The Person Below Me 67 ... The SUmmer Of Love

abbottthomas said...

...TPBM has found an interesting bookmark in a second hand book.

I've found money

TPBM has also found something interesting in a second hand book

An old airplane ticket stub, with all the information - carrier, flight, date, and passenger name.

TPBM recently found something they thought they'd lost forever.

Thursday afternoon I felt really good and it hit me that this is the way I used to feel all the time. I didn't even know I'd gotten so beat down.

TPBM has a keen sense of color.

If you mean I have a good sense of what colors look good together, then I definitely do. There's a story about the time my mother took me, at about 5 years old, to pick out yarns for the fair isle sweater she was going to knit me. Let's just say I had the same knack then...

The person below me is colorblind.

Luckily, no.

TPBM will decide for me whether I should go to Paris for Easter or to Rome?

April in Paris, naturally!

TPBM is a sucker for romance.

Not so much the novels. And I avoid romantic comedy these days 'cause it only depresses me. OK, scratch that, I enjoyed watching Sabrina again. The old one.

TPBM has another pre-remake favorite.

I like the old Charlie and The Chocolate Factory not the new one with Johnny Depp..

TPBM will tell us who their favorite childhood author was/is...

E. B. White because of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little.

TPBM has finally got caught up on their laundry.

Almost. And in the process, I discovered that my son has an over-abundance of t-shirts. He hasn't been wearing the same three over and over because of any shortage, but just because he's a kid.

TPBM was young once.

Oh, yes. Sometimes I act like I still am.

The person below me is hoping for rain.

Yes, because it will be the only normal weather we've had here in months.

TPBM is rolling out for Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Nope, we had rain this morning.

TPBM is watching re-runs of an old show they loved & are enjoying it even more this time around.

No, I'm catching up on old threads and emails, and laundry and such - making a plan on how to get the lawn mowed in four days.
It's apparently rained a lot in the Austin area last week. We were in Florida, and have come back to find the already-mowed lawn is now over a foot high. I'll be in Washington DC this coming weekend, hence, the time limit on mowing - with a battery-operated mower.

TPBM thinks it can't be done.

Maybe you need some sheep. I recall a Charles Addams cartoon showing a typical American suburban house with an 18th C. peasant (+ sheep) saying to the housewife at the door, "Crop thy lawn, lady?"

TPBM keeps geese

No, I don't. But I knew folks who did - they are more effective at keeping guard than a dog is. Geese can be really, really vicious if they feel you are trespassing.

TPBM had a fantastic St. Patrick's Day and will tell us about it.

Well, er...no.

TPBM has been on stage.

We performed Chekov's Marriage Proposal "in the round" in high school 40 years ago. Oddly, I got the lead. It's all been backstage since then.

TPBM has ridden on a stage ---coach.

Just how old do you think I am? No, but I have been on hay rides so I've ridden in wagons.

The person below me has ridden an unusual conveyance.

A packhorse in 1966 for 8 hours to get to the Pioneer Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains for a camping trip. My butt was beyond sore after that one!

TPBM has ridden an elephant.

Only at the zoo in the days when such things were not considered politically incorrect.

TPBM has eaten biltong

Gah! Bushman's haggis! No way!

TPBM is totally creeped out by a local or regional food. For me it's hog brains. It's cubed in a press and soaked in vinegar. Oh.my.dear.lord. I can't help but think that a lot of southern food started out either as a drunken adventure in the kitchen or a dare. I mean, how else are you going to explain both fried twinkies and souse?

Mountain Oysters. Never eaten any. Never will.

TPBM has eaten them.

//SomeGuy, my aunt used to fix brains and eggs (scrambled together) for her brother when he'd come to visit. He loved them. I ate them, too, and liked them pretty well. I never could find any after I thought about it here in Oklahoma, so once when I was in Georgia, I got about a dozen small cans to bring home. I fixed some, took one bite, and almost threw up. I gave them to my daughter to take to the store where she worked to give to some people she knew would like them. She had asked them ahead of time. I guess it was the sight of them, or the smell when they first started getting hot. It's kind of like liver. I used to be able to eat liver and onions until I tried cooking it one time. Yeccch on both counts!//

They're called prairie oysters here, and I could very happily live my life out without ever seeing (let alone eating) one.

(I love the smell of liver cooking, but I can't stand the taste. Every now and then I try some, because anything that smells that good should taste good, too, but I'm always disappointed.)

TPBM likes tripe.

The one time I ate menudo I liked it, and since menudo has tripe in it I must have liked tripe.

TPBM has tried livermush.

Eeewww that sounds gross. I love liver but the mush part scares me.

Tpbm knows what livermush is.

Having looked it up on Wikipedia, I do, and scrapple, but I confess that I'm not going to seek out a supply. It comes under the category of 'Food to which too much has been done'.

While on offal, I think fegato alla Veneziana is divine, as long as the calves liver is very thinly cut and barely cooked.

TPBM has a favourite pasta dish

Yes, it's a large, green one - holds a LOT of pasta.

TPBM writes.

Yes, but my handwriting isn't all that great. Sometimes it's almost illegible.

The person below me hasn't been sleeping well.

As it is now 309AM that would be me. I've always had insomnia in the form of waking up at various times through the night. I can go to sleep at the drop of a hat though. Most of the time it isn't too bothersome but sometimes.....GGGRRRRR.

TPBM knows what the day has in store for them.

Partially. or is that partly?

//Liver is best right out of the cow. Time works fast on the organs.//

TPBM knows their wild mushrooms.

I do not. They're all mushrooms, unless I look them up.

TPBM knows more about wild things than they do about domesticated things.

You got that right, girly-oh.

ETC kicker

TPBM is prudent.

Nah! You can talk to me about pretty much anything.

TPBM has a topic s/he'd like to discuss.

No. My mind is made up, and you can't confuse me with the facts.

TPBM is stubborn.

Sez you!

TPBM is complaisant.

I prefer courteous to complaisant, but I am generally obliging. Unless someone is doing something not in the best interest of a child I am advocating for, then I can be downright contumacious.

TPBM has another interesting character trait.

I like all animals except anything with less than 2 and more than 4 legs, Blue Jays and crows. A snake is just somethig I haven't shot yet, and blue jays and crows are bullies.

TPBM knows that the high shot to kill ratio in zombie movies is redonkulous.

You mean it isn't that easy??? Now you are getting me reeeely worried.

TPBM has more pressing things to think about.

Such as why people stand and scream when Zombies are coming, instead of running away. Zombies seem to move about 2 feet a minute.

TPBM will tell us the reason for the above.

The same reason for when people are being chased by a car in movies they run down the street to get away, instead of leaping over the nearest fence or into a building.

TPBM has a better explanation.

The same reason that in movies, when the girl being chased by the bad guy always goes up the building, instead of getting the heck out of it...when she gets to the roof, just how does she think she's going to get away???

TPBM is pretty sure they could get away from zombies, car chases and bad guys now that they have had these things pointed out to them.

All good advice to which I will add - when you are in the old dark spooky house and one of your number says "Let's split up and search!" - out-vote him and stick together.

My knees don't let me run anymore so while a brisk walk will leave the zombies behind I'll have to face up to the cars and bad guys.

TPBM has other good tips for self-preservation.

Wow! I always get such good advice here. Thanks for all the above tips. Here's another little tip for self-preservation - When you are all alone in a dark spooky house, and you hear a noise upstairs, JUST RUN, DON'T GO INVESTIGATE, JUST RUN OUTSIDE.

TPBM has another tip

Yes. Any time you move into a new apartment building, assume that it's haunted.

TPBM has more good advice.

Not all advice is good advice. Think. Consider. Reason. Measure advice against what you know to be verifiably true.

TPBM has more good advice.

Don't leave that pot of beans simmering on the stove while you take the bus downtown.

TPBM has even more good advice.

Don't leave the bacon cooking, even on low, when you think you're just going to check LibraryThing for just one tiny minute.....

TPBM always spends more time on LT than they plan on.

Yes, in fact I've found all electronic toys to be time sinks.

>>46 WholeHouseLibrary: WHL- I've been considering rationaility for about a week and, as far as I can reason, absolute rationailty is a bust. Also, when you're driving on a country road at night and you turn a corner and someone's impassively standing in the middle of the road staring at the car, don't get out to ask them what's wrong. Either drive around or back up in a hurry.

TPBM has blocked someone on Twitter or facebook. (I'm going to have to unfollow a relative on twitter who sends out about 100 T/day. Too much damn noise.)

I've blocked Facebook, flat out. It was the only way I could get pics of the grands, but it's an incredibly annoying site.

TPBM is planning on unplugging this weekend -
http://www.sabbathmanifesto.org/unplug/

No, I'm doing okay on that front.

The person below me has allergies.

Well, I do, but they're not any that I can identify. All I know is once in awhile I get all the typical allergy symptoms, then after awhile I'll feel fine. (and they'll come on in different situations, so it's even harder to try and ID the cause.)

TPBM can be more specific in identifying theirs.

Decades of periodic sinus drainage sliding into infections. When I started treating just to dry up the throat, the process was shorted out and the time suffering was cut drastically. And then someone suggested eating local honey to expose the body to low doses of pollen. Not a problem since then.

TPBM has another miracle cure for something.

GNC Mega B 150, a massive dose of a B vitamin complex, is good for whatever ails you and for what doesn't, too. Also, if you get the afternnon blahs, a glass of cold water will wake you up.

