destria

Grain bowls. The basic formula is grain + protein + vegetables + sauce. For example, sushi rice with tofu, edamame, red cabbage and avocado with a teriyaki sauce. Or couscous with crispy chickpeas, roasted aubergine and courgette, with a lemon vinaigrette. Or pasta with grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, red onion and artichokes with a pesto sauce.

I'd go have all the difficult conversations with my family that I'm not brave enough to do right now. I'd try to see as many friends as possible. Use it as an excuse to travel across the country and see people. I'd record and make a bunch of things for my son. Like birthday cards, letters for special occasions and milestones etc. I'd cry a lot, I'm sure.

Do you have a fridge at work? You can make your own iced coffee at home or buy the iced coffee cans from the supermarket (still pricey but not like £5) and then keep them in the fridge at work.

If you said "Ugh everything I've previously bought from B&M has been really quickly." that wouldn't be snobby. If you said "Ew I'd never shop at B&M because it's full of low lifes and cretins." then yeah that's snobby.

It depends, if the cold is so bad that I effectively can't go about my day normally, then I'd pay maybe up to £100 for that. I'm a SAHM so if I can't look after my kid, my husband will have to use up a day of annual leave which is annoying. £100 is about the cost of a nursery day here so that's what I figure it's "worth". Pre kids though, I wouldn't have paid any amount. I had decent sick leave at my old job so I would have just utilized that.

On my wedding day, we had snow, rain and sunshine alternating throughout the day! Our poor guests were constantly taking coats on and off, dashing between the indoor and outdoor parts. But it didn't matter at all, everyone still had so much fun! It's normal to be worried before a wedding and feel disappointed if it isn't exactly how you imagined. On the day itself though I'm sure the excitement will take over and you'll just roll with the punches, whatever happens.

I'm guessing you get triaged based on what the concern is. But I've used them recently and I got a callback within 20 minutes, then an out of hours GP appointment. Another time I called and got a callback in an hour. When it's been about my child (under 2), it's been within the hour, and they inevitably tell me to go to A&E.

I've only been to three all inclusive resorts but I chose them specifically for the food (well, reviews about the food anyway). Two of the ones I went to had a la carte restaurants on site to break up the monotony of a buffet which is nice. Anyway I usually start by eating all the meats, deep fried stuff, you know proper indulgent heavy stuff. Then I'll start to feel bleh so I'll switch to nice salads, lighter meals, choose the fruit for dessert etc.

It seems straightforward to me. One bunk bed would surely refer to two mattresses (otherwise you'd just say bed), so four bunk beds is eight.

I'm pretty much living my realistic dream life. I'm married to an amazing, loving husband and we have a wonderful, funny and bright kid. I'm currently a SAHM and really grateful to have had that choice. We live in a modest but cute family home with a big garden, located in a family friendly village close to a beautiful city. We have no financial concerns. I have no major health issues. I see lots of friends regularly. I feel like I've developed a good mix of hobbies and interests (though with a toddler, perhaps less time than I'd like to do them!). We go on holidays abroad once or twice a year, plus one or two UK holidays as well. Truly I am really content. I can't say I did anything in particular to get to this point beyond living a pretty boring standard life. Went to university, met my future husband there, got graduate jobs, climbed the ladder for a while. Just a heavy dose of luck I think.

Not at all. I wouldn't expect my children to pay anything towards me. It'd be nice if they enjoyed my company and wanted to spend time with me of course.

I have in the past when I've met my neighbours and gotten along.

Sparkling water. Kombucha. Iced tea or coffee. Juices, cordials or presses. For brands, try Cawston Press, Hip Pop, Folkington, Breckland Orchard and Luscombe.

As soon as two people can make a date, that's a plan. I normally poll my friends way out in advance and as soon as we have like 2-3 people who can do a date, we pencil that in.

There's a few wild swimming sites designated near me but nearly all of them have been rated unsafe to swim in! People still do it but I probably wouldn't take my kids in (too much risk of them swallowing dysentry or something).

It's friendly but not intrusive. We have lots of community events throughout the year that are all very wholesome. Lots of amenities within walking distance like a cafe, multiple pubs, small supermarket, post office, playground etc. Only a few miles from the nearest city which is beautiful, historic and has a thriving high street.

