TPBM 103: Another Prime Number! Aren't We Lucky?

From the previous thread:

Yes, one time when our daughter was youngish, with my husband and in-laws. Frankly it was hot and frustrating. I get my sense of accomplishment out of reading books, not wandering a path between rows of corn trying to find my way out.

TPBM has had a better experience with a corn maze.

Never done one.

The person below me has had experience doing life-size mazes that aren't maize.

I have walked around the maze at Hampton Court Palace - as in Three Men in a Boat - but once was enough.

TPBM has done something written about in fiction.

Probably; can't think of anything in particular, though.

//Corn fields... MrsHouseLibrary is afraid of them. Based in her viewing of a Stephen King movie and an episode of Twilight Zone, she has concluded that nothing ever good happens in a corn field. That being said, we've been feeding our local deer population for years; have named and recognized generations of one particular line that uses our back yard as a nursery. My brother-in-law is a farmer, and gives us some corn, but we purchase most of it from Tractor Supply. This year, after the recent rains, corn stalks started sprouting up all over our back yard. Currently consulting with the b-i-l about how to maximize our yield.//

TPBM really has done something written about in fiction, and remembers it.

I have and I do, and as long as I'm alive you'll never hear about it.

TPBM prefers to forget.

At my age, I have less and less choice in the matter.

As my siblings and I have all crossed the 60 barrier and my mother totters on to 96 in January, I'm fascinated by what some of us remember but others do not. I remember as a toddler my older sister fell down an escalator. But as I was so young when it happened, I began to question my memory of it. Did it happen to my sister or did it happen to me? I could have had an out of body experience and looked down at myself. Or did I dream the whole thing? No one ever talked about it. For a long time I was more intrigued by the ambiguity so I didn't question anyone. But this summer I asked my kid sister if she'd ever heard anything about it. She said it was unlikely to have happened because surely it would have been one of those Family Stories my mother loves to relate. Then I asked my mother, who could remember no such thing. Finally I asked my older sister, who remembered it vividly and unleashed a whole list of family grievances attached to the memory. When I told Baby Sister, she wondered why it was never talked about. I don't know; maybe my parents felt guilty about the circumstances.

TPBM also had an unconfirmed memory.

An older brother choked me until I passed out. He still denies it.
My older-by-15-months brother used to beat me up or play some nasty trick on me damn near every day, even when he returned home from college during summer breaks. As an adult, he tearfully repented. The whole family spent a few days together for out mother's funeral in August; not a bad thought by anyone, except to complain about the high heat and higher humidity in the Sarasota area.

TPBM sleeps well at night.

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. Weaning myself off diazepam currently so a very much mixed blessing. It's the bizarre dreams I hate the most!

TPBM has had a dream experience to remember.

Yes, sometimes they are quite vivid, always in color.

TPBM lost something recently and can't imagine where it went.

I often have more trouble remembering the what more than the where.

TPBM lives a blissful, carefree lifestyle.

Are you kidding??? No.

TPBM has a quiet place they can retreat to when things get crazy.

I do. It's my daughter's playroom, repurposed as The Retreat. It's got books, a sofa, a TV and associated receiver/CD-DVD player, and it's just for me.

TPBM can't stand absolute silence and has a white-noise machine.

I like quiet when I'm reading these days, as I am more easily distracted than I used to be. I sleep with the fan on at night all year long.

TPBM is meeting someone for lunch.

In my wildest dreams! MrsHouseLibrary is having her first good day in over a month, still recovering from radiation treatments which ended two weeks ago. She's still too dizzy and unstable to stand or walk very far, and both require someone (me) to assist her. It's progress, but very slow. If one of her sisters come to spell me, I've got to get the lawn mown; already complaints from the neighborhood association. You think they'd understand.

TPBM lives in a MUD.

nope, I live in the woods. We have a well for water and a septic tank; no municipal systems this far up in the hills.

TPBM has a headache.

//I live in the woods, too, Darth-Heather. We have a small HOA, but they pretty much leave us alone even when we don't mow the yard/pastures as frequently as they do.//

Not today, but yesterday I had a high, thin head pain. I think it's my fall allergies kicking in.

TPBM never gets headaches.

I do get headaches. Mostly when I lay off the caffeine.

The person below me never gets blisters. (But believe me, they suck.)

Not had a blister for decades.

TPBM has an interesting birthmark.

No, but the older I get I find strange things happening to my skin.

TPBM reads a ghost story or scary book for Halloween.

Every damn year!

TPBM has the ghost of a chance.

That's what my wallet keeps telling me...

TPBM has seen the specter of doom and laughed.

I have, there's really nothing else to do.

TPBM ain't afraid of no ghosts.

We had a ghost in the basement when I lived out in the boondocks. Also people laughing in an unused bedroom and walking up and down the hall at night. Plus the ghost cat which would, among other things, jump onto the bed. When we'd introduce our cat to visitors, they'd ask, "Where's the other one?"

TPBM has another one.

My friend's sister worked in the dining hall of a local college and she swore it was haunted because weird things would happen. One night, with permission, the 3 of us went there and asked "the ghost (s)" to answer questions for us about who they were by turning flashlights on and off. Our flashlights started going off and on and we were thrilled. Whatever energy was doing it actually ruined my flashlight. It was one made for walking with a handle like a dog leash and it had 3 settings and a circuit board which was fried after our ghostly Q & A session.

TPBM has another.

When I visited the Getty Museum with all its ancient statuary, I was told the night workers swore they moved.

TPBM has another.

Not so much a ghost story as a spooky thing : one night when my best friend and I were camping around Italy, we both had the same dream! (And not one of those common ones, but a slightly bizarre / unusual one.)

TPBM will continue this or the previous ghosty theme.

A friend of mine in college once correctly identified the next three songs that would play on the radio station she and her friends were listening to in the car. She was greatly freaked out by it. Also, I narrowly averted a rift in the space/time continuum that would have precipitated the zombie apocalypse. You're welcome.

TPBM has another ghostly story to tell.

Bad spirit, most likely. In college my roommates started using the Ouija board and there were some startling and scary manifestations from Beyond.

TPBM has 'played' with a Ouija board.

yeah but I was totally pushing the planket thing around on purpose to freak people out.

TPBM has something strange in their neighborhood.

Let's just say I know who to call if there is.

TPBM revels in being at least somewhat offbeat.

I prefer to think of it as differently rhythmed.

TPBM's got the beat.

Yes, right here https://www.bing.com/search?q=we+got+the+beat&form=IENTHT&mkt=en-us&....

TPBM received something strange in the mail recently.

Yes, a life insurance policy offer for my deceased husband.

TPBM thinks I should have taken up the offer.

I don't see why not. I still get creditor calls for my grandmother's debts, but she passed away 10 years ago. Apparently statute of limitations isn't a thing anymore.

TPBM got good news recently.

MrsHouseLibrary got approved for an MRA (medical diagnostic procedure) to be done on Monday.
It's been held up since Friday, a week ago, by a concern regarding the stent she got back in August.
They don't want to unintentionally perform a radical stent-ectomy while imaging her brain.
We appreciate their caution.

TPBM also got good news.

Yes. After years of our credit being in the toilet from husband's business failing in 2008 I was able to get a new credit card approved recently. It gives up to 5% cash back and I got a $70 gift card just for applying.

TPBM is considering living off the grid (except for LT, of course.)

Never. I like my comfort and I like my wifi. I'm reminded of a friend of mine back in the early '70s who said he wanted to live in a teepee, but it would have to have electricity to run his stereo.

Years later I was friends with a woman whose father used to live in a teepee with Timothy Leary. Now that was probably an experience worth having.

TPBM has unusual ideas about comfort.

Call me crazy, but comfort would be more than fours of sleep in a night. There's so much I have to do.

TPBM has invented something.

Yes! When I became incapable through disability, of climbing into and under the covers of, my bed. I created a system where I attached bean bags via clips to one bottom edge of the top sheet and blanket, and left that all piled up on one side of the bed. Then after flopping full length onto the bottom sheet, I can throw the top bedding over myself so the bean bags land on the floor and save having to tuck that side of the bedding in.

TPBM has invented something else.

Well, reinventing. Apparently these days I'm Brad Majors.

TPBM arrived on a very special night.

It was 8:05 a.m., actually, on the last day of the fiscal year for New York City.

Mom went into labor three days earlier; most other women would have given up, but not Mom. She stuck it out the whole time so I wouldn't be all alone when I was born.

Tonight (Monday), I did my first Open Mic Night in about six weeks. MrsHouseLibrary's health issues have kept me away. but she's stablized enough that I'm not needed 24x7 now. So, this Open Mic thing ... Over a 3-hour period, I did 3 sets completely unplanned and unrehearsed, and there's a very good reason I'm introduced as: Mike, the Song Butcher. Despite that, when I finished the last set, I found money (quite a bit, actually) in my guitar case. Even after splitting it with the other fellow, it paid for my meal and copious amounts of coffee I had tonight. I'm so wired right now, I could write an opera.

TPBM has been a busker.

I have no musical ability whatsoever. So, no.

TPBM is going to buy just one lottery ticket for tonight's big drawing.

I must confess that I've bought 5. A reasonable outlay for 1.5 BILLION dollars. I hope I win, I hope I win, I do I do I do I do I do.

TPBM has been to Zanzibar.

// >44 SomeGuyInVirginia: I've been sending out my supplications to the FSM to hit it. (Or the Powerball tomorrow.) Not the whole thing, just big enough a share that on May 9th when I turn 60 I can walk into work and quit becuase I don't need to worry about having an income anymore.//

Not me. Only country I've been to besides the USA is Canada.

TPBM is learning a new skill.

//I bought a ticket today, too. *smile*//

//>46 karenmarie: You have to, it's a thing, like wearing green on St. Patrick's Day.//

//>45 rastaphrog: Good luck, remember us poor sinners.//

New skill!! I have trouble with my old skills most days.

//>44 SomeGuyInVirginia:, >45 rastaphrog:>,>46 karenmarie: Did you win anything?//

TPBM will carry on even though their hopes and dreams went up in smoke last night.

I'm fine, Fortune wants me to wait for the really big win.

//>48 morningwalker: I didn't win the jackpot, and haven't checked my tickets for anything else. Have I heard correctly, a single ticket won the $1.6 billion jackpot? Wowzer!//

TPBM knows someone who has won a least $500,000.

Yes. I also know someone who blew at least $500,000 on wine, women, and song. Coincidentally same person.

TPBM knows a bookie.