TPBM tutors kids in math or something else. (No, you kids don't count unless you get paid for it or are doing it to work off a community service sentance.)

Reading, of course.

TPBM is taking a course.

Not right now; I have a slow-healing foot injury that makes walking around on campus really difficult. But since retiring I've taken courses in philosophy, literature, and film studies at a nearby junior college, just for the mental exercise. I loved it.

TPBM is comfortable with groups of all ages.

Sure, I can talk to anyone in my train station in the mornings! The 5-year-old showing off his Hess truck, the questionably garbed, chippie of a legal secretary all the way up to the why-aren't-I-retired-yet office manager. (Frankly the five-year old was the most fun to talk to...)

The person below me thinks it's time for the world to move to the four-days-in-the-office-and-one-day-work-from-home mode of earning a living.

The UK seems to be going that way fast. An inceasing number of employed people have no option but to work part-time. The trick, of course, is to get someone to pay you for what you do on the days when you are at home.

TPBM is self-employed

Yeah, if you want to call it that. I've been doing a lot of eBay. It feels profitable until you really sort out your expenses and how much time it takes. Then the take isn't so impressive.

TPBM buys a lot on eBay.

Not really, lately. My biggest eBay purchase was a bunch of Christmas gifts for my dad about 5 years ago. He had been talking a lot about toys from his childhood, so my sisters and I pooled our money and used my account to buy him a bunch things he was talking about; Hot Wheels cars and tracks from the 70s, a table football game, a few other things I can't remember. He had mentioned lawn darts, but I'm pretty sure those are illegal now and we couldn't find them anyway.

TPBM makes nostalgic purchases from time to time too.

Yes. I'd love to have a "Pitiful Pearl" doll, but they are much too expensive for me.

TPBM remembers the "Pitiful Pearl" doll.

I've never even heard of it before. I bought some ties on eBay today, most expensive was $14, I was way impressed. I really wanted one of those explosive, baroque/psychedelic Versace ties, but even used they start at $60. Hell, I don't pay more than $20 for a new tie.

TPBM can pull of uncommon styles.

Not really, I could never do Versace, but I can do DC Power Suit. There are two tricks to it: 1) You have to act like you either belong or are slumming, and ; 2) you have to act like a lot of people agree with you. It's not hard, really, this being DC the town is crawling with self-important, poseur bullshit artists. (Of course, I'm not like that.) If you want to see the real thing go to Charleston or New York.

TPBM has an interesting twitter list.

I don't use Twitter lists much, but to the best of my knowledge, I'm on 48 different ones. (Librarians love Twitter.)

The person below me is not enthusiastic about lists.

I have no Twitter lists. But I have a Klout score of 60.

TPBM is indifferent to Klout.

Should I not be?

TPBM wants the sun to come out.

Not really. I'm enjoying the overcast while it lasts. I wonder how many other people find too much sun depressing.

TPBM enjoyed the Legend of Korra premiere.

No, because I never heard of it. :-}

TPBM has a headache.

Fortunately, I rarely have headaches, and when I do they are very mild.

TPBM talks a lot.

I do. I work with kids and talk all day. I also sing in a couple of choirs and have to be careful not to over-use my voice.

TPBM has a family event coming up that they are not looking forward to (why can't people just get along?).

Well, I'm taking a trip with my brother, but I hate the preparation more than the travel.

The person below me has learned to travel argument-free with family.

On long holiday drives when our kids were young, I would sing along to a tape of Peter Dawson. That kept me occupied and shut everyone else up ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfR5z-MsU5U&feature=related

TPBM has other favourite 'travelling' music.

R&B from the 60s and 70s; it's got to have some grease in it.

TPBM talks to themself.

Sometimes, but only because, sometimes, I'm the only one who understands me.

TPBM is still putting off doing their taxes.

I haven't worked in over a year, so no taxes to do!

TPBM can teach me the art of squeezing a shower in around an almost-one-year-old with an unpredictable nap schedule (Her naps are usually at the same time every day, but I never know how long they'll be anymore...)

Nope. Childless, I am afraid, so no help from this corner.

TPBM thinks that Facebook trying to copywrite the word "Book" is an absolute joke! (I mean seriously, they didn't invent the things!)

Another reason to despise Facebook.

TPBM "helicopters" their children, especially at Easter egg hunts, so that they will not fail to find eggs.

I "helicopter" my oldest, but only because of his disabilities. He isn't capable of doing most things on his own. I watch the baby and keep her out of harm's way, but she's pretty much free to explore the world as she sees fit.

TPBM is raising/has raised "free range" children.

Snort. Nice one. No kids, but I made it very clear to my parents when I was about 5 years old that I preferred a benign neglect to any involvement on their part that didn't necessitate either a fire extinguisher or a check. Good times, good times.

//Facebook isn't really trying to trademark 'book' is it? Holy crap. LTers should totally secure the name 'Assbook.com' and have our company motto be 'First, do no weevil.'//

TPBM works in the TI industry.

TI? I can't even imagine what that industry might be. For the record, I'm part of the information industry -- err, information community.

The person below me is lucky enough to not be burdened by any industry.

//Just checked, www.assbook.com is not available. Quell shocker. You caught me out, Jill, I meant 'IT.' Refuse to call it a community. Seems to Romper Room to me.//

//I thought you meant Texas Instruments, SomeGuy.//

Right. I'm no longer industrious.

TPBM is very industrious and accomplishes something major nearly every day.

I'm up and out of bed before noon damn near every day.

TPBM can't stand show-offs.

I dunno. Yesterday at the subway station I saw a family with a young boy (8-9) who was doing the Kung Fu hustle, I mean he was moving it and grooving it. He was showing off but I hoped nobody ever takes that confidence and panache away from him, he was having a blast being a dancing bad ass.

TPBM always sings along to the song ‘American Pie’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPjjZCO67WI

I was going to say "Doesn't everybody?" then I looked at your link and saw that it was true!

TPBM has done the flashmob thing.

I have. I belong to a choir and we have done a few flash mobs. No choreography, thankfully. I have to learn choreography to Bohemian Rhapsody for our spring concert.

TPBM has had to learn choreography before.

Yep. We did ABBA once for high school chorus. It didn't hit me at the time, but choreographed ABBA would have been a bit weird in our usual venue -- a church down the block. But that's my high school for you.

The person below me has yet another tale of choreography.

It's the reason I can't dance with a group.

TPBM is hit by coordination once every three months.

I have coordination a little more often and attribute it to yoga. I have not done a flash mob thing, but would love to. I have done a few group dance exhibitions. A lot of work, but fun.

TPBM will coordinate a flash mob for LT users.

Since there probably aren't many LibraryThingers in my area, it would be a pretty small mob. I guess we'll just have to settle for keeping an eye on this group.

TPBM has started a revolution.

A very small but successful one in college in 1975 when I refused to attend graduation exercises for the School of Business and Management at Pepperdine's Malibu Campus because I had attended the LA campus for all 4 years and didn't want to do anything at Malibu, especially swell the ranks. They were ramping up Malibu and ramping down LA. I told them I wouldn't walk up there and wanted to walk at LA. They said no. I said fine, I'd pick up my diploma the day after graduation. They hemmed and hawed and finally agreed to let me walk at LA. I then persuaded 3 or 4 other SOBM friends to do the same. We all walked at the LA campus.

TPBM has fond memories of college.

No. And I don't want to talk about them.

TPBM has attempted sculpting, using liquid water as a medium.

Sculpting with... liquid water...hmmmm interesting...No can't say I have

TPBM really, really needs a _______________.

Can we say 'blow job' on the air?

TPBM has one of those awesome sewing machines that have USB ports.

Nope. "My" sewing machine (which is really my mother's) is probably about 15 years old and hardly fancy. My great-aunt has a USB-friendly embroidery machine, though.

TPBM has started a business.

Funny business? Monkey business? Maybe. Work-type business, no. I thought about it many times, but never followed through.

No, SGiV, you can't say that.

90> My revolution was unsuccessful. Back in 1967, my high school added an auto mechanics shop. I signed up but was told that girls couldn't take the classes. I complained. They said if I got 30 girls to sign up for a class, they would add it. I got the 30. They didn't add the class. Sexist, lying creeps.

The person below me wants to go to a beach...soon.

Leapt!

A couple of times. It may be why I'm poor.

I'm not crazy about beaches. I burn easily, I don't swim well, and I'm sensitive to sudden temperature changes, so swimming can be stressful just for that. Not to mention where sand manages to insert itself.

TPBM has been successful at business

Not yet, but I'm working on it. Proofreading. I understand why only publishers could afford to have them. The average first-book writer couldn't afford the expense of a proofreader. It's going to take a while, but I can see a point where I'll actually be able to pay my bills doing this. Meanwhile, I'm counting on MrsHouseLibrary to keep us afloat.

TPBM has a Plan B.

B. C. D. All the way through Z.

I hope I don't have to get all the way to Z, because there isn't a plan after that.

TPBM never plans for anything.

I only plan for short term things; planning for too far out in time seems foolish.

The person below me suspects making a list is nearly equivalent to making a plan.

Well I suppose one could have a list of things to do with no idea how one was actually going to accomplish the things on the list, so a plan, or plans, would be required. I tend to make lists of achievable tasks so feel further planning is unnecessary.

TPBM frequently sets unrealistic goals for them self.

