Most animals, vegetables, fungi, and algae have some nutritive value. It's just debatable whether they're worth the effort and money to consume. For $65, one could very well buy a good array of tasty foods that give you the nutrients that are packed in spirulina.

One doesn't have to go out of one's way to eat something weird and, from the (pond) surface...kind of gross to prove one's foodie credentials, which is exactly what Ms. Bauer is doing.

She's saying: "I know this is hard to get, I know this is gimmicky and weird, I know I can get my nutrients elsewhere, but I choose not to because I'm such the sophisticated subversive foodie."

Btw, Ms. Bauer-- learn to use the dictionary. You say you talk to lots of chefs and gourmands. Well, chefs may help you, but gourmands probably won't.

'Gourmand' means 'glutton, piggish eater' not 'gourmet' or 'foodie.'

It doesn't mean that the 'gourmand' is knowledgeable about food or is a foodie. It just means they shovel it down. It could very well be from the dumpster behind the Taco Bell. Although the description of spirulina is such that gourmands may very well choose the dumpster over the pricey pond scum!

MW is not a good source; it's a pretty crappy dictionary.

The reason why there's a 2nd definition included is because enough idiots like you misuse it that people are forgetting the first (real) definition of the word.

I know you think you're really clever saying you've got 1 kid and are 38 when we know you're only 26 and have 2 kids.

But 26 or 38, it's not too late for you to take some singing lessons and actually get cracking.

And no, you knew exactly how 'ambitious' K-Fed was before you married him, don't pretend that he took up the cheetos or TiVo AFTER you got married!

In all seriousness now, LW is a selfish bitch who probably married the dude she's with because he provides a steady meal-ticket to supplement her own income and is now whining that he's not interesting enough and not ambitious enough (read: "doesn't make enough money to put me in the lap of luxury.)

You know, the ambitious interesting men didn't want the LW because they could tell she was a selfish, annoying whiner.

LW's husband probably has the TiVo running all the time because he's sick of her carping about how she gave it all up for him and the kid. Boo fucking hoo. She didn't mention that she was a Taliban child bride, so I think she chose this dude out of her own free will. Nothing in her letter says she was an extra from "The Handmaid's Tale" so I assume she also chose to have the kid. So she should stop blaming them for her own inertia.

I wanted to be sympathetic to her pursuing her art (I'm probably one of the few who likes the 'I'm Conflicted About My Art' type letters), but when I see this idiotic lazy bullshit and blaming of people who, AFAIK, have caused no offense other than to help build a home with the LW, I lose what little sympathy I've got. I'm ashamed that the LW and I are the same gender.

If the LW treats her husband in the same dismissive manner in which she refers to him here, I bet she's acting like she's doing him a big favor just being with him. Give me the TiVo over the LW any day.

Dear LW,

While others have called you codependent for wanting to help your sister, I think it's sweet and admirable. I think the impulse to help is a very good one. I think the impulse to help a family member is very natural. I don't think it's surprising or stupid that you want to help someone who is a fellow veteran from your tough childhood days and who seems to love you and get along with you.

That said, the tricky issue is *how* to help. I have no experience of CPS, and I defer to wiser, more knowledgeable heads on the matter of the children.

Your comment that your sister is 'sick and miserable' makes me wonder if you could offer to pay for her doctor's visit (with you paying the doctor's office directly.) Others have established that money given to her rather than a store or doctor or service provider will most likely be siphoned off by her parasite, AB.

You mention that she is living with AB, but he's not yet divorced from his wife. While it may be tempting to offer up an ultimatum to dump this loser or else, an ultimatum will likely backfire. I wonder if your sister, in addition to what ails her physically, may also suffer from abysmal self-esteem-- why else would she stay with a liar and a cheater who gambles away his own money, abandons his first family, and pushes your sister to beg for money for him to gamble away? Perhaps you can offer some help to try to build up her self-esteem, so that one day, she can wake up and say: "I don't need this loser. I will take control of my life."

Sometimes, the non-financial support is worth so much more than the financial.

Best of luck, LW.

There's a great Bjork song called "Immature" that is just two lines long--

"how could i be so immature

to think he would replace

the missing elements in me ?

how extremely lazy of me!"

That sums it up.

And if it isn't abundantly clear already, dump this boyfriend-- you should go look for someone who doesn't bore you and he deserves to be with someone who isn't just using him as a safe haven/rebound man. Don't waste your time and his.