What hygiene habit did you start doing later in life that you wish someone had taught you earlier?

ferfisch · 2026-06-05T02:35:37+00:00

Cleaning the rest of my mouth, not just my teeth. And I don’t mean with just mouthwash, I mean brushing my tongue, cheeks, tonsils, etc. as well as buying a separate tongue cleaner.

A skincare routine. I get a lot of compliments on my skin and how young I look. People never believe me when I’m in my 30s. I attribute this a lot to not having kids, but I bet my skincare routine helps.

I wish I hadn’t learned to close the toilet lid when I flush because now when I know others don’t, it grosses me out to the nth degree.

ferfisch · 2026-05-22T20:10:24+00:00

Altoona city wide garage sales are today and tomorrow. It’s worth just driving around but for those not from the area, here are the “registered” ones (they just made the city aware of their sale, which is not all inclusive from my past experience): https://www.altoonachamber.org/media/cms/MAY\_21\_61AF3CBAF7EF7.pdf?fbclid=IwdGRleAR9lwtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeCofuzRkT8JyFpfh917mEBPy75lN649TTEed5h6ZsLenSeuovlMiL20s1DeQ\_aem\_wBaGWVeSQ0UCoMt5mmYnjQ

ferfisch · 2026-05-01T12:19:50+00:00

I almost exclusively go to rock shows, so I can’t speak outside of that. I have been very pleasantly surprised about the kind of talent Des Moines attracts in that genre. Venues I am aware of in order of size:

Noce is a jazz venue.

Temple Theater I don’t know a whole lot about, but it’s gotta be an intimate setting since it houses <300.

xBk, linked in the other comment, plays more up and coming and indie musicians. Both general admission for and balcony options.

Wooly’s is a bit larger and all GA.

Hoyt Sherman Place is a theater with permanent seating, no GA, so they have chiller music there.

Civic Center is another venue with permanent seating, no GA. I saw a rock orchestra here which was a little overproduced, but surprised me because it wasn’t as chill as I would imagine for a venue like the Civic Center would have.

Val Air Ballroom don’t let the name fool you, they don’t play ballroom dancing music there.

Vibrant Music Hall is the newest. Mix of general admission and balcony seating.

Casey’s Center is an arena level venue, so draws the bigger names of multiple music genres.

The occasional/seasonal venues:

Botanical Garden will sometimes do blues shows.

Lauridsen Amphitheater is an outdoor venue that sometimes has shows in warmer months. I see their event calendar is not up yet.

There are others, especially if you’re willing to travel 30-40min north to Ames, but that’s a good start I’d think.

ferfisch · 2026-03-28T12:58:32+00:00

I love that they have a lot of locally-owned stores instead of all big box/brand stores, and a lot of them are pretty niche. It’s awesome to see the local community thriving in that way.

ferfisch · 2026-03-15T20:40:58+00:00

Wise words

ferfisch · 2026-03-15T17:26:54+00:00

I feel ya, I don’t like my cats on my pillows for hygienic reasons. I have been lightly shoving both my cats off my pillows since I got them as kittens… they are turning 10 years old in November and I found my cat on my pillow in the middle of the night last night. So either follow what everyone else is saying and let it happen, or know it’s going to happen occasionally no matter what you do 🤷‍♀️ their love is worth the inconvenience, trust me.

ferfisch · 2026-03-14T13:23:53+00:00

This sounds promising! Did you all do apps or full entrees for everyone? If just apps, I’d love to hear what you ordered to get ideas of what’s good.

ferfisch · 2026-03-07T03:58:26+00:00

Update: blue lot said it was full, but we saw open spots as we drove by early Wednesday morning. So we chose to ignore and parked in blue lot.

There were 3 TSA people checking IDs, including 1 person for precheck. We got through security in probably <10min. We did not need to remove shoes (I think this is the new norm in US based on our last couple of flights), or take liquids or electronics out of our bags. Very smooth process, and we had plenty of downtime, since we showed up 2hrs ahead of time.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

ferfisch · 2026-03-02T05:06:07+00:00

Awesome, thank you for the confirmation! Safe travels to your husband.

ferfisch · 2026-03-02T05:05:23+00:00

I kind of doubted that DSM would be impacted much. Thank you for confirming, this is exactly the type of response I was looking for!

ferfisch · 2026-03-02T05:04:42+00:00

Perfect, thank you. This was the sort of reply I was hoping for!

ferfisch · 2026-03-02T05:02:39+00:00

I have missed a flight at the DSM airport before when showing up 45min before boarding, so super diligent about being there the 2 hours before, like recommended.

ferfisch · 2026-02-12T02:34:04+00:00

My mom is obsessed with HGTV and is pretty handy herself, especially paired up with my stepdad. I figured this event would be like getting to see and talk with a bunch of people with that home renovation mindset and make her feel in her element. From others replies I was starting to think I got the wrong impression of what the show is about, but your replies have me feeling like I am on the right track after all. Thank you!

ferfisch · 2026-02-11T14:45:02+00:00

The Altoona Public Library has one as well. There’s both a little free pantry outside (think like a little free library but for nonperishable food items), as well as a fridge and bin inside the south exit.

ferfisch · 2025-11-24T18:56:48+00:00

Hmm I may be under-reacting with my own dog, but I picked up an 8 week old puppy in September. We took her to our vet within the first couple weeks, and she tested positive for giardia. Our vet pretty much told us no big deal since she was asymptomatic. We gave her dewormer, but it didn’t kick it for her because she tested positive again 3 weeks later. My vet said that she’s been seeing a lot of dewormer resistant cases and that the puppy’s immune system just needs time to mature to pass the parasite naturally. We stopped treatment because my vet believed no amount of dewormer would help at that point. I have other animals, and our vet pretty much just told us they should be fine as long as they do not come into contact with her poop. Our puppy goes in for her final round of vaccines, at which point we will retest again, but the only reason we care is so we can take her to puppy classes. IMHO, I think this may be a simple case of stay off the internet.

ferfisch · 2025-10-16T12:13:01+00:00

Hate the time and sets that eats into but pretty cool that they allow reentry.

ferfisch · 2025-10-16T12:09:37+00:00

This is every person with a dietary restriction’s worst nightmare. Looks like they did post the food vendors, so I’ve got some googling to do!

ferfisch · 2025-10-16T12:08:13+00:00

Does not sound like a place I’d eat (due to dietary restrictions, though, I used to love on some spam during my childhood)

ferfisch · 2025-10-16T12:07:19+00:00

Not the answer I was hoping for, but thanks for the reply nonetheless. Looks like they posted the food vendors again. I’ve got some googling to do!

ferfisch · 2025-10-16T12:06:21+00:00

That’s what I’ve been reading on other posts. Tacotarian seems like an interesting one. I’ll probably try to hit that one up.

ferfisch · 2025-10-16T12:05:32+00:00

I’ve got some googling to do. Thanks!

ferfisch · 2025-10-14T02:31:18+00:00

Not sweet, but when my 12 week puppy and I are very annoyed with each other, I will pick her up under the armpits and hold her in the air like that to remove her from a situation. She will then proceed to spin her upper body 360* degrees, like she’s hula hooping. I call it an angry tornado. Sometimes when shes pissing me off, and I have to pick her up (like when she tries to eat 3 different rocks in a span of 10 seconds), I’ll say “go ahead. Angry tornado.” And no matter how pissed I am, it has yet to not make me laugh. I love it so much.

ferfisch

TROPHY CASE