//SomeGuy, behave! I have spoken.
Mr. House, the years I spent in college were some of the best of my life. I love learning.
xorscape, I love the beach!//

I used to set extremely high goals for myself but don't any more.

TPBM needs to find something to eat.

Nope..just finished eating a snack..of pretzels and nutella..

TPBM knows how wonderful Nutella is and will share why they think it is wonderful too..

Nutella is so wonderful, it has it's own day. http://www.nutelladay.com/nutella-recipes/.

SGIV - I feel violated.
xorscape and Boobalack - I feel vindicated.

TPBM will not leave TPBM an open-ended option .

Durn tootin'!

TPBM gets to spend today in the sunshine.

Yes. I took today as a vacation day. So far, though, I've gone to a book sale and sat here at the computer. It is gorgeous out. I might sit on the front porch to read for a while.....

//SGiV - I don't have a problem with what you said. You didn't misbehave and I don't feel violated. Just sayin'.//

TPBM has a hammock.

We did when I was a kid and we lived in a house with a yard. Now we don't have quite enough outdoor space for one.

The person below me wants a hammock.

I already have one.
It's a really huge one I've stowed in the closet for years.
Texas weather isn't something one lays about outside in, so the hammock is pretty useless.
Oddly enough, it replace another one I had; kept it hanging up between two trees and within a couple of days, the squirrels bit away each thread and made nests of the material.

TPBM wants a hassock.

If I had time to put my feet up, that would be lovely. Although I prefer my ottoman because it opens up and has storage.

TPBM also loves furniture that has more than one purpose.

I once had a ottoman that the top lifted up and held a TV tray; I also once had a dresser in which the top lifted up for the jewelry box, and a bed headboard which had hidey-holes in the design. Very handy for hiding money and jewels. Neither of which I had, so they were never used.

TPBM likes antique furniture.

Yes and no. I like furniture that is well made that can stand up to ordinary usage. Antique furniture can (in some instances) do that. I don't like the antique furniture that is so delicate one has to be fearful of using it in normal day-to-day fashion.

The person below me has lost a piece of furniture from so-called day-to-day use.

Yes, the Ikea chest of drawers I bought had finally fallen in on itself. It was just as expensive as (low end) hardwood furniture and for the past few years I've been gluing the thing together when it sprung apart.

//Well, if blowjobs are off the table, I need to change my suggestion for a flash mob activity.//

TPBM has a list of books they absolutely, positively will get through this weekend. No excuses.

Well, not a list, just one Crime and Punishment, because I own it, but I have to finish it before I can read the ones I just got from the library.

TPBM has a remedy for feeling apathetic.

//Jill...I don't think it could be called antique as it's only about 54 years old, but that describes my bedroom set. My mom bought it when she got married, and then passed it on to me about 25 years ago. It's got some knicks and dings, and one dresser drawer bit the dust when it got broken in a move and couldn't be repaired, but otherwise it's in good shape and I can easily see it passing on to one of my nieces when I die.//

I think I'm an antique some days. No, I don't think I do have a remedy for feeling apathetic.

SGiV, much more polite.

The person below me understands why the hoopla over tebowing. (I read that kids got in trouble at school. I remember some girls getting in trouble for wearing bobby socks and tennis shoes instead of nylons and tennis shoes to school. I was young...)

I would say it was the separation of church and state thing, but they were just as upset over planking. I think TPTB don't like anything that the kids get all fired up over.

TPBM has another theory.

No, carod, I can't come up with another one and think you are correct.

TPBM wonders why people don't understand the meaning of "separation of church and state." Read the US Constitution. That concept has been carried well beyond its original statement.

Here in the UK we still have an estalished church and bishops in our second legislative chamber despite a deal less enthusiasm for religion - at least for Christianity - than you in the USA appear to have. Time we learned from our young ex-colonials and stopped, I reckon. No antidisestablishmentarianist, I.

TPBM would as soon not discuss religion on-line.

I keep my views to myself. I don't choose to debate why I think the way I do and resent those who feel they need to enlighten me one way or another.

The person below me is looking for a quick exit line.

Hell, no! I didn't attend the Reason Rally to sit on the sidelines anymore!
But, in deference to you, my friend...

TPBM is all about Proteas and Water Lilies.

//I don't like to discuss religion, either, but I still think that concept has been carried too far.//

My friend turned her swimming pool into a water lily pond. Does that count?

TPBM would rather have the swimming pool!

Yes, but not because I enjoy swimming (I don't know how to swim). A lily pond would look pretty, but we get BAAAAD mosquitoes here and I can't chlorinate lilies. I can chlorinate a swimming pool to kill buggy things.

TPBM is happy.

Hard to tell... no coffee yet... zzzzzz

TPBM has too much to do this weekend.

Is that too much I *should* do? Or too much I *could* do? So much tension in my life that way.

The person below me is having his/her SECOND cup of coffee.

Just finished my second one, as a matter of fact.

TPBM is reading a fantastic book and will tell us what it is.

I finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks last week, and it was very good, but mostly I haven't been having much luck.

TPBM will look at my To Read collection and tell me which book is fantastic.

I'd say Greenmantle or The Daughter of Time, although if I was going to pick something I haven't read I would go for the non-fiction book about the Halifax explosion or Clarissa Dickson Wright's autobiography (cheerful, aren't i?)

TPBM thinks that Richard III didn't kill, or have killed, the princes in the Tower

I read Daughter of Time so I know he wasn't guilty.

The person below me can name another book that exonerates a popular villain.

Aak! Leaped.

Any political autobiography.

His attorneys should let it stand; it's the best branding option he has.

>> 126 SC- Oh! Oh! Oh! Read Empires of the World with me. I'm on page 4 and I need the moral support. Not that it's a slog- it's plainly and compellingly written and he's already tossed out a nice pun, although as G&S wrote, he seems to 'love all centuries but this and every country but his own'-I've just become lazy.

TPBM is an early riser.

Not unless I absolutely have to. My body seems to be set to an entirely different time zone. Left to my own devices I would stay up until at least 1:00 in the morning and sleep until 9:00 every day.

TPBM knows why my body wants to live in a different time zone.

ETA typo

//SylviaC, I loved Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe and also The Princess Bride, which kept me laughing all through it.//

Probably because you're a night owl. I seem to keep a similar schedule, only usually am up until 2:00-3:00. It helps that I can sleep until I get good and ready to arise.

TPBM doesn't sleep as much as he/she should.

No, I don't, because my natural inclination is to stay up late, but I don't get to sleep in on weekday mornings.

//Thanks to everyone who made recommendations. Things are looking up. I'm about half way through Daughter of Time, and enjoying it immensely. It was a favourite of my mother's (she was a member of the Richard III Society), so reading it is also making me think of her. Maybe next I'll try Fried Green Tomatoes and take a stab at Empires of the Word, which looks like it will be a long term commitment.//

TPBM eats eggs every day.

No, I don't much like eggs except as an ingredient.

The person below me shoul be doing something else right now. (Like sleeping.)

Nope. Got home from work about a half an hour ago and now it's time to have dinner as I catch up on all my online stuff.

TPBM, in spite of it being Sunday, is having/will have a busy day.

You betcha! WholeHouseSister-in-Law is here. She's of the farmer mentality, so there's no sleeping past her crowing. Made coffee (ground the beans)... later today, I have to figure out who-dunnit at our local Library.

Seeing as how today is what it is, MrsHouseLibrary informed me that she's getting a companion for the cockatiel. I threatened a divorce. Sure will be glad when today is over.

TPBM doesn't particularly care for "practical" jokes.

I don't know. I like the Betterworldboooks.com joke this morning. I'm kinda relieved it's a Sunday though. It gets pretty crazy at school with the kids on April Fools Day.

TPBM is an April Fool.

Most people would say I'm every sort of fool.

TPBM is Romanian and skile szlupze.

I'm (mostly) Irish; and you stepped in ~what~?

TPBM recycles.

Religiously. I love the whole concept and the practicality of it.

TPBM has been the victim of a great April Fool's Day prank .

There was the year that my sons switched the upstairs and downstairs television remotes and watched gleefully as their mother and father with furrowed brow tried to figure out why we couldn't get the &*$%^ thing to work.

The person below me is trying to de-clutter the couch so there is someplace to sit down.

The one in the living room is fine. The one in the den, which I call "Hubby's Man Cave," is another story. I avoid going in there.

TPBM hasn't had a joke played on him/her today.

//carod, one of my grandsons is an April Fool. He's 13 today. Oh, no, another teenager let loose on the world! ;-}//

I remained joke free yesterday, fortunately. I do not like having practical jokes played on me. Nor do I play them on people.

TPBM sometimes gets up in the middle of the night for an hour or so then goes back to sleep. (Like I plan on doing now at 3:32 a.m.)

Yes, I do. That is an old sleep pattern from before electric lights. First sleep and second sleep. Hope you got your rest.

TPBM is rich.

Not.even.close.

TPBM has recently traveled across a great water.

I cross the Brazos River every day, twice a day. Does that count?

TPBM has recently been on a boat.

No, but I took pictures of boats last weekend when I was in Baltimore.

TPBM has done some form of restoration work.

At the moment I'm trying to restore a spinning wheel.

TPBM restores things as a profession.

No. In fact, I don't even have a job at the moment. But I wouldn't mind helping our with that wheel!

The person below me is waiting for something...

