That $50 stencil pack is like my $40 set of fine liners I bought for my journal. I used them once for a mood tracker and now they're just sitting there looking pretty.

Three hours of removals" ... did you even take a break or were you trying to win a prize?

Funny enough, my lightbulb moment was the exact opposite... I spent an afternoon trying to drill into an old steel gate with a cheap bit, and it snapped off clean. Ended up having to dig the piece out and finish the job with a hand crank... sometimes you gotta learn the hard way what not to use.

Ended up sitting my guy down over beers and just laid it out. Told him "look, I'm not gonna keep covering for you when you flake, it's messing everybody up." He got pissed for a week but eventually admitted I was right. Felt way better than the silent awkward dance we were doing before.

Bit dramatic calling it five years of your life wasted over a slow cooker. You figure out one thing about meat and now it's a revelation. People act like they discovered fire when they learn not to cram a crock pot full. Plenty of folks fill theirs to the top and their food comes out fine, just takes longer. If you were drowning it in liquid that's on you, not the cooker. Dave probably said something once and you ran with it like it's gospel.