug 11, 2021 13:52:35 GMT -5
IL has almost 4K cases today which is way more than we’ve had in recent weeks.
I just got my hair done and wore a mask but was the only person wearing one so just hoping that’s good enough 🤞🏻 I really don’t want to have to go back to not getting my grays covered for months on end.
Post by RoxMonster on Aug 10, 2021 12:05:41 GMT -5
As far as the glaucoma thing, I would be annoyed that he wasn’t willing to do the test again just to see. Is it the one where they puff in your eye? My mom has glaucoma too (as well as her dad), and one time my right eye was slightly high but my doc said this can be caused by tensing my eye during the puff test (I hate that test and so tend to tense up my eye during it). He said let’s do it again and if it’s still high, I’m going to do a further test involving dilating your eye etc. Took it again and pressure was normal. I don’t understand his hesitation to try it again.
We've been through Nederland on our way to RMNP and it was very cute there!
Altitude typically doesn't bother me too much. The first day or so at high elevation, I definitely feel it even walking on level ground just in getting out of breath so much faster, but I have never gotten sick from the elevation. It just makes me hike slower. I also usually avoid drinking alcohol the first couple days we're at elevation and try to increase my water. Knock on wood, I haven't had any bad reactions to elevation so far.
I think we would be in Breck Fri, Sat, Sun nights; Aspen on Mon, Tues, Wed nights and then CB on Thurs and Fri.
I'm excited! I plan to start booking some things soon.
One question about Independence Pass - I have heard it is white knuckle driving. We have driven Million Dollar Highway before a couple years ago and while it was a bit nerve-wracking at times, we were OK driving it. Is Independence Pass comparable or even worse?
I had shied away from looking at staying in Aspen because I heard it's really pricey. But I can look into some rental options there as well. Is staying in Snowmass for Aspen possibly cheaper and still convenient?
We are not campers, and having a private (flushing) bathroom is a non-negotiable for me lol. But otherwise I am open to cabins, condos, hotels, inns, whatever. I like the idea of a rental with a kitchen and possibly an outdoor area to sit in but it's not a requirement.
I know we have several posters here who live in CO and this board is more active than Travel, so I hope it's OK if I run some things by you about what we hope to do for vacation in summer 2022. I am looking this far ahead because some rentals I've looked into for almost a year out are already booking up fast :/
We LOVE Colorado; this will be our fourth time there. We have done Denver, Boulder, all four national parks, and the San Juans/Ouray/Telluride. We have stayed one night in Dillon on a road trip and want to explore Summit County more and likely also Crested Butte.
This would be for sometime in July 2022. We're driving in from IL. I was thinking either four nights Breck/4 nights Crested Butte or would you do 5 nights in Breck/3 nights in Crested Butte?
Things we want to do: -Lots of hiking -Possibly a jeep tour -Maybe rent a pontoon for Lake Dillon -Visit breweries -Hear some live outdoor music -Just relax. We usually have multi-stop national park road trips which I love, but are very exhausting and we want a year off from that to just kind of chill.
We also wouldn't mind doing some day trips, like going to Vail from Breck/Frisco (I'd be OK staying in either), and I'd like to try to find a way to visit Aspen and Maroon Bells but not sure where to fit that in.
Right now, I'm looking for a condo through Summit Rentals for Breck and then VRBO for Crested Butte, which is more expensive but I've heard it's beautiful there so I'd like to go.