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeess, I ordered something from Etsy that said it would take 15-30 days coming from China, and it's been 24 days. I mean, come on, in this day and age what takes that long to get anywhere??? Now the gift I was going to make with the item and send is going to be late and I'm really frustrated. I really didn't think it would take that long, but I guess I've learned a valuable lesson.

TPBM has also learned a valuable lesson recently.

Yes. That a fresh Krispy Kreme glazed, hot off the line and followed by a swig of cold, whole milk, is like happiness kissing my whole head and will make me cry.

TPBM is more august.

No, I'm actually more June. Dunkin' Donuts Apple Fritters with a cup of hot, black, no sugar, decaf coffee works for me. Alas, no Dunkin' Donuts near me, but I can dream, can't I?

TPBM prefers danishes over donuts.

Sometimes a copenhagen just hits the spot, but usually if I were to indulge it would be a "cindy". With a big cup of coffee with cream.

TPBM indulges.

A more succinct term would be "overindulges, I'm afraid.

TPBM is self-disciplined.

I wish!

The person below me is careful.

Never, just lucky.

TPBM is awake.

Barely...I started running again and it makes me so very sleepy..

TPBM will tell me when I will how long it takes to get pass the "Ow..running hurts" stage and join the "I love running" set.

I couldn't tell you. I've had so many foot, knee, ankle, and toe injuries that even an easy jog is pain-inducing.

TPBM walks.

I do but with a certain amount of care and deliberation, usually trying to avoid great, gaping cracks in the sidewalk

The person below me runs up flights of stairs.

No more.

TPBM is getting too old to run up flights of stairs.

No, I'm already too old (and stiff) to do that. Having two screws in my right hip and nerve damage didn't help.

TPBM is the picture of health.

Probably more like the picture of Dorian Gray - I really should look more raddled than this, given the amount of carrying on alarmingly I've done over the years ...!

TPBM is full of ...........

.... envy for your evidently complete and utter escape from raddledom (given your self confessed alarming carrying on) and pretty full of envy for the alarming carrying on for that matter. Scots wha hae! It must be something in the water.

TPBM is raddled and proud of it.

What? Why sure, I guess. Yeah, why not! I'm raddled!

TPBM is very observant.

I'm not sure how observant I am, but I'm confused.

TPBM still is confused about "raddled" -- even after Googling.

//pee ess: Soph!//

According to Webster, "raddle" as a noun is a red paint; "raddle" as a verb is either painting something with raddle or twisting things together.

Not terribly helpful, and nothing in the same context as Sophie's answer seems to indicate.

TPBM is feeling put upon.

Only inasmuch as I feel obliged to deal with the 'raddled' question. I knew what Sophie meant - maybe it is a British thing. The SOED gives a figurative meaning - worn, worn-out, and thefreedictionary.com gives a bit more detail. The term seems to have roots in sheep husbandry - the red paint is applied to the chest of a ram to rub off on the backs of those ewes with which it mates. Hence figuratively associated with rouge - red pigment applied to the (not always) female face to cover up the depredations of age and dissolute living. So, from the evidence of Sophie's profile pictures, she is in no way raddled - of course she may have a picture in her attic looking quite different ;-)

TPBM eschews cosmetics

How can I take the time to eschew them when I don't own any?

TPBM is planning a chocolate binge.

Not today. It's my day off, so after I do my wash and have something to eat, I plan on plopping down on the couch and watching a movie with Ice tea and potato chips at hand.

TPBM doesn't binge very often.

Just once, the trick is to pace yourself so that it can last years.

TPBM has reported suspicous activity.

Are you kidding? I work for a public school...I'm always ratting out some kid.

TPBM spent some time in the principal's office as a kid.

Acquitted!

TPBM was a Teacher's Pet.

No, not really, but I did have a certain skill at not being around when the sh*t came down.

That was in high school, though. In Catholic grade school, I was Teachers' Bane and seldom out of trouble.

TPBM preferred the lower grades.

Probably. I don't remember.

TPBM can tell me where the year went and how this mobile, active one-year-old girl suddenly replaced my tiny litttle newborn!

They just keep growing!

The person below me always feels cold.

Only when the temperature in the room is 68 or lower.

The person below me throws on a sweater at that temperature.

Yup.

TPBM would feel perfectly at home among the penguins.

Need I remind you of my diatribe, I am not a Pet Person? (Part 1)

TPBM bites his/her fingernails.

No. Never have.

TPBM bites his/her fingernails down past the quick. Ouchie!

No. And I aim a smack towards my spouse when he is absent-mindedly doing so. Bad habit!

The person below me is planning on doing some weeding this weekend. (Of garden, of books, of clothing....)

Weeding my daughter's bedroom. I've been working on it all week, and will be starting to fill the third garbage bag today.

TPBM never has cleaning blitzes, because they keep things tidy all the time.

In my dreams.

No, actually in my dreams I have a maid.

TPBM has a maid.

I don't have a maid, have it maid, or may have had.

TPBM lives somewhere interesting.

I'd be surprised if anyone thought Brooklyn boring.

The person below me lives somewhere isolated.

Nope, I live in a town outside a city.

TPBM had hot cross buns for breakfast this morning

No, Good Friday bums me out, it's 3 am across the world. I'm glad it's such a beautiful day.

TPBM can quote chapter and verse.

Only the few that were drilled into my head when I was a child.

TPBM can quote anything and everything.

Sure. "anything and everything"

TPBM likes artichoke hearts.

I've only had them once and thought they were ok, but not great enough to have again.

TPBM uses real dyed Easter eggs instead of copping out and buying plastic ones (guilty)

What on earth for?

TPBM knows when the word "earth" can begin with a capital letter.

As in:

"Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be...........etc."

for one.

TPBM has seen the exported London Bridge.

Yes, I have. My sister lived in Bullhead City, which is about 45 minutes north, we all,sister,bro-in-law,nephews,hubby and son walked across to the pub, which unfortunately was more kicker than British.

TPBM likes pubs.

Sometimes. Sometimes they are just noisy, smelly places filled with drunks. I don't much like that. But I like beer.

When we were in London, our hosts took us to Hobgoblin Pub just so we could have some Hobgoblin Ale. They were out of it! At that point, it was just another noise, overly-brightly lit sad little bar.

TPBM likes fancy watering holes.

Bars in fancy hotels usually suck; like drinking at Grandma's and afraid to swing your arms because you might break something. Hushed, turgid, and still. I've found I usually feel uncomfortable in the luxury goods industry; I walked into Hermes a few years ago and the saleswoman gave me an offensive look, or at least one I found offensive. I wondered if she thought she went around back and farted the scarves out in golden eggs. I did buy a scarf after making her pull a bunch of things out, but at Neimann Marcus. I miss money.

TPBM will attend a book sale this weekend.

Nope. Working on frugality as a virtue.

The person below me has been indulging wildly.

Well, I just ordered 14 books for $58 (with free shipping), so I guess so.

TPBM has managed to avoid buying books online.

Only because I'm a) usually broke, and b) already up to my keister in books. I know that may seem a silly statement given the venue, but I'm getting ready to move cross country and the movers charge by the pound. We're talkin' a minimum of 50 cartons of books, here, folks...

TPBM laughs at that paltry amount.

That sounds like a lot of books to me. 50 books per carton x 50 cartons = 2500 books. (?) I only have a little over 1000.

TPBM doesn't have 2500 books but doesn't have room for all he/she does have and will be buying more. It's an obsession.

EDIT: According to my LT catalog, I have 1081. I've seen much larger collections here.

It is an obsession. I've only got one unbreakable rule- no books that won't fit in or on the shelves. So, for now, I have room.

TPBM gets most books from the lie-berry.

I do now.

//Boobalack, 2700+ physical books. The plus is for the ones that haven't been cataloged yet.//

TPBM wishes they had a better public library.

I think I have a fantastic public library, but I may be biased since I am a librarian there.

TPBM got a dump of 10cm of snow today.

Sorry, that's bad. It's a beautiful spring day here.

TPBM is ready.

......willing and able

TPBM thinks that........

...tomorrow is another day.

But in a total non sequitor, TPBM is familiar with the story of King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid.

Burne-Jones's painting I know - his usual well-stacked red-heads - from the Tate Gallery. The story has passed me by. The picture seems full of soulful longing.

TPBM will fill me in with the story, or, failing that, tell us about some soulful longing of their own.

There are some times when I look back nostalgically on a past I never had.

TPBM pours their own chocolate.

Well SURE! Do you think I could afford a Chocolatier to pour it for me?

TPBM ate the ears first.

Nope. I don't like chocolate, so no bunny

TPBM had a non-traditional Easter dinner this year & will tell us what they had

No, went with the traditional family gathering, Easter egg hunt, and food. I was feeling guilty about not hosting family gatherings, so volunteered for it to be held at my house. That's about 40 people!!!! What was I thinking???? It went fine, but so much preparation. I have 5 siblings, all have spouses, kids and now grandkids are starting to appear, so it's a big gathering, but we get still get together for all major holidays and go camping in the summer. I often wished I was an only child growing up, but can't imagine life now without my family.

TPBM is an only child.

Nope, eldest of three.

TPBM is the youngest child.

Nope, eldest like you but of two.

TPBM recently made a change.

Well I did, but it wasn't one I had been planning on making. Work made the offer and I was willing to take it.

TPBM is looking forward to vacation.