I left a really toxic job after being signed off for stress for months. It really shook me and pretty much destroyed my motivation for work. I was a really ambitious person before, a high performer, known in my field, promoted every few years etc. After that experience though, it really put things into perspective for me about what I really wanted in life. I left job and took a sideways move into a lower stress job. It started off well but I soon found myself falling into the same patterns: difficult, incompetent managers, feeling overworked and underappreciated etc. I went on maternity leave and then never went back to work. I never thought I'd be a stay at home mum but it's honestly been such an amazing decision. I'm absolutely loving life right now and I feel a sense of fulfillment that I haven't had in like a decade. I'm obviously really fortunate to be in a position where I can stay at home so I'm just really grateful that things worked out this way.

We hated our window fitting and ended up just making our own from a large piece of cardboard (just cut a hole in it for the hose). Ours sits in the window frame but you could tape it.

Yes? Loads of it is grown in the UK.

Yeah we grow corn ourselves but our harvest tends to be pretty late (usually Sept) so we miss the main summer holiday BBQ party season.

Corn on the cob is so underrated but I love it and seemingly everyone else does too.

I haven't found this to be the case among my peers. Everyone seems to love a wedding. Especially with some friendship groups being so geographically spread, weddings feel like the big event that brings everyone back together. It's nice to catch up with friends, enjoy some food and drink in a nice setting and have a dance.

I don't think people understand the legal framework behind getting married and what that actually entails in terms of your rights and responsibilities. That goes for both people who don't get married and people who do. It's not just a piece of paper, nor is it necessarily religious or traditional. [This](https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/living-together-marriage-and-civil-partnership) summary is pretty much what led my partner and I to get married after 10 years. We were already living together, owned a house, thinking about having kids and already being unmarried was causing some problems. It's stuff like oh I need to put this life insurance into a special trust just to make sure he gets it and my family don't. Or how I couldn't share his workplace private medical insurance. It's not romantic at all but these little things add up. Not to mention, what if the worst happened and one of us died? What happens to our stuff, our money, our pension? Headaches all around. Nor does it have to be expensive. A wedding is different to a marriage. You can get married at a registry office with two witnesses and a couple hundred quid.

Yeah it works great. Takes longer than a conventional one but it's gentler on the clothes.

This is going to sound terrible but I use my tumble dryer everyday. With kids I'm doing laundry nearly everyday and don't have the time to hang it up and let it all air dry! At least it's a heat pump one...

My cousin is a low level influencer, she does it on the side of her real job. She has 50k followers on IG. She mainly does make up and fashion. She seems to get a few brand sponsors every month or so. No idea if she earns much besides those.

I'm in a semi and only know the neighbour that's attached to us. We have chats over the garden fence.

I worked in the public sector and people were pretty open about what "band" they were in. You could then figure out a rough range for their salary based on that.

Have you considered that other people may enjoy different things to you, and may in fact actually be going out rather than just making things up? It is crazy to me that rather than thinking that people are different, you would default to "oh they must be lying". Personally I've always preferred having weekend plans and things to do. My calendar is usually booked out for the next couple of months with things from friends' birthday celebrations to tickets to an air show. It's not a brag, it's just how I live my life.

My local library is more of a community hub than a quiet work space. There's a large children's section with lots of seating, a cubby hole they can climb into, and they run various events during the week for babies and toddlers. On weekends they do things like Lego or crafting workshops. There are still a few tables with people working on laptops. But there's no expectation of silence or even quiet.

I always use a range. If something is featured as good multiple times across multiple review sites, that gives me more confidence. So for example if I'm looking to buy a laptop, I'll look up several review sites and look at top lists and pick out the models that crop up again and again. One site might have rated it 4/5, another has it at 8/10, one site doesn't like a feature I don't care about and rates it 2/5 etc. It's all still useful information to base a purchase decision on.

Which Final Fantasy video game is the bestselling of the series? (FF7)

I go to trusted sources. Moneysavingexpert has some good guides. Also the subreddit ukpersonalfinance.

If you're planning on regularly camping, I'd highly recommend having some large plastic boxes to store all your camping stuff in. Buy specific stuff for camping, don't raid it from your house. It'll help you stay organized and ensure you take everything you need. The plastic boxes will also keep things dry on the campsite. For context, here's what goes in my two boxes (one for cooking, one for other stuff): 1. Camping stove, kettle, butane canisters, matches, frying pan, saucepan, cast iron pan, spatula, tongs, chef's knife, cutlery, melanine plates and bowls, tin foil, tupperware (for leftovers), squeeze bottle of oil, washing up liquid, sponge, collapsible washing up bucket, tea towels, paper kitchen towel, tin opener, bottle opener, tin mugs, tea bags, powder milk, sugar 2. Mallet, air mattress, air pump, sleeping bags, camping pillows, water container with spout, battery lanterns, torch, Swiss army knife, umbrella, tarp/picnic blanket, boardgames Then we also bring: a tent (obviously), camping chairs, a folding table, fire pit with grill, kindling, wood, charcoal, firelighters, cooler box with ice packs, duffel bag for each person (clothes, toiletries, personal items like medication and glasses) We tend to bring breakfast stuff like baked beans, eggs, sausages, mushrooms, bread and butter but then buy things for lunch/dinner when we're out.

