The Person Below Me - #33 (Insert conspiracy theory here.)

Link to old thread.
The Person Below Me - #32 - Halfway to 64

TPBM has been feeding the critters to make dealing with the cold easier.

I don't have any critters of my own, and I do not want to encourage the rats and pigeons, so no.

The person below me says I should adopt some critters already.

I've been bribing them - the squirrels really - with peanuts and birdseed so that they won't decide to chew a hole in my roof - again. I turned the garage over to them - what else do the little buggers want?

TPBM hates it when those TV weather people smirk, smile and chuckle as they burble on about now stinking cold it is and how it's bound to last another week at least.

You beat me, AnnaClaire!

Well this is a real winter for a change here, in southern MN, it reminds me of Northern MN winters. 0 chilly, -10 getting cold, -20 enough already!

TPBM has never been outside when Temps below -20F

No, and I don't intend to be. Brrrrrr!!!

TPBM likes to look at the pretty snow from inside the house and let others get out and play in it.

I've never even been INside when it's -20F outside (that's about -30C, right?). In SE England -6C is forecast tomorrow and people are behaving as if it is 'the day after tomorrow'. Global warming?? Huh!

TPBM wishes they had fur-lined boots.

No. I am wearing Ugg boots as I sit at my desk.

TPBM thinks that I should try fur instead of sheepskin.

Nope. Stick with your sheepskin. (Although does it have to be associated with Ugg boots?)

The person below me is reading something deeply interesting or actually FASCINATING insert author and book of choice

I haven’t started reading it, but it’s a library book so it’s on deck as first up after my move this Friday. The book is Service and Style, by Jan Whitaker. It’s about the development and evolution of the department store, and the stores’ impact on North American culture. Books about commerce usually interest me, but I can see where some people may not think it's interesting or fascinating. (I remember when Abercrombie & Fitch still sold pith helmets and fishing reels.) Whitaker is a LT author, btw.

TPBM is also reading something interesting or fascinating and will tell.

I'm reading The Ghost Map, about cholera and the development of public heath systems. So far, it's interesting. I haven't got far enough to decide whether it's FASCINATING, but it certainly has promise. Nothing like a good epidemic to warm you on a cold winter night.

TPBM would prefer something else to warm them on a cold winter night.

**Pats MrsHouseLibrary lovingly on the arm** Why, yes. Yes, I do.

TPBM is blushing.

Yes, following an incident involving my young dog and a naked jogger on a naturist beach. Don't ask.

TPBM has had an embarrassing moment.

It lasted almost 25 years, but I divorced her. You really don't want details.

TPBM has been known to throw caution to the wind.

Puddleshark, it wouldn't happen to be the beach where your profile picture was taken at, would it?

I should say; I've been married four times. (This time for sure, Rocky!)

TPBM is also an optimist.

Completely and utterly. I do sometimes find myself fretting unnecessarily about something in the future, but then I give myself a large mental slap and go back to expecting the best outcome!

TPBM is longing for spring to arrive.

You have no idea. There's already more than 2 feet of snow and ice on the ground, and we're getting 6-8" more today. Yuck yuck yuck.

TPBM's favorite season is fall.

Yes. I loved fall when I lived in Los Angeles (most of my life) and love it even more here in North Carolina where I've lived for the last 19 years.

I love the changing sun angles, the crispness of the air, the leaves changing color and falling, and the recognition by nature that there needs to be a time to rest.

TPBM is busiest in the fall.

Generally yes. I've always liked October, the wine dark month, but I've come to think of it as haunted- it seems to save the best and worst for itself.

TPBM secretly likes all the snow they've gotten.

Well, that depends. Are you assuming that it hasn't already melted (let alone stayed reasonably non-gray)?

The person below me has never seen more than flurries.

I've lived and worked in Minnesota for the last 20 years.

TPBM thinks walking much less driving a truck a frozen lake is suicidal.

Or close to it. We don't often get thick enough ice on lakes to walk on. (Ice on sidewalks is also unwalkable, but for another reason entirely.)

The person below me has slipped on black ice, and will describe the resulting bruise.

Well, it would be for me.

Drat! Leapfrogged since responding to #22

*DO OVER*

I am sure I've fallen on black ice, but what I remember most clearly was my son running with his high school track team and tearing up his knee when he fell on black ice. He wouldn't let me upbraid the coach but I've never gotten over the anger that they'd do something so stupid as run through a wet parking lot when it was right on the freezing line and ideal for black ice to develop.

The person below me has experienced an ice storm during this winter season.

We tend to call them "nor'easters."

Please see #23 (moments before #24!) for my prediction.

I once tripped on our front stairs and did something weird with my right foot. (Folding it and falling upon it?) The resulting bruise made it impossible for me to wear a shoe so I had to use a sandal for the next month or two. Ouch!)

The weather here is a couple of inches of snow but just 20 miles north of here it is more like 3 or 4 feet and more snow is on its way for the night. Temperatures are also dropping. -10 Celcius tonight. Sweden and Norway are talking about -40 C as a possibility this week.

TPBM has seen worse

I did a cross-Country ski race and the temperature at the start was -40 (this is were C = F). I've also been in a blizzard where with the wind chill it was somewhere about -60F.

TPBM didn't know that you could freeze your eye balls but other wise leave your face intact. (happened at the race to someone else)

No, I didn't, and I'll do my best not to confirm that information through personal experience.

TPBM lives somewhere that is warm right now.

Here on the West Coast it is 6 C, mild, cloudy with sunny breaks, not exactly tropical but certainly warmer than most of the above. We are expecting a couple of nice days and then the rain will set in over the weekend. Our city is in a flurry of activity getting ready for the Winter Olympics starting in a few weeks.

TPBM will be watching the Olympics on TV

Our household will be glued to the Winter Olympics coverage.

TPBM prefers some other sport.

Actually, my favorite sport is medieval tournament fighting, and group melee combat (S.C.A. style). I just watch ... getting hit with sticks is not MY idea of fun!

TPBM has achieved some measurable success in a sport (unlike me).

The only sport I've shown a sustained interest in in the past few decades is baseball, and that interest is not fanatical.

