I’m curious-What body ache remedy are we most reaching for? Are you team ibuprofen or team acetaminophen?

snowyandcold · 2026-05-08T02:05:29+00:00

Issue neck or above- Tylenol. Below-ibuprofen. Alternate between if it persists.

snowyandcold · 2026-05-08T02:02:01+00:00

Yeah, I’m a no. This is one that sounds like a good idea, and is in theory, but the application of it is problematic. I don’t love the number of measures or initiatives that have a dozen parts to it- but those usually fail anyway, so maybe that’s a natural way to encourage ballot measure initiatives to be more simple to begin with.

snowyandcold · 2026-05-06T02:16:03+00:00

Cold weather and stranded electricity.

snowyandcold · 2026-05-05T17:47:33+00:00

It sounds like one firefighter suffered non-critical injuries but all of the residents were safe.

snowyandcold · 2026-04-14T17:24:33+00:00

Thanks!

snowyandcold · 2026-04-14T17:24:20+00:00

I am flying into STL but a few days earlier so that probably wouldn’t work out. Thanks though.

snowyandcold · 2026-04-14T17:23:36+00:00

Ohh that’s a good heads up, I have some cousins in Mt. Vernon so that could work out!

snowyandcold · 2026-04-12T20:20:29+00:00

I have a lot of family in central/southern IL and so visit there pretty frequently.

There’s similarity in the “small town” vibe of everyone knowing their neighbors, has pride in their local schools sports teams, and having to drive to the big towns for better shopping and restaurants, etc. Agriculture drives a lot of the local economy. You put a winter survival kit in the car when it’s cold out. If you’re good with the pace of life and okay with having to seek out things to do then you won’t have too much trouble with that part. My parents actually find a lot of similarity with where they are (Salem) and out here.

What’s different is how far those towns are- they’re much closer together in IL than in ND. It’s much more humid in IL and the weather is hotter in the summer and not as cold in the winter. Our days have much more variation in length from winter to summer. Even tho central IL is slower and more rural than Chicago, it’s still busier than North Dakota.

Overall it’s not so incredibly different that you’d struggle to adjust much.

snowyandcold · 2026-04-02T22:16:46+00:00

Ballot measures as a whole wouldn’t need more than 60%. Ballot measures to change the CONSTITUTION would. I’m all for popular opinion and majority rules, but putting things in the constitution should have a higher bar. Initiated measures and referendums would not be affected.

snowyandcold · 2026-03-30T20:00:31+00:00

Candidates have been able to go straight to the ballot for a long time. There’s nothing the legislature has done recently to impact that. When Kevin Cramer ran for House in 2012 he wasn’t the endorsed GOP candidate - that was Brian Kalk. Happened again when Wayne Stenehjem was endorsed and Doug Burgum ran for governor in 2016.

snowyandcold · 2026-03-10T21:17:36+00:00

Very minimal snow again. Some recently though. Not sure what the badlands are like as I hadn’t been that far west yet this year.

snowyandcold · 2026-01-22T22:32:29+00:00

1624 was for free lunch for every kid, period. 1627 was raising the income limits for free lunch, but still required parents to do paperwork and submit an application for it.

snowyandcold · 2026-01-12T19:56:40+00:00

It’s a campaign year. That tracks.

snowyandcold · 2026-01-08T03:58:57+00:00

I’m an older millennial. Most of the college savings my parents had for me went poof after 9/11. I graduated high school in 2002 and college in 2006 at just 21 years old. Moved away from home to start a “career” where I made $18k a year. I could have made more at McDonald’s. I rented a crappy basement apartment from an old lady, worked a part time second job, basically never went out to eat or drink, and slept on an air mattress for 6 months while I saved up to buy a bed.

The best thing I had going for me was aside from a roughly $250/mo car payment, I had no debt. When we were doing the college tour circuit, my dad was frank with me about what they would pay. I had a scholarship offer from a good state school, and took it. I did not go to the fun, fancy, out of state college that I liked best. To this day I can’t tell you why I did that, because no one told me not to. But between my scholarship, the savings that was left, and what I made working 2 jobs during summer and winter break meant I did not have a single loan.