Yes I am, even though I am currently enjoying a four day week-end and had two weeks off in March, I am planning a little trip for my summer vacation with much anticipation. I enjoy my job, but I love my summers off.

TPBM enjoys planning trips using Google maps and street view, or another method they will explain.

We usually just get directions from friends and remember it the next time or look on a paper map. Did use mapquest once but thought it was silly in that it told you how to get from your house to the corner. Ha.

TPBM probably won't take a trip this summer.

Probably won't. Don't have the money and we're starting a new and major project at work the first week of July that will go live Jan 1 2013.

TPBM hasn't taken a vacation in 2 or more years.

Nope, and I won't be able to take one for a year or more. Got my game face on.

TPBM sleeps like a rock.

Like a rock in a landslide maybe.

TPBM stocks up on seasonally available candy like robins eggs.

Sometimes. But not usually.

TPBM knows where to sell used books so they actually get sold.

I haven't the foggiest notion. But I used to love buying used books from The Strand bookstore in NYC.

The person below me is watching something about the sinking of the Titanic.

No. I know how it ends.

TPBM is tired.

Tired and headache-y and I just got to work! Sigh. Time for ibuprophen and coffee.

TPBM is much more chipper than that this morning.

I was but the rest of the day kind of stunk it up. We had snow in DC. At least someone said they saw a few flakes and I assumed they were talking about snow.

TPBM had dinner, or will have dinner, in a restaurant tonight.

Nope, my husband and I shared leftovers from last Sunday night's dinner (chicken soup and homemade bread).

The person below me is feeling at bit at loose ends.

Not really, but I'm a bit bored at the moment. I'm sitting in the waiting room waiting for them to finish working on my car. I'm finally getting the renegade gas gauge fixed. No more guessing whether the idiot light is serious this time or just kidding again.

TPBM never gets low on fuel.

Ha! I'm lucky my car can go a really long way on fumes.

TPBM can go a long way on fumes as well.

My car is pretty efficient, but when the little light comes on, I feel panicky, and start searching for a close gas station. So I don't know if will go a long way on fumes.

TPBM lives more on the edge.

Not at the moment, but very soon.

TPBM is going to do everything in their power to get one of these new glow in the dark Canadian quarters.

Glow in the dark Canadian quarters.

I have no interest in that, but I know a few coin collectors who might...

TPBM has an extensive collection of currency.

Monopoly money and some Confederate money.

TPBM has relatives, like I do, who call The Civil War "The War of Northern Agression."

I do not have relatives who do that. But I did introduce my sons to the phrase when it seemed like they might not be understanding the Southern mindset of the Civil War.

The person below me has studied Sherman's March to the Sea.

I have at least read of it (and"Uncle Cump"). And I refer to that brutal episode as “The War between the States” as so tag my collection of books about it. As a voluntary American (by choice rather than birth) I remain confused – if the States were formed by ‘ voluntarily and by Perfect Union’ I still wonder why the concept of secession bought about such slaughter.

TPBM still believes it was a war about slavery (or is that too political-ly?).

Even though I'm a Georgia Peach, I do know it was not a war about slavery. That was just an excuse. I guess secession would constitute a breach of contract, or something. (?) I call it "The Civil War" but have often wondered just what was so "civil" about it.

TPBM cries every time he or she sees the end of "Shenandoah."

I cry every time I got to the movies, tickets are like 12 bucks.

//J_V! About time! Ladies and gentlement, put your hands together for John Vaughan, who's been hanging on the sidelines for too long.//

Friday13th is living up to its reputation for TPBM.

13 is my lucky number. So far, we've been ignored by all the tornados blowing around us.

TPBM also has a lucky number.

//SomeGuy, that would make me cry, too. Had no idea tickets cost that much now. I haven't been to the movies in probably twenty years. The theater is always too cold, and the audio is always too loud. Yes, I'm a curmudgeoness.//

//Thanks SomeGuy. But I only made one post the thread and it seems I broke it!//

Eight has always been my lucky number.

TPBM prefers a digital watch to a sweep hand watch.

Nah. I prefer a wind-up. Hate doing the battery thing. 'Course that's prior to having freed myself from the tyranny of the clock.

TPBM has broken some bonds.

The Tyranny of the Clock by George Woodcock ?(http://www.librarything.com/author/woodcockgeorge) A Canadian anarchist, pacifist, historian and political biographer, and is perhaps best remembered (or totally forgotten for) his book "Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements"

Or did you mean glorious, delicious, retirement?

TPBM has an alternative bond to break.

Not any more. All of my old lady friends are dead, so no bonds there, and the bonds I have in my life now are until I croak. lol

TPBM also has some unbreakable bonds in life and will tell us about them.

You mean like leather restraints or what? Boobalack. Superfreak.

TPBM traveled this weekend.

Yes - well, like de Maistre. http://www.librarything.com/work/27570

TPBM ventured MUCH further.

Well, if MUCH further is about 5 miles... yes.

TPBM finished something this weekend.

To the Art Museum for a trip back in time to the various films telling the Titanic story.

The person below me is exploring some other historical event.

I paid my taxes. Once again Uncle Sugar deduced I don't really have 17 dependents.

TPBM has two left feet.

That's just mean of you to point it out!

TPBM still likes to use crayons, and will state their preference - paper on or off.

I do occasionally find crayons left over from daughter's younger days and prefer the paper on. Of course, as one wears the crayon down one must tear the paper - evenly of course - just enough to color some more.

TPBM has lots of left over school supplies from their childrens younger days.

244 //We all know SomeGuy hates pets. But he has now found out why we have them... as IRS claimed dependents of course!//

IF I had any from my own schooling they would be antique. Unless you mean from "Higher Education" as our youngest is still in school. As an Art Professor! {: D

TPBM is glad to see some activity on this thread and will offer an idea why it seemed to be broken over the weekend.

Well in my case it was a combination of a rare sunny week-end and trying to get the OS working on my new netbook.

I am sure TPBM has a much better excuse.

I was reading. But now I'm back to work and while I think they would frown on blatantly reading a novel while working, I can get away with covertly surfing and catching up on internet stuff.

TPBM enjoys long walks along sandy beaches while the moon is full.

249//But surely surfing makes the paperwork wet in the office?//

Yes but like TPAM enjoys it best in the morning. Walking. On the beach.

TPBM believes, as I do, that perambulation is an inefficient and unpleasant form of transport and has a better means of getting along.

No, no, no, I perambulate everyday (every morning to be exact, and sometimes in the evening). And to justify the necessity of perambulating to everyone, read NPR report on links to obesity and fewer perambulators.

#250- we always put the paperwork on the topshelf before we surf.

TPBM agrees with John_Vaughan and never perambles if they can help it and will tell us their form of transport.

Do you KNOW how hard it is to walk places with a heat-sensitive, non-mobile child whose wheelchair likes to get stuck in anything softer than concrete (and most of our sidewalks are imaginary) and a pre-toddler who can't stand strollers and will only tolerate a carrier for about half an hour at a time at best? We use a small SUV that used to be somewhat energy efficient, when it was newer.

TPBM uses public transportation.

The sub'emway everyday. Both ways. The fare's about to go up, too. I hope they take the money and buy a cleaning crew and some air fresheners.

TPBM has a one-eyed cat. Unless TP is WHL, in which case no response is required.

SomeGuy, have you been reading Poe again?

I have no cat. But I do know someone who has a three-legged dog.

TPBM has an unusual hobby.

Yes. I collect lint -- in the form of dust bunnies gorillas under the bed, which occasionally come out and chase me around the house. This is usually when the heat or the A/C comes on.

TPBM thinks he/she could stuff a pillow with all that lint.

I think dust bunnies are entirely useful for that purpose. (Call me if you need some additional stuffing for your pillows. I can help with that.)

The person below me is good at reaching all those dust bunnies under the bed.

Yup. With the full approval (nay with even the active encouragement) of SomeGuy - swing the cat by it's tail under the bed.

TPBM - being far more macho - has no idea what we are discussing.

There are probably whole families of dust dinosaurs under our bed - I'm not macho, just completely uninterested in being the perfect housewife (too many books to read!).

TPBM practises martial arts.

Er... No.

But neither do I have dust animals, because I have kids, who insist on cleaning the floors with their clothes, while still in them. The younger one, in fact - to my futile horror - will also do supermarket floors gratis.

TPBM can face life's little trials calmly.

No way, the best I had hope for is a stony resignation.

TPBM knows what will become of the space program.

No, I have no insight on that, because I haven't paid much attention since Challenger exploded.

TPBM is expecting good things to happen today.

No, Unless it is the end of this most expensive of all boondoggles? I am not alone in thinking today marks the end ...
MIT Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Jeff Hoffman donned a bright red T-shirt worn by the 35 original shuttle astronauts - seeing as he was one of them. He said the shuttle program amassed enormous space knowledge, but it had run its course.

TPBM thinks running courses is for hares, and even remembers Whippets chasing them.

No..I like to run..I try to run every other day..as for whippets..never seen one on my run chasing me or any hares..there is a collie that likes to follow behind you as you run though..

TPBM will tell us how to get the pesky collie to leave me alone.

Toss him a steak?

TPBM has another solution.

**btw, re 237 & 238 above, Flextime allows me a two hour window for arrival. I can roll over and snooze, if I need to. Sadly, I am not free of the paycheck tyranny.**

Throw a cat at him, and let him chase that? (I think WHL would like that!)

