Living with COVID-19 - Tests, Masks and Proof of Vaccine

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Well it’s been a while since I wrote about my post on Masks and I had this dream that in the fall of 2021 things would be mask free, but it appears we are in for a year or more of ongoing COVID-19 mitigations…

In our household three out of four of us are vaccinated and our son is awaiting the submittal of the vaccine trials for ages 5-11 and then emergency approval. It appears that the soonest we will see this approval is at the end of October which would mean our kids would be fully protected by Christmas and partially protected at the end of November. That’s acceptable to me and I hope we stick to that schedule.

Until then, things are a bit complex since our son’s ability to go to in-person remote school depends on a number of factors. Already a Kindergartner contracted covid and the entire class had to quarantine for 10 days. Furthermore, any travel out of state requires that our son pass 5 consecutive COVID tests in order to addend in person.

And finally, we are all wearing masks again - seemingly indoor and outdoor.

So what are some tips for managing through all this?

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Kai Kitchen Scissors

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A few years ago I encountered my first pair of Kai scissors. I didn’t even know I was missing out all these years using cheap scissors. I have since purchased a few of these for my home such as the Professional 8 inch scissors.

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My favorite scissors are the Kitchen scissors. They are wonderful to have and have stayed sharp and in good shape for many years. The best thing about them is that you can simply take them apart and put them in the dishwasher. We have two pairs of them in our knife drawer so we always have a clean pair ready to go.

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Dyson Omni-glide

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Hi Friends! It’s been a pretty light schedule for me this summer and I hope to start publishing more. I have a pretty deep backlog of stuff to share with you.

I have owned many Dyson products in my life. I’m always intrigued when they launch new ones.

Recently I picked up the Dyson Omni-glide. The Omni-glide is different from a traditional Dyson vacuum cleaner. I would compare it to a broom and dustpan vs a vacuum cleaner.

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🍕 Pizza Making Gear

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For many years I’ve wished to learn to make my own Pizza. I have many friends who do so successfully and that inspired me to get going! Now we make pizza every Saturday night at our house.

To hopefully inspire you - I have never made any kind of dough in my life. I was starting from total scratch. I’ve experimented with many different techniques and gadgets and have settled on a repeatable path that I like.

You don’t need much to make pizza from scratch. When I started I made Pizza in our Jenn Air oven with a Baking Steel. While it did not produce a true neapolitan pizza, it made something I like to eat! From there I have shifted my pizza making to cook in an outdoor pizza oven.

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Travel Flashlights

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For the last few years, I have traveled with a small flashlight. Flashlights come in really handy on airplanes, in hotel rooms, or in homes that you are staying in. Recently I purchased some flashlights for everyone in the family that I place in their charger “Go Bag” which has all the necessities for charging devices like iPhones, Kindles, Apple Watch and AirPods.

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Samplize - Paint samples made from real paint

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Like many of you, we have started (and finished) some home improvement projects these past few months.

One of the most difficult things about home projects is paint. There are hundreds of thousands of paint colors. If you just take white as an example, there are DOZENS of white paints. And when you look online, can you really tell the difference?

You can order paint chips - colors that are printed on a piece of paper. Let me tell you - these are mostly worthless.

The tried and true way of picking paint is to pick a few colors you like and then getting a small quantity of paint and then painting your walls in squares to compare them.

You really need to see paint in the natural light of your rooms. In daylight and also under the effects of your light bulbs which can totally impact the way your paint color looks.

Well, my sister told me about this amazing website called Samplize. They send you a 12” square of actual paint on the same substrate of paper your sheetrock is made from. They come on contact paper so you can stick them on your wall and leave them there for as long as you like. When the time comes you can just peel them off.

This has to be the single best way to evaluate paint colors. So next time you want white paint and are choosing between Decorator White, Simply White, Chantilly Lace, White Dove, etc (just take a look at this article).

Here is my daughter’s room when she was deciding on a green color for her accent wall.

File this away and use this as a handy reference in the future for selecting your next paint colors.

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fanttik Electric Screwdriver

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Screwdrivers are a household necessity. Since a young age, I’ve always owned a power screwdriver to make certain tasks faster, easier, and less repetitive. Living in a house with 3 floors though I have found that the electric screwdriver is not always where I want it, and not always charged when I need it.

My favorite manual tools are made by German, Wiha Tools. I love these tools. But my battery-powered screwdriver has always left me wanting.

This is why I’m so excited to write about the newest power tool in my possession - the fanttik Electric Screwdriver now available on Amazon. I have purchased a few of these for our home and have used my new NEX L1 Pro a lot these past few days. It’s a remarkable power tool.

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