I have a friend group that's like 6 of us at the core, plus another 4 people who come and go. We meet up frequently (at least weekly) though maybe not quite the whole group as those of us with kids might only send one of the couple for adults-only events.

Personally I didn't see the allure of long-term travelling. Maybe it's because my family are immigrants and we used to spend summers over in SE Asia anyway, I didn't get the pull to do any backpacking there. I did loads of shorter holidays in my 20s. I've visited nearly every European country. Been across the US and Canada. Had 1-2 week holidays in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. I'm in my early 30s now, married with a kid, own a house. Holidays look different with a kid but we're still travelling a bit. Just got back from Greece and we've been to Amsterdam and Copenhagen before as a family. So it's not like travel has to end!

You just have to try things out and see if you vibe with it. For every hobby I love, there's like 3 others that I tried and didn't get on with.

I didn't used to but now I have a toddler, my clothes are filthy within a few hours between the dirt, food mess, him wiping his boogers on me etc. So yeah they do get washed after pretty much every wear.

I think we've become so familiar with our own sourdough's distinct taste that I don't really enjoy most shop bought ones. There's a bakery near us that does the best sourdough I've bought but they're like £9.50 for a 800g loaf!

Check our r/ukpersonalfinance and just follow the flowchart. It might not make you mega rich but for most people, it'll be the most sensible path to financial security.

Sourdough. Feels like everyone started one during the pandemic. My husband and I have had ours almost 15 years now which isn't even that old in the scheme of things, and we started it because we were broke students who decided it was more economical to make our own fancy bread than to buy it.

At various points in my life, I have been really into: embroidery, piano, baking, camping, running, knitting, boardgames, cycling, korfball, pop science books, watercolour painting, writing, watching classic films, pub quizzing, violin, videogames, basic woodworking, philosophy books and vegetable growing. I get really into it for like a couple of years and then often the interest fades out but I retain the basic knowledge/skills at least. I don't think there's anything to manage though? Some hobbies are inherently social or they're things I'll do in my spare time. It's just about balance and carving out time for different things. For me, it helps to plan and schedule my free time which sounds kinda nuts to be like "on Tues I plan on playing two hours of this videogame" but it helps me stay productive whilst balancing downtime.

I'll walk anywhere within 1.5 miles and cycle up to like 10 miles (e-cargo bike so could feasibly do a big shop).

Savoury. Though it's mostly because my love of crisps overrides everything else.

You don't need a background in art. You can prompt it with, "try a different style" and it'll regenerate the image. Or you can provide more context like "this is for a corporate audience" and it'll make it look more formal. I think most people can come up with something like, "make it have brighter colours and a more bold, graphic style" or "use blue and green colours only" or "make it look handwritten" without needing any art background. People just don't even think to ask or give context and just take the first output.

I claim everything that I'm entitled to under the policy. My workplaces have always had pretty clear policies, things like when you can claim for breakfast/lunch/dinner and max amounts, or what types of travel they cover. I'll book the best hotel within the price limit too. After all it's still work. If it were a regular work day, I might bring my own lunch in and keep it in the staff fridge but I don't have that option if I'm traveling. Same for dinner, I'm stuck somewhere other than home where I'd normally cook, so I'm going to claim a nice dinner out.

Took the toddler to IWM Duxford this afternoon. He loves watching the planes taking off.

Yeah caffeine on an empty stomach does this to me. I've felt heart palpitations even. But yes that feeling of anxiety in the pit of your stomach is very familiar to me.

Cook an elaborate breakfast. Take a book and picnic blanket and sit somewhere outside reading. Go for a long cycle ride. Tackle something on your DIY chores list.

Very uncommon. But my husband who's very into baking and bread products does make his own sourdough crumpets. It's like a 3 hour endeavour but he'll whip out like 40 crumpets and then half we'll freeze. They are delicious and definitely better than store bought but it's just a faffy and slow process when you can only do 2 at a time on our flat griddle pan.