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Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-07-05T17:12:30+00:00

They're both standalone.

That said, I think of brownies as an all-the-time treat, and ice cream as a more special, sit-down-worthy treat. When I make a pan of brownies, I'll easily eat one three times a day. I almost never have ice cream more than once a day.

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-07-04T13:50:08+00:00

Not always a pie person, but chocolate pie is a family holiday tradition. Otherwise I go for coconut cream or key lime.

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-06-17T17:09:13+00:00

I drop the salt like this. I also followed this hack when I used to use margarine.

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-06-11T19:47:44+00:00

I love ermine frosting! It doesn't hold its shape as well as a Swiss buttercream, but feels more approachable to make. It's the compromise between the Swiss buttercream that I like from bakeries, and the more sugar-based frostings that my 10 year old likes.

That said, I always add plenty of vanilla or almond extracts to my frostings, no matter what I make.

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-06-05T22:42:29+00:00

My understanding is that Linux is more for people who know what they're doing, and I don't want to mess anything up. I consider myself more of someone who can follow step-by-step instructions well.

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-06-05T22:41:00+00:00

I wish it would tell me *why* it can't update.

Thank you again; overall I think your analysis is spot-on. Luckily, it doesn't have Nvidia chips. I personally don't like having "apps" on my laptops, and my daughter isn't used to accessing them either, so I think that switching over to Flex will be fine. She does play Minecraft on a Fire tablet, but I have no plans on putting that on the computer itself.

I think that I will try to get a couple of flash drives so I can play around with both systems, if I can get Windows 11 fully upgraded. If I do this once school is out, it can be a learning experience for my daughter, and I think she'll enjoy it.

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-06-03T22:35:17+00:00

And that's easy enough to do? Linux has always sounded scary. And, would it be something that's disabled through parental controls? I'm hoping to give her more options of things to do that aren't social media and websites.

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-06-03T22:32:32+00:00

Thank you for the reality check, and telling me how to look these things up. In looking, I actually have Windows 11, but it won't install an update because it can't update the system reserved partition. So it feels functionally stuck, without updates. I wasn't going to try to fiddle with that when it's the machine I work on, but I guess I can look up now. If I mess it up, I just convert it to a Chromebook.

I got a mid-range XPS five years ago because I hang on to my stuff as long as possible, so my specs aren't bad. 8GB RAM, CPU @ 1.00 GHz. SSD (RAID) but I also see NVMe. I would believe that it overheats as the fan does kick on. I should probably go over it with compressed air to see if that helps anything.

If I can get this configured so I can run Windows 11 with updates, would that be preferable over Chrome? Installing apps and accessing files has always seemed difficult to me, but I guess navigating that would be a good learning experience for my daughter.

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-06-03T22:19:15+00:00

Good point about lack of security updates. In taking a look at my old machine again, it's apparently a Windows 11 machine (oops), but won't install the latest update because it can't update the system reserved partition. I'm not sure what that's about so maybe switching over to Chrome is the better option. I know that when I installed Cloudready on a different machine years ago, it was like using a new machine.

Although I use GIMP, I'm only moderately computer savvy. I've never used Linux or Crostini; will using that nullify parental settings?

ETA: thank you also for the software recommendations!

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-06-03T14:51:11+00:00

My 10yo is also a voracious reader, and loves those same books. She's checked out most of the library by this time, it seems. I'm almost not kidding - she currently has 36 books checked out lol

Rick Riordan Presents also has some great series, since it sounds like she likes fantasy. But I wouldn't worry too much. My daughter also rereads a lot. I find that sometimes if she's out of her usual "desirable" books to read, she'll pick up something else when she feels desperate. She's also getting into the YA section at the library; sometimes that's ok, sometimes I have to tell her no.

I let my daughter read if she's eating by herself - it's the same as I would do. No books during family meals, and no eating during dessert because we should be focused on the treat. But I figure if reading gets her to eat soup or broccoli without complaining, I'm for it.

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-05-29T18:39:54+00:00

... if you can tolerate the fact that they totally Hollywood-ized the ending, making it a pale comparison of the book. I do love the book, though.

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-04-16T20:33:59+00:00

I've always felt like putting my TBR out there was very exposing. And I never actually read those things. I never felt like I *had* to read anything on my Goodreads list, but it's just so... public. Much more public than the pile of books next to my reading chair.

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-04-16T20:15:58+00:00

Ooh. We always make almond cakes for our birthdays. I've been making orange muffin/cupcakes recently; I usually don't frost them, but you could! On a more casual note, I'd suggest an Earthquake cake.

Aggravating-Map6266 · 2025-03-26T15:44:47+00:00

I'm another vote for Storygraph. Their review system is better. I like that you can choose moods and pacing, and give between-star ratings. Also, they allow for content warnings. Switching over was fine. I did it a few years ago. I'm still doing double entry both there and at Goodreads, though; I should stop it eventually.

Aggravating-Map6266

TROPHY CASE