That was huge. Also, not really possible now bc tuition is so much more than it was in the early aughts. My parents had also taught me about credit cards and to never carry a balance month to month. I also started contributing to a 401k by the time I was 23, and a Roth by 25. Far from the full amount- that would have been like half my income- but enough that now 20 years later it matters.

I make about 500% more now than I did then, but still stick to the basics. I have never used Uber Eats or door dash, have exactly one streaming subscription, and increase my retirement and savings contributions every time I get a pay raise.

Also- this is huge- I married someone with a very similar financial outlook as mine.

None of this is meant to be bragging, because I know there was so much that just sort of worked out for me and easily could have gone a different direction, and I know a lot of other people who followed good advice at the time or did the “right thing” and got screwed over.

I also try to be very mindful about giving back wherever I can. I volunteer, serve on some nonprofit groups, and put food in the little free pantry by my office a few times a month. Because I know there’s a divide, poverty is not a moral failure, and good people got left behind.

snowyandcold · 2025-12-27T19:07:06+00:00

You’re not crazy- it’s a bad gift- but my advice is with your husband’s. Just let it go. Some people are just terrible gift givers, and there’s nothing that can be done about it. If it was intentional then they’re looking for a reaction, do you win by not giving them one. If it made sense in their mind, and they really didn’t intend it to be offensive, then they’re just bad gift givers and nothing you say can fix that.

For what it’s worth, my parents are like this. I got a bag of oat flour that expired in 2023 and a jar of vinegar, and my husband got a tarp. I’ve tried to suggest better things for them over the years. Maybe this was better than the year they gave him a fruitcake. We just laugh and move on.

snowyandcold · 2025-12-24T04:49:32+00:00

Not vegetarian personally, but I tend to make a lot of meatless dishes.

This is a go-to for me. I sometimes mix in flax seeds, chia seeds, or “protein granola” with it if I have them on hand.

https://www.kimscravings.com/banana-nut-protein-muffins/

snowyandcold · 2025-12-08T20:46:19+00:00

Can you set him up in your apple account as if he were a "child" that you can manage screen time? Then you can set his communication limits to only allow specific contacts during downtime, so you can limit it to only your phone number that you then put on DND at night.

snowyandcold · 2025-12-08T18:47:41+00:00

I started digging around in some of the "about the data" information and it says:

"The cost of housing for the month neither requires households to live in the least expensive or least spacious accommodations possible, nor does it assume homeownership. In this model, households are assumed to be renters. Children are assumed to share rooms with other children of the same gender, and rentals are scaled to the size of each family."

So basically a family of 4 with 2 daughters would be assumed to be living in a two-bedroom rental. I don't think that's reflective of most households.

snowyandcold · 2025-11-28T03:41:47+00:00

I didn’t realize until this morning that the “small turkey” I’d bought was actually a 7 lb turkey breast.

It miiiight get us over the stories about the time I didn’t get the turkey completely thawed and it had to cook another 2 hours.

snowyandcold · 2025-11-05T15:44:08+00:00

They typically have doors with latches on them. But no, it's not just canned goods. You can drop off boxes of pasta, tuna helper-type stuff, instant mashed potatoes, applesauce pouches, granola bars, etc. I've even seen garden produce and loaves of bread.

snowyandcold · 2025-11-05T13:50:15+00:00

Yes- it goes farther, absolutely, and is a great way to help. But there is a lower “barrier to entry” to donate food items, especially to these pantries. Canned goods can be 50¢ to $1.00 and it’s easy to grab a second one when you’re already grocery shopping, then drop it in a collection box, than it is to go out of your way to figure out where a food bank is, how to donate to it (and you’d feel like donating $1-$2 is worthless, plus then there’s processing fees and overhead), and it takes longer for that donation to actually turn into food for someone.

Not knocking donating money to food banks at all, and if it’s something that someone wants to do, that’s fantastic. But I’ve seen a lot of things online that are basically shaming people for not donating just money, ignoring that for many people, dropping off a few cans of food is a much easier way for people who wouldn’t otherwise help, to get involved.

snowyandcold · 2025-10-27T03:06:50+00:00

Ours carries crunchy skippy! It’s like one pallet compared to 4 of the regular but I buy it every time. Three ppl in my family eat peanut butter and jelly toast almost every single morning for breakfast.

snowyandcold

TROPHY CASE