The Person Below Me #58- Wherein we discuss the nature of truth and who's hot.

Link to old thread.

I am set in my ways. I like the apartment thermostat to be set on 'refrigerate', I won't get up early to eat breakfast no matter how long someone took to make it, and when someone says 'we have to talk' my auto response is, 'yes, it's over.' What amazes me is that people say that I seem to be in a good mood all the time.

TPBM has a trait that others claim to see that mystifies the traiter.

I derno. Not in the habit of asking.

TPBM tried something new today.

No, no, no, no! But the pudding mixes are fairly good when one is in a hurry.

TPBM likes pecan pie with whipped cream.

Well, Mr.Durick deleted his post, thus making my answer appear strange. Please continue from post #2. Thank you.

mmmm, yes and pumpkin pie with whipped topping.

TPBM has a spectacular weekend planned.

Oh, no! We're all messed up. I saw that I was beaten to the posting by SRedRose and so deleted my posting. Then Boobalack replied to my posting rather than SRedRose's. Now I'll try to reply to them both.

I have not tried anything new today and don't want to be challenged by anything until tomorrow, and even then not too much. If, however, someone brought me a pecan pie with or without whipped cream I would eat it. I like them both, and there is no reason I could not eat them both together, like soy sauce on ice cream, say.

The person below me has an aptitude for responding at just the right time

I give up.

No, never give up.

TPBM is tenacious little monkey.

I prefer to think of myself as persistent rather than tenacious and as petite rather than little, but never, never have I thought of myself as a monkey.

The person below me is trying to figure a way to get out of his/her boring personal rut.

Yes, I am.

TPBM will give me the answer.

Take a different route to work next week.

TPBM has another suggestion.

Travel. See the world! That's usually my answer for myself - but then I don't usually have the money.

TPBM woke up happy today!

ETA leaped; but it still works.

Didn't wake up happy, but after 2 glasses of wine, I think I'm starting to be happy. Maybe it's just the wine talking though. I would love to travel and see the world, but money is also an issue with me.

TPBM has other issues.

Yes, and I don't want to talk about them today. Let's just leave it at "Forgiving is hard when it's a repeated offense."

TPBM is a tornado-chaser.

No, I also would like to think I have enough sense to not even consider it, but I know that I probably would if I came up on one. Because I'm an ijit and have never been seriously hurt.

>>Rose, you can do better.
>>8 jillmwo: Jill- how far out of the rut do you want to go? Wear new kinds of clothes, take a class, look up an old friend, go to a firing range, start drinking a glass of wine at lunch, throw a party or crash one, go dancing at a gay night club, fight the power, take up sky diving, go to the beach and drop acid, take out a new credit card and make a movie, start a movement. Shake it up, baby, twist and shout.

TPBM watched the new Harry Potter movie last night.

I didn't, but several of my friends did.

>>I know I can do better. But grudges are heavy and hating people is exhausting. Forgiving him doesn't mean I have to take him BACK.

TPBM is going to see the Winnie the Pooh movie this weekend.

There's a new Winnie the Pooh movie??? I am so out of the loop.

TPBM doesn't keep up with all the latest brouhaha either.

//#15 I find that I am usually much more angry at myself for falling for the other guy's transgressions again and again and again so I end up hating myself as much as the other guy.//

Please excuse the interruption.

I don't keep up with movie releases with the exception of the Harry Potter movies. I'm trying to figure a way to squeeze in Part 2 of the Deathly Hallows this weekend - tomorrow is lots of errands and an exhausted husband from working 10 hour days, second shift all week plus soccer at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

TPBM collects something unusual.

I collect anything that can go on my walls. I hate my wallpaper, so I have covered it with posters, calendar pages, tags, stickers, buttons, expired promo pieces, drawings/paintings, flyers, clippings from The Onion, etc.

TPBM still has something from their childhood

Scars, but let's not go there again...

TPBM has something from someone ~else's~ childhood.

ETA: Many thanks to SomeGuy for swapping us to a new thread (love the title!)

Also, congrats to ALL of us - #57 was the busiest TPBM thread we've had to date, averaging 25.5 messages per day. Looks like this one may break that record soon enough. You guys are great!

//A confidently thrown triple-19 is often the sign of a fast game of darts!//

I have some bits and bobs from my late sister's childhood. Good for three or four Kleenex whenever I'm stupid enough to open that box.

TPBM has a box of happy memories.

I do have a box of keepsakes. Some make me happy. Some make me sad.

I saw the HP movie tonight (Friday midnight) and enjoyed it. I thought they did an excellent job with the script considering everything they had to include. Now I'm waiting for Cowboys and Aliens!

The person below me is hot. (See thread title.)

SGiV: It is summer in Arizona. Everyone here is hot. Is that what you meant?

It just rained here 2 days in a row, so I'm not too hot right now. . . but that will change when we break the triple digit heat index tomorrow :(

TPBM is hawt (the other meaning of hot).

I don't think so. Others are entitled to their opinions, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with them!

TPBM has discussed the nature of lies. (I am reminded of a book... Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life by Sissela Bok. Had to read it and write an essay referencing that and a few others my freshman year of college.)

Not in the least, but I've gotta dip my oar in.

A good book to read is People of the Lie by Scott Peck.

TPBM will describe the last great sky they noticed.

Unfortunately in my new place there are a ton of lights everywhere and I can hardly see the sky and when I do it's all blackness.

TPBM ain't afraid of no ghosts.

I ain't afraid of no ghosts.

TPBM will tell us who they're gonna call.

I will. I'm gonna call my friend K, who lives in Kentucky. K is like the brother I never had and he calls me his "Little Big Sister" (I'm older, but shorter than he is). Between my goings-on with R and his goings-on with his ex-girlfriend, we're both needing someone we can vent/cry/talk to.

TPBM has good, reliable friends too.

Yes, several.

The person below me is enjoying a Saturday at home, in the air conditioning.

I am for the next half hour, then I leave for a muggy pub crawl for a friend's bday.

TPBM also must suffer through some heat today.

I'll face some heat but will mostly be in air-conditioned or well-ventilated places.

The person below me hates weather and can't get comfortable unless there is none.

I learned to love the bomb and I can take the heat. So that's not what drove me out of the kitchen.

TPBM has a prized something.

(Over an hour and no responses? Wow.)

I have my late grandmother's pin collection, and that's pretty special to me.

TPBM has played in the rain recently.

I've forgotten what it looks like.

TPBM is an artist.

//Mr.Durick, there is always weather.
SomeGuy, if you can't stand the heat, turn on the A/C.//

My high-school teacher thought I was.

TPBM has written poetry.

You're my honey bunny
Because you are so funny
I wouldn't trade for money
My sonny funny boy.

Made up by yours truly, and sung nightly (off-key) to get (my now 21-year-old) son to sleep. Only poem/song I ever wrote/made up. You can probably see why.

TPBM has partaken of particularly good ice cream recently.

Haagen-dazs vanilla. My skinny sister is here and keeps bringing brownies and ice cream into the house. I am not skinny, and even more not skinny now and I can't imagine what I'll be after 2 weeks.

PRobably happier, anyway.

TPBM can float very very well.

Yes. I almost went to sleep more than once whilst floating in the pool.

TPBM can't float and sinks to the bottom.

No, I float. No sinking for me.

The person below me has plans.

I am going the the Royal Albert Hall this evening to listen to a HUGE symphony, the very rarely performed Gothic Symphony of Havergal Brian. It is reputed to use all the symphonic wind instruments ever devised and also finds a place for a rotating metal drum containing odd bits of metal. There are hundreds of singers and four extra brass bands.

TPBM will have a quieter evening.

Yup. My only day off this week, so I'll be sitting home watching at least one of my Wallander episodes I have recorded.

TPBM is about to do the grocery shopping.

Yes, the weekly grocery shopping some time before 2 p.m. ET when husband, daughter, and I will sit down and watch the Women's World Cup Soccer Final between US and Japan. Daughter loves it, husband and I enjoy it because she enjoys it.

TPBM recently went crazy at a book store, bringing home way more books than planned, spending more money than budgeted, and having had an Excellent Time.

I fudged on my books moratorium and over the past month bought about 18 at a library book sale, but the price was less than a dollar each (that's 9 pence to the Brits, maybe an IOU by the time I post this) and the sale was 'buy 1, get two free' so it didn't break the bank. I can't say that I was pleased because I made an unbreakable vow to never have more books than shelves and I'm pushing it now, and there are only a few that I'll read quickly. I also saw a couple of episodes of Horders, which triggered my distaste for clutter, so all in all; I bought some interesting books and now I'm done. Unless bookcloseouts.com has a sale, then I'm sunk.

>>40 abbottthomas: at- Let us know what you thought of the concert.

TPBM will spend most of today in the sunshine.

32C and humid. No sunshine for me, just a lot of fans.

TPBM swims in a lovely little bay that is shallow for such a distance that swimmers become a solemn row of zombie walkers until they hit deeper water.

Nope. Don't swim. Dunno how.

TPBM spins.

No. I am not in Politics.

TPBM votes.

Religiously. Even though I sometimes find myself holding my nose and picking the least of all the evils.

TPBM despairs that democracy is irrevocably broken.

ETA I'm not sure "nose" and "picking" should have been that close together in that sentence.

Yes, and I don't think it ever stood a chance, but it has been a noble experiment.

(I always vote, too. Even in primaries, but sometimes both choices have been so repellent that I've written in Donald Duck or Superman. I have to get my 'I Voted' sticker, it's like heroin.)

TPBM will tell us what form they think democracy will take over the next generation.

Democracy in America is in Hospice.
Unless the People get their act together, we'll have an Oligarchy within twenty years - probably less.
The Oligarchy will be in the form of a Corporate takeover of the government.

In Texas, the legislatures (those b!@#$%ds who are supposed to be representing the interest of the PEOPLE) have passed a bill that allows the sale of Public Land, provided the proceeds go to funding Eduction, for $.50 an acre. This "deal" is not available to the average yokel.

TPBM will please change the subject before I blow a gasket.

I eagerly comply to tell you all I just at a chocolate frog left over from a Harry Potter party :)

TPBM also goes to nerdy gatherings.