// Reminds me of the late, great footballer, George Best: "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds (women) and fast cars – the rest I just squandered"//

//>48 morningwalker: Didn't even win a small prize. I knew when we went outside for our smoke break that I hadn't won the big one as the other guy read off the numbers and I saw I didn't have the mega ball. Holding out hope that maybe I'd won at least a few dollars I had the office gal scan my tickets as I was leaving work, but no such luck.//

No, the only gambling I do besides buying a lottery ticket once in a while is put money in my IRA.

>52 rastaphrog: I didn't win anything either.//

TPBM has lost a lot in the stock market lately.

My motto is: Nothing ventured, nothing lost.

In a system that has been manipulated to benefit benthic cannibals only, my only option is to hide in plain sight.

TPBM can clarify this for me: When I use terms like "only option" and "only choice," I can't help but think of them as oxymorons. If there is only a single course of action to be taken, is there actually a choice?

It's a protective oxymoron, where the speaker has to convince themselves that the choice they made was because there were no other choices. Then when someone makes a different choice, they have no choice but to attack that person because by illustrating the non-oxymoronic idea of choice, that person casts their "only" choice into doubt. Maybe they made a mistake. Too scary, destroy the proof of "other choices."

TPBM has thoughts about it.

Sounds like Brexit. 'Nuff said.

TPBM is bursting with hope.

If hope is another word for despair, then yes.

TPBM will give some word of comfort (if such exists) on Brexit.

I really wish I had one, but it sounds hopelessly mired. As an outsider it seems like Britain wants to bully the EU and the EU is having none of it. (Mind you, I haven't delved into it, so if that seems totally wrong I'm willing to be educated.)

TPBM will give some word of comfort (if such exists) on the dangerous political circus that is US politics.

Well, there are solutions, and there are other solutions. I've been mulling it over in my head that in situations like we're seeing, the perpetrators of the divisiveness ought to be treated in the manner in which, if not checked, would be the extrapolation of their methods. (I am being purposely obtuse in how I word this...). Everyone else would continue to enjoy the freedoms of our democracy. One example would be: if you don't want preexisting conditions covered in your health care, you don't have to have it, but it doesn't lower your premiums. (It's a really bad example, I know.) But that sort of stuff would be unconstitutional, and I don't support it.

There's no one word that will suffice for comfort. I think the solution, or at least a good starting point, would be to pass legislation that would severely limit the amount of money people and corporations can dole out to the politicians, plus have 100% accountability as to who/what donates to whom, including to PACs.

I also think that our elected officials ought to spend more time productively working on legislative issues and constituent services than they do on fundraising.

TPBM will please take the conversation away from politics.

I am still bothered something I saw this week - a person with one off-center pupil. His other eye looks normal, but the one eye has a pupil that is wayyyy lower and off to one side, and is oblong in shape. If he had dark-colored irises it might not be noticeable, but his eyes are blue, so it's obvious that in the center where the pupil belongs, it's blue.

I decided that I must have it wrong, because that can't happen, right? Soooo I Googled "off-center pupil". DON'T DO THAT. HUNDREDS of weird-eye photos pop up that I now can't unsee.

TPBM can't unsee something else.

I'll be glad when October's over. It's always been a turning point month for me, for good and bad, but I'm getting older and I now face it with more trepidation than wild abandon. Plus it's rainy, the synagogue shooting has upset me, and I've got the blues. I'll unsee today, but it will probably be tomorrow by the time I do it.

TPBM has Tinnitus.

Only occasionally, thank the gods. I attribute it to my misspent rock 'n' roll years. I remember being completely deaf for at least an hour after a sock-hop at Brother Rice High School. We liked to get up by the stage right in front of the speakers. (Brother Rice had some great bands at their sock-hops, including Paul Revere and the Raiders right at the leading edge of their television fame. Then a new Jesuit took over as principal and there went the bands. We were sad. I imaging the all-boy enrollment at Brother Rice were even sadder.)

TPBM can only parse part of the information above.

Pretty straight forward but then I was in high school in the 60's too.

I've missed playing TPBM! I don't have a good excuse either. I was proud to be there at the beginning too.

The person below me has been to a class reunion and had trouble recognizing the old people there.

My 40th. I was married to a classmate when we attended the 10th; had just moved to Texas (from NJ) when the 20th rolled around; and was in several post-divorce battles during our 30th. It was reconciling the fact I was going to have to divorce my wife that I had a stress "fracture." Not a stroke, just a psychological short circuit that prevented me from connecting a name with a face. Long story short, I studied my high school yearbook for ten years, and went to my 40th reunion. (She did too, sort of.) Despite us having our yearbook pictures and names on ID tags, it didn't help much, except for one guy. Except for a few gray hairs, he looked exactly as he did forty years earlier; won the "most preserved" award. I knew names and facts, and everyone looked familiar, but there were only a few that I could name without looking at the tag.

On the day the "disconnect" occurred, I couldn't pick out my own 3 kids in the pack of 10 when they came home from school that day. Things are much better now, but I still struggle with it.

TPBM has coping strategies.

Read, walk, wine, pet a dog or cat.

TPBM has other coping strategies.

Hands in the dirt. Works every time.

TPBM thinks that's icky.

Nope, a tonic old as humankind.

//>64 WholeHouseLibrary: Sweet jolly jeebus. Did you see a doctor?//

//>63 xorscape: XOR! I've missed you!!!//

TPBM will only eat heritage tomatoes. (Whatever the hell those are, I've had it explained to me a few times and I still can't tell you how they differ from something I'd find in the supermarket.)

nope - every tomato is wonderful in it's way. No tomato bigotry here.

TPBM avoids GMOs.

// >67 SomeGuyInVirginia: No. Well, sort of, but not for that. It's too long a story for right now. MHL is in the hospital again and I have to get back there before they lock me out. Think kind thoughts for her; another painful medical procedure, and the outcome is dicey, at best. //

Certainly not! I'm no better than they are, and they're just trying to make a life for themselves. Oh! Wait... Never mind.

TPBM is currently at sea.

Oops! Leaped! I'm not literally at sea. I'm at desert. But I'm feeling a little at sea in getting my house organized.

Same TPBM. The person below me has had a dispute with a landlord.

WHL: Kind, supportive thoughts headed your way. I'm so sorry to hear of MHL's troubles.

SGiV: Thanks! I've missed you too!

I don't think it's possible to avoid GMO's unless you grow your own food. And on the subject of tomatoes, everyone from some moister place says that the tomatoes you get in Arizona are pretty tasteless. I still like them but I didn't grow up eating the "good" kind. :)

The person below me has had a dispute with a landlord.

I haven't had a landlord for 30 years. I'm kind of wishing I had one now though because things are getting old and will need replacing soon.

//>69 WholeHouseLibrary: Kind thoughts to you and MHL.//

TPBM needs to rake leaves.

Or blow them - either way they are relentlessly coming down. However, they are one of the signs that the nasty North Carolina summer is ending and my favorite season has arrived.

//WHL Keeping MHL in my thoughts and prayers.//

TPBM remembers an elderly relative mentioning a specific apple tree with the best apples in the world.

No, but my dad used to rave about the strawberries in springtime in California when they used to go visit relatives. I used to have a desert apple tree that had wonderful yellow, sweet apples. And a dwarf peach that had great peaches that I had to share mostly with the birds.

The person below me has grown a dwarf something-or-other.

Well, an actual dwarf, really. Came in a kit, I thought I was getting a Chia Pet. Used to steal spoons.

TPBM is going nuts for Halloween.

No. I live in a strange place that has Halloween (trick or treat) on the last Thursday of October, so we've already had ours. I will light my carved pumpkin tonight and let it burn all night in celebration of the real Halloween though.

TPBM will give out candy tonight.

Unlikely. I'll be spending another night in the hospital with MrsHouseLibrary. Besides, we're expecting heavy rain tonight.

The prognosis for her is the best of all the bad scenarios. Yes, she still has active and aggressive cancer, but it hasn't grown into the stent, and the chemo she started a week ago should beat it back. Her biggest problem is that she doesn't drink enough. (How many time have you heard your doctor complain about that?) I mean non-alcoholic, non-carbonated, mostly water-type liquids. Between merely sipping water and all those "go-juice" preps, she's otherwise mummifying herself. Hence, the blockage that put her in the hospital on Sunday.

I happen to be home at the moment, getting a change of clothes, taking a shower, etc; but I'll be back there in a couple of hours to see her through this crisis.

TPBM is dreading the anticipation of hearing December-holiday-related music beginning probably tomorrow.

Ye Gods, WHL, where have you been for the past month or two? If it began tomorrow I would be very very irritated, rather than the apoplectic rage I get seeing Xmas in September (I kid you not!).

If TPBM had their way, there would be no sight nor sound of Xmas until _____________

Other than craft/hobby shops, and even there it should just be sight, until the day after Thanksgiving. As regards music, baring a change this year, the first Christmas song will play in my store shortly after midnight Thanksgiving night into Friday morning.

TPBM isn't much into holiday decorating.

Not really. Most of my holiday stuff got lost in a move, plus I don't get a lot of visitors to my home so whatever I do is just for me. Winter holidays make me melancholy.

Now, Halloween, I have lots of Halloween stuff out right now. That stuff cheers me up.

TPBM gets scary.

I live in a high rise, so I don't decorate for Halloween. And I never liked those horrific decorations that were all the rage a few years ago. Icky.

TPBM is prepping for Black Friday.

yes - it is the biggest cooking & cleaning day of the year for me, getting ready for our annual dinner party on Saturday. This will be our 15th annual Quirky Turky party; the first one had just three guests but over the years it has developed into dinner for 25.

I have started rummaging in the recipes and making lists.

TPBM doesn't like turkey.

Nope, love it. Every few years my birthday falls on American Thanksgiving, so I like to think the feast is for me. Plus, I'd rather have pumpkin pie than birthday cake.

Might go on a road trip for T-day this year with the friend whose house I usually go to for Thanksgiving (my family lives far away). My friend is a dear soul, but she's not so good a cook and she doesn't like turkey (which I suppose is just as well).

TPBM favors a particular entree.

//Phaedra - my daughter's favorite 'birthday cake' is pumpkin pie and I make her one every August!//

I like spaghetti and roast beast, neither is a Turkle Dee staple. And since I haven't used a stove since the Clinton administration, I routinely job myself out for all feast days. I do always show up with a nice, deli-prepared side dish and a couple bottles of good wine.

TPBM has a fire in the hearth.

No, didnʻt, even when I lived in Massachusetts
a half century or so ago. (We were in the coal-heat era-- also some coke and even wood.)

TPBM thinks West Virginia can solve its politico-economic dilemma that is closely rooted in the coal industry.

Nope. We’ve just substituted oil and gas for coal. The workers now come in from other locations and then move on. The pipelines being installed are on slopes exceeding 50 degrees. They have to chain the earthmovers so they don’t roll over. How is that safe for the resulting infrastructure? Legislature keeps giving drillers more rights to the surface as well. Very little political will for any benefits to stay.

