Buy this not that based on Ukraine.

I know there are sources that point out which companies are still doing business with Russia. One of them had Carter's kids clothes listed as still doing business with Russia. As the grandmother of a wonderful little girl who will be 2 in June I have in the past gotten her clothes from Carter. I am pretty much homebound, health and mobility makes going out difficult. I also have limited funds. I did read that gap and old navy do not deal with Russia. So I will be doing my shopping with them.

So many companies they show as still in Russia are companies I have never heard of. Perhaps someone has other practical advice for other purchases that can be made or avoided based on their stance on Russia.

So not just who to avoid, but alternatives with who to support.

Don't look up reviews are pretty negative. We really enjoyed it.

Am I getting paranoid? Has big conservative money gotten to reviewers?

To be fair, I am no movie expert. My husband, a movie lover, not only has to explain pop references and plot lines to me, but in our older age of hearing loss he has to tell me literally what actors have said. It works for us. I approach many films as I do baseball, occasionally looking up from my reading to ask what is going on. Its a flaw of mine, but I keep trying.

So when I saw Don't Look Up, I was so happy that we could enjoy the whole movie together. A rare treat in our 30 years of marriage. I mean, my husband was used to nudging me awake when I started to snore in theaters pre pandemic. And this was a movie that spoke to me as only the movies Arsenic and Old Lace and Harvey have been able to. A not subtle take on the crazy that has occurred. A take that had to go over the top of crazy to properly put what we are up against in perspective.

While it is ok to not like a movie, and a review is one persons opinion, the fact there are so many negative reviews scares me. Am I that out of touch to where "my fellow americans" are? One reviewer was perturbed at the movies take on climate change. Ummm. Or has big money and evangelicals added certain reviewers to the glazed eyed white washed mericunts.

I am glad I there are do many people on DU who also enjoyed the movie. And if there is anyone who was involved in the making of this movie reading this, I thank you for a few hours of laughs. I needed it.

My 10 year old grandson got his second covid vaccine yesterday.

I am so relieved. No big deal to him, life as usual. He is disappointed that he will still have to wear a mask, but glad that it is not as often. Hopefully soon the 18 month old will be able to get covid vaccinated. Then maybe this grandma will get a good nights sleep.

"We need more white babies."

A customer was at my daughters desk where she has pictures of her kids. The customer, a white woman, complimented how cute my granddaughter is, and then told her we need more white babies in the country.

My daughter looked at her and stated, well you are out of luck here because my baby isn't white.

My granddaughter is part Ojibwe, and Her ancestors have been here longer than any white people.

What kind of hateful horrible nasty person are you to say that about anyone, let alone babies.

I am so tired of some people this year.

Its been a rough week in Wisconsin.

I love this state and I am looking forward to sanity returning.

Got a text with a picture of my 10 year old grandson with a bandaid on his upper arm, a black mask, and a nice big sticker stating he has been vaccinated. His take away will be that he is braver and smarter than Aaron Rodgers. Its a big deal as his house 5 blocks from Lambeau Field.

A few minutes before this my husband sent me a text with a picture of our 17 month old granddaughter who had stopped in to visit grandpa and mom (they work at the same place). She can visit because they are mandated to wear masks at work and have been since delta has blown up. Covid numbers not looking too good up here, or anywhere else in the Midwest right now. I will be so happy when she can be vaccinated.

Tomorrow I have a date to get the booster with my husband. Hope this appointment works, the pharmacy cancelled last week because of lack of staff. We are going on 30 years of marriage and I can't think of anything more romantic than saving ourselves and each other the unnecessary pain and suffering of covid.

So I had a few nice reminders that all is not lost. Reading lots of gloom and doom out there. I am avoiding most news, and being liberal with the ignore and trash thread buttons. It helps.

Did Nostradamus mean 2021 instead of 2012?

A positive today - my grandson and I move on from 4th grade.

I have been able to provide a space and a little help for my grandson. When school was iffy as to when it would open, I offered my services to his parents to help them. It would be all or nothing. He was signed up for total virtual learning and we were off.