Nope, I have no life.

TPBM has lived in the same town all their life & knows about 3/4's of the inhabitants very well.

Yep, a small "village" in between two large suburb cities. How the heck did that happen? Oh, and those people are all insane.

TPBM is also surrounded by crazy people.

Oh, probably.

TPBM will tell us about the most recent movie they watched.

//Mr. House, the USA has never been a democracy. It's a republic. I, too, feel like blowing a gasket if I think about it a lot.//

I haven't watched a movie in so long that I can't remember what it was. It may have been "Windtalkers" in 2001 or 2002. It's about Navajo Indians who spoke in their native language during WWII, thus causing the Japanese not to be able to break the code.

TPBM saw that movie and also thought it wasn't very good.

I haven't seen that movie so, on that, I've no opinion. But I did just get back from three chilly and rainy nights in a tent at Mt. Rainier to find 40 unread messages on our last thread and 54 on this one! I admit to reading some and skimming through some bits ---- but I now know that lots of you are suffering in the heat, others are blowing gaskets over the state of the union ( I hear ya!), and I'm of the opinion that SRR doesn't need to forgive anyone, she just needs to take care of SRR.

TPBM misses this thread when s/he's gone for four days. It's weird.

I was gone for three days last month and barely caught up on the thread.

TPBM likes musicals.

I do; I like music and they present life with a twist. I also think the only time man is truly civilized is when he's singing. Plus, I think that Lerner & Loewe beat Rodgers & Hammerstein hands down. I can't abide Sonhdeim.

TPBM has performed on the stage in New York or London.

I've performed on stage, but I've never been to London and all I saw of New York were the JFK and LaGuardia airports.

TPBM drinks tea.

Yes, thank you for offering. I am enjoying my cup very much.

TPBM would enjoy a different libation.

Coffee. And at other times, water.

#54 - Yes. And I'm very aware of it, too, but the point escaped me at the time. Thanks.

TPBM want to hit the sack early tonight.

Yep, I was up til 5am last night/this morning and woke up at 7am to go to work O_O;

TPBM gets to sleep in tomorrow.

I wish. No, after 4 days off I have to return to work.

//57 --> I agree with you --- Camelot and My Fair Lady are two of my favorites//

TPBM had a wonderful salmon dinner (okay, that was me, but maybe TPBM did, as well??)

Nope. (Vegetarian.)

TPBM likes roller coasters.

Leaped! No, I live in terror of roller coasters and have nightmares about being in out of control conveyances

No, but it was a lovely tilapia fillet with some fresh dill and tomatoes.

TPBM is having perfect BBQ weather and has made some great meals on the grill.

We did have good BBQ weather today, but as we lack a backyard we can't legally use so much as a hibachi.

The person below me has recently pulled off a spectacular assplant/faceplant in high style, and will tell us about it.

Yes. A couple of days ago, I was stretching while laying on my bed. I started fall off the edge, so I shifted so I wouldn't fall by twisting so my torso was going across the bed with my legs were hanging over the edge. But alas, I was wearing slippery soccer shorts, so I slid right over the edge. Loud, thunking assplant *le sigh

TPBM will reveal their klutz-iest moment.

One time, in Band Camp...

TPBM has kayaked.

Yes, down the Colorado River. It was a lovely trip.

The person below me uses online bill pay.

If by that you don't mean anything too specific, yes I have paid bills on line. I have one bill due too close to the latest possible Social Security payment (the 21st of the month) to mail a check; when that happens I go on line and have a payment drawn directly from my checking account. I'm old, so I'm not fully comfortable with it, but I haven't had any problems.

The person below me is a month or two ahead of their bills in savings so doesn't have to worry about getting deposits before mailing payments.

I don't understand what you're talking about. You mean to tell me that you can put money in a place so it can be 'saved' in order that it might be not spent as soon as it is deposited into my bank account?

TPBM wants to go treasure hunting.

Too lazy.

TPBM is clear-headed this morning.

Ugh, not really. I've only slept around 13 hrs the last 5 nights. . . total, not per night. But coincidentally, as I read that line, the line in the song I am listening to said "trying to keep a level head."

TPBM also has had weird lyric match ups while listening to music and reading.

Yeah! Sometimes it's creepy. WHO is sending me these messages?

TPBM has a theory on that.

It's gotta be the aliens from Falling Skies, who are suspected to use radio waves to communicate.

TPBM is also enthralled (maybe bordering obsession) with a TV series right now.

Not any more than usual.

TPBM bakes.

Yesterday I got baked, though it might be more accurate to say 'steamed'. Hot, humid, and stupid to be outside working...

TPBM spent time at a pool this weekend.

No. I really do not like swimming.

The person below me spent time at the greenmarket this weekend.

Yes, I went down to the public market and picked up some lovely little tomatoes. Not grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, the other ones.

TPBM grows tomatoes in their garden and has more than they can eat and will share.

No, though someone I know successfully grew tomatoes on a terrace, so I probably could if I wanted to.

The person below me is thinking about lunch.

No, but I am thinking about the green beans I will have tonight that I picked from my container garden on the deck. mmmm I love fresh summer veggies.

TPBM is in the middle of severe thunderstorms and is hoping the electricity goes out and their computer shuts down at work and they can go home early.

Gah, I wish. Today's weather is clear and hot/very humid in the Nation's Blah. Tomorrow is supposed to be Heatmageddon. I can't wait to get home, take a shower, and watch some trashy horror movie on Netflix.

TPBM also has a Netflix account and watches a lot of streaming movies.

Steamy movies...why, no, no I.. blush, blush........oh, oh streaming movies, no I don't do that either.

TPBM will share a fond childhood memory

We were fishing at Lake Isabella in California. I was about 9, brother 7, sister 5. Mom, Dad, sister, and I were in the car, waiting for brother to finish fishing. It was dusk, we were tired and hungry, brother just had to make One More Cast just in case The Big One was ready to strike. Mom grumbled that it would take brother 10 minutes to walk back around to the car. I said I wished he could walk across the water to save time. Sister said “He can’t do that.” Dad said, “No, but he thinks he can.” (Maybe you just had to be there.)

TPBM has a good fishing story.

We caught a little sunny off the end of my dock, but the hook was stuck, poor thing. So as I was waiting for someone to return from the house with a knife, I let him stay in the water (we were planning on throwing it back). Well, I lift it to see if he's still alive and a Northern jumps out of the water and bites it in half. . . I haven't swam in the lake since o_0;

TPBM will tell us about a fun outing they recently went on.

I recently visited some neighbors in my new community. Instead of a "commune," they are now called "intentional communities." But it was right out of a 1960's fantasy. Each family had their own homesite, and had built or were building finely crafted snug little homes, the commons consist of all utilities (solar, propane, etc.) the guest house/meeting house/laundry and the gardens. The dogs were friendly, there were tiny tree frogs hopping everywhere, and the company was outstanding. I'm looking forward to a repeat visit soon.

TPBM has lived in a commune.

Only if a college dormitory counts.

TPBM skipped college and went straight to work.

Nope & I have the Radio & Television Broadcasting degree to prove it...(lot of good it does me working in the Hospitality Industry, too!)

TPBM also has a degree they do not use.

Mine's in Agriculture, and I used to use it. Now I just work for the USDA in a very boring (non-agricultural) program.

TPBM is excited about getting to work in the mornings.

Hmmm... not really, although once I'm here I enjoy it and feel good about having something to do. I keep fantasizing about winning the lottery and spending *all* my time reading, but I know I'd go stir-crazy. So then I fantasize about winning the lottery and spending *most* of my time reading -- and the rest of my time overseeing the charitable foundation I'd create. How cool would that be -- offering small grants to non-profits based on *my* values.

TPBM has a different fantasy about winning the lottery.

I'd travel a lot, buy a largish house in the country and a tiny place in NYC, London and Rome, then hire tutors to teach me stuff. If I had Gates money I'd start a school system, grade K-Advanced degrees, for gifted children curated from around the world.

ETA- Dammit! I can't believe Borders is closing for good. I remember the first time I went in one, must have been in the late 80s and I had to drive to Maryland. I was overwhelmed by the amount of books. Jeez, remember when Walden's books was the biggest thing around?

TPBM would do something else with the money.

First I would do practical things, like pay off student loans, bills, etc. Then buy a large-ish house with a library--or a huge room I could turn into a library. Then concerts. Lots of concerts. All over the world. I live in the USA and some of my favorite bands will never come here. A lots of bands I like will only come to 2 or 3 big cities on the coast and maybe Vegas. So there will be traveling with those concerts. And probably see some neat old stuff like ruins and paintings while I'm there. I would be very tempted to buy a Bugatti. . . but I'd probably crash it, so that would be a waste. And I couldn't imagine what the insurance would be on that.

TPBM also has a fantasy car.

Well, I sometimes think one of the little Mercedes SL convertibles would be fun, although in Seattle there are not that many days suitable for a top-down ride. I would drink Brunello every night. Or alternate Brunello with other wines from around the world.

TPBM has a special drink s/he would indulge in with all that hypothetical money.

Moxie, but fresh apple cider in season.

The person below me prefers fresh water.

Sometimes. But I would love to have this water bottle that says "fresh wet water"



TPBM also wants something with a funny saying on it.

Sorta. When I (finally) get a cell phone, I'd like my incoming-text-message notification to be "chirp-chirp chirp hoooooot"

The person below me caught the reference without clicking the link I put in.

\\I once had a can with a label on which was printed Dehydrated Water, along with instructions for re-hydration. It was an advertisement for dehydrated food to take on camping trips, etc. You wouldn't believe that it stumped a couple of people. Gads!//

I didn't get the reference, but checking out the link was kind of fun. Oh, those old movies......

TPBM knows that s/he should get to bed since it's Monday night (one down, four to go!).

Nope, I work weekends so Monday is my Saturday.

TPBM also doesn't fit the M-F 9-5 mold.

Erm, no, I retired. But before I retired, I worked 8 to 5. I always wondered how folks managed to have travel time built into the workday and could start at 9! Yeah, I know, presumably long commutes.

The person below me is looking for something good to read.

