We have used heat pump for A/C and heat in Florida for, well, I don’t know how long but the house I bought in the early 90s had one, and it was old enough we had to replace it, and the replacement lasted 20 years, so it’s not a new technology.
Yes they make noise, especially when starting up, but as someone else noted, your windows are closed when you run it, it’s not that loud. Not as loud as window units were.
My appetite is at least 90% based on calories needed, since I was around 25, I 'm over 50 now. My kids laugh at me when I sometimes say I’m still full 6 hours after eating, but sometimes I am. Or eat, then eat ten minutes later. And usually I stay at the same weight unless intentionally bulking or cutting.
One exception - I lose appetite when stressed, and rarely but but sometimes have anxiety around eating still. But most of the time, my appetite just follows my calorie expenditure. Can’t be the only person like that, it seems a normal state?
I am not peeling nor boiling, have never peeled a potato. Boiling them in chunks I agree won’t yield something so much better than dehydrated powdered potatoes - that puts too much water into the equation and makes them similarly gluey. You can microwave chunked potatoes and mash them if you don’t have a pressure cooker or instant pot.
Yes it takes longer than boiling water but in the context of cooking other things it’s easy and potatoes pressure cooked whole are so fluffy and easy to mash.
I have used the flakes for potato bread, they are useful like dry milk is. But just like dry milk, or instant coffee, something is lost in drying and rehydration.
This is a very subjective prompt though - if the marginal time savings are worth it to you, they are. I don’t usually have an urgent timeline for mashed potatoes so letting them cook while I do other stuff works out.
Oh God you are right I am just conflating all those movies I avoided so successfully. I just mean until then he played characters so straight and gung ho and active and shiny. No way I could have cast him, whoever did saw something that nobody else did and they were right.
I still want to hate him. But do think he’s a gifted actor.
It depends. Some people will relentlessly mock you for being wrong, no matter how you handle it. At work I have no problem admitting I messed up something, there’s no point and always it’s better to just fix it, right?
But with my ex, he was just dead judgemental. Might as well double down if I wasn’t sure since my accuracy rate was higher than his.
With husband I can just say I don’t know and it’s fine. On the occasion I send him something not factual I do send correction there is no penalty, for lack of a better word.
I am lucky enough to have a yard, so grow leafy greens in most seasons and some other veg.
Other than that, what I noticed about the food inflation is that prices converged, whole foods were already expensive but their prices came down a little while our regular grocery and the cheaper place increased theirs a lot, regular grocery prices worse than whole foods in quite a lot of the things I actually buy so I just buy stuff at whole foods and local ethnic groceries now, not much from the chain grocery.
Dried beans and canned beans we use for near every meal but have always done, that’s not a change.
Housing here has increased way more than food. Rent and purchase prices went crazy and are now dropping so slowly.
Not my weakness becoming a strength, but going away and now I am a different person, my inverse? But my strengths do not become weaknesses?
Disorganization is my bane, and a complete inability to multitask, so I guess I would either be obsessive/compulsive or would be able to be an executive assistant or politician.
I remember my first brother coming home after being born. My mom said I could go in the room and look in the crib but not to say anything, he was sleeping. I leaned down and said his name - I was one and a half years old. I know this is a real memory as nobody was there, nobody told me this happened.
Then nothing I remember until my 3rd birthday, I remember the depressing zoo birthday, and then remember learning to read (sort of- I was 3 and memorized a short book, claimed I could read, but after that just could read, pretty much anything - so I don’t remember the actual learning, however it happened, just that book, pretending to read it and that felt like it magically unlocked all books, it was remarkable and memorable).
That’s about all my memories until 5 years old, but after 5 it’s still just a few memories, even now I’d say just a few memories per year just a whole lot more years.
This is the only reason I will occasionally make butter. To make it from creme fraiche cultured with buttermilk. More flavor.
Ice cream I sometimes make by freezing a mix that includes some booze as antifreeze, then once completely frozen, cut into chunks and whir it in the food processor. Then back into the freezer. That stays pretty nice, is lovely. Started this because one of my (grown) kids is vegan and it works with coconut milk as the cream.
Honestly I have stuff from clearance racks at Gap that have lasted 15 years and cost $3 -$5. Thrift stores have gotten expensive here but the mall clearance rack can still sometimes be a great deal. I didn’t buy clothes this year at all, don’t usually since I have enough to rotate. But when I do eventually, I look for something I can like for a long time.
Also smartwool socks, I thought I was throwing away money because they were so expensive, I got them for running because they are so good and help avoid blisters. I had to replace them last year, looked in my Amazon history and saw they were 11 years old! So I saved money really. Socks that lasted over ten years!
Of course these are all middle-income tricks. When I was very poor - you can live in your car but can’t drive your house, keep the car if you have to choose. Ask for help from people you know - you would help them, right? Roommates, so many roommates. Splitting rent 8 ways makes it affordable.
If you have secure housing but not much else - our neighbor used to bring us fruit & veg he dumpster dived because he knew we were struggling. Look for free healthy food like that to supplement what you buy - some community gardens you can harvest from, that’s how ours works, it’s not a grow your own space, everyone grows for everyone. Some farm coops you can trade time & labor for food. We couldn’t get food stamps because Florida but if you are willing to jump through the hoops that can really help get you through too.