Honestly, I don’t even consider having a week or two’s worth of food and water and basic supplies like a first-aid kit to be “prepping.” It’s not like I have a bunker under a barn in the country with enough food to last me and 4 people 6 months. That’s the reason people’s reactions were so crazy.

Right? For me, it was realizing that, even in a non-emergency... even if a blizzard or hurricane knocked out power and it was hard for people to get out to get to a store that was under-stocked anyway... It would be so easy to just have some food and water saved up. Do I really want to be the person who has to go to…

A year or so ago I did something similar (on a smaller scale) and filled up a 5-gallon bucket with a few weeks worth of food along with some basic survival gear. Nothing crazy. You would be SHOCKED how many people hear me say that and immediately roll their eyes like I’m some nutjob prepper... Since when did have a…

There should be a word for this specific type of hypocrisy... the kind that says that you should profile Muslims because some mass shootings are made by them but ignore middle-aged single white men even though most mass shootings are made by them.

As we know, the only time it is appropriate for the person who received fewer votes to still win an election is if that person is rich, white, and straight. Otherwise, it’s considered a travesty to the very notion of democracy itself.

Agreed. Very much looking forward to our return vacation this fall! It’s the only place I know where you can see stellar colonial architecture right next to the remains of an Aztec city. And the archeological museum... best. in. the. world.

Well yeah, if you’re gonna poll like 30-50 million illegal immigrants (I was given that figure, I read it somewhere, trust me, it’s real) then of course you’ll get this fake poll result.

I’ve been doing this for years with audiobooks and I totally agree! It makes running errands a lot less tedious. I listen in the car to the store or between stops and while I’m shopping. Bonus: You get through an entire book faster than you’d think this way.

I wear my voice out trying to talk people into going to Mexico City. Going back for a third time this fall. One of the places I recommend the most to people!

The one-handed zoom is such a useful feature when I can remind myself to use it. Too many years of needing to pinch to zoom.

This is timely. Finally this weekend I smartened up and cooked a slow-cooker recipe I’ve made before that I knew could freeze well so I bought twice as much of everything and as I was making it put half in the slow-cooker and half in a big freezer bag. Now, hypothetically, I’ll have another Thai green curry chicken…

Wish I had seen this comment before I responded. I said the exact same thing. This is where I think there is some major confusion about high deductible plans. For some people they assume it must require paying $6000 or more out of pocket but that, obviously, isn’t always the case.

Sorry, but you are incorrect. A high deductible plan is any plan that has a deductible of at least $1,300 for an individual. Mine is $1,500. What your employer contributes to you doesn’t affect the deductible. I also know mine is considered by the government to be a legit high deductible plan because those plans are…

That only works if you can see into the future to know you won’t have any health issues over the NEXT 6-7 years. If you can do that, screw worrying about your best insurance plan and go play the lottery instead.

Listen, I remain skeptical of high deductible plans in general (in part because my parents have had a HORRIBLE one for the past few years that has really screwed them over) but, depending on your plan, they can actually be great. My skepticism kept me from switching to our HSA option for years and that really was the…

Funny, my uncle must be near you, right across the border in Wisconsin and he does a ton with bees in the area! Good to know the Western WI/Easter MN area is taking the bee population seriously!

I’ve seen recipes for DIY seed bombs for things like this. Never really looked into it too much but now that I think about it, my city is littered with vacant lots so maybe I should start that practice!

Probably. Like I said, that was two years ago and wasn’t purchased with bees in mind. Since then I’ve been paying attention more to what I plant and where I buy it with an emphasis on growing from seed or buying from local natural gardening places.

So, truth be told, I stumbled into this. Two years ago I bought plants later in the season and got whatever was on sale at Home Depot and the bees LOVED IT. Last summer, the random stuff I planted didn’t seem to attract any at all. I felt bad for this because I’m told they return to places they know previously had…

Ha ha ha. I wonder if there’s some space that you wouldn’t normally think of where nobody would notice but you could still plant some bee-friendly wildflowers? Like a patch behind the complex’s dumpsters or along the fence line or something. We’re 12-stories up so our balcony doesn’t have a high vandalism potential…