Thanks to BookMooch, I can just look around the room - I have a nice, healthy, fat TBR pile. Next book up will be Newton and the Counterfeiter by Thomas Levenson (but we have guests at the moment, so I can't get my usual five hours a day reading in ...).

TPBM is a reluctant host.

//Gasp!!! I was going through withdrawal. So glad we're back online.//

Sophie, I love hosting most anyone anytime. Come on over.

TPBM is on their way somewhere.

In a few minutes (and a few seconds - not that I am a clockwatcher!) I will be on my way home from work, finished for another day. Quite a journey though - a 10 minute walk, a 12 minute Tube ride, a 30 minute train ride and a 30-40 min car journey. Getting too old for all this commuting now though.

TPBM still has a long way to go until they reach retirement.

I suppose to someone in their 20s-40s it may seem like nothing, but at 58 and looking at 7 more years, it seems like a very long way to go.

Sigh.

TPBM is getting fresh produce out of their vegetable garden.

Don't have a vegetable garden - last time we tried to grow one the squirrels got to it before we could!

TPBM has dinner plans for tonight.

Nope, while we would both like to have a vegetable garden, we both realize we don't have time to take care of one, especially with all the animals that would devastate it.

Well sort of, my wife left to help her sister for the week (she's having a C-Section for her 3rd kid) and made me dinners to ear while she was gone. What a wonderful woman.

TPBM is having better weather. They said this morning that the closest comparable weather to what we've been having yesterday, today and tomorrow is the Amazon rain forest.

Nope. My plans consist of books, video games, laundry, and a trip to the bank. I'll probably eat a late lunch and probably forget about dinner.

TPBM also gets so wrapped up in what they're doing they forget about basic things like food.

//readafew - my pole beans are currently under attack by an expletive-deleted groundhog. Daughter wants to shoot it with her .22. I'm hoping for a more peaceful solution by putting out plastic grocery bags and perhaps intimidating it with the rustle and movement.//

//I have a shiny fat groundhog too. All I can say is good spiky fences (needn't be very high) make good neighbours.//

I often don't eat until dinner, and that can be 8 or 9 pm. Not concentration, just lack of time.

>>107km- As long as the rustle and movement is also accompanied by a .22 in the brain pan, you're golden.

TPBM has to eat every few hours.

Yes: I've found that as hunger increases, so does the likelihood -- and severity -- of cranky-fits. (Spending too much time on my feet has the same effect.)

The person below me has a toddler, and therefore thinks my cranky-fits are nothing much to worry about.

It depends on how forcefully you express your cranks. My adult daughters are still fearsome. Their significant others have learned to ply them gently or urgently with food when a rage is coming on.

TPBM is more soothed with music.

That, and the kindnesses of MrsHouseLibrary.

TPBM ate a banana today.

No, but I'm going to the store tomorrow and bananas are on my list.

TPBM is procrastinating on something.

I am really going to get my laundry done today. Really. Anytime now. Maybe a second cup of coffee first, and then right to that.

TPBM has a more interesting self-appointed job.

A double leap! Gosh, we are busy.

My current self-appointed job is lopping the lower branches of an over-enthusiastic Leyland Cypress. Not very interesting, I'm afraid.

Not yet, but there are a few hours to go, so you never know.

TPBM is relieved by the recent debunking of the idea that we all need to drink a couple of litres of water every day.

// 43. SGiV - "My dear, the noise .... and the people." This quote fits the evening quite well. I thought some languid Brit said that about the battle of Monte Cassino, but Google says that it was one Edward Thesiger about the Battle of the Somme. //

Nah, only ever managed that much when I was cycling all the time, otherwise best I usually managed is 1/2 of that.

TPBM is looking forward to the impending Rugby World Cup.

I grew up in a family of sports fans, but it never took with me. I watched a fair amount of rugby in college because friends were on the team. Won't be watching it at all, I'm afraid.

//115 at- Ha! I can't imagine a world where someone would describe hell that way.//

TPBM has seen active combat. (No, raising kids doesn't count unless they're armed, half mad on Frosted Flakes, and under orders to kill.)

I grew up with 2 brothers. . . we were in combat constantly :P

TPBM also had sibling rivalry.

Yes, but my parents refused to buy us handguns. They gave us bows and arrows instead; I guess they figured if we got something which is only lethal to the highly skilled or the lucky and killed the other it would be god's decision.

TPBM grew up in a family with 10 or more children.

That's me. Eight siblings who survived infancy, plus two who didn't, plus my folks. Even though they were not with us, they never left us.

I had to go for a blood test this morning. While waiting my turn, a young (not quite thirty) woman came in with four children, the oldest of whom could not be more than 8. The kids behaved, well, like kids - a tad noisy, but not wild. There was an incident that would take too long to relate, but had everyone in the place laughing. We happened to leave at the same time - got slowed up by a walker-using Octogenarian. Once outside, I wished the young lady well with the kids. She laughed, saying she had another at home.

TPBM likes crustaceans.

As food, definitely. I recently celebrated my birthday with a lobster dinner and enjoyed every butter-drenched bite.

TPBM is reading a book that is part of a fantastic series.

I don't think I've ever met one I didn't thoroughly enjoy.

TPBM can't decide between a stack of books and a new stack of jigsaw puzzles.

Just try me -- if you donʻt mind having the jig saw puzzles
knocked unceremoniously to the floor, in my haste to reach the stack of books.

TPBM has, at least once, solved all three kinds* of cross word puzzles-- the joke (pun-based) kind, anacrostics, and regular.

* pretending that there are only 3 kinds!

Oh yes, and several of those other pretend kind too :P

I like puzzles. . . a lot. I can't for the life of me solve those cypher puzzles that come without keys.

TPBM also cannot solve a certain type of puzzle.

I'm not great with puzzles. I have bouts of determination to do straightforward NYT crosswords on a regular basis and I read most of the how-to book (name escaping me, but I might fill in later) regarding cryptic crosswords. I enjoyed those, but I have to admit that puzzles have, for me, gone the way of cross-stitch, knitting, jewelry-making, and other hobbies....... I always come back to reading for my primary free-time activity.

ETA - It was the Random House Guide to Cryptic Crosswords by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon. I see that Amazon has a new edition out. I found it very helpful.

TPBM has a hobby to which s/he is committed.

A few. But they have their place; kids/responsibilities/life first, then crafty stuffs.

TPBM has taken part in a protest.

Several - it made no real difference, but it's better than giving in to apathy.

TPBM can walk on stilts.

Not these days. When I was young, I had a pair I used to use. My ex had the construction kind and he was very agile on them.

The person below me has a painting project planned.

Yeah. *grin*
I've become the community's religious statue restorer. I have two Infant of Prague statues on my table just now that need patched and re-painted.

TPBM will be painting walls or canvas this month.

When I had my second cataract surgery the replacement lens cracked as it was inserted, so we had a seven or eight minute wait while another was located. I was only slightly drowsy and I could, sort of, see out of the operating on eye. The most incredible colors and shifting shapes. I made myself concentrate very hard and am now attempting to recreate what I saw. I did make sketches as soon as I got home to keep the shapes in mind.

TPBM will share their own creative outlet.

Aak! Leaped.

Right now, my creative outlets are the two areas I've always been soft in: math(s) and technology.

Regardless of what they feel for Murdoch personally, TPBM admires his wife for slapping the shit out of the guy with the pie. (I wonder how much M. paid him to do that?)

Kind of I suppose, but I do wish the chap with the pie had used a brick instead! A large one with nails sticking out of it!

TPBM has also thrown something at someone in anger.

Shoes. I've done it twice in my marriage of 20 years - kicked my shoes off in anger, aiming towards husband. Missed both times. Drat or good, depending on your perspective.

TPBM has a new cell phone and is having a hard time getting used to it.

No, my "new phone adjustment period" was in February.

TPBM has traveled internationally.

yes I have, I've crossed both our adjacent Oceans.

TPBM has set foot on more than 3 continents.

Counting the one I live in, yes. North America, Europe, and Africa. South America, Asia, and Australia are on my "Do This Before I Die" list.

TPBM has contemplated emigrating.

Well, I do sometimes think about moving north of the border, when US politics is making me too, too crazy. But I'm not sure it's more than an escapist fantasy.

TPBM lived in the same town from birth to adulthood.

NO! By the time I graduated high school I had lived in seven states, fifteen different school districts and at least twenty towns (small towns). My step-father had trouble staying with a job for more than a few months.

TPBM is raising, has raised their children differently than they were raised.

The basics are the same, but there are some pretty big differences.

TPBM still watches Saturday morning cartoons.

Edited because"pretty differences" doesn't make sense.

Not since my kids were little.

TPBM actuall prefers the "Japamation" cartoons (the names of these forms escape me) to, oh, the way Bugs Bunny and Road Runner were done.

(Animee, is that one?)

Anime is one. I'm not a fan, but R is. What can I say? He's a geek. Always was. (One of his more endearing traits. Too bad all his not-so-endearing ones had to be so bad.

TPBM keeps a diary/journal/blog.

I start diary/journal/blog and can't keep the momentum going. But I do enjoy going back to read old entries - especially in my garden journal.

TPBM is decorating for a special event.

Meh, maybe a little vanilla lip balm. Oh! No, I'm not.

Two decorating kickers, 2wY. What are you up to?

TPBM is so over the freaking heat already.

I live in Florida. It ain't the heat - it's the humidity, and I'm always over that.

TPBM paints with real paint on real canvas (as opposed to watercolors on printer paper)

Ummm. . . . YEAH! Heat index today is 120F. I'm starting to get cabin fever.

Oops, too slow. . .

I used to, when I had art classes and was a t.a. for my art teacher in high school. Only a couple times since then.

TPBM is also watching reruns of Bones right now.

Reruns?! I wasnʻt even aware of the originals. The last "Bones" I knew of in a literary context was a character in
Treasure iIsland (Oh, and we have no television!)

TPBM wishes some one would broadcast re-runs of
Friends, Wings, or Ellen.

Friends reruns air on CW44

TPBM reads tea leaves.

//You can stream Wings on Netflix. Dunno about the others. You totally don't seem like a Friends kind of guy to me, roland. You have a crush on Phoebe?//

No, the last time I tried they got all defensive. Tea leaves are so damn lame.

