College girl is breaking us. Keeping her at school is like a buying a second house. We're limping into the finish, but this is her last semester. We've been cooking a lot more. My closest grocery store turned into an ethnic market. Instead of going to another store, I've done a lot more fried rice, curries, and Mexican dishes. A lot of them are cheap and veggie and bean heavy, so it has satisfied my budged and my desire not to have to go the whole two miles to the next closest store. 😂 I may add another dance class to my teaching schedule this semester. It would generate enough to pay a few bills, but I'm not positive I have another choreography in me right now. I'm feeling creatively depleted at the moment and hoping for a sudden strike of inspiration. I don't mind the extra physical effort of holding an additional class, but I hesitate to take on the mental load of taking on another group of personalities and needs to prepare for. I'm going back and forth.

A few days ago, this site became huge on my computer. It's got this giant, magnified print and I can't make it smaller. Does anyone know what I did? It's not a computer setting. Other websites are viewed at a normal size. It's just TWTM. It's really annoying. I tried manipulating it on the mouse pad. I can make it larger, but not smaller.

Thank you all for your suggestions and keep 'em coming if you want. I listened to every song! This is my adult troupe and my youngest dancers are in their early twenties, so I can't use kid music. I do teach a kid workshop at the same festival so hmmmm . . . I'm currently lost down some Benny Goodman/Electro-swing rabbit hole. It popped up on the side while I was watching one of your videos on YouTube. Pray for me. I envy who are organized and disciplined with their art. I pretty much start with a song that grabs me, then there's this manic thing where I'm alternately possessed/haunted or standing outside with a lightening rod hoping. It's not a great system.

I did that for a while. Sometimes I even paired it up with online shopping and just drove through and got my groceries. Mostly I used it for Aldi. We didn't like ALL the recipes, but it was easy to use the same sale items to make something we liked, so it was still a jumping off point when I was in a rut. It certainly gets you out of the more expensive grocery stores without spending a fortune. Harris Teeter and Wegmans are dangerous if you don't have a plan that lines up with the sales.

I TRY to live in the present, but I tend to get excited or anxious about what’s next and look towards that.

I need to choreograph a circus-themed dance and I'm having a heck of a time choosing a song. It doesn't have to SAY "circus" in the lyrics. It just has to feel upbeat and spectacle-ey and have a good dance beat. Ugh. I need to make a choice and get to work on this so I can teach it in January and February. Britney Spears' 'Circus' is probably too much on the nose. I might be able to do something with Def Leopard's "Animal" because it's old enough that most people will have forgotten it. Any genre with a good beat is fair game. Any era. Any language. It needs to be family friendly. Got any ideas?

I remember when half the report card in elementary school was about behavior and social skills. Several of mine had X's straight across for "Refrain's from unnecessary talking." I'm still working on that one.

They should be able to trim, file, and buff for you. You can be nice and neat and shiny without polish. Wouldn't that be a gentlemen's manicure or something like that?

I'd sell it, re-purpose the space, AND try to find a youth pool league for my son. My friend who plays pool more than anyone I know doesn't even have a pool table. It's a social thing so you might as well seek out other pool players rather than try to convert your friends. Maybe he'd be happy with ping pong? You can fold that up. I did go to a birthday party at a pool place where they turned some of the pool tables into dining tables for the event. If you have a formal dining room that you only use when you have company, this might be a way to have it all.

Have you ever done letterboxing? Part of the fun to me is seeing all of the hand-carved stamps that people use.

That cabinet is wonderful! Have you seen the Ana White videos? She's the reason I own a kreg jig. Look for the older videos, not the new ones where she's building a friggin house.

I have to make a dance costume this month. I haven't started. I also have to alter two costume pieces before my students arrive for dress rehearsal tomorrow. I'm in trouble.

I'd go with cheap yoga pants with a roll up/down waist, a long fitted T, and a sports bra in case the T falls up anyway. If it's just a weekly class, I'd just wear this one outfit until I decide what I really want. Have you tried shopping your own closet first? Do you own any stretchy pants that are long or capri length or even bike shorts? As long as you're not so baggy that the instructor can't see your body it's all good.