The person below me thinks that painting their bodies their team's colors is not fanatical.

Surely you jest.

TPBM prefers safe recreation, such as cards, dominoes, puzzle-solving, and, umm, you know.

(I apologize. I didn't notice until now that I had been beaten to the punch by BethyB. I think Boobalack's response is adequate to either, though.

Robert)

Being leapfrogged in this thread is quite normal, Robert. Don't sweat it.

That said, I do prefer safe recreation (of all the types Boobalack references).

The person below me is shaking their head regarding some form of current human frailty.

I have never been able to understand the thrill of bungee jumping. If God had wanted me to wrap myself up in a rubber band and jump off a bridge, he's have made me a yankee.

TPBM finds that most of his or her friends have very different political views from their own.

SGiV, keep this in mind ALWAYS:

In the Civil War, there were two groups fighting - the Yankees and the LOSERS!!!!

And to answer your question - I'm more disappointed in them that they can be so foolish than I am surprised at them having different political views.

TPBM will kindly return the subject to something less hostile; preferably expounding on the virtues of the meaning of Boo's you know in Message #33.

Sort of! I just wish to share that the mother of one of my colleagues in North Carolina was not joking when she referred to the Civil War as "the late unpleasantness". This charming euphemism had been handed down from her mother who had also grown up with it.

TPBM detests the use of euphemisms.

On the "Grinch Night" cartoon, my favourite line is the one when little Zaccariah Who has to go outside to use "the euphemism".

TPBM prefers to use an indoor euphemism.

Well, who doesn't?

With regard to the "late unpleasantness", I will never forget the line a sweet Richmond (VA) debutante used one day when she said "Well, of course, we could have beaten the Yankees with CORNSTALKS, but you silly people wanted to fight with guns!"

The person below me is grinning at that ancient old wheeze.

But, of course. Too, too funny.

TPBM realizes that the War Between the States is not yet over.

As I am a product of New Jersey, and living here in the most conservative county of all of Texas, I am reminded every stinking day of that sad fact.

TPBM is ready for the onslaught of frigid temperatures we're about to get.

Already in them, brrrrr! Mind you, we seem to have got off lightly here in the west of Scotland - further south and east in the UK, life has crawled to a halt (it only takes an inch of snow to cause chaos in London!). At the moment we have high pressure (1010), brilliant sunshine and clear blue skies, and I'm wondering why we so rarely get these conditions in summer when we need them ...

TPBM is planning a snowball fight today.

Actually, it looks like today will be the only day this week it'll get above freezing.

The person below me is on vacation somewhere very warm.

Newp, and I'm moving so what is the opposite of a vacation?

As for the war, I don't know what the official stance is on drawing it out. As soon as my robe’s back from the laundry I’ll mosey over to the fortified compound and ask around. Pro’ly agin it, especially if it interferes with deer hunting season.

TPBM has been back to the small town they grew up in.

I have been back to my home since my dad still lives there. It was on a very small island and I am glad I grew up there but there is no way I would try to raise children of my own there. It's a great place to visit but...

TPBM also grew up on a small island.

An island, yes, but not a small one. I grew up in the westernmost part of that really big island just off Connecticut, in one of two counties theron that are part of a city including two medium-sized islands and a little snippet of mainland.

The person below me was actually able to follow all those references I just made.

I think so- you grew up on Long Island, the Manhattan end, not the Hamptons. I grew up in Connecticut, so I have a little bit of a clue ...

TPBM has never seen an ocean, poor thing.

I have, as a matter of fact. Comes with living near one.

You're right about my earlier post, though you missed the (admittedly circumlocuitous) details about living so far to the Manhattan end as to be in New York City: Brooklyn and Queens, while physically on Long Island, are legally two of the five boroughs.

The person below me had not realized that Long Island really has four counties (Suffolk, Nassau, Queens and Kings).

Well, no. I can barely keep the counties in my adopted state of North Carolina straight.

TPBM loves musicals.

Yes, when they get on the movie screen. Oklahoma!, most of Gene Kelly's with Singin in the Rain at the top, High Society ..... I suppose you could call Fred and Ginge's B&W films musicals, but I think you do need Technicolor. I just got a free download of Well did you evah! from Amazon - maybe I'll pay for the other tracks.

TPBM would rather watch The Philadelphia Story than High Society any day

I love Katherine Hepburn movies! I missed seeing Deskset over the holiday. I would think that would be an appropriate holiday movie.

TPBM saw Deskset over the holidays. "Jackpot!"

"O---------------k-----lahoma!!!!!
Where the dust balls sweep around the plain,
And the…

Oops! Got carried away sorry. ::blush::

Please continue. ‹(^¿^)›

I didn't see Deskset but I do have a Christmas tradition of watching Hope and Crosby Road movies, and Thin Man movies. They used to play Camelot every Christmas Eve, but they haven't done that in 10 years or more. Man I love those old movies. Musicals, too and especially, nothing like them.

TPBM sings beautifully.

Not familiar with that tune... Beautiful bu Gordon Lightfoot, yes, but Beautifully? Sorry. Can you hum a few bars?

TPBM knows the tune of which SGiV speaks.

It sounds just like Greensleeves but different. I can't sing at all. Sometimes I move my lips during hymns at church. I might be able to do the talking part of a talking blues.

The person below me has driven a taxi for a living.

Alas my love
You have done me dirt
For you sewed green sleeves
On my purple shirt.

I don't know who wrote those words.

I haven't driven a taxi for a living, but my uncle did for a while a very long time ago.

TPBM has many military folk in his/her family.

Surprisingly so, for an old pacifist hippie: my grandfather (Army), father (Navy), first husband (Navy), son (Army), daughter-in-law (Air Force), and step-grandson-in-law (Air Force). Only the last is still active duty. No Marines, I notice. Wait...had an old boyfriend who flunked out of Marine boot camp. And my boss is an ex-Marine. I'll count that toward a full house.

TPBM gets choked up at "Semper Fi"

I find John Gorka's song of that name rather poignant.
I also have a great deal of respect for ~anyone~ who puts his/her life on the line in the belief that they are contributing to the defense of her/his country.

