Sounds like you need to sweep out the chimney. It’s a dirty job, it sucks, and it’ll only get worse if you put it off. But in time you’ll be burning like new again.

I don’t know exactly how the metaphor applies in your situation, but I’ve struggled for a long time with burnout and that resonates with me. Hopefully you find some comfort

Oh my gosh, I was not prepared for that.
As if CSS didn’t give me enough reasons to cry.

But it’s still got to be responsive for all devices, although flexbox is disabled

Sometimes a slime’s just got to take a break from the dungeon to feel the sun on their face and the wind in their… flagellum?

When I get to hell they’re going to make me work on the front end.

It’s all going to be inline HTML and Inspect Element isn’t available in their browser

Mother-in Law’s tongue looks like a plant that I know of as Snake Grass

They must have named it after my MIL

Pastor, pastor
Pastor of muppets, I’m pulling your strings
Growing your mind and hearing your dreams
Listen to me, I’ll teach you some things
Just call my name 'cause I’m on your team
Pastor, pastor
Just call my name 'cause I’m on your team
Pastor, pastor

Mom’s great. I get the sense she still has some of that childlike wonder in her like Calvin does, even if she has to be Mom too.

Like in the Yukon, Ho! arc when Mom and Dad are looking for Hobbes who’s lost in the woods. She shouts his name looking for him before realizing that he can’t call back.

Or another one where I forget the exact context, but she’s sharing her anxieties and worries with Hobbes. Then she says something to the effect of, “You know it’s got to be bad if I’m talking to you about it”

I bought a bidet. Now I only want to shit at home.

It’s like a paradox.

Well you try one way, and then if that doesn’t work, you roll over, and if that doesn’t work then rolling over again should do the trick

…I guess I better go do that thing I’ve been putting off.

No wonder people hate Clippy

Gosh, true that about eggs. I’ve been using them largely as a cheaper alternative to meat, but it’s getting to the point where I might as well have just bought the meat.

Maybe I should just bite the bullet and go vegan for a bit.

Ah, I’m still waking up, so I must have misunderstood.

I hadn’t considered political spending, but I didn’t get the impression we were talking about super PACs. Those are abhorrent, and undemocratic.

My stance was that if a person wants to buy something that’s stupid, ineffective, but gives them some small degree of hope and doesn’t harm others, then they should be able to. However, I’m also of the opinion that regulators need to remove those products from the market because they’re lying to people about their efficacy.

Ideally we’d be teaching people that snake oil doesn’t work. But the current political climate suggests that Big Snake Oil has captured the regulation, so I don’t see that happening either.

Piling on to the suggestion for a Costco membership. The rotisserie chicken is often available as a loss leader.

This means that Costco actually sells those chickens at a loss. The logic is that you’ll buy other things too, but you’re under no obligation to if you just need to get some cheap meat

I’ve always understood that beans and rice is the defacto struggle meal. It’s hard to beat them for sheer dollars-to-calories ratio, and may even be less expensive than potatoes.

I’m sure you’re aware - and I empathize with your situation - but eating a variety is best if you’re able to manage it. Potatoes can go a long way to stretching a diet, but aren’t very nutritionally diverse on their own.

A few less expensive supplements I’ve used in the past are peanut butter, and eggs. There’s often a deal to be had by shopping seasonally - pumpkins are in right now and I get a surprising amount of mileage out of them.

Personally I love green onions with potatoes. They’re not very nutritionally dense, but they’re a pleasing aromatic and you can get a bundle for around a dollar. If you place your onions in an open jar of water on the counter, they’ll continue to grow. I usually regrow my onions 4-5 times from a single bunch and plain water, a handy frugal tip

But assuming potatoes are the only or main item on the menu, there’s an impressive degree of versatility in their preparation. Ultimately that usually adds up to mashed, baked, boiled, or fried.

Potatoes make an excellent soup. Even on their own - a local place here does a side dish which is just a quarter potato simmered in miso / vegetable stock. If you’re doing other ingredients, the potato can be made into a thickener for soup - corn chowder is an inexpensive meal that I’ve leaned heavily on in the past.

If you make a large batch of mashed potatoes, you can repurpose the leftovers for other meals. Mix with flour and you’ve got croquettes or potato pancakes. You can pretty much just toss them in a pan and refry them. If fish is available to you, you can mince a can into a potato / flour mixture and then fry it to get a tasty fish cake.

You can jazz up a baked potato into what’s known as a Hasselbeck potato if you want a fun presentation. Essentially you score the potato into several thin segments and drizzle it with oil while baking. It has a pretty unique look.

This last one is a bit off the deep end - but it’s a local dish here and something that our family does for major gatherings. It’s called Rappie Pie, or Pate a la Rapure, or sometimes Potats Rappe. It’s a bit of a process, but the only essential ingredients are potatoes and soup stock. It can be a ton of work and not for the faint of heart, but it’s a rather unique preparation and genuinely comfort food for me. We like ours fairly runny - we sometimes call it Potato Jello

This recipe appears fairly accurate, but I’ll try to summarize.

1. Grate potatoes into pulp then squeeze to remove the starch. This is the most laborious part of the process, so it’s common for people to do this communally or to take a shortcut by buying a processed potato block.

2. Gradually mix potato mixture into boiling broth. Whisk until smooth

3. Pour into a greased pan, halfway through adding additional fillings if you have them. This is commonly served as a meaty dish with chicken, rabbit, or venison, but I’ve made it vegetarian or plain before too.

4. Bake until a crispy skin forms. Serve while hot, leftovers can be frozen or refrigerated, then reheated in the oven or a skillet

Anyway, good luck to you. I hope food security is in your future, nobody should have to go hungry 😞

Are you defending snake oil? The pseudoscience con so uniquituously used to deprive the desperate from their money that it became the term used to describe “harmful bullshit sold for profit?”

Freedom of choice or not, I suppose you should be able to spend your money however you want.

But if someone is selling people lies under the promise of medical miracles, we need to throw the book at them.

I like this, everyone’s happier when they’re making out with each other.

Well, unless they’re ace, but maybe then they’re looking at each other over a loaf of garlic bread

Isn’t chemistry all a matter of scale though? I admit it’s not my field

I mean, if the cat pees on the rug and you clean it up right away, that’s probably not a big deal. I imagine it’s a different story if you’re cleaning out a hoarder’s cat colony in a poorly ventilated area and don’t dilute the bleach because you wanted something stronger

Friendly reminder that using bleach to clean cat pee can fucking kill you and your cat

I mean, I’d be kind of surprised if it did kill you, but ammonia and bleach mix to make an extremely toxic gas

I am really enjoying this series on gooplings

Who doesn’t like a good slime?