Gentle heat from a hairdryer can prevent cracks in old plastic parts.

That bit about throwing out piles of bread hits close to home. I tried composting my kitchen scraps once, but gave up after a month because it just attracted flies and smelled like a swamp. From what I've seen, it really depends on the city. Some places have pickup programs for restaurants and apartments, so it's pretty common. Others don't make it easy at all, so most stuff just goes in the trash. It's a good idea that never quite seems to work out evenly.

Man, three weeks behind is brutal. That kind of delay throws everything off, I've been there with supply stuff too. The scrambling to adjust is the worst part, it feels like your whole plan gets ripped up. Really hope you can get things back on track without too much extra stress.

Sketch the whole journey before leaving... Did that for a cross country drive and it saved hours. Really cuts down on stress too.

My buddy was fighting puckering on a quilt border for weeks. He messed with his machine settings forever with no luck at all. Switching to a lighter thread made it lay flat like magic.