I'm saddened by the cold-heartedness of all the people who mislead us into wars, though.

I, personally, am a Pacifist. There is much I do not understand about wanting to kill someone I don't know; and there's no one that I know that I want to kill - not even my ex.

TPBM can't wait for kite-flying weather.

I can wait a long time for that sort of weather - I hate strong winds and kites turn me into Charlie Brown - I just can't control them! A nice still sunny day when I can sit outdoors reading a book - that's perfect weather!

TPBM has a hammock and uses it.

(Edited for schpelling.)

Yes we do. We bought it at Pawley's Island, SC, home of the "Original Pawley's Island Rope Hammock". We bought the metal stand, too, so it's portable. Now's not the time of year to use it, but it gets used in the spring, summer, and even fall.

One memorable use, though, was in November when it was literally freezing out, daughter was about 7 or so (I originally wrote 6-8-ish, but she's not that tall - thank you Xorscape for pointing out the ambiguity) and we stayed up most of the night watching the Leonid meteor shower (it was 1999, 2001, or 2002, according to Wikipedia, when they were a "storm"), relaxing in the hammock bundled in leggings, coats, and tons of blankets with the husband in his rocking chair behind us. Hot chocolate all around! It was a stunning display and we could hear our neighbors (300 yards away) "oohing" and "aahing" as much as we did. It was worth the lack of sleep.

TPBM has seen an interesting astronomical phenomenon.

Can anyone play?

We used to take our daughter out to Valley Forge Park every August to watch the Perseid meteor showers. Hundreds of people spread blankets and fiddled with cameras and telescopes. Often buggy, but much warmer than November!

TPBM doesn't believe in paranormal experiences, but had one anyway.

I've never had one, but would love to have one come my way...a ghost or an alien would be awesome! And then I would run away like a little baby, because I really am a weenie.

TPBM spends too much time watching/reading scifi/fantasy/paranormal stuff (like me)

Since that's pretty much all I watch or read, I'd have to agree. Not so much the paranormal, but definitely the sf/f.

TPBM doesn't believe in aliens - except the human "from another country" kind.

I believe in aliens, just find it hard to believe they have actually visited us here.

TPBM knows someone who swears they were abducted by aliens.

I know people who I would swear were abducted by aliens.

TPBM rides a bicycle in wintertime.

I used to. When I lived in NJ, I commuted 11 miles to work using a bicycle. I even made my own snow tires. I was doing the commute back home (in the Summer) when I became a member of the Over the Handlebars Club. It merely delayed the length of time (by about 6 months) that I bicycled next.

TPBM has got all of the holiday decorations put away already.

Well, if never having found the time and space to get them out counts as putting them away, you are correct, sir!

TPBM believes in leaving the decorations out until 12th Night.

Never got 'em out in the first place.
Oh my! That works for the one I ended up with, too!

The person below me already has decorated for the next holiday.

No, I still have some lights on one window. I finished taking down my mother's decorations last night. Those last ones go in my garage. My mother's "geezerpalooza" (thanks SGiV for that, it made my family laugh) is leaving up some of the holiday lights and will modify them for Valentine's Day.

I extend my sympathy to those of you freezing. Our high today is only going to be 69 I think.

I misread karenmarie's post #61 and, at first, thought she had a really tall daughter. :)

The person below me hides the clutter when company comes and then struggles to find everything when the company leaves.

Well, I used to do that. Now there's clutter permanently stored in all the hiding places, so there's nowhere to hide the active clutter. I just make the company ignore it like the family does.

Our high today was -1. Yuck yuck yuck

TPBM understands the pain it causes that my children think boxes of books are clutter.

Write them out of the will!

TPBM can think of an even more apt punishment.

I can't think of anything sufficiently unpleasant.

The person below me can.

Sure. Leave them in the will. Then they will have to deal with them in the end.

TPBM has inherited books.

Over 450 of them! I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before (on my Profile Page, I think), so I'll spare you the details. Actually, I'm writing a story that includes how we got the ones we did.

TPBM has got big plans for this weekend.

Yes, sorting out the hooge mound of stuff that's taken over my living room. The way this apartment is configured I'll have room for at least another book case, maybe too if I run an extension cord out that I'll never, ever have to get to for any reason.

Or, I might resort to Plan B and sleep for 12 hours then go to the movies. Plan B is looking kind of good, ack-shully.

TPBM has lived in a pre-war apartment that was as big as a house.

I don't know whether it was pre-war, but I lived in an apartment in Corpus Christi, Texas, in '67-'68 that was big enough a friend and neighbor claimed to have gotten lost in. I could use that much room now.

The person below me is glad they are not living with their parents despite the adjustments they have had to make.

Well, Dad's been dead for 12 years now, so I'm not even going to think about the adjustments I'd have to make ~there~. And, I'll refer you to my Wind Chime story, if you'd like, to explain why living with my mother is even less desirable than with Dad.

TPBM know of which I speak.

Nope. Haven't a clue.

#70 xorscape - in looking back it does leave room for that misinterpretation, doesn't it? I've changed it. (or, will have changed it by the time most people read it).

TPBM does a lot of editing on their posts because once they look at them they think "Gosh, that just doesn't sound like what I meant."

Not really. They're written (typed, actually), so they don't ~sound~ like anything when you consider the facts.

TPBM knows of which I speak.

I know many things. (Hence my growing reputation as a great Guru of Inner Strength, Wisdom and Teacakes. I'm having business cards made up for distribution in order to widen my audience.)

The person below me is a guru of something.

No, just a High Priestess. My sister, Swami Hastananda, she has a guru.

TPBM is either laughing or scratching his/her head.

I had a guru once, but one week I went away and forgot to leave out food. Now I think I'm on some kind of list.

TPBM has flown in the past week and has a story to tell.

No, but my brother did. He left Tucson, Arizona to fly to St. Louis, Missouri where he lives. He changed his flight to an earlier one because of the horrible cold weather hitting everywhere but here. His new flight was cancelled so he paid money for nothing. He got in late. The taxi he took to where his car was parked had an accident. He waited for almost an hour while they sent for a new taxi. He then had to drive home at 25 miles per hour because of the ice. Poor guy.

karen, I'm always trying to figure out if I said it right. You were clear enough. I just used to date a guy who was 6'8" so the numbers just hit me funny. It sounded like a lovely night.