TPBM likes the show Strangers with Candy.

Never heard of it, but a stranger of sufficient pulchritude could charm me with candy now that I don't do liquor.

The person below me thinks Ogden Nash is the great poet in English of the twentieth century.

Oh yes, right up there with ee cummings in my book.

A Glossina morsitans bit Aunt Betsy. Tsk, tsk, tsetse.

A mighty creature is the germ
Though smaller than a pachyderm
His customary dwelling place
Is deep within the human race
His childish pride he often pleases
By giving people strange diseases.
Do you, my poppet, feel infirm?
You probably contain a germ.

The parsnip, children, I repeat
Is simply an anemic beet.
Some people claim the parsnip edible
Myself, I find this claim incredible.

Celery raw
Develops the jaw
But, celery stewed
Is more quietly chewed.

Etc. Those are the ones I remember off the top of my head.

TPBM has never heard of Ogden Nash.

Of course I've heard of Ogden Nash.

I learned today that, here in Seattle, we've had 78 minutes of summer if you define summer as temperatures of 80F or above. If you loosen up the definition to count temps of 75+, we've had a whopping 18 hours of summer! Heat index of 120? -- Ugh.

TPBM would rather be hot than cold.

that is pure insanity! what crazy person would rather be hot? you can always grab a sweater, blanket or another person if you're cold, but you can't just grab anything to get cooler.

tpbm knows why i took the time to use proper punctuation, but not any capitalization.

Nah, sorry, I have no clue.

TPBM is going camping this weekend (proper camping ie: tent, sleeping bags, no electricity)

My camping days are over. At the last Boy Scout meeting I attended, I had the back of my truck loaded with ALL of my camping gear. Donate some to the Troop, and had the kids take what they needed/wanted. I miss it, but it's too much for me now.

TPBM is good at identifying trees.

Do you know they offer college courses in Tree Identification? Yeah, I used to be better at it, but I still have my reference materials. (I only took the first semester, so I'm not so good at gymnosperms.)

SomeGuy, I'm a visual person, but I guess this

is what's got me going.
The plumbing and electric are what should be priorities, but I can't help but decorate, even hanging pictures and curtains - just to try them out, y'know.

TPBM will tell their favorite summer fruit.

Berries of just about any variety.

TPBM will tell their favorite fruit in general.

Grapes or raspberries. I have a mild allergy to apples and many stone fruit so my choice is restricted. I suppose grapes get the vote for what happens to them if a good vigneron lets them ferment....

TPBM has eaten mangold wurzel

Probably, but I had to look it up. I remember the Germans eating radishes with their beer. God, they're terrifying.

//Thanks, 2wY. What kind of look are you going for? Is it going to be a dining room? You've got lots of windows, so there are lots of things you can do. Not that I'm recommending it (because I'd never try it) but my parents told me about having dinner at a friend's house and the dining room walls were painted black. When the candles were lit it looked like they disappeared; very dramatic. Have fun.)

TPBM drives to work.

Every day, both ways, 28 miles each way. It takes about 35 minutes, believe it or not because I live in a very rural area and work in a small (17000 pop) town. It is a pretty drive and usually relaxing.

TPBM has a longer commute.

I do, 37 miles and usually about 45 minutes. Also rural, most of the drive is passed corn and bean fields.

TPBM works from home.

Nope, but I have done a few from home projects to build my portfolio for when I try to get a big person job.

TPBM also has a portfolio.

Well... I keep my crappy artwork in a binder and online, if that counts.

TPBM has a trip planned before summer's end.

Yep, and I'm looking forward to it. A bit of proper camping, as ceinwenn says, and five nights in a lovely cabin on a lake. They have wi-fi so I have to admit I'm glad I won't have to completely withdraw from LT (although my dear partner might wish that I would).

TPBM wishes there were an app for LT.

No, I don't for me because I don't use apps.

I'm doing proper camping this weekend in a tent for family annual camping trip. Hope those severe thunderstorms hold off.

TPBM has eaten a large spiral lollipop recently.

Actually I have never done such a thing.

TPBM is relieved as I am the worst of the heat has finally broken.

Leaped!Not spiral, but (not having had a lolipop in decades, probably) I was handed one today that both my kids passed on. Pineapple flavoured.

What broken? I'm in the tropics!

(I thought I saw an ad for an app for LT)

TPBM will explain why documentary makers insist on using the present tense for events that happened in the past e.g. "A thousand years ago, pirates are roaming the high seas". Maybe they feel it makes the audience more involved, but all it does is make me feel discombobulated. My 2 year old is learning tenses now, and I'm not really interested in watching documentaries made by 2 year olds.

I reckon that, in your example, the preliminary exhortation "Let us return to...." is understood, if unvoiced. This resets "Now" so that the use of the present (or rather, the present continuous) tense is acceptable. If you are being shown a dramatisation of first millenial piracy it is possibly less clumsy than using past tenses. If you were looking at archive film of, say, the Russian Revolution, then past tenses are more appropriate "Hundreds of Odess'a citizens were massacred, not on the famous steps, but in surrounding streets".

TPBM has seen the film The Battleship Potemkin and thinks that Sergei Eisenstein is 'hot'!

LOL -- I agree completely, humouress ---- I much prefer those documentaries that tell me the story as if I am there to learn rather than be taken on an adventure. I think Ken Burns is pretty good at that. LEAPED!!!

Nope, never seen, therefore never enjoyed.

TPBM is wearing orange.

You made me look!
Nope, browns - but interesting browns today.

(I'd never wear orange. Peach or mango is the closest I'd come.)

TPBM loves duck.

Yes! I live next to a lake and I get to see them all the time. Sometimes I'll give them bread, but I don't want to spoil them and make them all human needy.

TPBM calls the children's game 'Duck, Duck, Grey Duck' --not 'Duck, Duck, Goose'

Not familiar with it. When I was a kid, dirt was still being beta tested.

TPBM used to smash together hydrogen and oxygen atoms if s/he wanted water.

nope, we decided to just burn the hydrogen...

TPBM will petition for the banning of Dihydrogen Monoxide over here. http://www.dhmo.org/ it's truly dangerous.

Hydrogen oxide will do. I don't want it banned. I actually submerge myself in it. Hydrogen peroxide has to be used more cautiously, however; I try to keep it out of my hair.

The person below me has purple hair.

I used to, when the red hair dye was a lot more purple than I had expected it to be.

TPBM has blue hair.

No, but my grandmother did. What a Punker!

TPBM's gramma rode a motorcycle.

No, but she was born at sea and later had a shotgun wedding after getting off with the local vet.

TPBM can better that

I'm not sure that's possible! Well played, abbottthomas!

TPBM was born at home.

I wasn't, but my daughter was.

TPBM eloped.

Nope, I actually bailed on my one engagement for a legal marriage when my friends started planning the shower. Freaked me out so much I left the state and went to graduate school.

// abbotthomas gets gold star for 176//

TPBM also read 176 and chickened out on even trying to reply.

No. I was so busy trying to decide if the heat index is too high to go to knitting (it is) that I missed that post.

The person below me is nowhere near New York City, and also is facing a nasty exterior heat index.

So right - physically and in every other way, where I live is not like New York. I'm pleased with this, except for not having good bagels and deli food. It was also 100 degrees today and felt like 110F. Tomorrow is supposed to be as hot.

TPBM collected coins or stamps when they were little.

Edited- Leaped.

Yes, both. Loved them, have them all still.

>>Sounds like your grandmother enjoyed making a nuisance of herself (was she from Dixie, by any chance?) I'd like to draw everyone's attention to at's response in 167. Well done.
>>166 humouress: hess- Forget the documentaries, if you want to larn the chillen young, play classical music for them all day long. Of course, I don't have kids, but it still sounds good to me.

TPBM watches a lot of foreign movies.

Oops. Leaped.

Not so many foreign movies and, these days, not so many non-foreign movies. I am looking forward to Cowboys and Aliens.

181>I did start a small collection as an adult. For a while, I tried to buy stamps from every country I went to. Easy to pack. I'm sure they are around her somewhere. :) And I have coins from a lot of the countries I visited. And I inherited my dad's collection. He always put the leftover spare change from vacations (non-US) in a bowl. I have coins from Cambodia pre-1970 and the former Yugoslavia. I have no idea if they are worth money.

The person below me has also an inherited collection.

I inherited a collection of Braille books, which were of no earthly use to me, so they found a good home at our provincial school for the blind.

The person below me has ridden a motorcycle across the country. (My aunt and uncle just rode across Canada)

No, but my good friend made several trips back and forth over the years. He just loved to ride. I admired his ability to pack so light!

My sympathies to all of you suffering from the heat. It gets nasty hot here, but we are more prepared for it.

The person below me is staying hydrated.

Well, yes, I am. But it's easier in 50s and 60s than in the unbearable heat with which most of you are having to cope. I feel lucky, smug, and a bit guilty about the incredibly cool summer we're having.

TPBM feels guilty about something s/he actually had something to do with.
(with which s/he actually had something to do?) that sounds affected

//Somebody please explain what's so wonderful about the reply in 176. What am I missing? Thanks.

EBT1002, people are not as strict now about not ending a sentence with a preposition, but I find myself using the affected version, as well.//

I feel guilty about so many things, I don't have enough time to tell you about even a fraction of them! But not staying with my first cat many years ago when the vet had to put the poor little thing to sleep will stay with me for a very very long time. I just left her in the vet's arms and ran off howling my eyes out. I should have stayed with her and held her while she drifted off.

TPBM thinks feeling guilty about things we have done in the distant past or over which we had no control is just a waste of time.

It is a waste of time, but there's not much to do about that. Sometimes you just can't help it!

TPBM has no regrets.

I have a few.

TPBM will sing along.

But then again too few to mention...

TPBM will continue

// >182 SomeGuyInVirginia: Now you mention it, SomeGuy, my granny was Welsh, but her momma was born below the Mason-Dixon line and was raised in Savannah, GA.//

I did what I had to do and saw it through, without repemption.

TPBM will continue

("repemption" = exemption?)

