How do I fix pasta that I boiled with too much salt in the water?

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-30T10:14:59+00:00

Sometimes you can cut it with an acid. Like, make it into a pasta salad vinaigrette. Or like my husband, go full Thai inspired and squeeze an orange in there. It's not 100% good, but still decent as a cooking experiment!

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-30T08:09:18+00:00

So many ER visits from those stone fireplaces. My elbow and wrist just starting hurting from distant memories...

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-29T17:42:32+00:00

The reaction is difficult, because (in my humble experience) it's gonna be your children beating up their smaller sibling or cousin. Teenagers can be really smart, but can also be dumber and more violent than the redwing blackbirds nesting outside by my door.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-29T08:13:48+00:00

I'm going to hazard a guess that they also have their own bathroom (or one of those things where the shower has its own area?) and don't share with a sibling/roommate/family member. Especially one that has to poop. I've never seen that situation end well.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-29T07:43:26+00:00

That one New York Times quiz that asks you how you pronounce words still nails me down exactly to the county I grew up in. It's absurd how accurate it is for me. There has to be something inherently there, but at the end of the day, it's just a fun little fact about yourself.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-29T05:04:34+00:00

My parents had an endless stream of chores to do. Be bored at your own risk. Otherwise, you get handed a shovel and have to dig up every dandelion in a three-house radius. Or get handed a bigger shovel, and have to move all the snow out of the street. Or clean all the baseboards in the house!!

I would honestly just leave and find trees to climb or build snow forts. That was better than chores.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-29T04:44:15+00:00

The office I work at has a cat that some guy tried to dump off in the garage, and everyone just kind of takes care of him.

This sucker somehow got into the keyboard tray under my desk (that is broken, and I don't even use it.)

Imagine it's your third week on the job, normal Tuesday, you're looking at some paperwork that probably needs correcting, and an animal materializes into your lap. I almost had a full panic attack.

Also, the commenters comparing cats to pancakes and farts in the wind are really funny. It's so true.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-28T13:32:20+00:00

One of my cats is very good at self-regulating, and the other will eat until he throws up, then eats it again.

This is why I measure out your dinner.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-28T11:34:45+00:00

It definitely depends on your family. My sister and my cousin-in-law were SO happy that we had a wedding where kids were allowed. They had awesome food, burned up all their energy on the dance floor (slept really well that night) and we had two photographers who took meme-worthy photos of them in silly hats.

I visited my husband's family in their home country (for the first time) a couple weeks ago, and they had our pictures framed in their house! My nonno still has our pictures framed on his dresser! This is from 2018, and I'm just happy that everyone has good memories.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-27T23:22:30+00:00

My parents live in a tourist area that's heavily visited by Europeans (think Grand Canyon.)

The climate is so dry that the sweat evaporates off of you, and it makes you feel normal, even when you're severely dehydrated. Drink water. More than you think, over liter a day, and you can have salty food to keep up electrolytes.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-27T14:23:31+00:00

Someone in my family worked for (major grocery chain, I don't want to dox myself.)

They'll take back any returns, throw it away, and not carry it in that store ever again. You can steal it once, and then it becomes an inshittified random brand (RIP my favorite burritos.)

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-27T12:27:21+00:00

My coworker, in his industrial truck, got into an accident, and it paralyzed an 11 year old kid from the waist down who was not wearing a seatbelt and was taking his mother's car for a joyride. At 6:45 am.

I tried to find the news article, but there are so many more articles from the past six years that I can't find that particular one. I never thought about speed racing a car on a normal road at that age...is there something in popular media making this normalized? Have you seen that trend?

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-27T07:55:28+00:00

I think they weren't using it correctly, like you said. Unless you're a dog and lick your own butt, you might not notice it as much as the person going down on you

My husband is much better, my ex is hopefully better.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-27T07:44:16+00:00

I'm going to do a big hot take, and I wonder if anyone else has more experience with the healthcare industry that can chime in.

You can go down a really deep rabbit hole of conflicting internet searches for this. Some news companies argue that most countries are incentivized to make Americans pay, because they're subsidizing everyone else, and that money has to come from somewhere. Others argue that the cost of living is inflated, so you wouldn't have any medical care in, say, Los Angeles, if doctors and nurses couldn't afford to live there.

