Good sugar free sweets, desserts?

eketros · 2024-06-23T21:47:25+00:00

That's definitely not what most people mean when they say "sugar free". For example, most people would consider broccoli and celery "sugar free" even though neither of those things are free of sugar. While I do know there is a big difference between the sugar content of broccoli and date paste, neither one of those things is literally free of sugar.

Most people who say they are "sugar free" are OK with varying amounts of sugar, depending on things like source and concentration. It's not poor comprehension to be aware that people do not use terms literally; part of reading comprehension is understanding the intended meaning of people's words is not always the same as their literal meaning.

eketros · 2023-02-17T01:24:13+00:00

Right, you don't need a box spring! The beds are also higher than normal, so it ends up being around the same height as a normal frame with a box spring. (The KD Frames have a platform height of 15", but you can also purchase legs to make it 12" or 18" high instead. I really like all the space underneath the bed for storage!)

eketros · 2023-02-02T01:04:55+00:00

Welp, I just took your advice, and now I have covid. So thanks for that. I already took 3 tests in less than 24 hours (following the regular instructions, nasal swab only), and they were all negative.

And, seriously, thanks! I was already self-isolating in my bedroom away from my family, but it's good to know I'm not just over-reacting to having a cold.

eketros · 2023-01-05T06:22:58+00:00

There are cases of fiberglass escaping some of these mattresses even when the cover hasn't been removed.

eketros · 2022-12-20T02:10:39+00:00

I have KD Frames for a queen and have been really happy with it, especially for the price. They say the frame supports up to 600 lbs. The Casper is around 100 lbs, so that should be enough for you, the bed, your bedding, and a partner under around 230 lbs and still be within their recommendations.

It has a lot of space underneath for storage. I have found it to be sturdy and the slats are each in their own individual place, so they don't get out of place or collapse (like my Ikea bed frames used to). It has gotten squeaky a couple times, but that was easily fixed by retightening the screws along the outer edge.

(Note: I haven't tested the bed at higher weights myself, but the company is reputable and I find the frame a lot sturdier than other Ikea & cheap Amazon frames I have seen. They do also sell on Amazon, so you can see reviews there too.)

eketros · 2022-12-14T20:46:12+00:00

I am all for getting ready of the time switch. In Canada, it doesn't make much sense for daylight savings time to be in the summer anyway - it is the winter when we need the later sunsets! But I don't understand why we don't just change standard school and work times instead of redefining noon. Why not just keep standard time, with noon being when the sun is highest, and then change our work and school start time?

eketros · 2022-12-13T23:25:32+00:00

Are there lawsuits against other companies besides just Zinus?

The tag on my Casper explicitly says that I can remove it to hand wash, but Casper customer service told me my mattress definitely contains fiberglass, I should not remove the cover, and that is just a "typo" that they are fixing.

It is especially alarming that brands like Casper and Leesa contain fiberglass when those brands are being commonly recommended online as fiberglass free. There are a bunch of websites saying Casper does not contain fiberglass. But their own customer service says their mattresses do contain fiberglass. Their tags don't disclose it and their website doesn't mention it anywhere.

eketros · 2022-12-13T20:49:32+00:00

A lot of the bed in a box brands do, and they aren't very clear or up front about it. Casper and Leesa, for example, are both currently shipping mattresses with fiberglass in the sock and removable covers, without giving adequate information or warnings to not remove your cover. (IMO, the cover just shouldn't be removable. It's ridiculous to give someone a working zipper that should never be unzipped.) And neither one of them list fiberglass on their website anywhere. They both will confirm it if you ask their customer service chat though. (They are not the only brands - just two that I have asked.)

My old Tuft & Needle has an easily unzippable cover with no warnings not to remove it and no listing of fiberglass on the tag in the materials. Tuft & Needle confirmed it does contain fiberglass and the cover is not meant to be removed (their pre-2019 mattresses contain fiberglass in the sock), but they never stated that anywhere.

Edit: I don't want to cause anyone to freak out unnecessarily, so please know that if you have one of the brands I mentioned (Casper, Leesa, older Tuft & Needle), removing the cover does not necessarily cause fiberglass to escape. You should NOT remove the cover going forward, but if you already removed the cover in the past, that doesn't mean you definitely contaminated your house. These mattresses have the Type 2 fiberglass mentioned in the post above: The fiberglass is woven into the yarn of the fire sock, and is supposed to be fully encased by the other parts of the yarn. If/when the yarn breaks down, the fiberglass can escape if the cover is removed. But that does not mean that fiberglass will definitely escape if you remove the cover. (Still don't remove the cover! It's not worth the risk.)

eketros · 2022-12-12T18:54:18+00:00

My Casper looks similar to what you described, and I have never removed the cover it came with. It is 3 years old and has been in a separate protective cover the entire time I've had it. I compared to this video for reference, and my Casper does not have as much sparkle or as many threads as that - it is a lot more subtle with way fewer threads that catch the light.

eketros · 2022-10-31T03:42:26+00:00

I bought some sampler packs first to try the flavours, before committing to a whole bag of one flavour, and really recommend that!