I planned each charted course Each careful step along the byway

(love this song. Not a Sinatra fan or anything*shifty eyes*)

TPBM will also continue.

But more, much more than this...

The Persons Below Me... altogether now!

We did it our... Way.

TPBM doesn't mind that I changed it a bit.

(ETA spelling)

no, since I haven't a clue what is going on.

TPBM TGIF

Naw. I don't have a straight job, so Friday is just another day. On this particular Friday, I put my son on a plane back to his home in Mobile. I don't know if I'll see him again any time soon, so it is a sad Friday for me.

TPBM sees family as often as they'd like.

That's a loaded question. I see some family members quite often, and others less than I would like. There are a few I see more than I would like.

TPBM is planning a fun weekend in the sun.

No, I'd burn up long before I got close enough enough.

TPBM needs to get the lawn mowed.

Just had it mowed two days ago. Just in time, too - any taller and we would have lost the small dog in the grass!

TPBM also judges whether the grass is too high by whether or not the dog is visible.

I could try to, but the dog doesn't seem to be smart enough to lie on the grass. She has access to 65 feet of grass, but instead she lies on the gravel driveway.

TPBM likes sushi.

Much to my surprise. It is raw fish, after all.

TPBM surprised themself with something else.

Waking up in the morning.
Ah! The sweet release of Death!

TPBM isn't quite that cynical.

Not quite, but close. This year has been an absolute bitch of a year so far, with a few small joyous exceptions.

TPBM has tried reading a book two or three times but never been able to get into it and has finally given up on it. And will tell us which book.

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo. I TRIED, but it was just so rabbit-traily.

TPBM owns/had owned a turtle.

When I was 14, I owned a turtle. He escaped and I found him weeks later inside a shoe. Ick. It wasn't long after that the sale of such animals was banned b/c they carried salmanella or some such.

TPBM has owned a more exotic pet.

I had some crayfish once, but they turned the water they were in sickly green and sank to the bottom. I had a jelly fish once, but I didn't know what to feed it.

The person below me likes feathered pets and respects their intellect.

We have chickens, ducks and turkeys. I respect their eggs.

TPBM has something to say about cockatoos.

They're just three letters away from being a cockatiel. Doesn't mean a damned thing.

TPBM will tell us the name of the movie s/he last saw at the cinema/theater/whatever.

Thor. I am going to the drive-in tomorrow to see a triple feature of Harry Potter 7.2, Transformers 3, and Horrible Bosses.

TPBM will tell us the last album they bought (whether that be LP, cd, mp3, etc)

Can't even remember. I *think* it was The Best Of Elmo, for the boy to listen to on long car trips when Mommy's music doesn't entertain him anymore. (After all, there is only so much metal, Sinatra, classical and show-tunes a five-year-old boy can take. Shush you, don't judge my random musical tastes!)

TPBM prefers sunrises over the mountains to sunsets on the beach.

Actually, as it happens, I do.

The person below me thinks its likely to be cooler in the mountains than at the beach. (And therefore prefers the mountains).

Well... the three times I was in the mountains, it was a LOT cooler than the beaches at home. And I love both.

TPBM will thank a soldier today just because.

As I do every day. As I do the Pacifists. Each has his/her own positive contribution to our nation.

TPBM can't think of the last time s/he drank grape juice (that hadn't fermented first).

Nope. I'm not a fan of grape juice, fermented or otherwise.

TPBM prefers some exotic fruit juice to the regular grape, apple, or orange.

Cranberry, pomegranate, pineapple, guava nectar.

The person below me reckons tomatoes to be a fruit and reckons tomato juice to be a fruit juice.

I don't care if it's fruit or veggie. . . they're both delicious regardless :)

TPBM is directionally challenged.

Left.

Actually, it's MrsHouseLibrary that is profoundly directionally challenged. Can't read a map; can't remember that the Sun rises in the East...

My first wife was directionally challenging - wouldn't take advice from anyone.

TPBM knows how to find the North Star.

It's the star at the end of the handle of the "Little Dipper."

TPBM will tell us another way to find the North Star.

If you are in the northern hemisphere, look north and up at an angle equal to your latitude.

The person below me will tell us how to find the Milky Way.

Yes: itʻs somewhere in Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare )I forget which act, but slightly before he gets killed --though not for saying this. Caesar says somehting like (quoting from memory:
"I could well be moved if I were such as you;
If I could pray to meove, prayers might move me,
But I am constant as the Northern star,
Of whose true fixzed and resting quality.
There is no equal* in the firmament..."

TPBM has a favorite Shakespeare quotation wich is NOT
from Caesar}, Hamlet, Macbeth or Othello

*slightly modernized here; I think the original says ʻno fellowʻ.

Not any of the plays, but from Sonnet 29:

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

....and I find the Milky Way next to the Snickers at the checkout.

TPBM has another favourite poet (and/or chocolate bar)

//187 ---> did anyone answer your question about 176? Hard to explain. //

Pathetic, but I love Twix.

TPBM likes chocolate better than poetry.

Well, I'm equally ambivalent. I'd much rather have the centres of chocolate bars than the chocolate & I'm not a big fan of poetry.

TPBM has a "thing" about food textures.

Yes. That's why I can't stand cottage cheese. All those little curdly things colliding around in my mouth. Gives me the heebie jeebies.

TPBM is in a real life bookclub.

What is real?

Aren't you guys real?

Isn't this a bookclub?

I brought a bottle of wine.

//SomeGuy, your question way back at #158 "What kind of look are you going for?" isn't answered easily, but I'm drawn most to Scandinavian country. My primary home is nearly at the "call Hoarders" stage, and I hope to learn some discipline in furnishing the new place. Some of what I've been holding onto is going into the construction part of the new house (assorted windows, doors, lumber), and my daughters are inheriting some as I purge and they set up their own households. But it's all fun. I'd love to dine in the room you describe, but I need light and bright to grow properly.//

TPBM crunches the ice.

Sometimes. I'm slightly anemic.

TPBM prefers veggies to fruits.

It depends on what else I've been eating or drinking. Both are good.

The person below me likes his/her ice crunched in a margarita.

Leapt!

I just really realized that to be true, as I load up on veggies at meals but merely pick at lovely, appetizing fruits that are easily accessible should I choose to indulge. Odd, now that I think of it.

I prefer frozen Margaritas. They last longer.

TPBM is sad and baffled by what happened in Norway.

Sad - more than I can say.
Baffled - surprised would be a better term.
When I hear "Norway", the term "domestic terrorism" never enters my mind. That has been changed forever.
I am too focused on the political nonsense in this hemisphere, I'm afraid.

TPBM was in the Peace Corp, or a similar organization.

Something similar. Was it here? where I read the answer Mother Theresa gave when asked how to bring about world peace- 'If you want world peace, go home and love your families.' I think that's the most we can do. And being Southern, I feel having a permit to carry doesn't hurt in keeping the peace.

//2wY- Scandinavian country sounds very cool. Be sure to post a pic when it's set up.//

TPBM has a summer house. (Confess, we won't be ((overly)) snarky.)

//EBT1002, nope. My question didn't get answered.

PhaedraB and Mr.House, I know, right? Who ever would have thought of something like that happening in Norway?//

I have a summer house. It is also a winter, spring, and fall house.

The person below me likes camping.

Not really. I camped for the first time at age 35. I am a lot older than 35 now. I'm overly sensitive to bug bites, I don't handle the heat as well as I used to, and sleeping on the ground means getting someone to help me up off of the ground later. Unfortunately, a lot of the events at which I am a paid guest are camping events. I prefer the ones with cabins, preferably air-conditioned cabins.

You couldn't pay TPBM to go camping.

I totally agree with that sentence, PhaedraB! I am soooo uninterested in camping for most of the same reasons as listed above. Camped a lot when little, loved it, and am happy that it's not part of my life anymore.

TPBM scored some great books today.

I found two wish listed books on the $1 table and number 3 of a four part series that I only need number 2 for now at a funky used book store.

Now I have to track down that last book for the series.

TPBM has to have all the books in a trilogy or series before starting to read them.

Yep. Unless it's a series that's still being written; then I buy the books as they're released.

TPBM has a coconut cream pie recipe they'll let me thieve.

I've never made it. I didn't like pies (except pasties) when I actually baked so I don't know much about making them. I have since developed a fondness for coconut cream, chocolate cream and berry pies.

The person below me uses the internet for cooking and baking ideas.

LOL! Definitely not. If it can't be microwaved, it doesn't get eaten in my house.

TPBM is a much better cook than I am.

If all you do is microwave, I hope so! lol

TPBM doesn't mind cooking but hates cleaning up after.

A bit more exuberant than my sister, as it turns out (I'm visiting at her house this week and next) but that may explain why she is thin and I am not.

TPBM is not, either.

I'm not as thin as I used to be.

TPBM enjoys picnics.

It depends. I love most versions of potato salad and I like playing frisbee, but mostly I'd rather just eat at home.

TPBM is enjoying the evening cool-down.

I have no idea, I haven't left the apartment all day. It just looked Twilight Zone hot out there, and every time I've had car trouble (once a breakdown and once some buttmunch rear ended me on I95 ((and if you've ever been rear ended there you know what a pain it can be)) it's been about 105 degrees, so I avoid driving when it's too hot. I'm getting out tomorrow because I get cabin fever in the time it takes to ride the elevator to my apartment.

TPBM is a good card player.

I know when to hold 'em,
Know when to fold em',
Know when to walk away,
Know when to run..

TPBM knows what you NEVER do.

You never give your last sip of whisky to an old fool on the train!

TPBM would be more generous. And probably puts an 'e' in whisky.

Let the old fool find his own whiskee!

Sorry, my family has had its share of alcoholics. My sisters finally agreed we would not support the problem by so much as a beer.

TPBM has done hard labor.

Yes, when my daughter was born. 45-hours of labor and ultimately a c-section. She turns 18 in 11 days. Sigh.

TPBM loves the Firefly series and the movie Serenity.

Nope, have no idea about either of them.

TPBM has also not read or seen all of the Harry Potter books/movies.

I've read one book, the first, I think, and I've seen parts of a couple of the movies. My son and his family are 'into' Harry Potter and when we visit, we watch whether we will or no.

