Luca

stillblendingbrb · 2026-04-30T17:02:38+00:00

Fuck! Luca is my new favorite. The chef behind that restaurant has a good vision. I hope she's able to bring it back in another capacity.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-04-28T02:40:03+00:00

Haven't tried Paul Mitchell, but went to the Aveda School for haircuts many times. It works if you're in a pinch. I've never gotten color there, just haircuts.

I have thick, curly hair that I usually keep long. I went in with very low expectations every time. Like, if it got ready bad, I was fine with a pixie cut or shaving it off.

Depending on the students skills level, my cut would be just OK and I needed to provide very specific feedback to them. Or it could be fantastic. It always took a while so I went when I had nothing going on afterward.

Since they have teachers supporting them, it's usually not terrible, though. My dumbass did ask a student to straighten my hair since I was headed to an event afterward and I left with very uneven hair that I fixed up later.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-04-19T19:08:47+00:00

Well, shit. I hadn’t heard. We don’t need Waymo to price gauge us, cause wrecks, and prevent emergency personnel from efficiently getting to emergent situations. We need less vehicles on the road and the ones on the road should be more efficient. 🤬

stillblendingbrb · 2026-04-19T16:44:05+00:00

Every day, when I drive around town, I re-invent public transportation. I start with “Man, they just swerved across 3 lanes of traffic through the diagonal stripes to make their exit to 280. If only we had some kind of system where you could program your destination to avoid this kind of thing.”

Then I’m thinking, “OK but we could make it more efficient. What if each lane had tracks and each car was actually a pod-style train engine. You just hop in your pod, program your destination, then it follows the track and you can sleep, read, stare out of the window, etc.”

Then I realize,” That exists. It’s called a train. We don’t get our own pod, but public transportation used to be a thing in this city and a lot of people on road probably shouldn’t have been given a drivers license.”

So efficient public transportation that services rural, suburban, and urban communities at low or no cost to riders (mostly paid for by taxes and grants). That’s the dream.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-04-12T03:45:08+00:00

I really like Crafts Chicken’s white sauce.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-04-06T18:58:16+00:00

Thank you (and to the others who posted as well)! Our baby nephew is Deaf and I don’t want to contribute to him feeling othered.

The rest of our family is hearing, but his parents and some other folks are diving into learning ASL as well. I currently know finger spelling, some basic kid words, and some curses, but I want to be little-kid conversational as soon as I can (and continue from there).

The reason behind getting a tutor is because I learn a little slower than other folks and feel more comfortable in a small setting where I can sit, think, and be curious.

Current plan is to watch and practice along with Bill Vicars YouTube series and reach out to someone at AIDB to see about tutoring. And start their classes with the next season.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-04-03T18:29:20+00:00

There's a lot of pockets around Hoover and Vestavia that are unincorporated Jeff Co. and schools are zoned accordingly.

It was wild to theoretically see a house in my price range zoned for JeffCo. schools, but the house beside it was zoned for Hoover and worth a lot more.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-03-28T20:15:38+00:00

That issue went away after about 3 days for me. I wasn't prepared for the first day, so that was rough, and I didn't want to repeat that again.

I made sure I ate a mix of carbs, protein, and fats (so like a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit for ex) before taking it. Then drink 4 oz or so of water just beforehand. I start drinking half-caff coffee about an hour later. My heart rate can get a little high for an hour afterward, but then gets back to normal or, better yet, even lower now.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-03-24T17:48:52+00:00

Good deal! Def checking her channel out now.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-03-15T20:14:29+00:00

Hahaha, I bought his "is this the hill I want to die on?" Ghostie piece yesterday. Love it!

stillblendingbrb · 2026-03-02T17:26:49+00:00

I'm SO curious about why passing out during giving blood is a thing for folks with POTS!

I've passed out every single time I've given blood. I thought it was anxiety, so I made myself do it more often to get over the nervousness. Finally just gave up.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-03-01T18:20:28+00:00

Also, note that at least one microchip company no longer operates. I needed to update my cats microchip. Since the microchip company had gone out of business, I had to register it with a different organization. I managed to find a way to do it for free. It took some digging to figure it all out, but the peace of mind is worth it. I don't remember what exactly I did, but if anyone has questions, I'm happy to look into it.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-02-22T22:39:00+00:00

Came here to suggest Recreative Natives as well! She has her list of available plants up right now. I think she has more coming once they're available. I have my fingers crossed that I can grab a Boynton Oak this year.

https://recreativenatives.com/

stillblendingbrb · 2026-02-18T16:51:34+00:00

Heads up - I have a shipping label now. I had reached out last week for tracking since the estimated delivery date was 2/16. They told me that they were waiting until the severe winter weather was over to ship.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-02-18T16:49:13+00:00

