Oh man, that reminds me of my buddy Dave. He tried the whole rice and beans thing for a budget challenge last year. He made it about two weeks before he started texting me pictures of sad looking bean bowls, saying he'd give his left arm for a cheeseburger. He said the math worked, but his willpower didn't. He ended up caving and ordering a pizza, which totally blew the budget. I guess it works if you have the stomach for it, literally and mentally.

My Dexter-Russell 6-inch flexible boning knife is my go-to for that exact job.

But how do you know the key tap was hard enough to actually test it?

Silt in their coffee cups" is too real, I've been that guy staring into brown soup. My go-to is just backing off real slow and letting it settle, which works great if you have all day. Not my finest problem solving moment, honestly.

Wait, you used it once and gave up? That's wild to me. I messed up my first try too but I kept going because the walls in my old apartment were terrible. You have to sand it down a ton between coats, like way more than you think. If you don't, it looks lumpy and weird every single time.