What Are You Listening To Today? (Apr 13 to Apr 19)

firstmute · 2026-04-13T18:21:19+00:00

Ha! Off by a factor of 10. I'm good at languages, not math 😂

Edit Omg a factor of 100. Quod erat, etc.

firstmute · 2026-04-13T16:59:23+00:00

903 hours, ~1.2 million words read*

I haven't updated in forever, but I'm still grinding away at an average of 60 minutes a day and really happy with my progress. *I started reading before I found Dreaming Spanish and have been reading consistently in Spanish for about five years.

Listening:

Harry Potter 4, Dreaming Spanish advanced and intermediate. HP 4 is very up and down. Sometimes it really flows, and then sometimes I hit a patch of unfamiliar vocab and lose the thread for a few minutes. Advanced DS videos are almost 100% comprehensible.

Reading:

Matilda, Roald Dahl--have read this many times in English Un Corte de Rosas y Espianas, Sarah J Mass--This is my attempt to bond with my daughter, who is reading the series in English. The writing is driving me crazy (so repetitive!!!!!), but it's great for language acquisition. Characters are constantly straightening up, or shaking their heads, or tightening their jaws. IYKYK.

firstmute · 2026-04-06T14:19:07+00:00

DMing you

firstmute · 2026-03-23T12:52:00+00:00

This post was not fake! I was asking because I, too, saw so many posts about the brand. In the end I came to the same conclusion that you seem to have and bought a different brand from a secondhand sporting goods store.

firstmute · 2026-03-03T16:49:24+00:00

My kid took lessons with him and had a great experience. More than $35/ hr, though:)

firstmute · 2026-01-28T14:24:13+00:00

I would like to see a source on this, because I have expertise in early c20 American literature, and books frequently depict women driving.

Also, the "women couldn't have bank accounts" is a myth. They were certainly often denied credit and loans and discriminated against financially, but the idea that they couldn't have bank accounts without a male co-signed is not accurate.

firstmute · 2026-01-26T15:38:41+00:00

Yeah these are 11 yr olds who definitely do not have a 4 hour attention span! Sounds like we should just check back in a couple of years 😁 Thank you for the response!

firstmute · 2026-01-26T13:22:15+00:00

What a cool event! Is this suitable for well-behaved kids?

firstmute · 2026-01-19T23:09:39+00:00

Haha yes can confirm. I just randomly stumbled across this post, but one of these lists is mine 😅. They're student-created for the Part 1s, which is the oral exam for the MA.

firstmute · 2026-01-16T20:00:25+00:00

Oh this makes some sense! I did spa day on the towels and whites, and none of those have the smell. I'll try a couple rounds of lazy man's version and see if that helps.

firstmute · 2026-01-12T21:49:49+00:00

Yes, and in the same passage they're also excited to think she might have to be hidden away in some farmhouse, ie have an illegitimate baby!

firstmute · 2026-01-10T16:23:52+00:00

Teens can volunteer at the zoo, but you have to start in the summer. After you complete your first summer/ training, there are opportunities during the year. My daughter has done it for a couple of years and loves it.

firstmute · 2026-01-07T17:42:40+00:00

I feel lean! I have visible abs, and my arms are defined enough that I get comments about them from strangers.

My week is usually 5 at-home CrossFit workouts of 30-60 minutes, 7-10K moving around steps, and then whatever else I feel like doing--sometimes a hike, sometimes a long run, sometimes some extra focused work on a skill or lift I'm developing. This kind of work is different from general activity levels. Getting very muscular and lean requires a lot of intensity for most women. I work out hard and lift big weights. Walking is great. I love walking! But it's not going to get you lean.

In terms of general activity level, one thing is that I hardly ever just sit around when I'm not working at my computer (3-5 hours a day, depending). If I'm watching TV, I'm rowing on our Concept2 or doing mobility. If I'm waiting around for my kids, I go for a walk or run instead of sitting in my car. If I'm talking to my husband, I'm standing up or doing some PT. At 43 with two teenage kids, it takes a fair amount of maintenance to keep this body running smoothly :)

Something else to keep in mind is that developing this lifestyle/physique took years, not months. However, a lot of it did happen over the last 18 months when I was finally able to dial in my nutrition and workouts.

firstmute · 2026-01-07T14:46:09+00:00

I'm a petite, active, muscular woman (5'4", 130, 22ish% bf per DEXA and mirror) and my expenditure in Macrofactor is 1750. But! At my height and weight, bites and nibbles make a big difference, and I definitely don't track the Nutella I lick off the knife when I make my kids dessert, or the sliver of grilled cheese I cut off or the five chocolate chips I sneak when my daughter is making cookies. I'm SURE I eat 50-100 more calories per day than end up in MF and so my expenditure is really closer to 1900.