My friend has a guru/swami and she took me to a retreat. I fell in love with chanting!

The person below me has been somewhere to chant with a group.

Can't say that I have, although I like listening to the Gregorian Chants tape I got some time back. (Give me that old-time religion!)

x-cape,
You used to date my older brother? When were you in Maine?

TPBM also has a relative who stands out in a crowd.

Our nephew does but not because he's tall. He's weird.

TPBM also has a weird nephew.

Close - it's my son who's the weird nephew.

TPBM thinks weird is normal.

Normally, yes.

TPBM feels a certain serenity in being somewhat ~different~ than the rest of humanity.

I always wondered, even as a child, why anyone would even want to follow the crowd.

TPBM passed a horse and buggy on the road today.

As I haven't set foot out the door as yet today, the answer would be "no".

The person below me thinks of the Amish as soon as s/he hears the phrase "horse and buggy".

>>90 jillmwo: Nope, I think of my grandparents, the Amish and Oklahoma in that order. My grandparents had a buggy seat in the basement that I used to sit on and watch teevee.

TPBM is a speed reader.

Yes I am - a VERY SLOW speed reader - 215 WPM, at best.

TPBM knows how fast (or slow, depending) s/he reads.

I read as fast as it takes me to read. Which is fast enough to amaze my husband, but not fast enough to read everything I want to.

TPBM will tell us the title of the largest book in his or her house.

That's rather hard to judge -- different size print, etc., but it's either The Winds of War, Exodus, Anna Karenina, The Snopes Trilogy all in one book, From Here to Eternity, East of Eden, or The Great Shame. Oh, wait, I know! It's a dictionary.

TPBM knew it would be a dictionary without even thinking about it. Duh!

I did - because this is how ~my~ answer came out --

It depends on how you define "largest".

The TALLEST book I have is actually a hard-bound catalog for wrought-iron (mostly) decorative lamps, at 19-1/2 inches.

The LONGEST (spine-to fore-edge) is just shy of 17" - a coffee-table book about images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

The THICKEST book is a Webster's Dictionary that I rescued from Goodwill for a buck and a half - 4-1/4" thick.

TPBM owns a book that weighs more than 5 lbs.

I do, it's a Webster's from the 1880s, love that book. It's at least 10 pounds and several thousand pages. If I knew which box it was in I'd get it out and be more specific.

TPBM owns a book that was created before 1500.

I have both the Illiad and the Odessey oh and The Divine Comedy

However my copies are a bit newer...

TPBM likes finding loop holes in statements.

TPBM likes finding (There they are.)>>loop holes in statements.

Inspired by the largest book question, TPBM will tell us about the smallest book he/she owns.

The Little Book of Calm of course;-)

TPBM is snowed in

No, we just have the Arctic Chill for a few more days!

The person below me doesn't own a smart phone.

No. I had to look it up, but I definitely don't. I don't plan on changing that any time soon, either.

TPBM has just gotten excited over an old musical and is humming the music incessantly.

Nope, but if I were it would be either the Mikado or Cabaret. I know the words to the Mikado and Cabaret usually suits my mood.

TPBM will be asleep within 30 minutes of getting home tonight.

I usually sit down on the couch when I get and (these days) pull a blanket over my lap. I turn on the TV and I usually doze off in about 10 minutes.

TPBM never naps during the day.

I wouldn't say "never", but it's rare when I do.

TPBM is helping someone who is down on her/his luck.

Well, I'm driving the Abbess to court every morning while she discharges her civil duty on jury service - the case is likely to last for four weeks. She sees that as bad luck!

TPBM has enjoyed a day (or more) in court.

We had stone soup Sunday at church yesterday. I was told repeatedly, by members of a congregation who pride themselves in their rationality, that the people who got stones in their soup would have good luck all year. We were also told to return the stones that we found in our soup. I pointed out that I had found a stone in my soup in an earlier year and not experienced the predicted correlation.

There was a stone in my second of four bowls of soup. I have it in my pocket now as a hostage. I demand my good luck.

Never, as defendant or as witness have I enjoyed a day in court; my job required that I be at court often.

The person below me travels through time into the future.

Can't! My Flux Capacitor is on the blink.

TPBM will wax poetic of the properties of Cavorite.

Cavorite as it is used in the DC universe or as it appears in The First Men in the Moon? See also these resources: http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Cavorite and http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=717

The person below me is more interested in the Marvel Universe.

I do frequently marvel AT the universe ... does that count?!

TPBM knows that finding the first grey hair on your head is as nothing compared to the shock engendered by finding the first grey hair somewhat further, ahem, south ...

Well, I'm still dealing with the first ... ah... northern... hairs; a small cluster of them now, according to Kelly, who cut my hair last Saturday.

I really can't complain with the beginning of gray hair - I'm almost 57 and my dad's hair didn't go gray til his 50s so I was hopeful (and rightly so, as it turns out).

I will probably give in gracefully and let my hair do what it wants to do.

TPBM's hair turned gray when they were in their 20s or 30s.

Yes, I found my first grey hair at age 20, and it was well distributed by my 30s. I am so glad it has become fashionable to leave it undyed.

Spousal Unit says, "On a man, a head of grey hair makes you look distinguished. Down south, it just makes you look old."

TPBM can explain when to use "gray" as opposed to "grey."

Always use grey.

TPBM colours their grey hair.

No, although I have thought about cutting it short and bleaching it out. I found my first grey hair at 26 and now I have grey on both sides and a Susan Sontag thing going on with a strand in front. (Nobody learns about 'down south' without buying me dinner first.)

I know I'm not a kid anymore but I don't feel older than 18. When I first moved to this place, I was walking down the hallway to my apartment at the end. This early 20's guy was knocking on the door of a neighbor I'd spoken with a few times (the neighbor, not the door.) He kept on staring at me and I was about to break the ice by saying 'Hey, how's it going?' or some chummy thing, when he blurted out 'Aren't you Heather's dad?' Screwed up my whole day.

TPBM has a radical hair cut.