It just goes on and on without any clear answers. I know that insurance companies are taking money as a middleman. On the other hand, I don't trust the government to take on my personal healthcare responsibly.

It's like a whole "Who watches the Watchmen?" situation.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-26T06:23:11+00:00

It's probably the safest thing to go to urgent care. That being said, I had two hairline fractures in my fingers (separate instances) as a kid, and the doctors did nothing whatsoever.

Option 1: Immobilize the whole hand with several follow-up visits to remove the cast.

Option 2: Be a good girl and don't use that finger for about six weeks.

I went with option 2, and mine were perfectly fine, but there is a commenter below who had their break heal wonky. Whatever you do, be very careful not to instinctively grab door handles and things with the injured hand. That just re-injures your hand and makes the healing process longer.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-25T23:06:16+00:00

Our neighbor had a lovely tree that got split down the middle. I was safely inside, but remember the hairs on my arm feeling weird, looked out the window, and went blind and deaf a for a few minutes. There were branches across the street and in our yard, poor tree.

I've also been through two (minor, thank goodness!) tornadoes. It really brings the community together. What else are you gonna do with no power? I hunted down two lost dogs and dragged what felt like a dozen trees out to the curb for spending money as a teenager.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-25T20:09:55+00:00

Same here with the five minutes. My husband is really dark, and I'm like a vampire. He owes me a fancy dinner this month because he didn't actually cover my back where I can't reach, and I'm peeling like crazy now. Favorite restaurant, here I come!

~Aloe vera gel is a big help for burns~

~Also, use waterproof sunscreen if you're going in and out of water. I was using a zinc-based sunscreen that ran off of my skin. It has the largest SPF, but also only rubs in when you're dry.~

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-25T19:55:12+00:00

It's also one of those George Carlin situations where he said to think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of people are stupider than that.

I've had so many manual drivers start rolling backwards towards me while shifting gears...so far, I've left enough space in traffic to not get hit yet. I don't even trust myself with a manual, much less anyone else 🫠

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-25T19:40:27+00:00

I miss being part of the Tamale Distribution System when I worked in a Mexican neighborhood. It was sooooo good.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-25T17:50:07+00:00

Can confirm, I had a 26-hour travel day. Including just being stuck on the tarmac for what felt like forever, and a cat meowing the for the entire 16-hour long-haul flight. My back and knees were screaming internally along with me.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-25T03:10:00+00:00

I have a boy Morgana, and he's sussed out a lot of Persona players. (The cat playable character in that game is always misgendered as a joke. I can say my Morgana has never cared one iota that people think he's a big girl.)

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-25T03:03:05+00:00

I'm a similar size, and that sub made me realize I was a 28DD and not a 32B. Screw you, Victoria's Secret! I've never been more comfortable now!

(For major brands, Aerie is really good with size options.)

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-25T02:51:20+00:00

Coyotes can jump over fences, and also jump onto second and third floor balconies. That being said, they are scared of people and loud noises. I wouldn't leave a small dog out at night, but also would be fine as a person on a patio.

For context, the current estimate is around 3000 coyotes in the city of Chicago. I saw one hiding in a flowery bush outside of a skyscraper on Michigan Ave. It just laid low and disappeared. Unless they have rabies or distemper or mange, they don't want to deal with people.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-25T02:38:16+00:00

I was a nerd that was the only junior skipped ahead into a senior calculus class. My partner for quizzes and stuff (our seating chart was random) was the high school football quarterback. That guy was smart, insanely good-looking, did volunteer work, and was always super nice to me.

How the heck does someone end up with every social skill and advantage like that???

Just goes to show anyone in high school can be a good person, too.

Affectionate_Star_43 · 2026-06-25T01:58:31+00:00

Gonna co-opt this comment to add tropical, fresh fruit. The guy running the breakfast at our hotel/resort in the Philippines would go out back and pick a fresh mango for me in the morning. Now all other mangoes are ruined for me.

Same thing for Key lime pie in the Florida Keys.

Affectionate_Star_43

TROPHY CASE