TPBM is planning on doing something unusual and out of their comfort zone this week. (I've signed my son up for his first ever horse riding class)

Sort of, I'm continuing with something out of my comfort zone- for the past three weeks I've been getting up at 5:30 to work out. I'm not a morning person. The first week was such a shock that my body rebelled and, except for my heart stopping, completely shut down. Lately I’ve been getting home too late to exercise because it keeps me awake, and I've been catching some heat because I go to sleep at 9 pm no exceptions.

//I'm jealous, I'd love to take riding lessons.//

TPBM rides and with pinks.

What Ho! Tallyho and all that? The scarlet (not really pink) was easy to see when this working-class lad trailed behind the local hunt hoping to beg a 'stirrup cup' of grog!

Jan Morris wrote that-
The open-fronted and unbuttonable surplices worn by Christ Church men in chapel were designed, tradition says, so that hunting pinks could not be concealed beneath them.

TPBM, like SomeGuy finds that all that 'healthy exercise' actually kills.

Sooner or later.

TPBM needs a hug.

No, actually I need a more challenging occupation.

The person below me is planning a summer vacation.

Nope, just found out I'm being made redundant, so no more vacations for the near future.

TPBM can suggest a new career choice for me.

Radio DJ.

TPBM would like to be a radio DJ.

I've been a radio DJ; even won an award for it.

TPBM prefers tactile occupations.

(Hi, everybody! I haven't been ignoring this thread. My internet access, over the past couple of weeks, has been deplorably unavailable to me. It seems that ~someone else's~ equipment is causing spikes on MY line, and they can't seem to pinpoint where said faulty device.)

//Did you enjoy being a DJ? The ones I have known have all liked it.
Sorry you're having such a time with the evil Internet.//

I always wanted to be a furniture maker. If things go south, I may yet have my chance.

TPBM spents much of the day outdoors.

270//Ceinwenn, sorry to hear that and on the same day the BBC announced "UK unemployment falls by 35,000"//

As in "I am a lumberjack" or catching spare melanomas on the beach? No. In fact "outdoors" has become too hot and stressful this last decade in Florida, despite the climate being one of the original motivation factors in coming here. I do not even have to do gardening (yard-work) because I listed it on our "mutually agreed list of incompetence" along with gloss painting.

TPBM has a similar nuptial agreed list.

Like Topsy, our list just growed. I cook, she washes up, she hoovers, I watch, I dig, she watches.....get the idea? Mostly agreement has happened rather than been negotiated. I'm easy with that. Things that neither of us want to do wait until one of us can't stand the not-done-ness any longer.

TPBM prefers more organisation.

276// My lord Abbott, one has to use 'vacuum' instead of hoover on a USA site.//

At work uber-organisation is required, at home, I'm more "M'eh, whatever!"

TPBM is going to be a book giver on World Book Night

Not unless someone supplies me with the details. I'm totally unfamiliar with the event.

The person below me can tell me the current time difference between the UK and the East Coast of the US. Is it only 4 hours?

5 hours.

TPBM has loved ones in different time zones.

Times zones, no. Planets, yes.

TPBM is green.

No, no … I refuse to accept that I can be Leaped. I was Leapt.

Let’s see, going East (or “left” for somebody we all know) wife and I in Bravo, GMT(or UTC nowadays), CET, EET, MSD, CMT and LibraryThing.

With one or less eyes and a pointed head? Or because you live in DC, a city we now know and love?

TPBM actually eats Cherry Blossom (and not the UK boot polish either).

No, but I Googled, and it looks interesting. Something new to try, maybe.

TPBM eats dandelion salad.

No, but I intend to try it this week. On the theory that if a plant is desireable, it will get finicky and fail to thrive?

TPBM has harvested food from their gardens already this spring.

It's actually autumn, but the weather can't decide. When we arrived down under at the height of summer, we had the heating on (though by the end of the week, we had the air-conditioning on ... and by the end of the week after that, the heating again ... etc., etc.). Now it actually is autumn, it's looking like we might need the air-con again soon. Especially since we had the heating on at the beginning of the week.

To answer your question, no garden.

TPBM plans to grow plants (other than pot-plants indoors) but has never actually managed to get around to it.

That would be an accurate assessment.

The person below me is feeling fretful. And is feeling grumpy as a side effect.

leapt! No, I t.ook the day off yesterday from work and am feeling much better now, thanks.

(I don't grow pot plants, and am insulted you would suggest I would grow an illegal substance in my home. I do put a few planters on my deck each spring and am surprised to find a few that survive my neglect into the fall.)

TPBM has a thumb which is much greener.

//I knew I was being hemispericentric when I hit the Post message button. Sorry!//

>288 2wonderY: : I shall be magnanimous and forgive you. I like the thought that dandelions might get finicky. However pretty and ephemeral the seed heads seem, they spread the wretched species so effectively; especially when every kid is tempted to blow them apart.

My vegetable garden thumb is bright green. My house plant thumb, which used to be bright green, is a dull grayish green these days, although I have managed to keep the shamrock and daughter's 2nd grade spider plant alive.

TPBM will plant heirloom tomatoes in their vegetable garden this year.

//I must be one of the few people who think dandelions are pretty. Who decides which plants are weeds and which plants are flowers, anyway?

I've never had any luck growing tomatoes of any kind. Le sigh.//

I would like to but I'm not feeling very garden-y this year. But I am thinking about buying some pots and glueing them together to make a birdbath.

The person below me has tried a similar craft.

>291 Boobalack: According to my botany professor, any plant growing where it isn't wanted is a weed. So your dandelions aren't. :)

I haven't tried that craft, but it sounds interesting. I'll have to google it.

After a painful encounter with stinging nettles near my yard last year (I mistook them for catnip and picked some-ooooow), I decided to fight back and discovered they are not only edible, but very nutritious. So tonight I steamed them then cooked them with kale and garlic, and added them to white bean soup. Tasty. I won this round with the "weeds."

Boobalack - I too am one of the few who thinks dandelions are pretty and don't stress about them in my yard.

TPBM likes to try new recipes.

//Yes, we will Google anything. Even if we have a large and cataloged (or catalouged) library. Did you see that today (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17362512) after 244 years the Encyclopedia Britannica gave up on printing and went, exclusively, online?//

We were taught that there was always Dock growing by Stinging Nettles - it was supposed to take away the sting and was equally nutritious. But no, I tend not to experiment with new recipes for weeds. Caviar maybe.

TPBM thinks caviar is pretty fishy-tasting blackcurrant jam (USA- jelly).

I'm not a foody and anything more subtle than curry is lost on me, so yes I think that caviar does taste like fish jelly. But I'll also snort the stuff if I have to because I know that no matter how it got where I am I didn't pay for it. And Carod, if you're not growing pot I want you to return my PayPal payment for $480. Think yew!

TPBM recently ripped someone a new one and liked it.

Um, no. I haven't felt the urge.

The person below me understands electronic gizmos.

The ones I have, I understand, and can read instructions to understand new ones.

TPBM is a luddite.

Heavens, no. I just wish stuff worked easier. For example, my new phone takes pictures. But not all the pictures can be sent by said phone. The book says I can insert a disk. But you have to insert the disk before assembling the other innards. I can't get the innards out to insert the disk. I am hoping there is an online tutorial to help me out. Great new device, but not intuitive for me.

The person below me never has trouble with new toys.

I do occasionally, but I refuse to be defeated by inanimate objects, so I generally win in the end.

TPBM is stubborn.

Nothing you say can convince me to agree with that statement.

TPBM is brilliant.

Sorry, I don't even generate enough light to read by.

TPBM retains most of what s/he reads.

Yeah, in book form. I find I'm even buying some books I started reading from the library.

TPBM is discarding.

No, I'm dediscarding and buying books. For which I have no room. It's a sickmess, that Aretha Franklin song has been going through my head all morning; "I'm drinking again."

//xor. You've never wanted to twist someone's head off? OK, it's just me. But trust me, it's awesome.//

TPBM is alarmed.

Yes, by ADT. Have the signs up in the front garden (yard) saying so.

TPBM is alarming.

Pee Ess 303 "dediscarding“? "sickmess"? Could Aretha be right?

303> SGiV, you said recently. Otherwise, my answer would surely have been different. :)

Am I alarming...? Sometimes I scream in my sleep, does that count?

TPBM is enjoying a treat.

...(penny ice and cold meat) with a party of friends and relations. They're a ravenous horde ....

TPBM knows where I am

Ah Lovely one our Lord Abbott!

You on a cross-channel packet Mi'lord, returning from your jaunt in Paris with a bunch of friends who boarded from Sloane Square and South Kensington.

TPBM is a jolly fine ....

//pea ess .. and I heard the tune before I finished reading your post!//

....Soprano. My ensemble had two concerts this week-end and worked on recording our new C.D. last night until after 9:00. I need some serious caffeine.

TPBM is a bear before their morning cup of....

...coffee, brought to me in bed by my loving-albeit-long-suffering spouse. Once I've had that, I can deal with real life.

The person below me gets to have something else brought to them.

A sense of appalling degredation and remorse, more often than not.

TPBM has been an LT member from the beginning.

.... of my awareness of it. Found out about it, checked it out, and was a lifetime member within half an hour. 4 1/2 years, actually, since Oct 2007.

TPBM can't imagine surviving without LT.