Well, radical for me - I won a makeover at my second job, and now it's barely shoulder length and layered instead of to the bottom of my shoulder blades and blunt-cut.

TPBM has had their hair dyed an unnatural color.

Not dyed at all. When I do augment the color, I go for the temporary stuff and not far from my natural color.

The person below me is sleepy.

It's just 11:30 am here on the west coast so I am not sleepy at all. Have to stay wide awake this afternoon as well as I am babysitting the grandkids.

TPBM is wearing something blue today.

why, how correct you are, both a blue long sleeve shirt and blue jeans.

TPBM wheres wild underclothes under their plain work cloths.

What a novel idea - clothes under my clothes!!!

TPBM keeps a current journal.

Yes, it's SHOCKING!

TPBM will tell us something electrifying.

When I pet my black cat in the dark, I can see sparks!

TPBM doesn't like cats (well, maybe in a stir-fry)

I do like cats, and not in stir-fry.

The person below me likes dogs.

I like dogs - both in buns and the four-legged type.

TPBM is now thinking of having a snack after this talk of stir-fries and hot dogs!

Dogs in buns -- you mean like this?


And yes, I am feeling a bit peckish*, now that you mention it. I's been a good while since lunch.

The person below me will share a goofy pet story.

* Edit: but not for a costumed canine!

Further edit: I wonder if Mark Bittman has been reading our threads.

Going back a bit, "grey" is the chiefly British spelling of "gray," so which one you use depends a lot on where you live -- think color and colour.

My large cat used to take a chunk of food over to the corner of the room and then move the small cat to the food to keep the small cat from trying to shove him away from the food dish.

TPBM has no pets now.

None, I'm glad to say. We had a hamster that ate the carpet and chewed loudspeaker cables and was finally crushed to death by my mother-in-law. We were on holiday and she kept the corpse in the deep-freeze for us. We had cats - a mommythat eventually died aged 23 or so having had 3 kittens - two given away and a dim but adorable tom who died after being hit by a car - Aaaahh! We just had a woodmouse (Sweeeet, according to the abbess) share our kitchen but after traps failed to get it the ultrasonic gizmo seems to have sent it packing.

Now you know it all - I have enough to do looking after myself to bother with dependent critters.

TPBM can't abide the thought of no animal to share their life.

Even our silly chickens add to my life. They all have personalities and are always happy to see me when I visit them (mainly because I have cantelope rinds or lettuce leaves to give them).

TPBM talks to their animals (and sometimes expects a reply).

No, I don't talk to them, because a whole barnful of chickens can easily outshout me.

The person below me ate eggs today.

Only as an ingredient in my carrot cake. However, I did purchase eggs -- cage free organic.

TPBM shops more exotically.

Aaak! Leapfrogged!

Not unless someone slipped it in a noodle. We kept chickens when I was a wee tot. Chickens have, on the whole, no sense of humor, especially when the joke involves a 3-year-old, a bucket of water and nothing else on the agenda. Chickens can also run really fast.

TPBM has outrun a bear.

TPBM shops more exotically.

I used to, when I lived in Manchester and there were lots of wonderful ethnic grocers' shops to root around in - Dunoon is a little more pedestrian in its offerings!

TPBM is happy and knows it.

Yep! And knowing that I am happy is a very big deal given that I have known deep depression. Sitting here is my warm house, reading LT talk, while the doves coo outside in the snowy garden is a blissful state that can be improved only by coffee. Thank you for drawing my attention to the ease with which I can make happiness even happier... I must now decide which blend and which preprartion method to employ just as soon as I complete this post.

TPBM would be even happier with coffee.

I'm always happier with coffee. I just had my first sip and it was, as always, heavenly.

Gevalia Stockholm roast decaf, freshly ground, made with my good well water in a drip coffee maker. Put into a heated thermos and carried to work. Black, no sugar.

TPBM grinds their own coffee beans just prior to brewing.

Actually, I don't like coffee (I know, heresy). I drink a can of Coke (tm) in the morning, and that's it for caffeine, except for the occasional chocolate. Coffee smells wonderful, but only tastes good if it's been thoroughly adulterated with sugar and cream, to the point where it tastes like coffee ice cream (which I do like). At that point it's too tepid to drink, so ... I'm a Coke fiend ...

TPBM doesn't do caffeine.

outside of chocolate, no I don't a can of Coke at supper could keep me up half the night. I sometimes wonder if that is why WHL is an insomniac, to much caffeine in his system...

TPBM would be tempted to bring death to anyone standing in the way of their morning caffeine fix.

And we're back to me ... there's a standing rule in my house - NOBODY drinks the last Coke but Mom, and I mean NOBODY. My 6'3" 17yo (still growing) understands that if deprived of my caffeine I can and will take him out ...

TPBM just doesn't get it sometimes ...

You mean like right now?
I haven't had any coffee yet, and that's the only thing I'll get.
It's a medical issue - the doctor says I have too much blood in my caffeine system.

An older brother of mine was 6'8"; his wife was 6'5". When their son was in 8th grade, he was 6'9". The next-tallest in the family is a mere 6'1", and I'm not far behind that, depending on which leg I stand on.

TPBM also has an unusually tall relative.

A nephew who is in excess of 6'2" but honestly, I'm unable to recall the technical specifications. (I process that he's bigger than me and that's pretty much where I stop.)

The person below me is eavesdropping on a phone call (albeit unintentionally).

not intentionally, but with the acoustics of the hall and my office, I tend to be included in almost all conversations in this part of the building, it does give me a heads up on whats going on anyway.

TPBM is also in the 'mushroom' department in their company...

"Mushroom" department??

The person below me has an interesting fungus-related name for something very un-fungus.

"Mushroom department" - kept in the dark and deep in s**t.

I don't have any other fungus euphemisms but I always loved the French name for a loved one - "mon petit choux" (my little cabbage) which I think is derived from the explanation that babies were found in the cabbage patch.

TPBM has another favorite pet name for a loved one.

Yes, I call her MrsHouseLibrary.

TPBM can give us an example of irony.

Yes I can!

TPBM listens to old radio shows.

Yes, on my old radio.