(The trees are lovely this season though.)

TPBM will move on to a more cheerful topic.

Hey, how about that border situation? Or those political ads that are blatant lies of positions on issues, huh?

Damn. I guess I can't. Sorry.

I've been spending every night at the hospital with MrsHouseLibrary. Emergency surgery, now in ICU, almost lost her three times Thursday night.
Fortunately, we had an ICU nurse with 30 years on the job; nothing flusters him, and he went to heroic measures to keep her alive. Happy to say that she was off the ventilator for a whole hour today. Yea science!

I came home to get a shower and a change of clothes, and check emails, pay bills (and pop on here.) On my way back in a few minutes.

TPBM will follow the wishes in >87 2wonderY:.

//I'm so sorry, WHL, about your wife's situation. I hope that she spends more time off the ventilator each day and can come out of ICU soon.//

// Ditto. I'm not too good with healing thoughts, but I send them anyway. //

// Same here. My mom spent some time in the hospital this summer (she's been home a few months now), so I know just how terrifying it can be to have loved one there. //

// Breathing tube is out, feeding tube is in (through the nose). So maybe she has a fighting chance nutritionally now. But, her temperature went from 97 to 101 (F) in about 15 minutes, so one step forward, two steps back. Could go either way, but her odds, expressed as a percentage, uses a single, low digit. Sepsis sucks. //

A more cheerful topic? Hmmmm... Well not cheerful, but good news for me. I discovered the moldy smell in my kitchen was coming from a potato gone bad and was not in the walls. Yea!!

TPBM can top that.

I was trying to be thrifty and so saved Indian Corn from our Thanksgiving decorations one year by putting the ears in a little, infrequently-used closet under the stairs.

We started having an invasion of small moths. I'd vacuum them up, vacuum them off the ceiling, catch them midflight. We did not know where they were coming from until I had an epiphany one day and looked in the closet at the corn. Each kernel had a tiny hole in it where a moth had bored its way out. I stopped keeping Indian corn from one year to the next.

TPBM isn't THAT cheap.

Hello, we haven't met. I'm the guy who washes and reuses plastic sandwich bags. And moths? Ugh! They eat everything.

TPBM has danced down a street.

//I've done that too - wash and reuse plastic bags. I also save bread bags and use them. And you should have seen the cousins' faces when they offered to wash up after a family Christmas party one year and I brought over all the plastic cups and cutlery. //

Nope. Have danced down a set, though.

>95 SomeGuyInVirginia: Moths absolutely suck. <shivers in handknits>

The person below me has danced for a paying audience.

Yeah, I spent some time on the pole. Not the highpoint of my life, but instructive.

TPBM is still eating Halloween candy.

Ooh! Gotta check to see whether it's still on discount at the dollar store.

TPBM eschews such activities.

Yeah, not a big candy person.

//>98 SomeGuyInVirginia: Really???.//

TPBM is going to see Bohemian Rhapsody.

Hmm. Not sure. It's a real Marmite of a movie by all accounts - some people absolutely loved it, some thought it was dire.

TPBM's favourite movie of 2018 is ____________________

I haven't seen 2018 movies, but of the films I watched this year I liked most: The Grand Budapest Hotel and Nono, the Zigzag Kid.
The first because the original, creative idea, the atmosphere, colors and humorous, quirky scenes. And the perspective how scenes are shot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fg5iWmQjwk
The second because of playing with masquerade (who, what to believe? The changes of perspective), a quest for a boy as initiation, the playing with reality and imaginary. https://vimeo.com/52218534 inspired by the book with the same name of by David Grossman

TPBM hàs seen 2018's movies and likes ______________ the most.

I think the only 2018 movie I've seen was Mamma Mia 2, so I guess that's my favorite. (I like when a decision can be made so easily)

TPBM is soooo glad the election is over.

No; from the results Iʻve seen so far, (Democrats lost ground in the Senate) I woudnʻt mind a re-run.

TPBM has mixed feelings about the election results.

//>100 morningwalker: God no, I picked that up from the movie Madea's Halloween.//

Yes, but I'm not going into it now.

Any bets on when we will see the first ad for the 2020 Federal election. I'm so tired of them that I have worn out the mute button on one remote. I only watch about an hour a day except on Monday when Antique Road Show is on. I'm betting on 72 hours starting from 0001 EST today.

TPBM has a better guess

I don't watch TV (just Netflix on my tablet) so I am somewhat isolated from all the garbage, and therefore can't give you a better guess. Sorry

//>105 SomeGuyInVirginia: Sure you did...//

TPBM still hasn't adapted to daylight savings time.

(No DST here in Hawaiʻi, and, I undestand, that is the case in only two or three other areas.) Well, I adapt to it during the baseball season to
keep in touch with the probable starting time of a Boston Red Sox night game on the U.S.mainland.
(Iʻm a Red Sox fan since 1953, when the Boston Braves deserted us Greater Bostonians of that era
for Milwaukee).

TPBM has wondered (as my younger son did when he was about college age!) why DST goes on in summer, and not in winter "when you really NEED the extra daylight".

No, but that makes sense.

//Hehe.//

TPBM followed a good lead.

// >108 rolandperkins: Yeah right - as if daylight savings actually gives you more daylight!! //

"as if (dst) actually gives you more daylight" 108>110

It was 109, not me, who said that it "makes sense". I did explain to my son (108) that youʻre NOT given more daylight -- also that, back when he was toddler, a winter dst WAS tried in Massachusetts. (I donʻt remember the rationale of it, but it wasnʻt repeated.) It made the early mornings so dark that people commuting to work
were greeting the bus driver with "Good EVENING!"

back to >109 SomeGuyInVirginia:, I did. Fangirling all over the place, I went to the Queen website and ordered the Bohemian Rhapsody Soundtrack. I'm sure I paid more than I could have, but didn't think about it at the time and used some 'gift' money.

TPBM always checks to find the lowest price for something they want

Ish. My next laptop is going to be an iMac pro and I've been shopping around for that.

//>112 karenmarie: Freddie Mercury has always been one of my household gods. Along with Janis Joplin and George Orwell. There are others.//

TPBM boozes it up on the holidays.

// >111 rolandperkins: Interestingly they tried exactly the same experiment in the UK from 68 to 71 or 72 - they're now talking of bringing it back and making it permanent. I suppose I could just about cope with that, but same of the loonier tourist operators (hoteliers, theme parks, etc) are suggesting DOUBLE DST in the summer!!! Aaaaargh. //

// >113 SomeGuyInVirginia: Good luck with your attempts to find an iMac laptop. They've never made one yet!! I think you meant a MacBook Pro? //

"bringing (winter dst)...back..." (114)

Thanks for the info, Tid. I had never before heard of such an experiment in the UK -- or anywhere outside of Massachusetts.

>113 SomeGuyInVirginia:

Not any more than usual, I'm afraid.

TPBM can take it or leave it alone.

At this point, I can't even wrap my head around making a decision like that. I'm lucky I have only one cereal in the house at the moment.

TPBM is a chess player.

Sort of. I can move the pieces, but not much more than that. I do however enjoy seeing the current match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana.

TPBM would like to see Caruana win the match.

Sure. I don't know who he is, but someone has to win.

TPBM is already craving homemade stuffing.

Aak! Leaped!

Ham. I've been jonesing for a ham for a week now.

Eh, watching Chess would be more interesting if there were player injuries. Screw up a gambit and blow our your knee, I'd watch that. Also, your opponent in golf should be able to shoot at your ball like it was a clay pigeon.

TPBM makes up their own games.

The only one (and itʻs not current, the past few months)* is "Cribbage Solitaire". I didnʻt really making up anything, as itʻs pretty much the same as regular cribbage --except that I was taking both sides, and didnʻt really care much who won.

*I didnʻt really "swear off" as I did with Sudoku; just stopped playing.

TPBM has read what Jack Kerouac says about
making up his own baseball (entire league!and seasons!) game. (I canʻt remember whether he played it with cards or with dice.)

///>122 rolandperkins: I have a cribbage app on my phone. Haven't played for years, so I learned I wasn't very good at it.///

Nope, never read Kerouac and I've never found the Beats to be interesting.

TPBM lets the beat go on.

Come to think of it, I didnʻt, overall, find the
Beats very interesting -- Kerouac, however, being a major exception. Iʻve run across some titles in LT that I usually give the "Picaresque" tag, and some of these may have their roots in the "Beat" Era and thus be "let(ting) the beat go on".

TPBM is a fan of at least one of th following:
Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso
Jan Kerouac, or Alan Ginsberg

Do you mean Alan Ginsberg my third grade science teacher?

TPBM is going on a pilgrimage.

I can't right now. Went home from work early yesterday not feeling well. Slept, and slept and feel a little better today but not quite up to going on a pilgrimage yet, especially if it's on foot (as any worthy pilgrimage should be).

TPBM has drawn a turkey from tracing around their hand.

Not in the last 20 years, meaning that I drew quite a few of them when our daughter was young. Fun stuff.

//>127 morningwalker: get well soon//

TPBM still makes everything from scratch for Thanksgiving.

Jellied cranberry sauce is so superior without the seeds, dontcha think? I'd rather let Ocean Spray do that work.

TPBM has known a turkey personally.

When I lived on my friend's farm, she had half a dozen heritage-breed turkeys. They've got personality and baby turkeys are fuzzy little dinosaurs. We didn't eat any while I was there; she used them to train herding dogs. Did you know that there are dog trials for herding turkeys? Also, ducks.

TPBM has been up close and personal with another dinner item.

I don't need that Karma. I won't even pick a lobster out of the tank.

//>127 morningwalker: I hear that. Since yesterday, I've felt like I've been eating Tide pods. Blech!//

TPBM bags their own.

yeah - the kids at my local grocery store have no clue how to bag the items without smashing the bread and eggs, so I step in and "help".

TPBM is a picky eater.

/// >132 Darth-Heather: Oh so true! It's a lost art. They pack my paperbag-sized canvas bags as if they are flimsy plastic ones. Plus, I have to convince them that the bags can carry more than a few items each.///

I don't think so...until I start naming all the things I won't eat. They include lima beans, liver, squash, sweet potatoes, veal, oysters, and jello.

TPBM is surprised anyone would "not have room for Jello" (Extra points if you remember that commercial.

Not surprised as much as agree. I mean, Jello's okay, but they haven't made a coffee-flavored Jello yet, so why bother?
I get extra points, eh? Sure I remember that catch phrase from the commercials.

TPBM remembers what Charlie says.

Starky wants toonies with good pace ...
Not moonies that space wood ...