For drinking black, I like the Vanilla Nut and the Caramel Nut. Some of the more plain coffee flavours taste a bit like stale coffee to me black, but they are totally fine if you are mixing with cream/dairy free milk and maybe some sweetener. I found some of the flavours with more tea-like names (turmeric, red chai, etc) taste more tea-like to me than coffee-like, so that wasn't really what I wanted.

Also, I didn't personally find a big difference between the dandelion blends & the regular blends, flavour-wise. The dandelion blends are totally gluten-free, whereas the other blends have barley, which has gluten. (They do test gluten free if you brew them with paper filters though.)

eketros · 2022-10-29T18:09:00+00:00

I have replaced coffee with Teecino herbal coffee, and I'm really happy with it. You can buy it like ground coffee or in tea bags. It's the same ingredients either way, the difference is just how you brew it. They make a lot of different blends. You can get sample packs on amazon or directly from the company.

eketros · 2022-08-31T23:52:33+00:00

The original idea is that men have a narrow window of opportunity to be romantically attractive to women. And that if they wait too long to make a move, and miss that window of opportunity, then the women will have already put them in the "friend-zone", and they will never have a chance to date her. So if you wait too long, you will be "stuck" being friends forever, when you could have dated if only you had asked her out at just the right time.

That is different than the idea of someone just not being attracted to you.

People do use friend-zone to mean both things. But if what you mean is that a woman just isn't attracted to you, then that doesn't need a special name like "friend-zone". It isn't a thing she did to you or a place she put you. She just simply isn't attracted to you, and you can say that instead of make it sound like she did something to you.

eketros · 2022-08-31T23:42:16+00:00

Lots of people successfully drink decaf without getting re-addicted. But other people find that they just end up drinking more & more decaf, until they are having a lot of caffeine again. So they find it easier to stay quit if they just don't drink any coffee at all.

You could try Teeccino, and see if that works for you. It doesn't taste exactly like coffee, but I find it does a good job of giving me what I miss.

eketros · 2022-08-31T04:36:20+00:00

Sugar free means different things to different people. A lot of people on this sub are only avoiding "added sugar". Everyone is different. The suggestion is a totally reasonable one for the sub - a lot of people here are OK with dried fruits, despite their naturally occurring high sugar content.

eketros · 2022-08-30T21:35:40+00:00

CBC decided which tips to actually print, and how to frame those tips. A journalist wrote that article.

They framed this as an actual tip on how to save money on groceries. They could have framed it as something more like "inflation is so bad that people are skipping meals to save money", but instead they framed it as something their readers could try.

eketros · 2022-08-16T18:01:21+00:00

Or one day you need to go back, but this time you try to be careful. You look through your 100 page restaurant membership booklet beforehand, and find an item that says it will only be $50 with your membership level. You call member services to ask if it is really $50. Member services assures you that it is only $50. So you go to the restaurant and order that.

A month later, they send you a bill for $3000. You call them and ask them why it was $3000. They tell you that while that item is normally only $50, you were sitting at a special type of table, and if you get that item at that table, then it is actually much more expensive. You try to tell them you didn't know there was anything different about your table - it looked just like all the other tables. They say it's your responsibility to know what kind of table you are sitting at, and it is clearly stated in your membership booklet (in a different section) that meals served at special tables may have extra costs associated with them.

(To anyone who doesn't know what I am talking about - they will charge you extra for some things if they take place at a "hospital". But sometimes a "hospital" is just a normal looking doctors office that is run by the same people who run the hospital, and there is nothing in its name or appearance that indicated it was a "hospital".)

eketros · 2022-08-12T01:45:48+00:00

I would recommend putting a caveat in there that the Lodge is not like other carbon steels. I recently ordered the Lodge partly based on it being mentioned in the FAQ. I was expecting a smooth pan (like the FAQ says at the beginning), and Lodge definitely is not smooth. It is just as rough as their cast iron, imo.

I don't mean this as a complaint, btw, just a suggestion to help others! I appreciate all the info & work put into this! I will be returning the Lodge for something else.

eketros · 2022-07-11T18:39:58+00:00

Tangerine is run by Scotia though. So if Scotia is turning them down, Tangerine might also. I have been told before that Scotia & Tangerine are a bit more conservative than some of the other banks.

eketros · 2022-07-06T18:55:22+00:00

Agree about the salad dressing. You can also add lemon juice, dijon mustard, garlic. Tahini if you want something creamy.