TPBM listens frequently to on-line music streams.

Daily, I guess. At a certain stage in my morning approach to the internet I turn on Pandora and leave it on, mostly, until I shut down.

The person below me does something.

Yes, sometimes. But occasionally I don't. Depends on how I'm feeling and whether or not it's raining. I used to do something more often, but I was younger then.

TPBM will get me out of this.

The only solution is not to do anything. Ever.

TPBM has something important to do. Soon.

I can try...

My understanding is that abbottthomas is most qualified for doing nothing, and he doesn't it with much verve. Why, the only person who does less is SomeGuyInVirginia, and ~he's~ got a NEGATIVE do-nothingness factor, and that's really something!

TPBM, if not one of the aforementioned parties will give a quick assessment as to how well I helped abbottthomas in his quest for getting himself out of the hole he dug himself into.

If TPBM is either abbottthomas or SomeGuyInVirginia, he will comment on the weather, with thoughts as to the coming of Spring-like weather.

Always!

TPBM smells something burning.

I wish I did - I'd love to have a real fire to warm myself in front of, given how cold it is here - not just cold, but damp - ugh!

TPBM is going to cook something yummy for dinner tonight.

The yumminess quotient will be limited by the fact that I won't have time to shop, so will be using up whatever is in the cupboard. But I have eggs, flour, sultanas, so there may be a batch of rock buns.

TPBM is disturbed at the notion of a rock cake.

(Edited to reduce level of grouchiness).

As the old joke goes: "Granny's made some rock cakes - take your pick ..."!

TPBM is also grouchy and probably has low blood sugar and therefore should eat some chocolate.

I'm going to eat chocolate, but chiefly because it is my birthday!

The person below me loves chocolate cake.

Like nothing else - my boyfriend's sister-in-law made me the most amazing chocolate cake for my birthday - I was in heaven! (that reminds me, she promised me the recipe)

TPBM didn't get a birthday cake for his/her latest birthday, and will tell us all about it ...

Yikes! I was responding to #151, and was beaten to the 'Submit' button TWICE!!

I haven't had a cake on my birthday in decades! I don't feel any particular need/want/desire to 'celebrate' my birth any more than I do on any other day. I've already lived several years beyond expectancy anyway, so for me at least, every day is a victory.

TPBM will have a piece of chocolate and tell us how it tasted.

I just had a piece of dark chocolate, two actually, and they were highly satisfying. I may even go over to a co-worker's desk and beg her for a York Peppermint Patty.

Three's a good number.

Happy Birthday, jillmwo!!!

TPBM just finished an ER book and is starting to think about writing a review.

Nope I finished it and wrote it earlier this week, though I am part way through my Next ER book.

TPBM likes to get free books for the price of a review.

I feel lucky to have received two and am happy to give a review in return.

TPBM is looking forward to the winter Olympics.

Apparently not... When are they?

My enthusiasm for sporting events is almost on a par with my desire to speak with my ex.

TPBM secretly craves Milky Way candies.

Oh, it's no secret around here - I prefer the dark chocolate ones.

TPBM likes hard candies best.

Lemon drops!

TPBM likes gummi candies (of any shape or flavor).

I do, and my favorite is the cola bottle kind. Ummm, um! But if it's not chocolate, it's just something that will ruin your dinner.

Happy Birthday, jmw.

TPBM smuggles candy into movie theaters.

Naw, if I'm not hungry I don't need anything. If I am hungry I need more than candy and usually get the large refillable the same day popcorn.

Merry birthday, Jill.

The person below me doesn't have birthdays.

I never have more than one a year. (And I hope jillmwo has a happy one.)

TPBM will tell us about the best birthday present they ever received.

Happy Birthday, jillmwo!!

My best birthday present was a doll given to me by my husband several years ago. What made it so special is that we had seen it in an antiques store window, I told him I liked that doll, and he remembered for almost a year!

TPBM also has a considerate spouse.

Extremely so - he brings me tea in the mornings, hand-painted me an anniversary card, carved me a little wooden heart keyring and indulges my need to read!

Happy birthday for yesterday, Jillmwo!

TPBM will tell us about the last book they read.

Gladly. It's an audiobook (some of you might not consider it reading, and I don't consider it reading either, but I consider it "consumed", "grokked", "absorbed", etc.)

When Will There be Good News? by Kate Atkinson. Excellent, wonderful book. I immediately started re-listening to it and going to buy an actual copy of the book today using a gift card I got for Christmas. Then I can have it in my catalog and put the review I wrote on my 75 book challenge thread in an official review.

TPBM only keeps books they own in their catalog and doesn't add wishlist books or books they read from the library or books they read but got rid of.

That's the way I do it - there are some (owned) audio books and one or two non-book stuff included. Like this http://www.librarything.com/work/7153506/book/39918149
The only not or no-longer owned books are a couple that weren't worth keeping but which I had reviewed.

TPBM has a favourite coffee cup

Many happy returns of yesterday, Jill

Like in Groundhog Day? *Yikes*


> TPBM has a favourite coffee cup

Two.

TPBM has big plans for this week / month / year.

Tomorrow morning I get to judge at a 4-H Favorite Foods Day event. The kids make an item, create a menu to go with it, learn what makes it nutritious and answer a few questions about safe food handling and hand washing. After all the judging everyone gets to taste what all the kids made. It is so much fun. I learned about chimichurri sauce there.

TPBM also volunteers for a youth organization.

Nope, but one of my New Year's resolutions is to look into the local animal rescue chapter. I don't think I could do it if all they do is put them down, though- too sad to bear.

TPBM recently found a lot of money.

sort of, in preparation for taxes i looked at my last pay stub for the year I noticed how much they said I made, I was surprised, even more surprised when I realized almost all of it was gone. I think they lied to me how much they paid me...

TPBM is close to voluntarily removing themselves from the work pool, just because they can.

No, I'll be working 'til I drop. I can't afford to do anything else.

By the way, many thanks to all and sundry for the kind birthday wishes. May each of you get chocolate on your special day!

The person below me is charging their cell phone (which is better than charging on a credit card).

Yes, I haven't gone out yet today, so I'll leave it plugged in until I do.