TPBM knows what I'm sayin ...

Not a clue, and you're not even close about Charlie.

TPBM may be able to shed some light on the two previous posts.

..."two previous posts?

THREE posts-before last seems to refer
to 1930--40s comic dummy Charlie McCarthy
(ventriloquist: Edgar Bergen). I get that idea from the mention of Jello-- another 1930s-40s major sponsor of a radio comedy- -Jack Benny. (Bergen--McCarthy sponsor was Chase and Sanborn Coffee.) It was a comedy WITH music --
notably Nelson Eddy, whereas Jack Benny
was strictly comedy.

Post before last (136): No idea!

137 :"Youʻre not even close about Charlie" Well, this might OR MIGHT NOT refer to Charlie McCarthy.

TPBM will continue this controversy, or change the topic.

>136 Brazen: ...

... Sorry Charlie, Starkist wants Tuna that tastes good ... not Tuna with good taste ....
... Television commercial 60-70's

TPBM ... carry on

Since the Jello thing was a commercial, I continued in that vein.
I was referring to Choo Choo Charlie, of course.

Charlie says: Love my Good-n-Plenty.
Charlie says: Really rings the bell.
Charlie says: Love my Good-n-Plenty. Don't know any other candy that I love so well.

TPBM may get rain today.

//>140 WholeHouseLibrary: I thought of Choo Choo Charlie also - my brother and I saved up UPCs and sent away for Choo Choo Charlie train conductor hats. We also got Oscar Meyer Weinermobile whistles.//

Our forecast is for 4-8 inches of snow.

TPBM already has snow.

No but it's on its way this afternoon with sleet. Yikes! It will be the first this year to stick.
//>128 karenmarie: Thank you. I feel much better today.//

//>131 SomeGuyInVirginia: Hope you feel better. Those Tide Pods aren't for everyone.//

//>135 WholeHouseLibrary: I thought the same as >139 Brazen:. Glad you clarified it for us.//

TPBM wonders how anyone can like licorice.

I wonder how anybody can dislike licorice, but neither husband nor daughter like black licorice and I still love them.

TPBM wonders how anyone can like white chocolate.

Actually, I can answer that - I'm allergic to cocoa, so no brown chocolate, only white. I have a great recipe for white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake that makes up for it, though.

//I LOVE black licorice. My husband can't tolerate even the smell of it on me so I have to eat it in isolation.//

TPBM eats baking chocolate.

Ew! I am not an animal!

//>143 karenmarie:, >144 Darth-Heather: I'm with D-H's husband, even the smell of licorice whips turns my stomach, it smells like illness.//

TPBM likes an unusual food.

//Okay Darth-Heather, allergies are acceptable.

Still love you too, Larry, even if you can't stand licorice. *smile*//

>146 karenmarie: Taylor Pork Roll. Made in New Jersey, the state of New York declared it to be not a food. Better known as Taylor Ham, the only way I can get it here in Texas it to buy 1-lb. canvas sacks of it. Once opened, you've got a week, tops, to finish it off.

//Licorice: I don't like the taste either, but in a modified form, it was once prescribed by my doctor. Licorice kicks the digestive tract into high gear for producing mucus, which prevents bile and such from eating through the stomach. That's one of my digestive issues. It also contains a large enough amount of glycerin, which boosts (too high for me) your blood pressure. Turns out they make a pill form of de-glycerized licorice (DGL). It's a black pill; no taste if you swallow it quickly, and allows me to "cheat" on a small subset of foods I otherwise couldn't eat.//

TPBM can explain the ramifications of finding the Higgs-Boson particle.

Afraid not.

The person below me has a favorite food that he or she takes to potlucks.

Deviled eggs. There's usually a dearth of protein, and since I like 'em, I take 'em.

TPBM is going to a potluck event this holiday season.

I'm hoping my sister is having Thanksgiving. If so I am taking a caramel apple cheesecake, salad with homemade family dressing and sweet potato casserole.

TPBM volunteers somewhere over the holidays.

I haven't, but after a time, I likely will. Or not. A lot has changed over the past couple of years.

TPBM makes a great turkey stuffing and/or gravy.

I learned gravy making from my grandmother; comes out wonderful every time.

TPBM is thankful for something.

I had a list a mile long.

//>149 karenmarie: I could live on deviled eggs!//

TPBM practices gratitude.

//153 If we lived to closer to one another, I'd take that as a hint!//

//149 and //153 I went to a potluck last Sunday and took deviled eggs. The group polished them off!

<153 Often, I'm not nearly as grateful as I seem. People are bringing food for me, and almost all of it contains something that could cause me a lot of damage. It goes right into the garbage disposal. Plus, it breaks my routine of taking care of myself; takes me out of what I feel should be normal.
Today, for the first time in years, I walked the hike-and-bike trail that runs next to my house. It was the first I felt okay in a long, long time. I believe I just expressed gratitude! Practice it -- that may take a while.

TPBM feels more like him/herself after a cup or ten of coffee than before having the first one.

I limit myself to TWO cups of coffee a week, and sometimes forget the second one. Donʻt feel any different after the one or two I drink.

TPBM prefers iced to hot for both tea can coffee.

I love all the tea. All of it.

TPBM only likes black tea.

I must have drunk some at one time or another, but I donʻt recall the beverage. Prefer the more conventional flavorings. I drink tea only once a week (at a Bible Study), but, unlike coffee --max of 2 a WEEK -- I donʻt limit myself as to number of cups.

TPBM eschews carbonated drinks, but
makes some exceptions -- e.g. for raspberry- or strawberry-flavored.

Well, I'll have (usually) a Diet Coke if I'm eating out somewhere (Subway, Outback ...) but, that's really the only time I have it. If I have to dispense my own, I rarely fill the cup up more than half way. I don't object to it, but I'd rather fill up on just plain water; don't need flavored anything, except maybe a little lemon occasionally.

TPBM knows how to mix a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster.

Sure: to 2 1/2 ounces of vodka, you
just add - - Huh? What was that name again?

TPBM has mixed: martinis, gin and tonics, and other unnamed beverages.

I used to bar tend, but long enough ago that I hardly remember anything.

TPBM is also old enough to have lapses.

I got lapses AND heartburn for my last birthday. Who knew the honors of age would be so bountiful.

TPBM is stocking up on a seasonal favorite food.

Not really. I would like to but just don't have anywhere to put it right now. And my frig is on the fritz, sort of. Darn.

My favorite food (for Thanksgiving) is turkey.

TPBM also has a favorite food around the holidays.

Apple pie. I make a pretty good one if I do say so myself.

TPBM is well-known for making a special recipe.

This year will be our 12th Friendsgiving Dinner on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I always make a cider-brined turkey and all the sides and appetizers, but all anyone ever wants to know is whether I will be making cheesecake. Apparently I could just have an all-cheesecake party and everyone would be happy.

TPBM is making their favorite holiday food.

I have sooooo many favorites. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, cloverleaf rolls with butter... Mmmm it must be almost lunch time.

TPBM has a holiday tradition.

Here Iʻm defining "tradition" as: something that happens MORE THAN ONE year: My childhood tradition, in Massachusets was to see a traditional high school football game in the morning, eat a Thanksgiving dinner with the family about 12:30 P.M. and see a movie in the afternoon.

TPB lived in a state that featured Thanksgiving A.M. h.s. football games, but has moved, and now misses Thanksgiving football. (In Hawaiʻi, all the football you can see on Thanksgiving is an NFL game (used to be always Detroit vs. Green Bay) in the A. M. and a Texas-colleges game or Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State in the P.M. --can be a good matchup, but Iʻve never had a favorite team in it.)

Thst's how it was when I loved in New Jersey, some thirty years ago.

In Texas, you can apparently watch American football 24x7 on several channels, and none of them would be a subsidiary of ESPN.
Now, I don't really care to watch/follow sports at all. I'll watch an occasional football (soccer to us Yanks), lacrosse, or rugby match/game, but that's pretty much the limit for me; the keyword being: occasional. By nature, I'm not tribal.

TPBM is well organized.

Do you mean my Thanksgiving dinner shopping list spreadsheet? If so, then yes.

TPBM prefers wing it.

lord, no. My checklists have checklists.

TPBM actually does wing it.

Yeah, kind of, I guess; I mean I don't really plan this sort of stuff. It all just seems to come together.

The previous statement was a flat out lie, and I apologize for misleading you. As my life depends om me being very exacting in areas of foodstuff, I'm an absolute crazy person when it comes to knowing what all the ingredients are and exactly how it was prepared. For the second time in 30 years, I'm not preparing the turkey or anything else, for that matter. And I am terrified there's going to be something like garlic in the mashed potatoes, or an overabundance of black pepper in the gravy.

And that carries over to damn near everything I do. It's a learned CDO thing (like having the ALT in alphabetical order.)

TPBM has an unusual Thanksgiving tradition (like Canadians doing it in October, sheesh!)

Nope, just the good old normal ones. Although I think I'm going to take the game Pit to dinner this year so we can play a rousing hand after we stuff ourselves.

TPBM has played Pit.

No, and donʻt even know if it still exists. I remember as a child seeing ads for it.

TPBM has played Monopoly by revised rules, e.g. initially dealing out some of the property.

I've no idea how common/widespread this is: With my friend at the primary/elementary school we played that all the money payed for the taxes and chance was placed in the center of the board; anyone who visited the 'free parking' got that money as bonus.

TPBM tells what his/her favorite board or card game is.

Craps. Love that game.

TPBM bets with the house.

No way! I'm not much of a gambler (occasional flutter on the Grand National way back when). But if the cash would run out, there's no way in a million years I'd gamble the roof over my head.

TPBM's luckiest win at anything was __________________

A $100 Amazon gift card from a drawing for answering a survey. Also a piece of jewelry from my friend's Shapeways shop. In both situations, I think there was a small pool of potential winners.

TPBM knows all about Shapeways.

I looked it up and it sounds interesting, although is it turning a lot of white collar workers into potters and artisans?

//>177 Tid: GOD NO! Never bet what you need to live on. 'Betting with the house' means that, in craps, you bet against the other players in the game. They'll lose and the house (or casino) and you win. I was in a noodle bar in the Tropicana I think it was, in Atlantic City. They mostly catered to Asian gamblers but if you knew where it was they'd serve you. This Japanese guy sits down next to me, orders something from the cook, then put his head in his hands and starts sobbing. At the time, I figured that he'd just lost all he owned and his sitting there crying broke my heart. Because I was hoping this smoking hot hooker was going to be the one to take that seat. But that's me, I'm a people person.//

TPBM lounges by the pool.

Would that be a football, baseball, or hockey pool?

TPBM has never bet on a baseball or football game.

