Sometimes it’s not the kids’ fault. I’d say most of the time the parents need to be involved in some way with the costume (buying, making, helping to make) and some kids just don’t have present parents so I don’t want to punish them for that.

Also I really don’t want leftover candy in my house (because I’ll eat it) so…

I thought you were joking. How is this not the Onion?

I know it makes me super basic but… dragons. I know, it’s not inspiring. But I must add a caveat. I prefer that they are intelligent, on par with or surpassing humans in intelligence and willing (if reluctantly) to interact with them. Game of Thrones dragons are cool and all but they don’t really do it for me in the same way as, say, the dragon from Dragonheart.

Ack thank you, I mix them up even though I’ve never read Brooks, who seems to be better loved.

It’s probably not the worst for me either but it’s easily the first thing I think of. Really left a bad taste I guess.

Oh yes I agree! And I’m a huge dragon fan, so it was extremely disappointing. That one I gave up on after maybe 50 pages. I couldn’t get past the prose. So I didn’t even get to the heavily recycled tropes, but I did see the movie once and they were plenty obvious from that.

No Such Thing as a Fish, from the QI Elves. Funny, informative, rarely about current events which is a breath of fresh air. Just nerds getting nerdy about stuff.

Wizard’s First Rule by Terry BrooksGoodkind. I suffered through the whole thing because I was young enough that I thought that’s what you should do when you’ve started a book, but I was also old enough to know that it was very bad. I’ve heard many people say they read it as teens and loved it, but I assure you, it does not hold up.

Hmm, maybe that’s why my English teacher assigned Huck Finn instead (which I remember liking).

The modem made noises when connecting, but if someone picked up the phone, your internet would just stop working and they’d get their dial tone.

Now dot matrix printers, those were real pterodactyl sounds.

I pan fry hotdogs all the time. I put a little water in the pan to help the hotdogs heat all the way through and then let it burn off and fry them a bit to get them slightly crispy.

So will an earthquake. It may be “cheap” but we do it that way because it’s light. At least in California. That way if it falls on you, you might not die.

I’m from California so my wealth meter is broken beyond all reason. Is 1.1 million euros really considered “rich?” Everybody’s making jokes about wearing a monocle or not asking questions about flooding and I’m sitting here thinking about the house on my street that sold for about that much recently…and is a tear-down. 😭

Edit: actually wait, it was more like twice that much… it was like $2.3 mil and there’s no way they do any less than strip it to the framing.

I’m not saying it’s always the right idea to stay with someone in this sort of situation. But the fact that you did was probably a major reason she could be successful. She knew she had support and that is so, so important.

I have an iPhone and whenever my Android-owning friend sends me something, it’s a tiny thumbnail of a photo. So yeah, goes both ways.

Same here. It’s a very painfully expensive purchase but now that we’ve had one, I’d pull that trigger again in a heartbeat if something happened to this one. I wish it was easier to deep clean but otherwise it is fantastic. We have three cats and empty the bin probably twice a week, still waaaay better than scooping. And the really prissy cat likes her clean litter.

Even if that phrase hadn’t been used ad nauseum already, this would be the right time to use it. This is truly a WTF move.

Mine is super annoying so the silent mode is clutch. You just have to remember that you were heating something if you’re also distracted with other stuff. Whenever the power goes out and I have to reset it, I swear I turn the sound off before I do the clock because every button press is super loud. Even my MIL commented on it once when she was visiting, before we figured out how to turn the sound off.

I feel like most of the people answering you are not actually sewists.

The person mentioning the serger/overlocker machine is correct regarding stretchy material. You can do it on a sewing machine but it won’t look nice. On a regular sewing machine, a straight stitch will give you a non-stretchy seam. A zigzag stitch will be stretchy but most often people aren’t pleased with the look of it. If you look at the inside of a t-shirt, the side seams are generally done with a serger. (A coverstitch machine is usually what is used for a hem. It makes a row of two lines on the front. It only does that.) The reason a serger works better for knit fabric is because of the differential feed, meaning it can better handle sewing two stretchy fabrics together such as in a seam. A sewing machine only feeds by catching the bottom fabric and scooting it forward, and that can cause issues if the fabric is stretchy.

You also need appropriate needles, especially for something like spandex. I haven’t worked with it at all so I’m not sure 100% what to recommend, but possibly a ball point or microtex needle.

Meanwhile, for upholstery, all you need (I think) is a straight stitch. Technically you could even try to do it by hand, but depending on the material, it could be really difficult. You’d definitely need a heavy duty needle, and possibly pliers to pull the needle through thick fabric. If you went for a machine, you’d want something robust. I’m actually about to try an upholstery project using my mid-range Bernina; it has successfully sewn several bags so I think it can handle it. But Bernina is not a mid-level brand, and I spent good money on that machine. Certainly, like in most things, you get what you pay for.

I’m 41. As a college going-away gift I suppose, my dad bought me a basic screwdriver where the bits can be flipped for larger and smaller Phillips and flat heads, all stored in the shaft. It’s got a floral handle. That thing is both my husband’s and my favorite screwdriver despite having acquired many more tools in the interim, and it probably cost four bucks back in 2001.