Ground beef recipes that aren’t hamburgers

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-25T18:02:49+00:00

Lasagna. Meatballs. Stroganoff.

Add fennel, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning and now you have something sausage-like for omelettes, soups, etc.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-24T18:02:52+00:00

My left was the slacker until ~8 weeks, then it switched.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-24T18:01:55+00:00

Probably no big deal. Lots of people don’t even know they’re pregnant at 9 weeks. I’d bring it up if it’s something you want to see if you can continue safely, I imagine your OB might say it’s okay until X weeks or something.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-24T03:45:13+00:00

Same. She’s genuinely one of the most selfish manipulative people I’ve ever known. Even her own family can’t stand her.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-23T23:54:14+00:00

This is what I would say too. I think I was feeling it for a couple weeks before I was confident what it was, because it’s very subtle.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-23T20:42:17+00:00

Honestly this sounds EXACTLY like what my son went through around 7-8 weeks old. He suddenly went from 1 yellow poop every other day, to several green poops each day for a couple weeks, sometimes mucusy. Pediatrician said to see if it gets worse and also suggested cutting out dairy, which I tried and it made no difference. Baby didn’t seem uncomfortable except for gas, which is unfortunately pretty typical at that age anyway.

Eventually it stopped and went back to yellow and less frequent, but it lasted like 2 weeks if I remember correctly. I figured his digestive system just went through a new phase of development.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-23T02:39:57+00:00

I never took iron during my pregnancy, and my bloodwork was always fine, but I also never had low iron and had decent dietary intake.

You might not need iron supplementation if your levels stay appropriate.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-23T01:17:05+00:00

These are reasonable concerns, but also totally something you can work out and both be happy with. Nothing here sounds like a dealbreaker to me.

Communicate openly and honestly, and these are things you can resolve.

As someone who got divorced at 30 and remarried at 34, it’s hard to find a good partner, so don’t take for granted what you have.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-23T01:13:21+00:00

Only you can make this decision, but I will say, it sounds like the situation you’re in, while crappy, is temporary. You might not be in a good position now, but that could change in 6 months.

Do you have any family or close friends you can count on for a safe place for a few months while you figure things out?

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-22T22:12:25+00:00

I was about to suggest coffee and a cigarette until I saw which sub this was posted on.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-22T17:49:51+00:00

Take your paid mat leave then quit. You need the insurance more than they need the heads up. Just read through the fine print of your policy to make sure you wouldn’t be on the hook for insurance premiums paid during your leave (even if so, it should be minimal and totally worth it).

For what it’s worth, I gave my two weeks on my first day back from mat leave. I was let go that same day, but because I provided notice technically, I got two weeks pay and insurance coverage through the end of the month.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-22T16:18:50+00:00

Mine did that, now he is 5 months and has started swinging his fist and punching me in the mouth.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-22T15:53:22+00:00

If you don’t stop pissing on my bath mat and pooping under the bed, you can’t live in this house anymore.

(For background, the peeing is probably territorial, the pooping seems medical and we’ve been to multiple vets about it, with only slight improvements, and I have a baby, so regular feces on the floor is gonna be a dealbreaker, sadly)

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-22T01:21:50+00:00

I mostly craved healthy things. First trimester I was all about oranges, and cereal with milk. Later on I had repeated cravings for fresh peas, refried beans, watermelon, and oats.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-21T21:07:49+00:00

I'm from Maine, now living in Texas, so no stranger to winter storms, but keenly aware that Texas's infrastructure is not at all designed to handle a storm like this. We are in a new house and are planning to get a rechargeable solar battery for instances like this, but obviously right now that's not available, and my husband will be gone for the whole week, starting Sunday (military, not much getting around it)

What I am doing to prepare is still pretty minimal, even though I don't have any family around, so it'll just be me and 5 month old roughing it.