Nope. I'm not much of a gambler.

Happy Thanksgiving to all US LibraryThingers!!

TPBM will probably eat too much tomorrow.

Not necessarily, although there will certainly be enough food available to over-indulge.

TPBM is traveling tomorrow.

Yes, about 1 mile. Whoopee!

TPBM knows why the cost of champagne has skyrocketed.

Sure do! --Due to inflation the champagne industry canʻt make a go of it on their previous prices.

TPBM has long thought that gin, vodka, and
malt liquor are all over-priced.

All I can say is when my supermarket has beer on sale for 10.99 a six pack, that ain't no sale. Too bad I don't drink Budweiser; that stuff is cheap. For a reason.

TPBM has a favorite.

My current favourite beer - lager - is Curious Brew produced by the Capel Down Winery in Kent. It is made with Saaz and Cascade hops, refermented with Champagne yeast and a dosage of Nelson Sauvin hops. Sells for about $2.50 for 330ml.

TBM thinks that's all a bit precious for what is, after all, just beer.

With all the beer I used to drink, half a century or so ago, I never did realize that there are hops AND hops; so "Saaz" and "Cascade" Iʻm hearing of for the first time.

TPBM has heard the nickname* "The Poor Manʻs Whiskey".

*Pickwick Ale rumored to have higher alcohol
content than its competitors.

I don't remember hearing it.

The person below me hides clutter in weird places when company comes and then forgets it's there.

You too? I use the living room for that. The only thing that lives in there is dust and several collections. I leave paths so I can get to "stuff".

TPBM has another strategy - but not the trash can!

Currently, it's recycling, Goodwill, or the trash can (in that order.) In the process of reducing not just household clutter, but everything in the house and shed by at least 90%. By the time I'm done, if I can't fit everything left inside a small moving van, I'll get rid of more stuff until it does.

TPBM rents storage space.

Only in special circumstances - dealing with someone else's stuff or during a move and a renovation. However, I've been trying to purge this entire year; and it looks worse around here, not better.
(Secret plan - giving stuff to the descendants.)

TPBM also has a secret plan.

Every now and then I bring a box of stuff from the storage locker and tell myself I'm going to find somewhere for it in my micro-apartment. Then it sits in the hallway for a very, very long time. Unfortunately, I have too much stuff in storage (mostly books *sigh*) to fit it all in the hallway.

TPBM has plans that work.

"Work"? what is that? Some old-fashioned
means of earning a living?

TPBM misses the era where was a very major means of earning a living.

Not sure what you mean, but I sure don't miss working for a living. Retirement is the best!

The person below me is working on moving into a 2019 calendar.

YES! I make a calendar each year to give to family and friends, using photos I took on vacation. 2019's calendar features photos from my trip to Quebec City.

The proof copy should arrive this week, and then I can order the full quantity. If anyone here would like one, please message me your mailing address. Outside the US is fine, but sometimes it takes awhile to get to you.

TPBM is already making their New Year's Resolution.

"Not sure what you mean..." (193>194{

Sorry: In 193, I left out a key word: "work" was supposed the 6th word.

Only the resolution not to make any. Man plans, the Gods laugh!

TPBM is braver, or perhaps more foolhardy

Yes, both. And certainly more modest.

TPBM knows why fashion models always look so damn glum.

They're starving.

TPBM is cyber shopping this cyber Monday.

No. My next cyber shopping would
be my first.

TPBM wishes Amazon had more vigorous competitors.

Amazon ... isn't that a river somewhere? Or maybe a forest?

TPBM is a (celestial) stargazer.

I like to look for shooting stars. Where I live we don't get many cloudless nights though.

TPBM has a favorite Christmas movie.

Must be Die Hard 2 - all heart!

Thinking of that, TPBM knows who Mister Falcon was.

Yippee-ki-yay, indeed.

Snakes on a Plane had a similarly memorable overdup - Samuel L Jackson might not approve of the version that has him declaring "I have had it with these monkey-frightening snakes on this monday-to-friday plane!"

TPBM appreciates euphemisms.

I miss the beeps!

TPBM got beeped.

Are you f*****g kidding me? There, that should get beeped for you.

TPBM thinks the world would be a better place without Twitter.

My personal world is Twitter-less, but I wish it wasn't available to Some Political People I Could Name. Plus all the competition for who has how many followers and the inflated numbers is ridiculous.

TPBM has another internet presence that they wish was gone.

Yes: Fox News (If that IS an internet
presence). (Seriously, I donʻt favor censorship or banning of ANY news reports.)

TPBM limits viewing of Fox News to once a week -- to sort of monitor them.

To be fair and balanced, I watch at least one hour of four different new stations per day.*** I also read two different newspapers per week. Plus, there that radio thing.

*** Due to circumstances, that's been cut back a lot lately, like maybe no news at all for several days, but I should be back to my abnormal viewing schedule toward the end of December. Meanwhile, too much else to do.

TPBM is already sick of hearing post-T-day holiday music.

Nope, because I haven't been in a chain store since T-day. I'm almost embarrassed to say, the little bit of shopping I needed to do was finished last Sunday.

My mom was famous for getting all her Xmas cards done before Thanksgiving and then mailing them the day after. Hers would always be the first to arrive.

TPBM isn't worried about cards.

I always worry about Christmas cards, because I can never seem to get to the post office and the only stamps I have are Janis Joplin and Disney villains. Not quite the same thing.

TPBM lets it fly.

//I have Janis Joplin stamps, too, Larry!//

Straight to the moon.

TPBM not only likes listening to holiday tunes, but sings along too.

Yes I do, and I was belting them out yesterday morning while I was getting ready for work.

TPBM has a conductor's baton.

Heard of it, but never seen one -- except from a distance.

TPBM can play three or more orchestral instruments.

Indeed ...

TPBM can Buck and Wing ...

I think I was 27 years old before I even knew the
meaning of "buck and wing".

TPBM is convinced (if only from TV old movie viewings) that Fred Astaire was a greater dancer than Gene Kelley

No contest, surely? Also dressed better. Not so good looking and I think Kelly had the better voice. As to choice of dance partners.....Ginge should make him the winner but that needs more thought.

TPBM has strong views on that subject

Ginger Rogers said of Fred Astaire "I did everything he did only backwards in high heels". She was great, he was great, and I vastly prefer his/her/their style to that of Gene Kelly.

TPBM has gone to see a movie recently and will tell us which one.

We have a film club in the complex where I live, and a recent one was "Tara Road". OMG, all the 'chick flick' (gaah, I hate that term!) clichés together in one movie. I don't recommend it. Tonight's offering is "You've Got Mail", which - while the weakest of the Nora Ephron trilogy by some margin - is infinitely better than Tara Road.

TPBM will keep the theme of recently seen movies going...

I haven't been to the movies since last Christmas. Boy was The Shape of Water a strange movie.

That said, this year's Christmas movie is probably going to see the second Fantastic Beasts movie. I've heard that it doesn't live up to the first one, but the alternative is finding a movie that all of us can agree on.

The person below me can recommend a shortlist of alternate choices for a bunch of nerdy grownups, some of whom can't be bothered with the comic book franchises.

The last movie I saw was Halloween, and I can recommend it.
The opening scene was so frightening that I remember thinking that I may have gotten in over my head. Totally awesome!

TPBM will recommend a holiday classic.

The Bishop's Wife was on TV tonight. I love Cary Grant. I like the older Scrooge movies. Die Hard, for sure. It's a Wonderful Life, but I've seen it so many times I don't usually watch it anymore.

The person below me also has one or more holiday classics to recommend.

Edit: Meet Me in St. Louis too...

A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Christmas Carol (the one with George C. Scott), It's A Wonderful Life, the cartoon Grinch AND the Jim Carrey Grinch. We try to watch them all during the season.

TPBM has already put OUT their Christmas decorations.

Edited to add out

Depending on what you mean by "put their ... decorations", yes or no. They all went to my late wife's relatives or Goodwill. I sold the tree yesterday.
Downsizing.

TPBM understands that the term "non-negotiable" means that a potential buyer shouldn't ask a lower price.

Have not often had a price dictated to me, or even specially offered to me, and so havenʻt thought much about this; but your definition sounds correct.

TPBM uses the terms "non-negotiable" or "NOT negotiable" often.

// >225 WholeHouseLibrary: Sorry for your loss. This happened quite recently?

Not really, but during the summer we bought a new house and sold the old one and didn't negotiate either price. On the other hand we bid for another house, got a "yes" and then the seller tried to up the price. So we found another house :-)

TPBM likes the process of finding and buying a new car or house.

//>225 WholeHouseLibrary: I'm so sorry, Mike. How are you doing? Do you have people around to help an offer support?//

//>225 WholeHouseLibrary: I'm so sorry, too, Mike. You were talking about MrsWHL being in the hospital then stopped and I should have inquired but didn't want to pry.//

// >225 WholeHouseLibrary: Can I add my condolences too, and hope that you still have as good a Christmas as you can. //

No, no no. I hate buying large ticket items. I hope my little 12 year old car keeps going for a long time, and my next house will probably a rental whenever I downsize and sell the house.

//>225 WholeHouseLibrary: As with the others I send my condolences.//

TPBM watched F-Troop and will mourn Ken Berry.

Aw, snap! I didn't know, I always liked him. I never saw F-Troop but I caught Mayberry RFD.

TPBM has their decorating done. Including baking.

//

There are two threads regarding MrsHouseLibrary ordeals over the past few months.

This one has to do with the events prior to her death.

And this one announces that she had died.

There's the immediate announcement in the first post, and her obituary, published in Saturday's newspaper, is post #43.

I still cry in the shower a lot. Got the water bill today; may have to take out a loan to pay it. I tend to internalize things, so grief is a very private matter. Her family, on the other hand, all seem to want to stand around me (not in the shower, thank goodness) and at those times, I feel like I'm suffocating. I'm going to be at Open Mic Night tonight, but just to listen. I'm not emotionally stable enough to gleefully butcher songs yet. Thanks for your kind words.
//

>233 WholeHouseLibrary: I am so very sorry for your loss. Losing a spouse is like no other loss.

My husband had a rectal cancer and we did hospice at home for months. Through his diagnosis and death, I was working full time. And his care and medical appointments were another full-time job. I cried a lot.

Cry as much as you want. It's your grief to do with as you will.

Are you kidding??? I did get the worst cookies made last weekend (they take 3 hours to complete), and I put up my outdoor lights.

TPBM is overloaded with work.

yep. So many clients who had all year to get stuff done; it's always the same ones who wait until the last minute, so at least we know to prepare for them.

TPBM is free as a bird.

Yep, I'm retired, the job I've been preparing for all my life.

TPBM has had a checkered career.