TPBM is finding it difficult to make decisions lately.

Not lately. I made the really hard decision 2-1/2 weeks ago; everything else has been a piece of cake since.

TPBM never eats breakfast.

Not during the week, as 5:30 am is wayyyyyy too early to be eating anything, but at the weekend I do.

TPBM has purchased something after watching an "infomercial" about it.

No, I steadfastly resist picking up the telephone. This doesn't mean that I don't get tempted -- really, really tempted to believe that those products work the way they suggest.

The person below me has also wanted to believe.

Not on stuff advertised on teevee. I watched a interview on the news about a family who sold items on eBay (had to be books) and were also politically active in their community. I made a point of buying something from them and mentioned the interview, but never got a a response.

>>Never count your money sitting at the table!

TPBM frequents a casino and always/never presents their players' club card to the dealer. Show your work.

I have been to a casino exactly once in my life. I was 21. Gambling is not my kind of "entertainment," but I'd gone to meet up with a friend who invited me because he thought I needed to get out of the house. Well, he promptly ignored me to play the slot machines and get in on a poker match. Left me by myself in an unfamiliar place without anyone I knew or anything that interested me, and that makes me anxious and uneasy. So I left early and went home to my books.

TPBM makes gravestone rubbings.

No, but when dad was in Vietnam he stopped in Cambodia and bought temple rubbings of nekkid women dancing the watusi. He made up for it by buying mom a box of cocktail rings; enormous, vulgar things that fell out of fashion when Studio 54 closed. They are fabulous.

TPBM flies the flag.

Normally, if I fly at all, I go by Southwest or Delta.
Heading to Denver in 2 weeks - I'm driving.

TPBM listens to audiobooks when s/he drives.

Nope, music all the way.

TPBM will share their favorite musical artist.

No, but my mother does.

TPBM listens to radio talk shows when s/he drives.

I don't listen to "talk radio" exactly. But, I do listen to "The Rick And Bubba Show" during my morning commute and their show is mostly talk.

TPBM will hate talk radio.

The only "talk radio" I like is "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" on NPR. I love that show. Otherwise, talk radio makes me crazy.

259> Right now my favorite musical artist is Adele, but on a more fundamental level I'm a Shawn Colvin, Bonnie Raitt, and Beatles fan.

TPBM has spent time in Poland.

No, and every Polish national I've ever met has been a total asswipe (my last DR was Polish). I can't deduce anything from that, and in fact I admired Pope John Paul II. But I never met him.

YPNM has spent more than a few days in Prague.

Just a few days on vacation. It was lovely.

The person below me noticed that SomeGuy called me "Young Person No More" in #263.

Is that what it meant? He must be in the wrong thread!

TPBM will chide SGiV.

I'm sure he didn't mean it. T and Y are right next to each other, and B and N are right next to each other. Probably an honest mistake. (Then again, I'm known for being too forgiving and giving the benefit of the doubt too many times...)

TPBM has a nausea cure (no ginger in the house, peppermint tea isn't doing much, not severe enough for meds that I probably don't have on hand anyway).

Rose, I wish I did. Peppermint, ginger, and pepto bismol (yuck) are all I know. I hope it goes away soon on its own!!?

TPBM had a very productive and fun weekend, and wants ONE MORE DAY.

Actually, today was the start of my weekend. I usually get either Sunday Monday or Monday Tuesday. I couldn't tell you the last time I had a Friday or Saturday off.

TPBM wants to sleep but can't.

Yyyyup. Between my regular night-owl self and the stress-induced insomnia, it's a wonder I can function.

TPBM is taking a road trip soon.

Yes, I am. In a couple of weeks, heading for a cabin by a lake, with a bit of a drive to get there. I plan to sleep, read, kayak, hike, drink wine, and stare at the water.

TPBM can also kill time by just staring at a view.

Particularly if it's a starry view.

TPBM plays in the rain.

Around here you have to be able to do anything in the rain or you wouldn't get anything done. Although we have had two consecutive days of sunshine, so almost a record.

TPBM uses the sun as an excuse to eat or drink things that they really shouldn't.

Unfortunately, I don't need an excuse. Plus lots of sun here.

The person below me has snow fantasies right now.

Not so much - I don't object to well-behaved snow that looks pretty for a day or two and then obediently thaws, but when it thaws, freezes, snows again - arrrgh! It's far too hilly around here to enjoy walking in those conditions!

TPBM has a birthday coming up.

Not mine, but the Abbess's. She is not a 21st C. woman, at least not in respect to her involvement with IT. I have let her get on with her analog attitudes but our children have persuaded me that we should buy her an iPad. Maybe that will modernise her ;-)

TPBM has something in mind for their spouse/significant other's birthday.

I did before two Thursdays ago. His birthday is tomorrow. I was planning on making his favorite meal followed by his favorite dessert, buuuut since we're not an "us" anymore, I have no intention of doing anything beyond maybe telling him "Happy birthday" when he meets me to see the kids. ( I had already purchased birthday cards a month ago. He can have the one from the kids, but I'm burning the one from me.)

TPBM has more of a certain Object than they know what to do with.

Yes, I have more laundry than I know what to do with. Well, I know what to do with it, but I'm just so far behind.

//carod, you must be in the PNW!//

TPBM has been known to play hookie in order to get caught up on household chores.

Yup. But shhhh, don't tell my former boss. I was really really sick. Really.

TPBM feels a movie marathon coming on.

Perpetually, but I resist due to a myriad of other things that need attention.

TPBM works at life (purposefully, I mean).

Nah. It's all good, anyway.

TPBM is also so far behind on chores, filing, to-do lists that they've decided to let everything slide.

I actually made great strides in marking things off my todo list this weekend. Still quite a few more have been added though. It's a matter of prioritizing.

TPBM knows how to get more hours from a weekend.

Multitasking, of course. Assuming you do your household chores on weekends, that is. My typical day (every day, as I'm a stay-at-home mom till my daughter's weaned enough for daycare): Start the machines (dishwasher, laundry machines) first, then do the hand-wash dishes, then the counters and floors. Empty/switch machines as needed, then move to the next room and do whatever cleaning is needed there. Repeat till it's all done.

If you're talking entertainment... well, depending on what you do for entertainment, you might not able to multitask! I mean, I can crochet and watch TV at the same time, but that's about it...

TPBM knows how to multitask at entertainment things.

For some things. Like I can internet while watching tv/movies. Or I can have music on with certain video games (ones where I don't need to hear or captions are good enough for plot games). Wordless music works well when I'm reading. Oh! I can watch captioned tv while listening to music while running on le treadmill. I frequently do homework with some combination of the above. There's more. I seem to be fairly adept at mixing entertainment and mixing it in to required tasks.

TPBM likes something the 'critics' don't like.

It's an oldie but got pretty seriously panned - Ishtar with Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty. Husband and I absolutely adore it - especially the vulture scene in the desert and the schmuck scene - Schmuck.

TPBM collects something unusual.

CPU's (not towers)

TPBM is not sure what part of the computer the CPU is.

//>227 2wonderY: the PSW actually. I'm in B.C.//

Yes, it's the thing in the boxy part. Or, the thing in the boxy part that would be boxy even if we got rid of the CRT monitor I'm currently using.

The person below me also still uses a CRT monitor.

//>286 carod: lol - of course!//

I remember CRT monitors but I haven't used one in a while.

TPBM thinks computers should just always work and that s/he should never have to fuss with them.

Yup! I've got semi-permanent bruises on the heels of both hands from dealing with the laptop I use at home. 'Maintenance' tends to be of the percussive variety: I am starting to suspect I should have gotten fewer bells and whistles, rather than the floor model.

The person below me can tell me how to get a good computer for less than it generally is, but in such a way that it actually works, dammit.

Find the geekiest looking computer-nerd you can find and bat your eyelashes?

TPBM has an extra laptop for AnnaClaire...

No, and this one's on its last leg. . . I'll be buying a new one in September.

TPBM will suggest a good type of laptop for me to buy (it's for school, want a pc with awesome memory and RAM)

Oh, lordy, no --- I am not the person to ask. I got my MacBook Pro exactly a year ago and I do love it. Had always been a PC person before that (and still am when at work). You'll need someone geekier than me to help with this.

TPBM believes that rainwater is probably good for clothes hanging on the line.

Absolutely! Granma said so.

TPBM also has a solar use other than lighting.

Not in Seattle, I don't.

I once started to read a book published *at least* 15 years ago (?) written by a woman Ann someone?), in which the very first chapter describes some boys playing fetch with a retriever in a pond until the exhausted but determined retriever drowns. It was horrifying and I stopped reading the book right there and then. TPBM will know the name of this book and/or its author - and will share.

EFC

I don't know that book, and I don't want to read it. You might have better luck asking about it in LibraryThing's Name that Bopok group. If you do, follow the directions at the top. Good luck.

The person below me has read the book to which EBT1002 refers and didn't like it.

The only thing I know EBT as is "electronic benefits transfer" --aka, food stamps. Which, funnily enough, no one using it knew what the acronym stood for. . . we had to look it up.

TPBM also had to look up an acronym for its meaning.

OK, I'll do it this time. EBT is an initialism, not an acronym. Initialisms use the first letter as an abbreviation and are alphabet soup. An acronym is an intialism that spells a word. So BBC is an initialism for British Broadcasting Corporation, while CAD (Canadian Association of Davids) is an acronym.

TPBM is going to spend the night with a cheesy mystery.

I'm going to spend the night with a serving of cheesy fries (and some ale and a lecture about something science-y).

//EBT is an initialism referring to me.//

TPBM has vanity license plates.

I don't have vanity plates, but I do have an Ontario Egg Farmers' frame around my license plate. It says "Get Crackin'".

TPBM has a bumper sticker.

"I'm proud of my Eagle Scout"

It's the only bumper sticker I've ever had on any vehicle I've owned. By all rights, I should have two on there.
I also have a Darwin reptile, but it's on the tail gate of my truck, not the bumper.

TPBM knows the origin of the term "tail gate".

