Honoria Lucasta's Profile

Not so much a cure, but I discovered when I was training for a half-marathon that if I exercise fairly heavily during the day, I seldom get a hangover from over-imbibing that night. I suspect a short-term increase in metabolism from the workout has something to do with it. (This theory is unscientifically confirmed in my mind by all the hard-core runners I know, every one of whom seems to be capable of consuming massive amounts of beer with no ill effects.)

So go for a run before going out drinking! A short run goes a long way to clear a mild-to-medium hangover the next morning, too.

Also, good lord, don't take Tylenol when you've been drinking! I thought that was common knowledge. Ibuprofen or aspirin, never acetaminophen unless you would like to retire your liver early.

Now I feel like I have to clarify that I was thinking about board-type games. I would probably also rebel if my friends demanded I play beer pong. :)

Someone mentioned Cards Against Humanity above - I agree, it is incredibly fun (and filthy! Not safe for kids, or your grandma (I mean, probably, I don't know your grandma)).

I'd love a garden blog category too!

All you garlic people - by no means should you stop buying peeled garlic if it is not bothering you to do so, but if it's one of those things where you would RATHER not but you hate peeling garlic, get yourself one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/OXO-SteeL-Garlic-Press-Stainless/dp/B0000CDVD7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359158592&sr=8-1&keywords=oxo+garlic

OXO GARLIC PRESS. Holy smokes does this thing work. You don't have to peel the garlic, just toss the whole clove in and press and the peel will be left behind AND it is super easy to clean up because of the design, so you aren't spending more time picking garlic peel out of the press than you would to peel it to begin with. This gadget has cured me of buying the pre-peeled garlic in tubs at Whole Foods (which I used to do EVEN IF I had far more delicious homegrown garlic on-hand because UGH, PEELING GARLIC).

My indulgence is also Costco-based - Kirkland frozen pizzas. They aren't in the same realm as either homemade or pizzeria pizzas, but I have a college-based weakness for Tombstone frozen pizza every now and then and these are in the Tombstone model, but with nonscary ingredients.

Yes, exactly this. This is one of the most ridiculous cases of pearl-clutching I have ever seen on AT. If the parents of a newborn have the time and inclination to have people over for dinner I am sure they have the wherewithal to move the baby-changing stuff into the bedroom for the evening, for the love of God. One of my best friends is allergic to cats, so when we have her over to our house we - gasp! - MOVE THE CATS AND THEIR LITTER BOX INTO A BEDROOM ON THE SECOND FLOOR AND SHUT THE DOOR, and then CLEAN THE AREA THE CATS WERE IN. Same principal applies here on a significantly less complicated scale, surely.

ALSO, babies who are breastfed don't generally have stinky poop to begin with until they are introduced to solids around 6 months, and a Diaper Genie or similar really does contain the smell nearly completely.

Good lord.

These make me SUPER uncomfortable too and always have. I don't care much for countertop knife blocks either, but I have a knife block that is made to fit in a drawer, which I LOVE - it keeps them contained, I don't have to put a cover on them every time I use them which must be a pain, and I don't have to worry about nicking my fingers trying to get to a middle one or be creeped out by the feng shui (or if not technically feng shui, what I interpret as visual badness, anyway).

I seriously clicked into the comments expecting to see a bunch of people saying "are you crazy?" I've owned at least 10 cats over my life and I have never once seen any of them, or any of my friends' cats, pay the slightest bit of attention to a television. It might as well be a part of the wall for all they care. The fact that there are cats that DO see and pay attention to images on a television has BLOWN MY MIND. IS it only certain "types" of cats that can do this?

Re: plunger - when my husband and I renovated our last house (20s bungalow, had been "improved" in the 80s, imagine the worst and you won't be far off) we gutted the downstairs bathroom so we could redo it in a style appropriate to the house. We wanted a pedestal sink instead of a vanity but didn't have room for an additional freestanding storage unit so we made a little removable, discreet door in the beadboard wall that, when opened, revealed a storage area between the wall joists just large enough for a plunger and extra TP.

We renovated that whole house but to this day Secret Plunger Storage Nook is my proudest accomplishment.

Hemnes is the way to go if you don't mind being a bit unoriginal. I was on a similar hunt five years ago and it's all I could find that was in my price range, attractive, and solid wood (I am not overendowed with Craigslist Luck (or patience, which is probably the same thing)). My husband and I ended up getting one of the big tall ones and one of the big wide ones in the dark-stained finish and they both have held up nicely and still look good.

That said, I love the TV armoire idea above.

I have an uneasy relationship with sweet potatoes, as I find them cloying and sweet in a really nauseating way if they're prepared in any way that doesn't tone down their innate sweetness. The years I've spent trying not to visibly recoil at the smell of sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on it! I once had a bite of chili a friend made that had stealth sweet potato in it and had to leave the room to keep from gagging.

My husband feels the same way about them, but we are trying not to pass our food neuroses on to our kids, so we make them sometimes anyway. They're never going to be my favorite meal but I find I can deal with them if I cook them with the goal of counteracting their sweetness instead of playing it up, so I usually make them grilled or roasted with olive oil and lots (LOTS) of rosemary and cayenne.