Serious question, did anyone else think a bag of dried beans was just a few bucks?

I was looking at my grocery receipt from 2019 and saw I paid $1.29 for a pound of black beans. The same bag is $2.79 now at my store in Omaha. I found the old receipt stuck in a cookbook. What's the best protein swap you've found that hasn't doubled in price?

Vent: Bought a 'pro' drawing tablet for $600 and it's been a headache

The drivers are buggy and the pen pressure keeps dropping out, so I can't finish my comic pages. I'm stuck with this expensive brick because the return window closed while I was troubleshooting. Anyone know a reliable brand for serious illustration work?

Hot take: custom drawer slides for a weird angled corner cabinet

I just finished a kitchen job in Portland where the client wanted a corner cabinet with a 45 degree angle, but also wanted full extension drawers inside it. I figured I could modify some standard undermount slides, no big deal. That was a mistake lol. The geometry for getting the drawer to clear the face frame and still open all the way was a nightmare. I must have spent like 12 hours over three days just on mock-ups, cutting plywood test pieces and tweaking the slide mounting points by fractions of an inch. In the end, I had to order a specific pair of 90 degree corner slides from a specialty supplier, which added a week to the timeline. The debate I'm having with myself is whether I should have just told the client it wasn't possible with a standard setup from the start, or if pushing through the problem was the right call for the final result. Has anyone else had a simple-sounding request turn into a multi-day geometry puzzle?

I visited the old county fairgrounds in Springfield and saw they still have the poultry barn set up exactly like when I was a kid.

It was the same layout, same kind of pens, everything. They even had the same breed categories on the signs. It made me think about how my own flock has changed over the years, from just a few Rhode Island Reds to all these fancy breeds I'm trying now. I guess the basics of keeping them are still the same, but the birds themselves have gotten way more interesting. Does anyone else have a breed they remember from a fair or show that got them started on something new?

Hit 1500 chimney caps cleaned this year and it changed my whole routine

I was adding up my work log last night and saw I cleaned my 1500th chimney cap of the year. It's a weird number to hit, but it made me realize how much time I was wasting on a simple step. I used to just brush the cap from the top, but after the first 500 or so, I started taking an extra minute to remove it and clean the underside with a wire brush. The difference in draft improvement was huge, especially on older homes in my area. Now I build that extra step into every quote for a standard cleaning. It adds maybe five minutes to the job but prevents so many callbacks about weak fireplace draw. Has anyone else found a small change like this that made a big difference in performance?

The great garage floor debate: epoxy versus just a good scrub

For a decade, I just hosed and scrubbed my concrete floor with a stiff brush and some soap. It was fine, but always looked dirty. Then, after a big oil spill from my truck's project, I spent about $600 on a two-part epoxy kit. The prep was a pain, but now it's a wipe-clean surface that actually reflects light. Has anyone else made the switch and found it worth the hassle and cost?

Had to choose between a power trowel and a walk-behind for a 4000 sq ft patio job. Went with the walk-behind. The extra time was worth the control on the stamped pattern.

I thought a cheap takeoff tool would be fine for our small jobs

Last year, I bought a $99 software for doing material takeoffs on a few house additions. It kept crashing when I uploaded the PDF plans, and the measurements were off by about 5% on a lumber order. I wasted a full day redoing the work by hand and lost nearly $400 on that first lumber delivery. Has anyone found a reliable, simple takeoff program for smaller contractors?

I always thought those heated vest battery packs were a gimmick for cold water diving.

Ngl, I finally used one on a 4-hour job in Puget Sound last month and my core temp stayed up the whole time. Anyone have a brand they trust that can handle the pressure cycles?

Question about investing in a proper dress form

I finally spent about $300 on an adjustable dress form after years of pinning on myself. The fit of my mock-ups improved instantly, saving me so much fabric and time from re-draping. Has anyone found a good budget alternative that still works well?