Nope..cannot live without LT..as soon as I begin a book I immediately put it into my LT catalog. I use my LT to keep track of the books I have read and what order, etc..Also find a million books to add to my never-ending tbr pile due to recommendations and everything else.

TPBM is anal about their LT too..

I guess anal about it in my own way. I'm a stickler for cataloging anything I read now, but pretty lax about adding books I read B.LT (Before LibraryThing).

I too spend way too much time finding books to add to my TBR list. I'm not on FaceBook so I tell friends that LT is like Facebook for people who like to read (they don't get it).

TPBM can predict the future.

Well, I can predict that if I don't leave my computer and get started on chores, I'll have another day with not much done. And I am in the middle of two books I really like. I started the second so the first would last longer, so now I'm just switching back and forth with Sudoku in between to stretch them out. Oh, no wonder I haven't gotten anything done. I only came in here to research blower/vacs.

The person below me is ready for coffee.

Perpetually.

TPBM is pretty darn (pun secondarily intended) good with a needle and thread.

Add a sail-makers palm and a pair of pliers and I will admit that I AM pretty durn good at that!

(Well no, come to think of it. USED to be.)

TPBM is also an EXspurt.....

I used to darn my dad's socks - he was tight that way. He said my darns were very smooth and well done.

TPBM knows where to get darning thread anymore.

Well I typed in darning thread on the internet and there seems to be a multitude of places that sell it. I even learned you can darn on a sewing machine....hmm I usually darn a lot when I am forced to use my sewing machine (usually I damn it a lot more though).

TPBM will share a lyric from their favorite song.

...I'm standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona - such a fine sight to see. It's a girl, my Lord, in a flat-bed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me.

TPBM really has stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona - even if there was no pick-up involved

Well, I'm standing on the corner of Lafayette
State of Louisiana
Wondering where a city boy could go
To get a little conversation
Drink a little red wine
Catch a little bit of those Cajun girls
Dancing to Zydeco

Along come a young girl
She's pretty as a prayerbook
Sweet as an apple on Christmas day
I said good gracious can this be my luck
If that's my prayerbook
Lord let us pray

- Paul Simon "That was your Mother"

I haven't been to Winslow, only Phoenix and Scottsdale (Az) (where I learnt I'm not that into Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture, though I don't mind his Chicago work).

TPBM is humming a different tune.

Nope, that Eagles song is going through my head.

TPBM plans on catching the Eagles in their concert tour.

I didn't even know they were on tour. And yes, I have stood on a corner in Winslow but mainly just to cross the street.

The person below me likes going to concert tours.

Not nearly as much as I used to... I prefer small venues.

TPBM has been a roadie.

Would helping to unload and set up the drums for a small local skiffle group in the 50s count? They were all "small venues" in those days - drill halls mainly!

TPBM even knows what skiffle was.

I think but am not sure that skiffle is the king of music that is real music but is played on washboards and things. They used to do that on some television program.

TPBM thinks being a Roadie would be marvelous fun.

//humouress, I have relatives in Beaux Bridge.//

Well, it would be an adventure, at any rate. It could well be marvelous fun.

The person below me wonders if his/her days of such adventures are over or just post-poned.

(Had to look that up. Breaux Bridge is apparently the crawfish capital of the world)

//I thought you'd know it since you posted a lyric about Lafayette. I even know the correct pronunciation of that. Ha//

I know my days of adventures are over.

TPBM still has some get-up-and go left in his/her body.

According to Pete Seeger, "my get-up-and-go has got-up-and-went".

TPBM has attended a Pete Seeger concert.

> 330 // *embarassed blush* Actually, I posted that because the previous lyric (which I still haven't placed) seemed so similar. //

(Answering 331)

Since the 50s, not a live one; I did see, back when we had TV, his 90th birthday extravaganza. And Iʻve been at one concert by the great Peggy Seeger , who
has the most beautiful voice, to my ear, of any folk singer.

TPBM has among his/her favorites at least one of the following: Peggy Seeger, Burl Ives, Phil Ochs, Rambling Jack Elliiot, The Travellers Three, Lonny Donovan
Jack Prine, The Weavers.

I agree aboout Peggy Seeger, especially in combination with Ewan MacColl. My brother and I wore out our mother's record with Burl Ives singing "Mule Train" and "Ghost Riders in the Sky".

TPBM has a functioning record player.

Yes, but my daughter has possession and is exploring my collection of LPs. It's nice to hear that so good music again.
My mother too, loved Burl Ives, and that's what we listened to while cleaning house. That and Mitch Miller.

TPBM has never played a record.

No, I don't even have a decent sound system. I fell in love with the Walkman the first time I saw one in 1981 and have had one on or close since.

//My mom, who had the great good fortune to be born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley, has a morbid aversion to all things Hillbilly, knew Horty Barker and got his album as a gag gift. His songs charmed me and I listened to it so often that she eventually hid it.//

//Roland!//

TPBM is an audiophile.

Not particularly.

The person below me has some unusual taste in music.

//Gaddamit! I just took my shoes off and my feet stink. Thought you all would want to know.//

// Unusual taste indeed SGiV! But in Music Anna said!//

Would Wagner do? He is a Marmite* thing - hate him or really couldn't be without him.

* UK speak, I don't know what the US equivalent is. The Aussies have Vegemite which is the same sort of dark brown paste that tastes of little but salt and is spread on toast or dissolved in hot water for a warming winter drink. Puts my BP up just thinking about it.

TPBM has made it thorough a Ring (Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungen that is, just to avoid any unnecessary vulgarity)

No, I am not really familiar with Wagner's Ring. (Other than the Bugs Bunny cartoon with Elmer Fudd bellowing "Kill the Wabbit, kill the Wabbit!!" (Yes, I'm kind of a low-brow in some respects.)

The person below me is more familiar with the William Tell overture.

Wagner certainly is Marmite!

I stood it all for the first day (courtesy of my boss from Munich) and enjoyed some of it. But the whole jar - sorry, ring - no.

Even though to this day I have to have my breakfast Marmite on toast each day! There is no USA equivalent my Lord Abbott.

TPBM has even survived the whole series of The Passion Plays (also in Bavaria).

Would you settle for Verdi's Rigoletto?
Just took it* out of the library yesterday and
it has three of the same letters in the
title? No? Well I havebn;t really made
it through it yet, anyway.

TPBM's favoerite opera can be found
somewhere on this list:
Tosca, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto,
Il Trovatore, H..M. S. Pinafore,
Nixon in China, Manon Lescaut.

*SUrprisingly short book ABOUT it, containing

the whole Italian tesxt and a cd.

//Here you go, humouress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEzTdBJUHO8 //

My favorite opera is nowhere in the above list.

TPBM likes this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjeYqS3_bfA

//Mr. House, we used to say that all the time but never knew where it came from. I don't think my Daddy ever heard of Pete Seeger, though. Must be one of those sayings everyone knows.//

Bocelli has a pleasant enough voice but I prefer the take of, in my view the greatest dramatic tenor of his generation, Placido Domingo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUyt_HhqhNw

This excerpt puts the familiar aria into its dramatic context and you can see it acted as well as hear it sung. YouTube has some great clips of Vesti la giubba - The youngish Mario del Monaco is great and you can hear Pavarotti intercut with Mario Lanza and, even weirder, Pavarotti on stage with Michael Bolton taking alternate phrases.

TPBM would rather listen to a jug band

*wiping brow in relief* Yep, i shur doo.

TPBM would rather mambo.

Everybody! Mambo!

TPBM discovered music from another generation through the movies or teebee.

Truth be told, I got most om my appreciation for classical music from watching old 'Farmer Brown' cartoons as a kid.

TPBM reads classics regularly.

Yup, and even does (so far unpubllshed) translations of them. In the past year: "Fasti" by Ovid from Latin then, from classical Greek, 3 dramas of Sophocles: "Ajax", "Oedipus at Colonus", and "Philoctetes". A t entative title for the 3 together is:
"The Tragedy of Illness". (If this sounds like a terrible title, Iʻm not too attached to it myself, and am open to suggestions.
The types of illness dealt with
are: mental (Ajax), Spiritual (Oed. Col.) and physical
(Phil.). Theyʻre all tragedies, but only 2 of the 3 protagonists die; (Philoctetes survives).

TPB M has read at least one of the following:

Philoctetes (Sophocles), Philebus (Plato), Meno (Plato),
Symposium (Plato), Symposium (Xenophon),
Fasti (Ovid), Metamorphoses (Ovid), a "Theban Play"* of Sophocles or a play by Aristophanes that is
other than Lysistrata.

*The 3 Theban Plays are Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone.

I know the croaking chorus from the Frogs of Aristophanes...

... I am the very model of a modern Major-General.

TPBM is, or knows, someone whose birthday is on February 29th.

Yes, me Mum-in-laws was.

//So do we all ........... Bre-ke!
But do you know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery, and is that how you became our Lord Abbott?//

TPBM hardly ever....

goes to bed before 3:00 AM.

TPBM hardly ever…

//abbottthomas, I have a recording of Caruso, or at least my mother does. I grew up listening to him, Mario Lanza and Jan Peerce. I listen to music more than see it, so Bocelli is my current favorite. I was watching television with my eyes closed one night and heard this voice. To my surprise, it was Michael Bolton, who I never actually liked, singing "Aida." I immediately purchased his CD of classical music. It's surprising how goot he is. He had to train for years to be able to sing those classical pieces.