//#297--Thanks. My schools have only ever taught me of acronyms, using it to refer to all letter-for-word replacements. This site always teaches me things.//

I'm not sure. I think that it was used with water gates to control water flow (head and tail gates). I don't know past that.

TPBM knows an English word and its non-English word origin.

Coach - German "kotsche" and Hungarian "kocsi (szekér) "(carriage) of Kocs," village where it was first made."

TPBM finds languages fascinating.

Completely, despite only being good at one of 'em. Mind you, we were in France (near Rennes) last weekend for a big birthday bash, and I found my limited French (not used for about 10 years) coming back to me. It's all about immersion, in my opinion! My husband translates Dutch into English, and often comes to me saying: "Quick - find me a synonym for X ...!".

TPBM loathes exercise for its own sake.

Goodness, yes! There are so many other things I could be doing that don't involve pain.

The person below me likes spinach.

Only raw, in a salad, or cooked in something in small amounts, like minestrone or quiche. A glop of cooked spinich served as the main vegetable grosses me out.

TPBM has ridden a bicycle recently.

I haven't been on a bicycle in years, and the stationary bikes at the gym will tear your knees up- avoid them at all costs. That 'no pain, no gain' hogwash is for crippled steroid users with testicles the size of peanuts.

TPBM likes the old kind of aerobics class where you bust your hump for an hour to sweet beat of techno and dance music.

Are you nuts? I have enough cardio and weight training taking care of firewood and milling my lumber and the rest of my woodworking. I can't waste energy doing pointless booty shaking! 8)

TPBM has a nice free weight set.

Lets see, Free weights - like bags of groceries, laundry, laptop computer from work, boxes of kitty litter, vacuum cleaner, watering can for the plants, ? Not exactly free, I buy some of those, but carrying them may be the roots of my sore elbow. At least the child is well past the age of needing to be carried.

TPBM has adequate "leisure" time to follow an exercise plan.

No - I have a 12-lb baby and a 35-lb big kid, though!

TPBM takes exercise classes for the fun (or the social aspect) of it.

No, I tried that, but got stopped at the door when some alarm went off.

TPBM has no problem keeping his/her weight in check.

Weight ... What weight? Are you trying to insinuate something?

TPBM is burning the candle at both ends.

No, that just gets wax everywhere.

TPBM has had a premonition of the winning lottery numbers (now that we can buy them again, if we so wish...).

Yes! They are........6, 9, 18, 32, 38, 41 (or maybe not so much!) - yeah, cause if I did, I'd be keeping it to myself!

TPBM is eagerly awaiting the release of a new book & will tell us about it.

Without going to my list, I'm not sure I remember anything too exciting. The last Eragon is coming out in November. Nora Roberts has a new trilogy coming out this fall. Jill Mansell has her latest coming out in the US in September. There is a new Julie Garwood coming out in the next month or two. Oh, and another Angela Knight and Nalini Singh not too far off. That's it off the top of my head.

The person below me can recommend a really good audio book for a road trip coming up. (Nothing depressing...)

Well, of the few I've got listed in my library, I liked
The Diaries of Adam and Eve, translated by Mark Twain
and
The Strange Orchid by HG Wells
best.

I'm also about to do a long road trip (to Denver), so TPBM will offer other suggestions, please.

For both of you, A Dirty Job, written by Christopher Moore and narrated by Fisher Stevens. Hysterical.

TPBM is wearing a hat.

I almost never wear hats. Except when I wear my purple Mariners baseball cap to a game (which they inevitably lose ---- the game, not the cap).

TPBM is afraid of heights.

Kind of. . . I fell off a roof when I was around 6 or 7, so for the longest time I couldn't climb ladders or walk on high surfaces without railings/barriers preventing my doom. But, I love rollercoasters and rides that are way up high. I think I'm more afraid of the heights+no safety control.

TPBM is afraid of creepy crawly things

I thought politics was off limits?

TPBM is in the middle of a project.

If trying to organize my home office counts as a project. And I have some scrap books I've been meaning to get to (for a couple of years).

TPBM has a fear not already mentioned (ie heights, creepy crawlies).

I am seriously and inordinately afraid of snakes. I spent a summer in a cabin with a black snake in the rafters. He was good for purposes of keeping down the mouse population. I managed to tolerate him as long as he stayed up in the rafters; had he come down to my level, I'm sure I would have vacated the premises.

The person below me is trying to think of something pleasant now -- like pink unicorns and sparkling winged beasties.

Snakes don't bug me. Spiders and roaches? VERY different story!

TPBM drinks wine.

No. Which is precisely why I lay off knitting when drinking, and vice versa.

The person below me sheds.

Well, probably a little, but not as much as Abby. She has hairballs from shedding so much.

TPBM prefers red to white.

You're talking meat, right? Sure, but I have to eat more of the latter.

TPBM got very good news today.

Yes! I get an extra 3 days with no boss in the office! He's decided to extend his holiday to the end of the week...

TPBM went to the cinema last night & saw a really good movie.

No, I went to dinner with friends and had really good conversation.

TPBM is running late today.

Yeah, I rolled over instead of getting up. Since I'm on flex-time, it just means I stay later.

//Another audio book that I have to recommend is Bloody Jack. The reader, Katherine Kellgren, is fabulous. You will need to listen to the whole series.//

TPBM wears unmatched socks.

Yep, as long as they're the same length.

TPBM doesn't wear jewelry.

Well, all my piercings have something in them, but I haven't bothered with any other jewelry in a few weeks. Took off all the things he gave me that I always wore (ring, necklace, bangles), and I haven't had the heart to put anything else on yet.

TPBM has posted an entry to PostSecret.

Not a clue what you're talking about...

TPBM has a clue.

Yes, it is a paw print on my monitor, which matches the one on my keyboard and the one I found in the spilled honey a few minutes ago. My deduction is: the white kitten did it, with encouragement from the harlequin cat.

TPBM will retrieve us from the fantasy I created.

I live in DC, the fantasy kingdom. Except I'd replace fantasy with' bullshit' and kingdom with 'network of asshats'. I'd like to know how to retrieve someone from fantasy but I'm afraid I wouldn't know where to begin.

//330 Rose- Wow! PostSecret is an AMAZING site.

TPBM has an opinion of live theater and will tell us what it is.

//330 - In a situation somewhat similar to yours, I once bought a ring just for myself. A simple one. It represented my commitment to myself. I wore it for a few years and it was a helpful touchstone. //

I love live theater, usually. I would love to go to New York and see some shows.

And I know what PostSecret is. Some of our students brought the guy (Kevin?) to the UW campus this past spring. It was a huge success.

TPBM has time to elaborate a bit more.....

It is questionable as to whether Pirates of Penzance, is considered "live theater" when the entire cast is comprised of Zombie actor wannabes.

Oh wait! You meant that PostSecret thing, didn't you? It was a project by Frank Warren. People would anonymously write their supposedly deepest, darkest secrets on the back of a post card and send them to him. He's published at least five books, usually two cards per page. I remember finding one while browsing in a bookstore many years ago (pre-Internet machine), and decided that perhaps some things ought to remain secrets.

TPBM has time for him/herself.

Wow! 4 post leaped.

If you mean quality time, not much.

TPBM has also wondered - if you find a penny tails up, and don't pick it up because it's bad luck, if you flip it over to heads up for the next person, is it now good luck for them, or does the original bad luck carry over. In other words, can you meddle with someone's fate that way?

All I know is: "See a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have - er - a penny".

And anyway, I think you'll find that the original saying was: "See a pin ...".

TPBM thinks it's time they renewed their membership to the "Get A Life" club ...

LOL -- oh, I'm a fully-paid card-carrying member in good standing of that one!!

TPBM wants a home with a view of water.

Yes, yes, yes. Ocean, lake, river any would do.

TPBM will have fresh from the garden veggies for dinner.

Yes. I'll have fresh German Johnson tomatoes and fresh sweet cucumbers. Hooray for summer gardens!

TPBM also plants a spring or fall garden.

Yes, but we harvest from our spring garden in, oh, July. Kale and some other greens are going in soon for the fall.

Adele's music can sometimes make TPBM cry.

I haven't actually teared up, but I have enjoyed the two CD's of hers that I own. I like to do housecleaning to them. Lately I've been listening to Christina Perri.

TPBM has discovered a new music artist that they are enjoying.

Not really, I was streaming Pandora and 'I'm Yours/Somewhere Over the Rainbow' sung by Straight No Chaser came on and I bought it, but it was the only one by the group I liked. I'm digging me some punk lately, though.

>>337 Sophie236: Sophie236- God Soph! I'll go with you. We can hold each other's place in line if one of us has to pee.
>>335 WholeHouseLibrary: mw- A good of effort has gone into answering that type of question, and the answer is 'yes, no, and maybe.' Hope it helps, I'm invoicing you $167,000.

TPBM feeds the critters.

The cockroaches seem to find sustenance. The pigeons eat the cat food. I feed the cat.

The person below me puts out wild bird seed either to feed them or to sprout them.

My husband puts seed in the bird feeder, and the squirrels eat most of it. The Opossum eats the cat food. What fun.

TPBM knows it's best to let the wild creatures get their own food.

That works until a predator walks into my backyard. I am small and tasty.

The person below me has a great recipe for summer. (And before you go for the cheap shot, I don't want to make summer. I want to make a cold supper.)

Nope. I'm eating cold baked beans because it's too damn hot to cook. (Kidlet had ravioli, Mom ate on the way home, and the sisters are in Guatemala till Saturday. So I really only had to feed me.)

TPBM will share their favorite dream with the rest of the class.

Aak! Leaped.

I had a weird dream last night - I was on a tour of hotels and casinos around the world. It was a pantomime, though, because the part of my mom was played by Carol Burnett. At the end of the tour, the bus let us out at a terminus that was a bum hangout, smelled like pee, and there was one wino who had a gallon plastic milk jug and was dripping whatever was in it directly into his head through a syphon. My ream mom showed up and we were discussing the casino tour while we packed the car and I reminded her that on other times the part of my mom had been played by Elizabeth Taylor and Debbie Reynolds. Then I woke up.

I've got the perfect dish! Revenge! Sorry, no. I'll be talking to my mom tonight and I can ask her; she's a great cook.