I've had twolong-term jobs, adding up to
24 years of a 41 year full time career5

Gotten rid of, without retiring: only twice,
and the second time was said to be
neither retirement nor firing --and it inded
WASN'T retirement, so they were half-truthful
about it

Don't know if "checkered" is the right analogy;
seemd to have all the complications of
bridge or chess.

TPBM has been gotten rid of WITHOUT (officially) either
retirement or firing.

I was laid off with 1,100 others in Dell's 7th "downsizing" back in 2005. 6 weeks shy of 10 years there.

TPBM had a most interesting employment. (Mine was working for/as a pipe organ builder.)

I worked at an art gallery that exclusively showed artists from behind the Iron Curtain. (Remember the Iron Curtain?) Besides the art being interesting, I also had some unusual experiences, such as having tea with a Communist official from Czechoslovakia. (Remember Czechoslovakia?) He was very fond of Wisconsin Munster cheese. Also, as employees we had to know which artists we didn't have officially, so if a Commie showed up we could keep the art out of sight. No Russian art, though. The owners had issues with the Russians.

TPBM worked internationally.

Have worked (1951-1993) in only two countries:
35 years in
the U. S. and 6 years in Tonga.

TPBM has worked on at least two continents.

No. I've only worked in one city, in one state. I've had several careers and plan to retire in the one I'm in now.

TPBM will do a good deed at this time of year without being found out.

The lifestyle has been: at least one, every day, all my life.

TPBM gets a certain satisfaction out of being stealth-like.

I'll never tell.

TPBM writs it large.

No.

TPBM having once taken up a Cause, set it down again, has once again hoisted the burden of the oxen in the field upon his/her shoulders.

No.

TPBM has something which requires more than a Yes / No reply...

Maybe.

TPBM will tell us a good joke.

I'm happy to oblige you.

TPBM can drive a stick shift.

Not willingly.

TPBM has a will.

And a way. And, yes, I do. And considering the circumstances I'm currently in, you can't believe how fortunate I feel the late MrsHouseLibrary and I took care of that bit years ago. Just wish she didn't balk at the selection of the headstone. The cost of it, the cremation, and property taxes all due this month has pretty much wiped me out financially. She had life insurance, but I have to produce the death certificate before I can collect, and there's no telling when I'll receive them.

You know what they say ... where there's a will, there's relatives.

TPBM occasionally goes sailing.

Well, I occasionally went sailing when I was physically able to. I must admit that it's one of the most satisfying things I ever did, though it was only ever dinghy sailing, nothing large scale. The act of 'hiking out' when the wind is strong and you're ripping through the water is something you can only experience not describe (the feeling, that is).

TPBM has also sailed (in a boat with sails).

Well years ago I went to Barbados and rode a catamaran out into the ocean to snorkel and see large turtles and sunken boats. It was a lot of fun. The sailor was a young man from Venezuela and also onboard were an older man and his grandson from England. We were served rum punch and it was fun getting to know a little bit about the others.

TPBM has been on a cruise.

I have, also some time ago. It was fun, but I think if I ever did it again I'd want to be on the ship for at least two weeks, rather than the one. I've heard of retirement cruise ships, where you live on the ship and travel the world. Now THAT sounds like fun.

TPBM has no sea legs.

I do have sea legs, but reawakening them involves a lot of barfing.

TPBM can see a palm tree.

Nope, just ice and snow and brown leafless trees.

TPBM has written a song or story.

Dozens! A few are here on LT. One, the Swiss Cheese Story, has been through at least 8 revisions, and I'm still not happy with it.

//If you know how to delete/deactivate a FB account, please send a PM to me. Thanks.//

TPBM has actually published a book. (Me, I copyedit them.)

Yes, I co-wrote Real Energy with my late husband. Actually, he did most of the writing while I did most of the research. He used to say my google-fu was stronger than his.

When he was associated with the business side of a vanity publisher, I copy-edited some, too. One was plagiarized from the Web so baldly (which I discovered when I fact-checked the name of a sailing ship) I pretty much rewrote it, stem to stern. The publishers begged me not to tell anyone because they didn't want to upset the author who was doing 2-3 other non-plagiarized tomes with them, too.

TPBM knows the business side.

// >256 WholeHouseLibrary: I must be really stupid. I've been to your page and cannot see for the life of me how to send you a PM :(
So do excuse me sending this in plain view: https://youtu.be/-qUlr5vtM0s
That's a brief You Tube video describing how to delete a FB account //

Oh, how I wish! My novel was basically written in 2000 and it's been revised ever since. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway...) it was / is my first, and only.

TPBM has actually succeeded in getting a book published.

can someone add me please i need friends

No, but I'd be interested in hearing about others having their book published.

TPBM loves where they live.

No, but I have grown where I was planted.

TPBM has a hobby.

I read. (Good hobby.) And shop online. (Bad hobby.) I colored in the adult coloring books for a while but seem to have lost most of my interest. I'm thinking about learning to knit.

The person below me isn't as boring as I am.

Maybe, but I wouldn't bank on it.

TPBM only bets on certainties.

Pretty much. Gambling triggers my anxiety disorder.

TPBM is orderly.

Yes, of course; but with a tendency to
accumulate books and miscellanea at the
left hand side of the bed.

TPBM would never place a book that belongs to
a library on a personal bookshelf.

Of course not! Library books are either on my desk or on the nightstand. In fact, I'm going to pick up the second library book for the year tomorrow - Educated by Tara Westover.

TPBM always has a dozen or more books on hold at the library.

I wish! I just can't read fast; often renew a novel at least twice before I finish it.
And, I still have hundreds more books in the house than I'll ever be able to read.
Mostly, I use the library for research, audio books for very long trips, and to participate in the FotL Mystery Night productions. This coming March, it'll be their 25th original murder mystery production. I've been to all except the very first one (had just moved to Texas, and had a newborn.

TPBM still has a record player.

Yes, I also have a TV. Both are very seldom used.

TPBM also have stuff, that is seldom used

Fish knives.

TPBM has something else gathering dust.

Knicknacks, doodads, and tchotchkes. I wish people would stop buying little collectible decorations for me that I don't really want.

TPBM also hates to dust.

I donʻt exactly hate dusting, but Iʻd say Iʻm indifferent to it.

TPBM wa once responsible for dusting the shelves of a large library-- and their book-contents.

I don't recall ever dusting the shelves, but on one memorable occasion the shelves were lifted and shook themselves off. No, it wasn't an act of God. It was a company replacing the carpet who billed themselves as levitators. Ha!

TPBM is a prestidigitator.

No, I'm not that talented. Although I did just get my first pear in the 12 Days of LT scavenger hunt.

TPBM will participate in the hunt too.

Well, I got my pear, too, but I'm not sure I'm going for the whole kit and caboodle this time around.

TPBM is in the Christmas mood.

I'm full of Christmas food, as the office party was yesterday and we have left-overs today. (Gotta remember to wear stretch pants, eh?

We play the gift game where all bring one gift and chose a gift in order of pulled number and are allowed to steal a gift already unwrapped. I brought a bottle of Canadian whiskey. That got passed around like crazy.

TPBM is a Grinch.

Yes,I must it Iʻm sometimes -- wait a minute--
What IS a grinch; iʻve forgotten!

TPBM remembers MOSt but not ALL of
the books that once seemed unforgettabke
to her/him.

My memory is like a sieve. I am immersed in something while I am reading/watching it, but a day later I can't remember the plot.

Remember when old movies were a staple on TV? When we were kids we'd be watching something and halfway through, my mom would say, "I think I've seen this movie before." We though it was hilarious. Now I do it halfway through all sorts of things. On the upside, if I enjoyed it once, I'll enjoy it again.

TPBM sees the upside.

When you're at rock bottom, every way is up.

TPBM understands perspective.

Fudge. Move along, nothing to see here (wrong thread)

Yes.

TPBM understands terseness.

I could go on and on and on about being succinct.

TPBM has a secret lair.

Not so secret, but my daughter's former play room is now my Retreat, with 60 linear feet of bookshelves. I've retained 4 of those feet for my daughter Breyer horses, otherwise the room and the shelves are mine. It's blessedly quiet, even if the TV is on downstairs.

TPBM has plans to convert a room to a secret or even not-so-secret lair.

Nope: Only 3 rooms counting the bathroom (and I sure don't want that
to be a lair). The others are front bedroom and kitchen=diningroom-bedroom.

Recently bought a smaller house (and also sold the old house) and found that we still have plenty of room for books. My room is a bit crowded by books but that is more by choice than by need.

TPBM has a large/expensive wish for xmas.

The genius of the luxury goods market has never met the demands of my daydreaming capriciousness. I could easily live in a Manhatten penthouse on the 98th floor, have a $500 million private jet and a billion dollar yacht.

TPBM was born to be hanged.

You making a joke about my last name??? (Lynch)
You better believe that having that name, as a Boy Scout leader, I was the go-to guy for all things rope-and-knot-related.

TPBM can tie a bowline using just one hand.

Nope, but I can cut it using just one hand.

TPBM has knife-work that needs doing.

I work in the nation's capitol. Knife work is a local specialty and every back bears multiple scars.

TPBM is prepared to have their heart weighed against a feather.

I don't know what that means, but, sure why not.

TPBM has high hopes for the new year.

I don't see too many apple pies in the sky when I chance to look up.

TPBM has (had) a rubber tree plant, or at least knows the connection.

The climate here don't allow to grow Rubber tree plants.
Old Rams in contrary are widespread. I hope the dykes and dams stay unbroken.

TPBM lives below sea level.

Not anymore. I'm at 2200 feet, just high enough that I have to tweak my sea-level recipes for cakes and bread. Cookies, judging by yesterday's results, do not suffer.

TPBM thinks 2200 is wimpy.

TPBY doesnʻt know what or who is 2200;
so no comment. But if I did know Iʻm, in general
not very inclined to declare anything or anyone
"wimpy".

TPBM last saw someone or something "wimpy" at about age 6.

And just a little bit longer. We had a local and new-fangled fast food restaurant named "Wimpy's" You'll never ever guess what they served!

TPBM can give me the relevant quote beginning thusly:
"I'll gladly...."

"I'll gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today." (Indicating that the speaker is unlikely to be around on tuesday).



TPBM prefers a 2219 alloy.

Well sure, if I wanted to make an airplane. I mean, who wouldn't?

TPBM knows why I'd rather get my hands on some 1065.

Because it's still single and hasn't taken out a restraining order on you?

TPBM is on call 24/7/365.

Not any more since I retired . . . well except to "She Who Must Be Obeyed". My apologies to Rumpole for snitching the favorite line!

TPBM is on call for some other reason even through retired (better know as changing careers!).

