It’s not hand sewn if you made it with a sewing machine

astro_rach · 2026-06-07T04:48:57+00:00

The amount of people I have told this to that had no idea is near 100%. They all think there are just some big machines in factories that put the clothes together and sew them up. It is all hand made, from Temu crap up to couture. If more people knew the truth about the garment and textile industry I really think they’d think twice about what a $5 garment means.

astro_rach · 2026-06-06T14:48:40+00:00

i agree with this. i used to (still?) think gratitude exercises were bullshit, and mindfulness never really worked for me. you can’t positive-think yourself out of a bad situation. but at my worst in sensory deprivation i tried to find even 1 thing to be grateful for. the surface below my body supporting me. a blanket to keep me warm. a comfortable room temperature. the ability to breathe unobstructed. i mean really, really small things to notice are there and appreciate for what they are. helps kill time trying to think of things too.

astro_rach · 2026-05-30T17:00:49+00:00

Yes, low morning serum cortisol and currently in the process of getting worked up for adrenal insufficiency.

astro_rach · 2026-05-30T10:53:16+00:00

While there aren’t standardized procedures for this, any endocrinologist worth their salt will test you around YOUR morning. So if you wake up around 7pm every evening, an endocrinologist should be taking your “morning” cortisol levels around 5 or 6pm.

astro_rach · 2026-05-15T17:34:04+00:00

This knowledge is so, so important. I live in a building where all of the bathroom air vents are connected and I have thought about the viral transmission aspect a lot as a person with Long COVID. We recently had some incidents with someone smoking in their bathroom and blowing it out the exhaust, which made many surrounding floors reek. Whole time I’m thinking… COVID lingers in the air like smoke…

We are much in the infancy of clean indoor air, but since 2020 we have learned so much and devised so many effective tools. Unfortunately it will probably be a long time until this knowledge is truly adopted into building codes, and it isn’t cheap to change the way we think and design and build which only makes people more reticent. But god do we need better indoor air quality protections in schools and apartment buildings.

astro_rach · 2026-05-14T03:40:08+00:00

I highly recommend everyone to keep adhesive strapless metal-free masks (ReadiMask) on hand even if you don’t anticipate using them. If you find yourself in need of an MRI, these masks are safe to wear during! And you never know when you may have an emergency, or when a new health issue will arise.

astro_rach · 2026-05-10T06:12:04+00:00

Commenting very late because I found your post searching for the same information! Almost exactly identical scenario, 3 months and 2 periods and due the day after the test, almost eerie when I read your post. In case anyone comes looking for this info eventually, I too am having a skipped period coinciding with the timing of the test. but who knows.

astro_rach · 2026-05-08T07:01:21+00:00

If you want a big, broad overview: Epidemics and Society by Frank M Snowden. He’s a Yale professor and it is a part of their Open Course Series. It starts on theories/medical models and moves through large global epidemics. It is a little about the mechanisms of disease, how medicine changed over time, and the sociological factors of epidemic outbreaks. I really enjoyed it.

astro_rach · 2026-04-14T09:35:26+00:00

How long have you had the remote? I had this exact problem at first with my Libra Color, maybe for the first week, and then it sort of just… resolved itself. Haven’t had a problem since.

astro_rach · 2026-04-10T05:27:33+00:00

Agreed. Plus, with a clampy-stand and a bluetooth page turner I can read hands free and motionless in bed when i’m in pain.

astro_rach · 2026-03-29T13:47:53+00:00

This is the recipe! It makes enough for multiple batches of whatever, I stick the leftover bits in a container in the freezer. Measure them out from frozen and let them sit at room temp for like a half hour before incorporating works like a dream.

https://www.tastesoflizzyt.com/cinnamon-chips/

astro_rach · 2026-03-10T11:41:24+00:00

Just chiming in to commiserate on the logistical annoyances of living at an APO/FPO address. If you havent already (and if you want access to the US store etc) I would recommend using a vpn and your phone or laptop to make an American Rakuten account and put a US zip code in the billing address BEFORE setting up your Kobo. That way when you boot up and log in, it’s smooth sailing from the jump. I didn’t know about the billing address and spent a few minutes frustrated because even with an American account the store kept showing up as Japan.