Roland, I've read "Antigone" and 'Oedipus Rex" but not the other of those three you named. I read some Plato in college but can remember not much of it.//

Uses the listing-by-Library-of-Congrees number
on the pages of "Your Library" in L T --
but now it has replaced the listing of authors
in the format that L T gives me! And I don't
know how to bring back the Author Listing!
(I've tried the icon by which the format can
be changed -- to no avail.)

TPBM knows a solution to the above problem.

I'm not sure what you mean. It's still the same for me. I checked in two possible places, "Your Books" and "Add Books." "Edit View Style" worked okay in the first, and I searched by "Author" in the second.

TPBM reads to the exclusion of other fun activities.

Yes, to other forms of consumer entertainment (movies, video games, etc.). No to experiential fun (road trips, bar hopping, parties, concerts.) I do feel, very strongly, that all forms of activity are more important than rock climbing.

TPBM would walk a mile for...

Lots of money or really good ice cream. Not a Camel.

The person below me remembers those commercials.

Camel, yes; but I don't recall one about walking any distance for ice cream.

TPBM's favorite flavor of ice cream is ...

I like coffee, hazelnut, chocolate.....I like to go here: http://www.lacasagelato.com/ so I have many many choices.

TPBM makes their own icecream

eta for spelling

Maple walnut, which I havenʻt seen for ... years ... decades. (and my unfavorite, for its bad a ssociations, not for its taste, is pistachio.) As a retailerʻs
assistant, part time, one of the few things I learned about retailing was that, given a choice, just about everyone will choose pistachio. And we didnʻt carry it! Nor was the owner the kind of owner who took kindly to suggestions. I learned about this preference by the ownerʻs having insisted that
when asked what flavors we had, I was not to answer "vanilla, chocolate strawberry and coffee" (i.e. the truth) but to say
"ALL flavors!" And this always evoked "Pistachio!"

TPBM has had bosses who don ʻt take kindly to suggestions.

Hence, my several years of on-again, off-again self-employment.

TPBM has worked for a single employer for more than twenty years, or, if not employed long enough to meet said qualification, has had a single full-time job.

Nope, only 11 years as of this month with my current employer. I HAVE been doing the same job, full time super market nite crew, for almost 25 years tho, and been in the supermarket business for 28 years come next month.

TPBM has held numerous jobs

About a dozen but mind that seven or eight were with a single employer over a 34 year career.

Mind too that I was downsized, laid-off, made redundant and "invited" to retire early!

TPBM thinks that everyone over fifty should be replaced by a young 'new entry'.

Nope. I think those under 50 should be respectful of the contribution made by their elders. (Right up until the moment that the over-50's become stubborn and intractable about how much better things were several decades ago. They weren't, necessarily.)

The person below me can however think of at least one thing that was better 30 years ago!

My health.

TPBM can still do a push-up or two.

I wish.

TPBM exercises regularly. And I don't mean just push-aways (pushing oneself away from the table when finished eating), jumping to conclusions, et alii.

365// But Lettie! What then, is left?//

//HA-haha!//

About twice a month I manage to get a tennis game, or swim a few lengths; not regular as in every fortnight, but a couple of times a month. Regular enough? And I could only ever do a push up or two at a time.

TPBM resolves to do better. Starting tomorrow. Definitely - this time.

Oh, I will even resolve to start TODAY. But then of course, there's that movie on cable to watch or dinner to be got into the crockpot or cleaning to be done. And the next thing I know, the box of yoga DVDs are sitting still unwrapped on my chair.

The person below me works on a treadmill.

Yup. SWMBO (She-who-must-be-obeyed) threatened to put it in the garage sale next month because it was not being used and 'just in the way'. Yesterday I worked on closing it and pushing it back to one side.

TPBM knows why SWMBO found that a satisfactory solution.

It's not in the way anymore, obviously.

TPBM has a nasty closet that they are not looking forward to cleaning out.

Yes, and it just keeps getting nastier because I keep putting off until after I do all the other nasty cleaning jobs I keep putting off.

TPBM needs to clean out the basement.

This is Texas, darlin' - there aint no basements in Texas.

#370 - That was the nickname my kids and I used for my ex while I was still married to her. We had seen one episode of Rulpole, and the name stuck. She seemed to enjoy the moniker.

TPBM is a fan of British-made television series.

Yes, absolutely. Us Canadians had access to British T.V. shows from early on, and I loved Masterpiece Theatre as well. I loved the show The Sandbaggers. And Dr. Who, of course.

TPBM has another favourite.

Doc Martin. Monarch of the Glen. Bob the Builder (I have kids; nuff sed). Mr. Bean. Black Adder. Keeping Up Appearances ..........................................

I think it's partly nostalgia. Ooh - and 'Dowton Abbey'. And I could get into 'Larkrise to Candleford', if I ever manage to catch a full episode

TPBM is the relic of a bygone era (and can tell me where I pulled that out of; I have no idea)

ETC spelling

I don't think of myself as a relic. I prefer to think of myself as the Dowager Countess (picking up on your Downton Abbey reference.)

The person below me also fantasizes about having money, position, and a stylish walking cane.

I do have the cane. And among other relics of a bygone era I googled-up (™ new verb) were included; religion, heraldry and formal university lectures.

(My name was not mentioned.)

TPBM expects that at 376 it will soon be time for our new Thread Heading - probably based on the Events of 68 (Les Mais événements de l'année 1968) - and already has an idea of what might be offered for number 69.

//Yes, and I bet you do, too.//

We generally wait until we hit 400, but it's mostly because catchy phrase lines involving any given number isn't always so obvious. I'm toying around with some ideas, but it's likely I won't be the one to create the next thread anyway.

TPBM hopes the next thread subject line will be tasteful; i.e. - nothing about religion or politics.

Tasteful and amusing, please.

TPBM likes to relieve their feelings of frustration by shouting: "Frolicking bullocks!" very loudly.

No, but that is an amusing idea. I generally sing the "Oscar Meyer" song, from the commercial; "I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener. . ." It alerts everyone that I'm on the warpath and they, mostly stay out of my way.

TPBM likes Sophie's idea better

Actually, if I don't use one of the common "curse" words/phrases, I'll use gibberish. Let's me relieve some of that frustration without possibly "offending" a customer when the store is open.

TPBM tries to read the newspaper comics every day

If I get the papers, and don't have time to read the whole thing, naturally I make sure I read the important bits.

TPBM never gets the papers.

// I'd like to propose the next thread title be based on the Bryan Adams song Summer of '69//

//Oh Oh - now I have caused confusion - sorry! The next thread is number 68.//

Not any more. I used to read the newspaper every day. Now I get my news on NPR and on the internet.

TPBM has a favorite magazine that they just can't wait to get every month.

I have a hard time disposing newspapers till I've looked at every page. So it's just better to not get started.

TPBM counts.

as above per magazine

386 ?? As in One, two. three ?

Answering #385

Not monthly, but quarterly - I subscribe to Slightly Foxed, a literary review that looks at old, rather than new, books with short essays by enthusiasts about things which one really should have read the first time round. Sometimes the books are still in print, often by niche publishers such as Virago but many, frustratingly, are not, leaving you to look for e-books or search AbeBooks (or try the Slightly Foxed bookshop in South Kensington, if you're passing). Some authors are well known - Terry Pratchett and Rudyard Kipling in the Spring 2012 issue: some are more obscure or out of fashion - Hank Janson, John Cowper Powys - but rarely are they not tempting. You can see a full list + books reviewed in earlier issues + other comment on the LT group 'Slightly Foxed - an appreciation'.
http://www.librarything.com/groups/slightlyfoxedanappre

I can't recommend it too highly. It's not cheap but it is very nicely produced. Have a look on their website - www.foxedquarterly.com.

TPBM doesn't need any more book recommendations - their TBR pile is too high

How did you know?? Have you been in my room again?

TPBM is waiting for a sign.

Not any more. I just heard my husband getting out ice, which is a sign he's finished cooking. Yay!

TPBM will eat beef roast, roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts for supper.

No - we had a sort of tortilla and broccoli.

TPBM always eats up all their greens - even Brussels sprouts!

//Absolutely stunned - Gobsmacked even - that they now have Tortilla in Esher!//

I love sprouts the way SWMBO cooks them - blanched then fried in butter and chopped walnuts. But I have been educated on my collards by friends from Kentucky and now get the hot-crock going outside on the back porch, strip the leaves off and stuff them around a knuckle of smokey - salt, butter - delicious. And the pot-liquor!

TPBM also posted in the earliest TPBM thread. (I found #35 in the archives with many of the same personalities that still features in this, probably the longest running LT thread, and with the most witty members.)

My first post in TPBM was #128 in the original thread (which has over 500 messages in it.)

TPBM suffers from allergies.

Yes, and they're bad this year. A week or so ago, I took my usual over-the-counter medication (which is normally plenty effective, thanks) but spent most of the day feeling like I hadn't taken a thing.

The person below me thinks I was slipped a placebo that day.

As one who thinks conspiracy theories are always a possibility, sure, why not.

TPBM has concrete evidence of a conspiracy.

TPBM is convinced. (the proof is THEY wouldn't let me add my TPBM in the same post.) VERY suspicious!

No, there's no conspiracy so there can be no proof. There.can.be.no.proof.


New thread continues there.

Ha! See?

Yiiiiiiii.......