TPBM is charging some other indispensable item of modern technology.

My Dust Buster is sitting in its charger. My kids gave that to me for Christmas because they heard me wishing for one at work. I have it plugged in with big letters designating me as the owner. It is indispensable for getting those mini dust bunnies around the computers.

TPBM hates those mini dust bunnies, too.

Indeed I do. It's weird, when I was a kid I was a slob but now I like everything (home, office, car) to be neat as a pin. Clutter gives me the willies; I would never have been able to be a Victorian.

TPBM is going to sleep early tonight.

I'll be going to bed early, but that doesn't mean I'll b able to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be quite busy for me, starting around 6:30 a.m. (usually the time I finally succumb to sleep).

TPBM is expecting to see a glut of wildflowers this Spring (whenever that may happen...)

Nope, I'll be going to bed early in the morning. I've gotten into the awful habit of staying up until 1:00-2:00 AM.

Yes. They will all be in my yard. Some people call them weeds.

(SomeGuy, you can learn to put up with anything. Now that I can no longer clean house, I don't have dust bunnies. I have dust gorillas. They chase me around the house until my daughter can finally come over and do some cleaning.)

TPBM also has dust gorillas.

Yes, but I don't have a good reason for allowing them to accumulate. It just happens. Some day they will smother us all in our beds.

TPBM has good news.

No. In agreement with Quentin Crisp's dictum, after five years it makes no difference.

The person below me cleans the corners of the bathroom with a q-tip.

Umm ... there are definitely q-tips in my bathroom, and there may be some in a corner, but no, I'm not quite that tidy ...

TPBM has good news (to tidy up the thread a little)

I had all the parts and was able to assemble my dust collector last night only bumping my head once and no other major injuries. Now I just need to get some more parts to plug the Dust Collectors 220 plug into the different 220 plug in my garage so I can actually turn it on...

TPBM has done a little electrical wiring from time to time.

I confess that I have (when the electrician monk has been off duty) put the odd extra socket in and moved a light switch or two. In the UK now it seems to be against the law to play with electricity unless you have degrees and diplomas. What nonsense! But wait! I must go and investigate some flickering in the clerestory.

TPBM knows the story of Lord Finchley

Something about trying to fix something electric, and it killed him. I think it's a poem. (?)

TPBM know the story of Rhett Butler.

edited: Aaak, leapfrogged!

>>183 Boobalack:- Nope, except he cursed in front of a lady and he shouldn't have oughta.

>>182 abbottthomas:- No, but I know the story of Shockheaded Peter which is kind of the same thing only German and, therefore, kind of creepy.

If TPBM could wave a magic wand and give every child in his or her country an education equivalent to what would be expected from Harrow School or Deerfield Academy (or some other respected institution), he or she wouldn’t do it. Explain your work. (I would: I feel it's all that stands between the world and ruin.)

Edited fer spellin and sich.

I wouldn't. Somebody has to dig the ditches and drive the trucks.

TPBM understands the above reasoning.

By the way, my husband is a retired truck-driver, so I didn't mean any disrespect.

My brain is mush. No reasoning to be found anymore.

I miss a few days and there are lots and lots of posts! Happy birthday, belatedly but sincerely, jill!

I need an electrician guy. I called three today and they each want $100 to change out a ceiling fan (8 foot ceiling). I'm still thinking about it. I can probably talk my 79 year old brother into doing it for me. Maybe I should learn?

The person below me has good luck hiring handypersons and/or contractors.

Well, I have a husband who can fix or make almost anything, so it hasn't been necessary so far - but when we do need to hire someone (the roof on this place is 130 years old and showing its age), Ralph will be able to check their workmanship and not get conned - very useful!

TPBM also lives in an old property and is happy to put up with the associated drawbacks.

The best response I can give is that we've always been lucky and no one has taken us for thousands and thousands of dollars. It's certainly not due to our own internal savvy in picking folks out of a phone book.

The person below me's first thought was "Wait, do they still have printed phone books for that purpose?"

Darn, Sophie got ahead of me...leapfrogged!

Our home is some seventy years old, I think. The wiring is absolutely ancient.

The person below me respects the arcane nature of 1940's wiring.

I lived in a house that had the electrical lines run through what used to be the gas lines. Some of the original gaslight fixtures were still in the basement.

Good thing it was in the pre-computer era. We would have burned the place down with all the cords we use now.

TPBM remembers when all appliance cords were cloth-covered.

I remember cloth covered appliance cords but not when they were all cloth covered. Furthermore, the 1930's wiring of my parents' house was superb (Greenwich, anybody?) except that it was fused rather than having circuit breakers.

The person below me has lived in a house without a heater.

It seems that way in this house. I've owned it for 20 years now, and haven't ever added more insulation in the attic, or replaced the doors that have single-pane glass in them. One is almost completely rotted at the bottom. It's am all-electric neighborhood - no gas lines, no propane tanks... The better part of the past two weeks have been particularly cold (and now, rainy). The only time we were comfortably warm was when we had a fire going in the fireplace, and the downstairs heater doesn't come on at all. Today, we got our electric bill. Our electricity usage was almost TWICE what it was fir any month over the past year! Seriously, it's more than my mortgage.

TPBM wants to come over and take my wife's cockatiel far, far away from me. (please!!!)

Well, we're getting ready to lose our pet rat to tumors, and we taught the cats to ignore their base instincts and NOT go after the rat, so perhaps a cockatiel wouldn't be a bad thing.

Having said that, although I may want to come over and take away the cockatiel, I won't. No new pets anytime soon. Daughter's going to college in 1 1/2 years (sigh) and the fewer animals I have to take care of myself the better.

TPBM is in pet acquisition mode and will tell us what pet they are in the process of acquiring. And, two extra points if it's WholeHouseLibrary's wife's pet cockatiel. (see, WHL, I'm trying for you!)

Birds are too much work. I am catless right now. My last elderly kitty was grabbed by a coyote I think. (For 25 years, the cats have been safe in the back yard with the 6 foot fence, but not anymore.)

As soon as I settle into my new house, I'll probably look for new kitty roommates.

The person below me would never own a boa constrictor as a pet.