TPBM knows who Jack the Ripper was.

I know some people think it was the Duke of Clarence but I never bought that theory. I think it was a time traveling alien myself, or maybe a vampire.

Favourite dream, winning the lottery and retiring early.

TPBM has a much better retirement plan.

No, my plan is the same as yours exactly, unless I have a wealthy realtive I am unaware of and who dies soon and leaves me everything.

Thanks for the answers SGIV. Can I pay in installments until my retirement plan kicks in?

TPBM was born wealthy.

In intelligence, good looks, artistic ability and modesty, yes. In money, not so much. In fact, not at all.

TPBM has it all. Whatever 'it' is!

Sure do! Who did you think Adele was singing about?

@345 - Boo, add some powdered cayenne pepper in with the bird seed, and the squirrels will come to the feeders just once more. Well, you have to do it often enough that the squirrels give up. The birds eat pepper seeds anyway, and it doesn't bother them. But deer and squirrels and most other mammalia hate the stuff.

TPBM lost it all once or twice.

Twice, but I'll lose it again if the financial gain is greater than the energy required to sustain a willing suspension of disbelief.

TPBM does it their way.

//Thanks, Mr. House. We used red pepper to keep squirrels out of the attic until my husband could repair the hole the little monsters had chewed to get in. Never thought aobut mixing it with bird seed. Amazing!//

Always. Well, except when it would lead to unnecessary argument and I don't really care that much about the outcome.

//About the cayenne -- really????//

TPBM gets goldfinches and bushtits at her/his bird feeder.

We don't have a bird feeder. We have DOGS. They bark everything away.

TPBM feels stuck in the middle between a bunch of people they care about (Dad remarried last weekend and I seem to be catching all of the venting from my mom and my baby sister... ACK.)

Nope, I'm not stuck in the middle of anyone at the moment.

TPBM is also excited about all the Borders closing so they can get some books for cheap.

Our semi-local Borders got axed in the first go-round back in January. I normally don't travel in that area, so I didn't take advantage of their misfortunes. If I had, though, I would have gotten all the ladders and rails I could carry in my truck.

@355 - about the Cayenne - serious as a heart attack.

TPBM can recommend a good electrician in my area. My oven's been out since December, and the problem was definitely caused by the squirrel that took up residence in my ceiling.

Alternately, TPBM already knew that a Homeowner's Insurance policy covers damage done by raccoons, but not squirrels, mice, bugs or insects.

I don't know a good electrician near you. Good hunting! And I didn't know about the insurance. As far as I can tell, my homeowner's policy doesn't cover anything easily, even if it is supposed to be covered.

The person below me is invited to a party this coming weekend.

Invited by myself to a party for daughter and Mother-in-Law to celebrate their 18th and 73rd birthdays respectively. Small but select party of family members.

TPBM doesn't wear a wristwatch.

No - that's one of the joys of working from home and not having to commute!

TPBM has a stunning pair of legs.

Only in that I can knock someone clean off the ground with them. I can compete with the most dedicated gym rat when it comes to back and leg muscles.

TPBM belongs to a gym and goes regularly. (I don't, even though there's a free gym in the building.)

I have a free membership at the gym where my sister works for as long as she works there. They enacted that policy at the beginning of this year, but I haven't had time to go and won't until Kidlet starts school again next month. Once he's back in school, I intend to take full advantage of this free membership while it lasts. My sister's in nursing school and once she gets her "real job," I'll have to start paying for membership!

TPBM feels a picnic coming on.

That reminds me; got to go and sign up for gym sessions ...

TPBM is more serious about keeping healthy.

I can never convince my husband to sit outdoors in the heat and humidity, so no picnics.

TPBM is Planning something relaxing for the weekend

Sadly, I'm planning to build and install our new IKEA shelves in the garage, paint the front doorstep, and prepare for our upcoming vacation. I guess I shouldn't complain with that last one in there. I'm also trying to finish reading Emma by Sunday night. It's less engrossing than I would like.

TPBM is also facing a self-imposed deadline.

I have an ER book I want to get done by the end of the weekend, but it's unlikely to happen. It's an interesting book but slow.

TPBM has a DIY project planned for the weekend.

Yes... housework!

TPBM has a fun DIY project planned for the weekend.

Not home improvement, but continuing to work on the 13-day pickles and messing around in the vegetable garden, in addition to baking a chocolate birthday cake and lemon meringue birthday pie for daughter's and MiL's birthday party on Sunday.

Good stuff, all.

TPBM can't wait for this heat wave to be over.

Since our "heat waves" here consist of a maximum 2 days in a row of sun before we are back to cloudy and rainy, not so much. I've worn one of my pretty sun-dresses once this summer.

TPBM enjoys putting away the summer things and getting out the fall things.

Ha. In Seattle (like in your part of the world), I've mostly worn my fall things all summer. I did feel a strange warmth on my back as I walked across campus this morning. Quite nice, really. SO - normally, yes, but this year, not so much.

TPBM can't resist peppermint patties.

Sure I can. I like peppermint, but for some reason, peppermint patties always tasted too "sharp" to me.

TPBM likes ginger.

Yes, it's good for all sorts of ailments too. I have crystalized it and use it for an upset stomach. It works well.

TPBM loves the county fairs (especially the freak shows).

Why pay the entry fee to the freak show when the other fair goers are so interesting? Yes, I've even won a blue ribbon.

TPBM knows how to get the raccoon to confess. (see #358)

Ply him with access to unlimited garbage cans from which to forage? Threaten the tree his family lives in? I don't know.

TPBM consumes entirely too much caffeine

I've only had two sips from my first for the day. There will be more to follow though.

TPBM abstains. From something.

Intimacy, booze, wealth...

The person below me indulges in something.

I abstain from lots of things. Meat. Sex. Alcohol.

TPBM knows where I can buy earplugs. (LOUD dog.)

the purchasing of books and tools.
any hardware store should be able to assist you with that.

TPBM is also saving up for a big purchase.

Three September birthdays, back-to-school expenses, and fall children's activities. Nobody warned me how expensive children would be.

TPBM received a HUGE inheritence.

Yes, and by night I don a rubber body suit to fight crime and the 19 year old kid who lives with me is my ward.

>>Careful with those earplugs. I used them a lot when I lived in DC and I think they may have contributed to several ear infections, and I'm a neatnik.

TPBM speaks in a manner that commands attention.

Only when I'm extraordinarily angry. Or when I have to Mom Voice someone.

TPBM had Chinese food for dinner.

No dinner yet, just getting off work here on the west coast. But we did have Thai take-out last night.

TPBM loves Pad Thai.

Love Pad Thai. Love swimming rama too. Don't have it too often though. A guilty pleasure.

TPBM loves food from a different country than China, Thailand or their own,

edited for spelling

My friend's heritage is Lebanese. . . . they make some delicious Lebanese food.

TPBM will tell me a good way to mix whiskey that doesn't include soda or sour.

Japanese, Indian, Mexican, Italian, Greek. Probably lots of other places too.

Nope. Not a drinker.

TPBM feels like camping out in a walk-in freezer right now.

You can mix whiskey with good water and drink it in a walk in freezer.

The person below me likes their liquor straight.

I do, and it gets me in trouble :/

TPBM likes 90s pop music.

Not since the 90s!

TPBM likes 80s music

I do, I think 'Walk Like an Egyptian' is one of the greatest pop tunes of all time. It's funny, because all anyone remembers is the bridge- the slow, awkward 'walk like an Egyptian' and I don't like that part at all, but the meat of the song is dancetastic!

>>I like bourbon and wouldn't mix it with a damn thing. Chaser is acceptable, even required if you do it right, as is pouring it over ice. I have never been able to drink scotch without wanting my money back.

TPBM wears something that always draws comment.

I do have one spectacular green shirt. I've worn it four times and it's drawn compliments every time. Go figure. It's Lands End. Whatever.

//I kind of wish I liked whiskey or bourbon because they seem so simple -- all you need is ice! -- but I prefer gin (with lime and ice) or wine. Ah well, life isn't so bad.//

TPBM is sick and tired of zucchini.

Not yet, in fact I have a good recipe for a summer pasta soup that has zucchini, yellow squash, cannellini beans and fresh basil and tomatos. Maybe I'll make some this weekend.

TPBM will share a favorite witticism.

I'd have to go with something from Shakespeare, but I can't think of anything; Wilde, even at his best, was just a little off-putting (except for the tag line to a series of catastrophes in Ernest, 'The weather still continues charming'). I'm not good at committing word-for-word to memory what I read.

TPBM keeps at lot of toys on their work or home computer desk.

Not really, I don't like clutter . I do have a small stuffed camel from Mongolia (from a client)and a giant pink eraser that says FOR BIG MISTAKES, do those count?

TPBM never makes BIG MISTAKES.

Not really. If I see I'm making a BIG MISTAKE I just make it bigger, then say I did it on purpose...

TPBM has tried Google+

What?

TPBM makes toys

I once made an Explode-a-Globe.
Glue a world map (the form of which looks like a whole orange peel cut to lay flat) to a piece of cardboard. When it dries, bend it so it'll take on the globe shape and cut it into loosely interlocking shapes. When you put it (carefully) together, put an armed mousetrap in the bottom of it, with a thread hanging out to set it off.

TPBM is also a child of the 1950s, and completely understands why I did that.

No, I wasn't even born then. (My parents could plausibly claim to be that generation, though.)

The person below me is old enough to remember the coverage of the Challenger disaster.

Sure.

TPBM can even remember some of the jokes.

(What's more sad is that the US now has to rent a rocket if they wants to send someone to the ISS.)

(Moreover, they have to rent a capsule if they want to bring anyone home!)

(Plus, I heard the ISS is worth 40% less than when they bought it.)

I don't remember anything about the Challenger at all; I was barely 6 1/2 months old when it happened.

TPBM was still a baby when some other well-known Event occurred.

Hold on; I'n creating a new thread.

Well, I wasn't born yet whan my Mom watched the Japanese fly over Pearl Harbor, but was just hatched when Eisenhower was inaugurated.

TPBM is even more ancient.

Parts of me are....

On to the next thread , which is already in progress.