I have a cheap (less than $500) Amana dishwasher. It cleans great and has been going strong for 8 years, but it sounds like a jet engine and even the quick load takes forever. It's only really loud the first twenty minutes or so, but still the cycles are LONG. I didn't really mind until we turned the dining room into an accessible main floor bedroom for DS. He does not care for the sound and I can no longer set the thing to turn on while we're sleeping unless I time it for when we need to wake up anyway. Because I WANT this to die so I can replace it with a quieter model, it will likely live forever.

I honestly do not know. I made it through Emma on the first time, so I have a tolerance for it. I also tend to finish even bad books or movies just to see how it ends. I'm not a particularly lazy reader either, so I don't know what my problem was with Pride and Prejudice. I started it several times in my twenties and thirties and would just put it down, walk away, and never make it back. I don't think I saw the movies and attempted the book in the same decade, so I can't make a fair comparison. I've read sillier things. I've read harder things. I'm not horribly picky. It's a mystery.

I NEVER wear shoes if I can help it. I’m even in the dance studio dancing barefoot about 8 hours a week. I will put on ballet slippers towards the end of the week when my feet start to get sore. I’m definitely calloused and want to be, but I’ve never had cracking. I have dry skin in general, so I’m thinking cragginess and cracking must be caused by another variable.

Thanks to this post I got my brain around this weeks menu, cleaned my fridge, shopped, have two kinds of beans soaking, and am now loaded up with a week’s worth of veggie-heavy meals. I only spent $50 too, so I owe you all for motivating me when I was trying to goof off online.

I came here to thank whoever recommended Elementary and I can’t find the post. I swear I never knew it existed until I read about it here. I watched the first episode tonight. That’s just weird. I’m going to bed.

I loved the books. I get the love. I had a very enjoyable summer reading them. I don’t get making them a religion. I swear the early days of Dianetics must have looked just like this.

I’d count both of those as meat, but since we’re omnivores, veg heavy and meat light would be good enough for me.

You’re evil. I thought it was going to be a great book discussion.

I loved Little, Big by John Crowley but I can't find anyone IRL who has read it so I can talk about it. I have friends who READ. It feels like I'm being gaslighted and everyone is pretending this book doesn't exist . . . which is a mood that totally GOES with the book. Someone needs to throw me a bone.

Ugh. I can meal plan quickly, but I really need to up the effort with the vegetables. I think we're full of meat, cheese, and starch after the holidays and I need a good week of light, heart-healthy meals. I made chicken parmesan tonight so I guess I'm starting tomorrow. 😣 I think I'll make: fish tacos with lots of slaw/veggies a vegetable soup . . . maybe minestrone big salad with grilled salmon veggie korma maybe fried rice one night? I might have to become a Meatless Monday person just to train Dh and Ds to enjoy an occasional meal that doesn't contain meat. I have rehearsals this week and a show on Sunday, so I'm not sure how ambitious I'll get this week. If I pull off the meal plan I listed I'll have to throw a steak at them towards the end of it so they don't mutiny. I can always do a big salad with the steak. Odds are I'll have to either serve grilled cheese with the minestrone or add some meat to the soup.

You're probably right. That would add up. I do add sugar to my tea, but I add ONE teaspoon and I drink it twice a day. If I replaced my tea with soda I'd be getting about 30 teaspoons of sugar. Now that Plant Nanny is the boss of me, I'm drinking more water so my cartoon plants don't get sad. 😁

I get that you pretty much have to cook everything yourself to reduce sugar to acceptable levels and it's pretty hard to avoid it altogether unless you cut out lots of fruits and veggies. Still, getting a month's worth of sugar in a single day seems really hard to do accidentally. I'm picturing someone with a sugar bowl and a spoon! It would be nauseating. I'm a person who gravitates towards savory foods, so maybe it's easier than I imagine. I think I've hit the age where restaurants are ruined for me. Everything tastes too sweet or too salty or the portions are too huge. Sometimes it's all three at once. I'm that geezer now.