Silly me thought this was going to be a more terrifying article about how your data is being harvested and likely sold to insurance companies. This isn’t a fake thing; start googling things like “coping with diabetes” or “managing high blood pressure”, and suddenly, you have non-biological information tagged to your…

I have the sounds down, but it seems like everyone has their own take on where to put the emphasis. Is it GRAH-voy or grah-VOY? That’s where it seems anything goes.

I’m still not sure how I am supposed to say Gravois.

A few of my favorite name-butcherings are: Versailles, KY (ver-SALES), New Madrid, MO (MAD-rid), and mentioned by another, Milan, IL (MY-lan).

For making jams and pies, slightly under-ripe is actually best. Under-ripe fruit has more natural pectin in it, which makes it firm up naturally when cooked. Add a little extra pectin to your jam, corn starch to your pies to keep them from being runny.

Decide what’s worth fighting for. Your relationship with that person or where things go in the pantry? If they don’t appreciate a neat pantry, it’s not worth the argument. If they agree it is nice - or are constantly complaining about cost of food, food waste, or not being able to find things - maybe they can agree…

A light-weight alternative to putting rocks in the bottom of a pot for drainage is to use those cheap, green scouring pads. You can usually get a 3-4 pack at dollar stores, and I just fold or cut them into smaller pieces to put in the bottom of my pots and put my potting mix & plant right on top. I don’t like the…

Consider this: You have invested your money somewhere with a decent interest rate, but it will take you 7-10 days to be able to access that money in an emergency. In this case, yes, put it on a credit card, liquidate the asset, and pay off the credit card immediately. To me, this is the proper way to both have an…

I would listen to a podcast called The Nocturne, Episode 4. It’s about a woman who had a major sleep disorder and “found a way”. I think it may give you some ideas of what to look for or ask about in sleep studies or from doctors.

Generally, no. Melatonin is will help signal that it’s time to sleep. I would try to figure out why you are waking up. Is it comfort? Is it anxiety or brain issues? If you snore, you may want to do a sleep study to see if you have apnea that is waking you up.

The previous owners left all of the appliances in my house. We had to replace the dryer a few years ago, but now it’s been 7 years. Almost all of the appliances were already a couple years old already, so I guess we should expect everything to start dying? Maybe it is just me, but these seem like low numbers to me.

My thoughts exactly as I read this article! I could have a near-zero chance of getting listeria if I eat bagged lettuce every night, or I could have a much higher risk of heart problems because I didn’t eat enough fiber and had high blood pressure for most of my adult life. I’ll take my chance with listeria.

When I was detasseling corn in middle-america, we got a school bus stuck in the mud next to the corn field we were working in. It was about 100 degrees and the sun was blazing, but with enough corn stalks chopped out of the field we were next to, we were able to get enough traction under the tires to start moving…

This was spot on. I read the headline alone and was sold. The first 10 minutes are junk, whether you exercise every day or you are working out for the first time in your life.

It’s hard to believe that 5-star facilities are worse than 3-star facilities, but when I critically think about it, it makes sense. When you’re looking for a budget-friendly hotel but have some standards on what you will or will not accept, a lot of the 3-star hotels are where you stay. You are very likely to stay…

I recommend doing push-ups with your hands elevated, if you can’t do proper push-ups. When on your knees, it changes what muscles are engaged in your back and legs. I particularly recommend using a Smith machine, because you have increments every few inches, and you can make it harder as you improve.

Frequently getting DOMS is also a good way to write off injuries that you should be letting heal. I thought I had DOMS after a hard/bad run, right as I was reaching my peak before a half marathon. I wrote it off as typical DOMS, trained through it, got through my race, and rested for 2 weeks after, waiting for the…

At my salary review, I received a very large raise, which was justified because they were trying to bring me up to their salary range for my role level. I was an intern turned office worker turned consultant all within the same company, and I was starting to realize that the salary increase I received between the…

I’ve done this with a trainer who was guiding me (warm up for a boxing session), and I thought it was incredibly fun. The trainer was nice the first time I did this because he knew a million different patterns that I could do that activated different parts of your mobility, balance, and coordination.

I think there is a big difference between talking with a gyno and talking with a general practitioner on these things. I had some complications when I was younger and started seeing a gyno because I wanted their expertise, not some GP’s general awareness of what might be causing the pain that I had. She has been very…