I’ve hit that stage of the week where I want to throw my cartography textbook and lesson plans out the window and trade my teenagers for babies (don’t worry, no living things were harmed in the making of this blog entry). I’ve always felt like Prince Rilian in The Silver Chair, when he tells the kids and Puddleglum that he’s about to act like a crazy person and not to listen to him. Then when he is the crazy person he’s all “No! This is the real me!”. That’s pretty much my fear about PMS. What if the way I see the world when I’m anxious and depressed is actually the real Prince Rilian, and the “normal” me is actually the green mist talking…anyway, I digress.
Things I found interesting this week:
I’ve been juicing this beet juice concoction because I’ve been feeling run down and whenever I am craving beets I know it’s time to tap into my Scandinavian genes. Except I skip the apple which is only for wimps who need something tasty in there. But if you like toilet cleaner, this is the drink for you. You can practically feel it burning through your veins.
This dechoking device. I don’t know who needs to hear this (don’t make fun of my ignorance), but I didn’t know these things actually work. I see them all the time on IG and FB ads, but I just assumed it was a low-level scam. But turns out they’re really a thing. They were in my trauma first aid class and apparently they’ve revolutionized the death-by-choking statistics in a positive way. I grew up in the “pray-the-Heimlich-maneuver-works” era, so I didn’t know.
We’ve burned through the good batch of wood and are now on the newer, greener wood, and not only does it hiss and snap and snarl at you when you try to light it, but it also likes to smoke out the house. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful…but also researching house plants that clean the air. Here are 20 that allegedly do the trick. The only problem is, I kill house plants faster than my 17 yr old can down a pizza, so these things need to have a strong desire to live.
Jim is looking into Fusion 360 which is this 3D modeling software. Robbie is super into 3D printers right now (and so is Jim). To my understanding, Fusion 360 is like Adobe Photoshop, but the 3D printing version. According to my tabs, it’s easy to learn and good for beginners. I’m almost afraid. If you see any strange things coming out of my house, I am not responsible.
These are my favorite cheese-making cultures. So far I’ve made a gouda, a sharp orange cheddar, a stirred white, farmhouse cheddar, and a variety of hard Italian cheeses. Some of them have turned out better than others, but my pickiest children are a fan, so I’m counting it as a win. They’re not difficult, just time-consuming…and you need a good audiobook in your ear.
That’s it for this week. I might need to take up wool spinning, or hide-tanning next, it’s that damp freezing cold weather outside that is somehow way worse than legitimately cold temperatures.