What a year it has been. And what a lot they are teaching 4th graders. I am from a family of educators so I knew there was help for me if I needed it. We did not. He did great and I was very happy with the program.

I had so much time with him. We laughed, we cried, we debated, and we learned from each other. If we did not know something, we researched. When he learned about the Irish and Europeans exodus to America, I got to share stories I learned from my mom and my grandma. When they talked about native Americans, we discussed the ancestry of his baby sister who is Ojibwa on her dads side. When they had a course on women's rights, we discussed my grandmother not being able to vote and my mom not being able to get a credit card. We discussed civil rights, gay rights, boomers, and YouTube. And so much more.

He learned Republicans make his booma (the name he gave me when he was a toddler, it has stuck) swear. He opines that trump is an idiot. He wants to be an artist and has declared himself pansexual. We will see.

We watched Jan 6 together. He learned from watching it that he does not want to be stupid like them. And we talked about how he is to deal with people who act like that. We also watched BLM marched, and talked about the differences.

He is a smart kid, all As and the biggest problem being to slow him down to get his hours requirement. He learned about my life, my opinions. I am struggling to explain that I used to he considered a bleeding liberal women's lib white girl, and that I am now considered an old white woman centrist. But with him, I am Booma. I am the person who was lucky to be home so he could avoid the pandemic.

And to me, he is hope. With all going on in the world, he is a ray of sunshine. He is the reason I feel we are going to he ok. He is aware of the world and rolls with it. He has survived more than I ever had to face at his young age. In the past couple of years he has lost both great grandmas, been bullied to the point the police had to he brought in ( trumpets kids, flags and all), his parents divorced and are both in new relationships and new jobs. He has a new baby sister. And he turned 10 last week. He also knows how lucky we are, even though his mom and grandpa were exposed to "the covid" , none of us got it. My daughter was one who lost her job because of the pandemic, but one of the lucky ones who got a new one.

Kids are so much more aware of everything going on. And we have to believe in them. They know they had this year taken from them, and they know why. They are aware of the planet, and are learning how to save it. They have lives filled with different ethnicities, different religions, and different views. They are weighed down by the responsibilities we are leaving them. They are also up for the challenge. We haven't given them a choice.

If you are still reading, thank you for putting up with a long post. I don't write very often as there are so many here that post so well, saying things so well. So many views and layers of experience from world wide to down to earth. It humbles me.

There has been a lot of negativity, some snarking, and a whole lot of right wing opinions shared lately. I think it is a trump hangover, with some hair of the dog republican bloviating still out there, encouraging knee jerk reaction. Well, I have bad knees. So no more jerking for me.

So off I go to the last day of school. Retired, but not dead, and still relevant. And feeling very lucky.

PBS newshour

I quit watching most news programs because of the number of republicans the news media is giving time to. So I figure there might be something about President Biden and his speech last night or his visit to Georgia. I did make as the first few minutes of the broadcast. When I turned PBS on who is speaking but Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas spewing the same republican BS

I really trying to keep informed without raising my blood pressure. I am not a fan of podcasts, but I may have to start watching them.

We were watching old Minty Python clips last night.

There was one that showed them as old ladies watching tv, and said the line 'intercourse penguins"

I thought the skits were funny in my teens and twenties. I find some of them just as funny now. My oldest sister and I have talked about how much more we say the f word in these times. We are now old ladies, kind of. So I have spent part of my morning yelling "intercourse you" when a reporter or republican says something I disagree with.

Whe i get angry at republican idiocy, yelling "intercourse you" does crack me up.

I am debating calling Ron Johnson and saying "intercourse you if you think I am feeling forgiving", but I don't think he would get it.

Over 4000 more dead from covid.

Almost 60 cops hurt from protecting congress.
Hospital workers struggling with all the sick and dying.
School kids and parents struggling with at home learning or exposure to a deathly pandemic.
Millions out of work.
Millions losing their jobs and homes.
Many not knowing how they are going to eat.

And some of the republicans refuse to wear masks or go through a metal detector.

Because they are f*ckheads. They are done.