Heard a homeowner in Denver tell his buddy that tempered glass is just a scam to charge more

Update on my sourdough starter named Bob

My neighbor yelled over the fence, 'Bob smells like a brewery, you sure he's alive?' and I realized I'd been feeding it with pineapple juice for a week by accident. Anyone else have a starter that survived a weird feeding choice?

This old house in Springfield had a floor that fought me for a whole day

Honestly, it was a 1970s split-level with a sunken living room. The subfloor was this weird mix of plywood and particle board, and none of it was level. I figured a few hours of feathering compound would fix it. Tbh, it took me from 7 AM to almost 6 PM just to get it flat enough to even think about laying pad. Has anyone else run into a floor so bad you almost walked off the job?

Changed my mind about those quick-setting mortar bags

Bought a pallet of the 'Rapid-Set' brand for a chimney repair job, thinking it would save a day, but the stuff hardened in the mixer before I could even get half the batch on the wall. Wasted about $400 on material that's now a solid block in my tub. Anyone have a go-to mix for repointing that gives you a decent working time?

My airlock shot off like a rocket during a ginger bug ferment

I was trying to get a ginger bug going for some homemade root beer in my kitchen last Thursday. The jar was on the counter and I must have added too much sugar, because the pressure built up so fast it popped the plastic airlock right off. It hit the ceiling and left a sticky ginger spot up there. Anyone have a good rule for how much sugar to use per cup of water to avoid this mess?

Visited a new build open house in Phoenix and their 'smart' kitchen felt like a bad idea

They had these fancy touch faucets and a fridge with a screen that needed an app to set the temperature. I asked the builder what happens when the company stops updating the app in 5 years, and he just shrugged. It seems like a lot of these high-tech DIY upgrades are setting people up for expensive paperweights. Has anyone had to fix or replace a 'smart' appliance that became dumb because the tech got old?

Finally got a clean clip on that tough quarter crack

Used to just rasp it down quick and slap a shoe on, but after a bad blowout last spring I started taking more time. Now I use my nippers to make a clean vertical cut about an inch up the wall before I even think about the shoe. It takes an extra five minutes, but the hoof wall holds way better. Anyone else have a go-to method for dealing with those deep quarter cracks?

My grandma's cornbread recipe always called for a cup of buttermilk, but after my local store stopped carrying it, I started using plain yogurt mixed with a splash of vinegar and now I actually prefer the tang it gives.

The switch happened about two years ago when the only buttermilk left on the shelf was a huge, expensive carton I knew I'd waste, so I grabbed a small tub of plain yogurt and a bottle of white vinegar, mixed a tablespoon of vinegar into a cup of yogurt, and let it sit for five minutes before adding it to the batter, which gave the bread a slightly denser, more moist crumb that my kids now ask for by name. Has anyone else had to make a permanent swap for a hard-to-find ingredient in a family favorite?

Just realized I was mixing my developer wrong for years after reading a label closely

I found out the 20 volume developer I use for color actually needs a 1:2 ratio with the color, not 1:1, from a tiny footnote on the back of the bottle. Has anyone else had a basic product instruction change their whole result?

I just read that a can of tomato soup has more sugar than a glazed donut

Found this out on a food facts website last night while looking up a quick dinner idea. It said the average can of condensed tomato soup has about 20 grams of sugar, and a glazed donut from a big chain has about 12. I was making my go-to 'dump soup, add milk, heat' dinner and it kind of blew my mind. I guess I never thought of soup as a sweet thing. Has anyone else found a weird fact about a simple ingredient that made you pause?