Nope, but I wouldn't mind being on call 24/7/365, since that's slightly under 1 percent of the time.

$ echo 24/7/365 | bc -ql
.00939334637964774951

TPBM hates jokes like that.

I confess it took me a while to twig but it is utterly inoffensive!

TPBM has ordered a Christmas goose

I have, it will give me something to do while dinner's being prepared.

//>299 bnielsen: I'd never thought about it before, but there are no types or classes of jokes I don't like. I even like bad jokes, as you've no doubt noticed.//

TPBM will start a new thread.

Don't we usually go to 400 posts? Is this something to do with Trump?

TPBM will build a beautiful wall.

///Another thread has been started, but not by continuing this one
https://www.librarything.com/topic/300634
I don't know how serious this broken protocol is.///

Wouldnʻt build or recommend one, even if I
were a Trump voter -- and I voted for his "major"*
opponent. But I will describe a clever cartoon in
which DJT is being given a tour of the Great Wall of China. He tells/asks his Chinese guide:

"Terrific wall! I love it! Did you have any trouble getting the Mongols to pay for it?"

TPBM has at least once voted for a Third Party nominee or an Independent (or the equivalent in an election outside the U.S.)

*Assuming what she was the nominee of IS still major. Must be: they won the House. (Iʻm by the way, a life-long Democrat.)

Aak! Please disregard! My bad, for whatever reason I thought it was 300, but it is 400. No idea about the other thread.

And yes, it's all Trump's fault.

ETA, the new thread was created by our Darth. Let's save it and use it after we reach 400 here!

//I rely on Larry to keep track of that sort of thing...//

I don't stick with party lines at all, and have occasionally voted for the Independent or Green Party candidates. I would be willing to vote Republican, even, but they just won't let me. It can't be that hard to find viable Republican candidates... (actually I thought quite well of John Kasich but that didn't work out either)

TPBM thinks the political party system is obsolete.

Probably, but I'm at a loss at how to change it. To quote a leftie friend of mine, the system isn't broken, it's working exactly how it's supposed to work.

TPBM has an idea.

'Red' Ken Livingstone, erstwhile Mayor of London and once Leader of the Greater London Council, said "If voting made any difference, they would have banned it long ago". That's an idea.

TPBM has another

Don't vote, it just encourages the bastards. (P.J. O'Rourke)

TPBM had another.

Another IDEA? (306-307) Sure, I have another about
every 20 minutes (or is it every 14.20 minutes?)

TPBM has carefully timed her/his ideas.

Yep, not one more often than a chicken lays an egg.

TPBM will ride in a balloon in 2019.

Doubtful, but I'm not going to rule it out. I'm in a process of reevaluating virtually everything about me, and what, besides old, do I want to be when I grow up. First, divest the belongings. (This step may take a while!)

//Darth, you may wish to contact Tim & Co to see if he can make that premature, unlinked thread disappear. I believe it's possible as long as there isn't a second message in it.//

TPBM knows how to distinguish between antiques/valuables and junk that looks similar to them.

No. I even thought they were obsolete.

TPBM has ridden, in the air, in a vehicle other
than an ordinary airplane.

In my youth I had a solo 'flight' in a Slingsby T38 Grasshopper glider. It was launched by a group of fellow cadets pulling on an elastic bungee rope. I cannot be sure that I actually left the ground - it was discouraged!

TPBM can do better than that

Probably not better, but my neighbor has an ultra-light and he took me up in it years ago. There is a very large marsh area where I live that spans about 10 miles or more and we flew over it and it was beautiful seeing the waterways and plant life from above. I took my camera and was taking pictures and he said to make sure I didn't drop it because it would go right back into the motor. Well, needless to say, I quit taking pictures and put the camera away.

//>312 WholeHouseLibrary: when you discover what you want to be when you grow up, please let me know how you find out. I'd like to find out for myself.//

TPBM likes Christmas cookies.

I do. I like cookies in general. My mother always made Christmas cookies but one of the aunts and her daughters went nuts (so to speak) with dozens upon dozens upon dozens of multiple varieties. I have no idea what they did with them all.

As adults, my sisters and I would get together for a massive seasonal cookie baking day, but then I moved away and Baby Sister started having babies and it stopped happening. She did bake and decorate cookies with her kids, though.

I have a bin filled with all my mother's mid-century cookie cutters, but I don't use them and no one else in the family, not even the grown grandchildren, want them. I suppose I'll wind up putting them on eBay.

The last batch I made was spiced zucchini cookies with cinnamon morsels and dried currants. Still have about a dozen in the freezer.

TPBM has something else in the freezer.

A couple of squid.

TPBM can give me a festive recipe for them.

//>315 morningwalker: For some reason your post brought the Giro Captain in Mad Max 2 to mind ;-)//

No, but put little elf hats on them and I'll think of something.

//>316 PhaedraB: It's surprising how hard it is to get rid of your parent's stuff.//

TPBM...OHMYGAWD...Cthulhumas cookies! at, make Cthulhumas cookies with them. I have no idea how, but you better save the tentacles.

TPBM had a recipe for Cthulhumas cookies.

//I suppose that when you tried to swallow them, their little tentacles would wrap around your uvula and drag themselves up into the post-nasal space - only a short dig into the brain stem from there.//

" . . . Cthulhmas cookies" (318)

One of "Perkinsʻs Laws" says: never write a recipe for anything beginning with the letters "C-T-H-U-L-H".

TPBM has written (first time-ever?)
recipes for at least one of the following:

squid; unfried clams; broccoli
spinach; popcorn; lassgna;
corned beef hash.

//>319 abbottthomas:. You've played this game before!//

yep, I've written recipes for all of those things. I used to write a recipe blog, but kept forgetting to take the photos.

//>318 SomeGuyInVirginia: if you are going to summon the Old Ones, you better have something good to offer in place of a sacrifice. cookies might work//

TPBM never follows a recipe.

Only when I bake. It's much more precise than other types of cooking.

//>317 abbottthomas: I had to look that one up because it's been awhile since I watched that movie. Yep. That's what we looked like.//

TPBM understands the chemistry of cooking.

Many years ago I asked a chef how he came up with new recipes. He told me, it's all chemistry. So, yeah, I understand a little. Even with baking, I let myself tweak the recipes and play with the grains. So far, so good. My last batch of bread was delightful.

My favorite food chemist is Alton Brown.

TPBM has a favorite, too.

//When I was in college (Forestry degree), I had a Mechanical Drawing professor with whom I got into a discussion (outside of class) about baking bread. At the cottage I was renting with my first wife, we heated with wood a good nine months of the year, so I played around with brewing coffee, baking bread, and her. (We were newly weds; what did you expect?) Anyhow, this professor said he and his wife and kids would often bake breads by using whatever they happened to have around -- different grains and such, but the water came from the pot of whatever they happened to steam the veggies with from the previous night. Asparagus and carrots, for example. They called the process Zen Intuitive Breadmaking. //

///I remember watching in awe as my grandmother baked bread. She measured ingredients by pouring them into her hand. I thought I could never do that. Then one day I realized, for all practical purposes that's what I do when I'm using my bread machine.///

//>322 Darth-Heather:. Cookies might work. That made me laugh out loud.//

//>327 SomeGuyInVirginia: if you suddenly stop posting, we will assume the cookies did NOT work...//

As a chemist I can assure you that baking should involve exact measurements and conditions. As a cook, I can assure you that isn't any fun and to just throw stuff in there.

Two references:
Cooking for Geeks by Jeff Potter
On Food And Cooking by Harold McGee

TPBM has experimented with sous vide techniques.

I haven't, but my husband bought one and is totally enamored with the damn thing. I'm less than impressed with the results, but since he does the cooking and I don't like to cook, I don't complain.

TPBM has another kitchen gadget/appliance they can't live without.

My stand mixer. Since carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand in 2006 and general losing of strength in both hands, I can't make some of the stuff with a portable mixer that I used to without pain. The stand mixer is da bomb.

Once more, TPBM has another kitchen gadget/appliance they can't live without.

I don't know if I can't live without it, because I haven't used it yet, but I bought an 8 qt Instant Pot and I'm grooving on the simplicity. Basically, what I want is something that I throw a dressed chicken in with a potato and 6 minutes later I get chicken salad. I think the kids call that a deli?

TPBM always buys a ton of rolls at Christmas.

Oh, hell no! I'm diabetic. And whereas yeah, carbs are my comfort food, and I've been in need of tons of comfort lately, but I'm not suicidal. No, I'll be having a salad -- carrots, celery, cucumber, spinach, maybe a teaspoon of bacon bits, and two varieties of lettuce, neither of which are on some recall list for listeria or e coli, I hope, and either lemon or apple cider vinegar as a dressing.

TPBM can give us a hint as to how to age gracefully; doesn't have to be from personal experience, just something someone told you once.

Aging gracefully:

1. Accept that "retired" is what you wanted to be when you grew up.
2. Get someone else to drive after dark; your stress levels will go way down.
3. Count how often you are the oldest person in the room. Then think, "hah, you suckers, I outlived ya."
4. Remember these wise words from Auntie Mame: "Life is a banquet and most poor bastards are starving to death."

TPBM is older than 67 and has discovered more tidbits of wisdom.

I'm older but not very wise. Maybe that's what I've discovered. I don't know as much as I thought I did. (And I remember even less!)

The person below me has never broken a bone.

Mine or someone else's? I broke a toe once, hurt like the Dickens.

TPBM is on the mend.

At my age (87) -- hardly! But sometimes I do feel better than other times, and am thankful for occasionally feeling good in these last years (or is it months, weeks, or days?

TPBM has set a year, as a goal to reach beaver dying.

The Beve? I've got no beef with him. Eddie Haskell, sure; he's a rat fink, but no way I'd go after Theodore.

TPBM has got it all figured out.

Sorry, my "before" in 336 was changed by Spellcheck
to "beaver". (Was I REALLY that far off base --typing
"a-v-e-r" instead of "f-o-r e"?) I doubt it., though the V is diagonally just below the F. I suspect that Spellcheck sometimes give ITS theory of what I "must have meant".
Thanks, anyway for introducing me to "Beaver".

playing on: 337: "TPBM has got it all figured out."

No, in fact, in LT, the more pages I go to, the less I can
"Figure out". On many pages, clicking on something doesnʻt take me anywhereʻ, and on those pages
I canʻt even get "Scroll Down" to work --nothing to start the scrolling on. Anyone having the same trouble? I suppose not, and assume itʻs my Systemʻs fault, not
LTʻs.

TPBM isnʻt quite clear on what happens / is supposed to
happen, when you click on something.

I know what I want to happen. Sometimes does, sometimes doesn't. Sounds kinda like my life.