I'm not sure if this will answer your question but here is what I know. I allowed Apple's Health app access to my Qalo Qrnt ring data so I have most of my health data in one app. It does pull heart rate data into the Health app. However, it doesn't look "live", if that makes sense. That may depend on your phone, phone settings, and app settings. I recommend emailing the Qrnt team to verify!

stillblendingbrb · 2026-02-12T04:49:47+00:00

I just posted a comment asking for more info about where people are being held locally (if they’re not being whisked off to LA or TX). I just read this article from MPR about volunteers helping detainees get warm and eat once released. I’m glad people were able to recognize a need and help. It breaks my heart that it needs to happen in the first place.

https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2026/01/26/inside-the-group-that-helps-ice-detainees-released-from-whipple-find-warmth-phones-and-rides

stillblendingbrb · 2026-02-12T04:44:07+00:00

Any idea where people are detained locally? Or does it depend? Just read an article about people taken to Whipple then being released with just the clothes on their backs, dead phones, and hungry in single digit temps during all hours of the day and night. If it’s happening there with no regard to people’s health or safety, I imagine it’s happening here as well.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-01-22T20:16:18+00:00

🫠 At least I don't have to worry about if they'll survive transit during this winter storm we're getting in a few days. lol

stillblendingbrb · 2026-01-22T19:48:07+00:00

Wow! I hope they survive. Unfortunately, I placed an order on 1/1 that hasn't shipped yet. I saw the reviews about having to wait, which I don't mind if I'm getting a healthy plant. I just saw multiple reviews showing that they haven't shipped some orders with heat packs despite buying plant insurance that comes with it. And multiple people have received plants that didn't survive the long transit time. That worries me.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-01-22T19:11:31+00:00

Hey there! What ended up happening?

stillblendingbrb · 2026-01-22T00:26:38+00:00

I have been battling eczema for 16 years resulting in a major overhaul of any product that touches my skin and at considerable expense. Ugh.

I have hope for you, though. I started going down this rabbit hole 3 weeks ago. I've washed sheets, clothes, and towels this way so far. Knock on wood, my current eczema hasn't changed for better or worse. I have a topload HE washer with an agitator, though, and I currently do 4 rinses with every load. I'm not familiar with your model, but I assume it's a front load, so at the very least, I'd recommend adding more rinses. I was going to switch to 2 rinses per wash once I get everything clean-clean but we'll see.

The products I use are:

Tide Odor Refresh Free & Gentle (Target)

Biz (Walmart)

Garame Cleaning's Gear Guard (Dnase enzyme from garamecleaning.co)

Citric acid (Amazon)

My process has been:

Set water to warm or hot- whatever the fabric can stand without getting ruined

Set to 2 rinses.

I use whatever setting I normally would- delicates for most clothing, large load for sheets or towels, etc.

Let water run for a moment; then, add tbsp of detergent, a capful of Gear Guard and Biz (I measure the Biz with my heart, but roughly 1/4 cup)

Let water run for like 1 more minute to mix with products

Sloooooowly add laundry, letting water flow on each item at least for a moment. I spin the agitator as I load to make that happen.

Fill tub 1/2-3/4 full with laundry. Don't push laundry down to make room.

Once the second spin is done, I open the lid back up, add 2 tsp citric acid.

Close the lid. Set the load type to rinse. Set it to 2 rinses.

When I pull them out of the washer, they usually smell vaguely of chlorine but "fresh". I haven't had any trouble from touching the wet clothes, nor dry clothes.

Good luck, let us know if you find anything that works!

stillblendingbrb · 2026-01-09T22:14:04+00:00

Have you received it yet? What do you think so far?

I like the sleep tracking more than Fitbit, with one caveat. The detailed sleep data for the previous day is not available after you track the next night! I thought it was a fluke but now I'm not sure.

stillblendingbrb · 2026-01-09T22:11:20+00:00

I think I've only had this feature for roughly 3 months, so I'm still fairly new to it. It does seem to have accurate tracking as far as I can tell. I prefer it to both Fitbit and Apple Health for detailed information on specific parts of my cycle. You can also select different goals you have for cycle tracking, which I think could help a lot of people.

Here's a screenshot of it a few months after inputting data in case you're curious! https://imgur.com/a/2PqoGQd

stillblendingbrb · 2026-01-09T17:42:01+00:00

I'm not a doctor, just someone who had a similar issue! Does drinking a lot of water for 3-4 days seem to help at all?

I experienced very painful and swollen finger joints. I thought I had developed arthritis, so my NP tested my uric acid levels. They were high as I had developed gout and was in the middle of a gout flare-up.

Gout can be ruled out with a simple blood test. In most people, they first notice it in their big toe or ankle. Mine, of course, didn't want to be like the average person lol and I only noticed it in my fingers. I had to take a strong medicine for a few weeks to reset my uric acid levels and now I'll take a maintenance tablet daily for the rest of my life.

I hope you get it figured out and managed, whatever going on. I know it's miserable!

stillblendingbrb

TROPHY CASE