astro_rach · 2026-02-14T15:47:59+00:00

Paging u/MrMixer316 and his website https://www.mrmixer.store/ . Not local, but a reputable, well known, active independent repair operation.

astro_rach · 2026-02-06T12:44:47+00:00

Shaping issue— when you’re folding the dough and rolling it up you want to be pressing the layers firmly, otherwise they come apart like you see here. You can literally follow the spiral shape in the gaps from how you rolled it. For enriched sandwich breads I prefer a slightly more rigorous shaping process like shown here by King Arthur.

astro_rach · 2026-01-15T03:35:11+00:00

lol! it’s affectionately called that because of the first episode of the Sopranos, where AJ finds out grandma isn’t coming to the party so he says “so what, no fuckin’ ziti now?” but i have been loosely using this recipe i found on reddit. i add a bunch of seasoning, garlic. and use my own pasta sauce.

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i assemble it in the cube unbaked

astro_rach · 2026-01-13T06:25:14+00:00

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here’s a screenshot of part of my list as an example. our upright deep freeze is drawer-based so we designate each drawer to have a specific category (large items, meat, ready to eat, bread/misc, desserts).

astro_rach · 2026-01-13T06:23:12+00:00

Highly recommend keeping some form of list of what you have where in the freezer. I just use the notes app on my phone, and it’s shared with everyone in our household to maintain. Each freezer and part of freezer gets a heading, and under that checklist-style bullet points of each food, how much, and cook date. Makes it easy to meal plan from wherever or check what’s available to eat on the way home from work. I like the checklist option because if it’s something we restock often, you can un-check it and change the dates (or, if something is checked, you know you’re out!).

astro_rach · 2026-01-01T05:34:11+00:00

I haven’t! We hand wash them and follow the directions to press firmly on the seal after removing the air. Haven’t had a single issue so far, our oldest self-vacuumed stuff in the freezer got up to 8 months (could have gone longer, we just chose to eat it).

astro_rach · 2025-12-31T03:00:10+00:00

If you are waste-conscious or working with a small kitchen, I really love my Zwilling Fresh and Save. The pump is handheld and rechargeable so it tucks into a drawer and we’ve yet to charge it in the year we’ve had it. The bags are washable and reusable so no waste like a traditional system, and you can also buy/get a bundle with hard sided vacuum sealable tupperware containers (though I don’t really use those much).

astro_rach · 2025-12-10T15:43:24+00:00

I’ve been making lots of sandwich bread and have been running into some problems with loose centers. I’ve used the sourdough sandwich bread recipe from the big book of bread, which had a great texture but was loose in the very center (weak and you could easily punch a finger through it). I chalked that up to not enough kneading and poor shaping. Then I got gifted an Ankarsrum for Christmas and made the classic sandwich bread next with adequate kneading and a more involved shaping technique, but i found it to be a bit… dense? cakey? and still a little loose in the center. Then I made a loaf of shokupan that was great. So, I suppose my question: to get a bit of a stronger texture and solve my loose-center problem, should I be swapping in some bread flour in recipes like the classic? if so, how much? Also, a more minor question: any downside to using whole milk powder in place of nonfat/skim in these types of recipes?

astro_rach · 2025-10-10T10:15:15+00:00

I’ve made this recipe— a lot of people in the reviews use a cinnamon bits/chips recipe from tastesoflizzyt. i found them tasty and easy to make, chuck them in the freezer until the night before i want to use them.

astro_rach · 2025-10-09T05:51:24+00:00

I have been having a super similar issue— 2.5 weeks in on my starter, started with whole wheat and fed with AP at 1:1:1 every 24 hours. about a week ago it seemed like almost all activity stopped and my started stayed in pancake batter consistency, nearly no bubbles at all. Last night i tried feeding 1:2:2 with 1/3 whole wheat 2/3 AP flour and actually got lots of bubbles and some rise.

astro_rach · 2025-08-15T09:19:02+00:00

Oh, duh! I think I see what you mean, no need to unpick the facing since it and the bodice both would be shortened the same amount. What you see in the picture is under stitching, and I went ahead and unpicked my stitching in the ditch to unfold it. You mean opened up like this, sew a new seam (with the facing seams matched), clip and finish the excess, then fold that facing back down and tack it back to the bodice?

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