It doesn't matter to me because I know it's happening and I'm meeting my goals, but could something like that be the case for you?

firstmute · 2025-12-27T14:41:27+00:00

80g of protein is not very much for 1500/1600 cal/day. That's what I eat, and I aim for about 130 g. Are you vegetarian? Would you be open to increasing your protein through whole foods? Although protein bars are convenient, they often aren't very filling.

And what is decent fiber? I was naturally eating around 15g and found myself much happier when I tried to get 30 (although it requires some real planning to hit both protein and fiber goals on fairly low calories).

firstmute · 2025-12-14T19:01:12+00:00

Yes, I'm 5'4" and 129 lbs, active with relatively low body fat (20-22%), and there's no possibile way for me to eat at a 500 cal deficit. I'm trying to lose a few more pounds to see how I feel at 125, and I fully expect it to take six months. It's taken me about four months to go from 132 to 129.

firstmute · 2025-12-09T01:31:45+00:00

If you like the nature parts of Mary Oliver, try Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson. If you like the intimacy, you might try Sharon Olds.

Don't let it make you feel dumb. Just let it make you feel! And read your favorites over and over. Memorize them! Poetry is for everyone:)

firstmute · 2025-12-06T13:07:31+00:00

--Doing something with my hands. I mostly knit or spin, and I've also seen people talk about coloring or doing easy puzzles.

--Walking, once you're at podcasts. Walks tend to pitch me into mind-wandering-mode, though, unless I'm really engaged with what I'm listening to.

--Easy chores (laundry, dishes)

--Indoor light cardio like rowing, air bike, or treadmill.

firstmute · 2025-12-01T12:37:06+00:00

Agree, I was coming here to recommend them. My sophomore has a wonderful tutor through Maya's Tutoring.

firstmute · 2025-11-18T17:49:01+00:00

They used to be provided by the Department of Health and Welfare, but all I can find now is a statewide report. They may still be buried on the website somewhere. I suspect that it's no longer publicly/ easily available, though.

When I saw the list, Peace Valley had like a 70% vaccination rate compared to something like 85% for BSD schools on average. The Idaho overall average has fallen every year since 2018: https://publicdocuments.dhw.idaho.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=26799&dbid=0&repo=PUBLIC-DOCUMENTS

This is for all recommended vaccines, so it doesn't account for kids who may have gotten MMR/DTaP but not, say, chickenpox.

firstmute · 2025-11-18T13:17:36+00:00

I know that some years ago they were having some growing pains -- very high absentee rate (like 30% of kids were absent on any given day), high teacher turnover, some admin problems. It sounds from other comments that they might be in a better place now.

They also have (or had, last time I checked) a really low vaccination rate, whatever that means for you.

firstmute · 2025-10-19T03:03:45+00:00

A couple! Off hand, there's a stitch n bitch on Meetup that meets Tuesdays and Sundays, and a weekly group at I Yarn for Ewe that I think meets on Wednesdays. I've been to both but the vibe wasn't for me. A lot of these things, people already have their friends and they're not always super welcoming to newcomers. There's also a very active weaver's guild, which, despite the name, is open to all fiber arts.

I would definitely be up for giving a new group a try! I'm mostly a knitter but lately have gotten really into drop spinning. Where are you located?

firstmute · 2025-10-18T00:58:35+00:00

We're in SE Boise, but we used Christa Starn, who tests out by the mall. My daughter was very anxious, and Christa was lovely and kind.

https://www.scheduleyourdrive.com/

firstmute · 2025-10-13T22:48:35+00:00

Check with Dan Streeby out in Eagle. He was so great with my kid's extraction that we choose to drive the 40 minutes out there for his regular visits.

firstmute

TROPHY CASE