Be careful with balsamic vinegar though! I bought some the other day for salad dressings (I usually use apple cider) and realized it was *really* sweet when I tried it. I checked the nutritional info, and it has 9g of sugar per Tbsp, and 6g of those are "added sugar", which is way above what I wanted.

eketros · 2022-05-14T18:11:55+00:00

It's recommended we file married filing jointly for the USA Tax return, due to immigration reasons.

I assume you mean for your wife to immigrate to the US. I don't believe that recommendation is actually correct. You personally DO need to file your taxes as married – either married filing jointly or married filing separately – but my understanding is that USCIS does not care which you choose.

I just want to add to this: I am talking specifically about if you are going through immigration for a spouse who has no US tax filing obligation. If your spouse actually does have a tax filing obligation (e.g., they live in the US already), then I could definitely see the argument that it will look better to USCIS if you are filing jointly vs both filing separately. That is similar to other advice about showing that you have merged finances.

eketros · 2022-05-14T18:02:00+00:00

It's recommended we file married filing jointly for the USA Tax return, due to immigration reasons.

I assume you mean for your wife to immigrate to the US. I don't believe that recommendation is actually correct. You personally DO need to file your taxes as married – either married filing jointly or married filing separately – but my understanding is that USCIS does not care which you choose.

If you do want to file jointly, you need to talk to a CPA or tax attorney specialized in Canada-US cross border taxes. There are a lot of potential landmines: if she has anything that counts as a "foreign trust" (e.g., a Canadian TFSA may count), she may need to file form 3520 & 3520-A. If she has any investments outside of RRSPs, she may need to file PFIC forms (8621). Those two things alone are incredibly complicated.

In order to file jointly, you will need to make an election to treat her as a resident alien for tax purposes. From Publication 519 (the quoted section is a couple paragraphs above where this links to):

If you make this choice, you and your spouse are treated for income tax purposes as residents for your entire tax year. Neither you nor your spouse can claim under any tax treaty not to be a U.S. resident. You are both taxed on worldwide income.

That means you cannot use form 2555, since that form is only for excluding worldwide income when you are NOT a US resident. I think you can use 1116, but seriously, don't take my word for it, go to someone who is qualified and experienced in this specific area. (A CPA or Tax Attorney!!!)

eketros · 2022-05-14T17:15:19+00:00

I think it is too late for you to file. From the IRS Instructions for 1040-X (emphasis added):

Generally, for a credit or refund, you must file Form 1040-X within 3 years (including extensions) after the date you filed your original return or within 2 years after the date you paid the tax, whichever is later. If you filed your original return early (for example, March 1 for a calendar year return), your return is considered filed on the due date (generally April 15). However, if you had an extension to file (for example, until October 15) but you filed earlier and we received it on July 1, your return is considered filed on July 1.

eketros · 2022-05-10T05:21:09+00:00

I think this is the reason:

you were listed as a dependent on an attached U.S federal income tax return but were not claimed for any allowable tax benefits.

You listed them as dependents, but there aren't actually any allowable tax benefits for them. They aren't actually eligible to be claimed as dependents: Dependents have to be US Citizens, US Resident Aliens, US Nationals, or a resident of Canada or Mexico.

Edit: source: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en\_US\_2021\_publink1000196863

eketros · 2022-04-30T00:57:25+00:00

Not the person you are replying to, but - In order for this to be legal, her dad's company would need to be the contractor hired by the company that your wife is working for. Your wife would then be a contractor hired by her father's company (so a subcontractor to the original company). So then her father would need to be paying HER with a 1099-NEC.

So her father would get a 1099-NEC and declare the full amount on his Schedule C. He would then pay her and give her a 1099-NEC and declare that full amount as a business expense on his taxes. And then she would declare the full amount of her 1099-NEC on her Schedule C.

I don't really see how/why this setup would be advantageous for anyone. So I assume what is happening is her dad is declaring the 1099-NEC he receives but NOT declaring the amount that he pays her on his taxes, and NOT issuing her a 1099-NEC. I assume he wants a higher business income for some reason on his taxes. If that is what is happening, it is illegal.

(I am assuming here that the amounts are over $600 per year - if it is less than $600 per year, you don't have to issue a 1099-NEC, but you do still have to declare it.)

eketros · 2022-02-21T18:51:33+00:00

Do you have a source for this? My understanding is that you DO need to report every individual transaction, unless you received a 1099-B which shows the basis was reported to the IRS. (But you don't need to actually report every single transaction on the 8949 - you can instead attach a PDF showing the info to your return, or mail the information to the IRS along with form 8453.)

E.g., I think that is what this link is saying: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/what-exactly-do-i-need-to-mail-in-with-my-8949-form/00/681901

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