The person below me isn't feeling philosophical.

I dunno. I'm feeling kind of "Happy Christmas!"

TPBM also desires a happy Christmas.

It's good so far!

Warm seasonal wishes to all TPBM

My daughter's home, husband has today and tomorrow off, we have two lovely evening meals planned, and presents and stockings to look forward to. We've got all the things in place for what I hope is a Happy Christmas.

TPBM has some time off this holiday season.

Yes, two and a half weeks! I was super lazy the first few days, the health tracker on my phone thought I was in a coma.

//Merry Christmas, everyone!//

TPBM is still wrapping presents.

I found one today that needs to be done.

TPBM has done some serious baking for the holidays.

No, but I cleaned the inside of my refrigerator and freezer from top to bottom. Been wanting to get that done for years!

TPBM really has done some serious baking for the holidays.

Not so much baking as making bouillabaise for mum and two sisters. It seemed to go down well - thank you Nigel Slater!

TPBM is likewise not feeling grinchy.

Nope. Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight on LT.

TPBM will read The Night Before Christmas tonight.

Nope, since it is already Christmas here and you Americans are doing it _WRONG_. No offense meant.

// >346 WholeHouseLibrary:: Yes, I've been baking Russian Black Bread.

TPBM is enjoying a pleasant Christmas!

Nope, a hectic Christmas Eve. Yesterday, on a whim, I bought a duck to roast. Today my friend invited me to her house for a roast beef, but no, I want my duck. So they are coming over here tomorrow. I was not fully prepared, but there is now a cake in the oven, so, so far, so good.

TPBM knows how far.

Pretty durn far!

//Merry Christmas!//

TPBM will go straight on till morning.

After I get my bearings on the second start to the right, of course. Don't want to get too far off course.

TPBM knows where to find the Big W.

Well, I know the fictional park it was supposed to be in for a movie, (actually on private property if I recall correctly,) tho all these years later I don't know if it's still there.

TPBM remembers the craziness of said movie.

I do now! I didn't catch the reference until you responded, rastaphrog, but as a kid I remember having friends insist I see the movie. That was back in the day when vhs tape seemed a world of wonders.

TPBM had the day off.

Yeah, I’m confused about that. The news says I’m on indefinite furlough, but not heard from my boss. I had scheduled today off and I’m in another state, but rumor last week indicated we would all have to show up this morning to officially turn off the lights. I figure they can manage that without me though.

Luckily, I’m independently wealthy, so I won’t miss my paycheck for a bit.

TPBM intends to party till those bovines return to their barn condos.

Eta: Happy holidays, y’all!

The only thing I'll be celebrating is that I'll be paying off my mortgage on the 31st.
Can't use the interest as a tax deduction, thanks to Congress, and I became able to afford to do the payoff recently, so I'm starting the new year mortgage-free. Lots of changes coming up; reassessing who I am. Change -- woo-hoo.

TPBM cringes whenever they hear someone say New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.

// >356 WholeHouseLibrary: Congratulations! Being mortgage-free is a great feeling.

//>356 WholeHouseLibrary:. That's yooge! And great!//

No, even though I know it's wrong it's become accepted usage here in the States. It sounds weird without the possessive, at least to me.

TPBM will take up a new hobby in the New Year.

No, I'm going to stick to posting LT posts--provided I
can get my cmputer to work -- or get a library
computer.

How about YOUR Neww Years hobby?

My New Year hobby (see?) is to get a job with Amazon. I can walk to work.

TPBM decries the Beast.

Nope. Been a member since 1999, Prime since 2005, live in the relative-ruralness of central NC and have saved so much gas money and time searching out things I can get with Ammy that I can't imagine being without it. Of course there are the NOT good things, but for me the benefits outweigh the bad stuff.

TPBM wishes SGiV good luck in pursuit of his hobby.

More power to you, SGiV.

TPBM eschews the Evil Empire.

// Comment to >356 WholeHouseLibrary:



I think you can guess what the people in the drawing are saying even though it is in Danish :-)

No way! I loved Borders, I mean really loved that place, but I could drop $100 on three books and an Agatha Christie.

TPBM already has 2019 goals in place.

:O ... I don't even have one! Two thousand and nineteen goals? I feel faint.

TPBM is resolved against resolutions.

Haven't come up with one this year. If nothing comes to mind I'm not going to stress about it.

TPBM stresses.

You betcha! I'm both ADD and obsessive-compulsive. It's a gift ... and a curse.

TPBM will sleep through the changing of the year.

No, I shall be up with a glass of something in my hand watching the London fireworks on TV, thankful that I am still around and compos mentis and hoping that we get a 'second referendum'.

TPBM takes to the streets.

Yes, they are just outside my house and I hope all my neighbours have bought expensive fireworks. :-)

TPBM is sure that opening a good bottle of wine is a perfect way of greeting the new year.

Yup, a nice red for me, a good white for my husband, and sparkling grape juice for our daughter.

Happy New Year to everyone!

TPBM has special plans for tomorrow.

I do! Laundry. I'm even lazier on vacation than I am during the work week. My brother worries that his Fitbit will tell his doctor that he's getting too much exercise and not enough sleep. My Fitbit thinks I'm in a coma.

Happy New Year, everyone!

TPBM will lead us to the Promised Land.

You've already been led there (though I can't
claim to have been the leader the Boston Red Sox world
championship of 10 / 18. The promise was rendered in
2013 when a mysterious voice cried, ""Third World Series victory of the
twenty-first century, and a Fourth is a forgone conclusion,
before the century is 1/4 completed!"

// >372 rolandperkins: and their owners are also the owners of Liverpool FC, currently top of the Premier League (though I'm not counting chickens yet!!) //

I don't even think I could lead a horse to water right now. We had snow. Real snow. A couple inches. For us Arizona desert dwellers, it is amazing. Melted by afternoon though.

I was burgled the day before New Year's. Sigh.

The person below me is wishing for an anxiety free year or at least calmer than 2018 was.

I wish! The politics in the UK make anxiety mandatory and calm unattainable.

TPBM lets it all roll over them

Sometimes it feels like I'm drowning.

TPBM has participated in a Polar Bear Swim at least once in his/her life.

"Liverpool FC, currently top of the Premier League . . .

Haven'r really followed anything in Premier or any British
or European League; But: interesting to hear. I've sometines
thought if I hd been born in the UK, like my great--great--who knows how
many "greats?" - grandparents, it would have been
in Liverpool: I'm a lifelong urbanite, and London just didn't
seem too me to have enough "pizzazz" to be my ancestral city.
while Liverpool seems like almost the "Brooklyn" of the UK --
prestigious whether one likes it or not.

Not exactly, but swimming at the NH coast every Memorial Day weekend is close enough; the water temp is usually just above 40F. I haven't done the New Year Day Dip though, but would like to.

TPBM is also a glutton for punishment.

// >377 rolandperkins: Liverpool like Brooklyn? Not a bad comparison! Both are outwardly facing cosmopolitan seaports. //

I work nights in a supermarket, with people whose job skills I don't think very much of. And, unless I should come into a sizeable amount of money, have ten more years before I can really consider retiring. (If even then, and I'm turning 60 this year.) So, of course I am.

TPBM is a glutton for a particular food or drink.

Lays potato chips.

TPBM broke their resolution already.

Yup.

TPBM will provide more detail.

No I haven't. My resolution to stop eating sweets and get back on a more balanced protein-carb-fat diet starts Monday. There's still candy and sweets left and I can't bear to throw them away.

TPBM is on their fourth day of sticking to one of their New Year Resolutions.

I didn't make any this year. However, I have another wedding to attend in June so I think I have to calorie-count for a few months. Winter baking gets me every year.

TPBM is also vain and doesn't care.

Why didn't anybody tell me not caring was an option??!!

Is it too early to start drinking? Really?

TPBM doesn't care if it's too early.

There's a Randy Newman song - Rollin' - which starts "Never drink in the afternoon, never drink alone but I sure like a drink or two when I get home." 'Bout right, I guess, but I don't want to be prescriptive.

TPBM lays down the law (abut something or other).

Nobody is allowed to put books back on the shelves in our house - my books all have location tags and if a book gets put back willy-nilly I will never be able to find it. I make sure to put them back on the shelf they came from.

TPBM lays down the law about something else.

Being on time. I hate waiting on people who are consistently late.

TPBM is having a Rainy Day Monday.

Cloudy, but not rainy. I tore out of the joint this am in a dress shirt and nearly froze before I got to the car. It was sunny and warm yesterday!

TPBM is always prepared.

Having spent 19 years as an adult leader (try hard to imagine that) in Cub and Boy Scouts, it's kind of drilled into you.
And yet, I live in an all-electric neighborhood and got rid of all my camping gear. I've got no backup plan when the grid fails.

TPBM has a recipe for squirrel.

First, make sure all of the buckshot is removed. Then boil it, bread and fry it in butter, and then bake it.

At least that's what I observed Grandma Edna do. And, Oh Boy! That was some good eatin'!

TPBM thinks squirrels are too cute to eat.

I DID think so, regardless of my hunter husband's claim that they are good to eat.

But then, they did THIS:



I don't know if they think the bulbs are some kind of seed, but they have ruined my outdoor lights for the third year in a row. Rotten jerks.

TPBM doesn't eat meat.

They are not too cute to remove from my neighborhood, although I haven't and probably won't ever eat any. The little you-know-whats have taken over our rural neighborhood since neighbor Harold got Alzheimers and was moved to a memory unit. His wife tells me that he used to get 'em with a b-b gun. No wonder the population has exploded in the last 3 years, worse than ever this year.

I eat meat, just not squirrel.

TPBM has another critter problem.

Nope. (I mean I DON'T "NOT eat meat").

TPBM eats all vegetables available EXCEPT rutabaga and broccoli.

What on earth is rutabaga? :O I do eat broccoli.

TPBM has at least a clue about rutabaga.

Dad infrequently had my mom spoil a perfectly good pot of mashed potatoes by adding mashed rutabaga. Ugh!! Ewww!

TPBM knows the secret of good gravy.

My secret re.: gravy is, in my favorite dish of my
favorite restaurant: to tell them "Please HOLD the gravy."
Sometimes I forget to tell them, and the gravy turns out
to be not bad, after all.

TPBM has a favorite dish to yell "HOLD..." on an item of.

//>395 Tid: rutabaga = swedes = (for the Scots) neeps //

// They look cute

//Danish word for them is kålrabi

>397 rolandperkins:
Gherkins on a burger, perhaps.

Whoo-hoo! 400 up!

Off to 104 or rather 10-4

// >398 abbottthomas: Ah, the honourable swede! I must admit I'm not a HUGE fan, but mashed with potato and carrot, they are very nice. :) //