For all these responses, it's not just pasta sauce or pancake mixes. And yes, the she does let me doctor things up sometimes. It just gets irritating when I make a sauce, it's delicious, and then she buys a jar version because "you like this kind of sauce". I found a great soup recipe I want to try, ask for specific ingredients and she just buys the canned version of the soup. I've talked with her before about it when she brought home a cookie mix. I used to make homemade cookies when I was depressed, and it would cheer me up. She suggested I make the mix, all I had to do was add some eggs and water, and we can have the cookies. I had to tell her it wasn't the cookies that made me feel better.
Nostalgia for what her mother used to make.
The pancake mix was a particularly stupid argument in my opinion. She said that's what her mom always made and she likes it. It's hard to argue against it since her mom has been passed for about 15 years now. She tried to pull nostalgia on me, and I don't have nostalgia for food.
Sometimes, leftovers don't reheat the same way.
She will insist on the mixes.
I had a friend who tried the same thing, bars and such. He didn't try anybody in his friend group and he was more ir less isolated at work, so there was no real pool of people to look into. I suggested getting a cheap seat at the ballpark and he balked saying he didn't like sports. I told him even if he walked the concourse, there were still folks he could interact with. He ended up finding some girl who was an actual prostitute and got him hooked on drugs.
I struggle with suicidal ideation problems. They have been so severe in the past that I almost went through it. While not all suicidal scenes trigger me, there are a few. And I have found that having the warnings help me from shutting off the TV and running off in a crying fit. I know it's coming and can prepare myself. And knowing that the hotline is there has been one of the most comforting things I know of. I may have never called, but it's there for when I can't deal on my own. So yes, the warnings make a positive difference for me.
I have read many comments here about how horrible it is that the rich get everything and we need to make the opportunities equal for everyone, I think they are missing the point of the comic. At the end, Richard's view has been filtered through the things he was given as something that happens to everyone. Nobody told him that he was given privileges that Paula doesn't have access to. To him, everybody has access.
Who else should pay them?
I used to joke with my niece that my programming job was just me staring at screens and meetings all day. She didn't believe me until she got to shadow me one day and got super bored.
The more a building is useful, the more the surrounding area is worth. If nobody is at the office, no one will rent the store fronts in the building. No renters, lower real estate price.
Replace half your milk with buttermilk and watch then grow super fluffy in the pan. And a nice flavor as well.