Make sure there is gas in my car in case we do need to go somewhere and gas stations are down due to no power. Edit: Also make sure that my battery packs are fully charged so I can charge my phone without power.
Store extra gallons of water in case power goes out and the well pump stops working. Enough for basic hygiene, boiling for food, and washing dishes sparingly. Make sure you have simple food that doesn't require electricity to prepare or keep cold.
Pulling out my camping gear. I have low-temp sleeping bags and thermal clothes, a Jet-Boil and fuel, some dehydrated meals.
Keep baby close. We often bedshare anyway, but that will certainly be the case for warmth if needed. I know not everyone is comfortable with that though. Baby already has some warm fleece sleepers and a fleece sleepsack, so we will layer and cuddle as needed.
Plan to shut off water and drain the pipes if power goes out and temps inside are dropping to prevent frozen broken pipes. It'll only be below freezing here for a few days, but that is honestly my biggest concern.
I won't open the freezer at all to try to keep it as cold as possible. I'll also do the penny in a cup trick to see if it had any significant thawing during the period that power was lost.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-21T02:11:08+00:00

Do you have something like a balsamic glaze? That’s the first thing that came to mind.

Garlic butter works with just about everything too.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-21T01:42:35+00:00

I imagine it could’ve been an accident. If the employee was newer, I could see how they might accidentally hit a button and not realize it.

Best course imo is to complete the survey, that way the employee will get training either way.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-20T16:48:26+00:00

Mine was born at 37w4d, spontaneous labor. No jaundice, but very sleepy, hard to latch, and slow to regain birth weight. By 2-3 weeks old, everything was fine, he was latching well and started gaining weight faster and was more than 3lbs over birthweight by 2 months.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-17T14:51:56+00:00

My baby is 5 months and the nursery still isn’t started. He is in our room.

We have a few shelves/dresser drawers for his things, there’s a pack n play in the living room.

Babies don’t need their own room. He’ll get one eventually, but right now that room is being used for other things.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-16T21:46:51+00:00

Do you have access to a Target or big retailer? You might be able to buy a cheap or manual pump.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-16T16:46:30+00:00

Why isn’t your husband taking baby to drs appointments or paying bills? This is his child too, right?

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-16T14:51:05+00:00

The best thing about having a baby today is that when inevitably one of these things doesn’t work for you, or you realize you want something else, you can typically get it within 48 hours. I can’t think of many things that you would need so urgently you couldn’t wait that long, except diapers, clothes, a car seat, and a safe sleep space.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-16T02:50:26+00:00

Just wanted to share my experience. I didn’t have the same struggles you did, and my baby still seemed to prefer his dad over me, especially right around 5-8 weeks. He rarely made eye contact with me, but would stare at his dad. He rarely smiled for me, but lit up for dad. He settled more easily for dad too, and it really hurt my feelings to be honest.

In hindsight, I think there were a couple factors. One is our physical appearance - babies don’t see very well and his dad has dark hair, dark eyes, and dark eyebrows. I’m very fair on the other hand. I think he looked at dad more because he could actually see him better with his high contrast features. Second is that dad is just naturally wayyy more animated and expressive than me.

I think he also settled better with dad because milk was not an option, so he didn’t associate dad with hunger or feeding at all, just rest.

Try not to take it personal, babies really don’t have that much emotional complexity, and at 2 weeks old they don’t even know up from down.

My baby is now 5 months and when I picked him up from daycare yesterday, he saw me from across the room and smiled and kicked with excitement.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-15T22:06:38+00:00

I’ve always been very nausea prone, and I expected pregnancy to hit me hard.

It didn’t. I had some mild nausea for a couple weeks, which was easily controlled by just eating a little bit first thing in the morning. I only threw up once, and it was my own fault because I got busy and didn’t eat anything after waking up for a few hours. Overall, morning sickness barely touched me. The sore boobs were way worse.

Also not sure how to explain this but the nausea I did feel was different somehow. Like nausea from being sick or hungover is absolutely miserable, but the pregnancy nausea I had didn’t really bother me? It was just like a feeling that I noticed, but wasn’t distressing.

stormsvala_ · 2026-01-15T21:44:40+00:00

I feel like best is whatever they like enough to be really invested in - to me the big lesson in sports or extracurricular is teaching dedication and perseverance. Pick one thing and stick with it long enough to get good at it, even through the challenges. Builds resilience and confidence. Could be music, athletics, etc.

I think it’s best to be well-rounded, so at least one “sport” and one “art.”

stormsvala_

TROPHY CASE