I had an aunt in Yucutan
Who bought a python from a man
and kept it for a pet.

She died, because she never knew
These simple little rules and few; -
The Snake is living yet.

Back to Belloc's Cautionary Tales (Right, Boo -#183). His rules, which I imagine apply to all constricting serpents, are to keep music away from their cages and chastise them most severely when they fly into a rage.

TPBM has had a pet rock.

I did, I got it as a stocking stuffer when I was a kid. It did more to make me believe in the transmutability of life than Disney did.

As a child, TPBM spent their summers at camp.

Absolutely - loved camp. Didn't get to spend my whole summers there, but a week here and there. Went through all the ages of camper to being a junior counselor to being staff during college.

TPBM understands why New England has stone walls running through its forests.

It's a combination of: A) glacier carrying rocks, eroding them to somewhat ovoid spherical shapes and leaving them behind as they receded, and B) a 'free' resource to marking property lines while clearing the ground for farming. The third factor is one of economics and the trees retaking the abandoned land.

TPBM already knew the Long Island was originally attached to the land north of it.

It's better this way, but who wants to say 'Long Peninsula'?

TPBM just had it out with the neighbors about noise and won.

Not "just" but this past summer. Grrrrr!

TPBM isn't bothered by excess noise.

Sorry... Can you speak up? We've got this cockatiel...

TPBM is reading a biography.

I have just bought Must you go?, Antonia Fraser's diary/memoir/autobiography about her time with Harold Pinter. She has been reading exerpts on BBC Radio 4 last week. I expect their getting together left a fair bit of unhappiness in their wake but, despite various complications, they sustained a long, loving relationship. The FT reviewer ended with - "The whole of this lovely book fills you with gratitude that happenstance can, once in a while, not screw up and find the right girl for the right boy". ( I think that sentence needs an Oxford comma.) I am looking forward to reading it.

TPBM is just a corny old romantic at heart.

Aaak! Leapfrogged!

Sometimes the idea that there is magic in the world and a happily-ever-after for the good and true does break through my protective coloration of weary cynicism, and when it does I throttle it until it's dead. But yes, I am kind of.

Newp, Vampire$ by John Steakley. Sort of a cross between Kelly's Heros and the DaVinci Code, by way of Quinten Tarantino. Pretty good, really.

TPBM knows the secret for motivating one's self to read something other than pulp.

Sure! Just the feel of the paper usually makes me want to toss a pulp paperback.

TPBM doesn't have to go to work tomorrow.

No. I hope I never have to go to work again. Retirement is so much better than working I wish I had done it in my twenties.

The person below me is fulfilled by their vocation.

Sometimes, and sometimes I want to knee my vocation in the nuts. I wish I had (been able to have) retired in my 20s. Because I would've.

TPBM has spent time in a monastery or convent. And no, prison doesn't count.

Does a long weekend count? I spent an interesting weekend at a Buddhist monastery in Japan back in the early 70's. (My brother was living in Japan and I visited.) One monk threatened to hit us with a board if we fell asleep at the 4 am prayers (maybe they were at 5, but it was still dark and this was in August). I swept so much as part of my chores that I rubbed blisters on my (I'm ashamed to say) non-callused hands. But I met some very interesting people and had an incredible experience.

Oh, and my brother's psychic says that I was "cloistered" in a previous life. Hmmm.

The person below me thinks it only counts if you remember it.

Well, theoretically, they would have you believe that you *do* remember it, but in a subliminal sense. Conscious memory is not always reliable. (But, yes, I think it counts for more if you can recall specifics.)

The person below me recognizes that my response is halfway to being incoherent....

Sure, I get it. I've found that I don't remember doing a lot of things in my life. That's how I got this scar and apparently I'm legally married in Costa Rica.

TPBM knows someone who was divorced within two months of being married.

My grandmother, then a widow, remarried at age 83. Within six weeks, they sought an annulment. He died before it was finalized.

We figured she did ok. Two marriages, one for 64 years, one for six weeks, averages 32 years per marriage, which is pretty respectable. At any rate, I had fun shopping for a wedding present for Grandma.

TPBM has a better story.

Maybe not better, but good. My sister called of her wedding at the last minute for reasons known only to her. My aunt and mother had hired caterers, etc. and the wedding was to be pool-side at my aunt's out in the country. Lovely place. Anyway, everyone was a tad depressed and befuddled, so my sister said, "Well, we've got the music, the refreshments and all the out-of-town relatives and friends. Let's have a party!" A good time was had by all. Except the would-be-groom. He left. Wonder why.

TPBM knows why the groom left.

Yeah, I saw Carmen on Saturday.

The person below me doesn't think you can really relate art to life.

I think that all art relates to life, it just whether we can see it or not.

TPBM is an opera buff and attends regularly.

No, but if there's a Mozart or a Verdi in town I'll go. I usually go to the performance and wait for cancellations; you can get some surprisingly good seats that way.

TPBM thinks that what life needs is better lighting and a soundtrack.

Better lighting would be useful at times, but not at others. A soundtrack would send me around the bend.

TPBM's soundtrack would be mostly loud.

AH! You've ~heard~ Track in A by Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys, then!

TPBM's life is choreographed to some other form of music.

I have been listening to Sibelius during the cold snap. Icy weather, icy sunlight, icy music.

TPBM prefers to listen to something warmer.

Not sure whether one could call it warmer, but the new album by Madness (The Liberty of Norton Folgate) is extremely good and very cheerful!

TPBM also prefers the music of their misspent youth to all these modern beat combos.

Actually I tend to like the music of my Parents youth.

TPBM also seems to have been born in the wrong generation.

It causes my daughter great agony to hear me sing along with today's music on the radio. I keep telling her that I sing when I'm happy and when she groans and complains it bursts my happy bubble.

TPBM understands how mean people burst others' balloons.

Shore that happy bubble up, mam. Someone will always go after it with a pin, but it'll be a beacon to kindred spirits. (You're daughter doesn't count as a pin wielder because, right now, it's her job to disapprove of all adults. Sing louder.)

TPBM sings along and pretends he’s Sinatra or she’s Rosemary Clooney.

Yes, I've been known to pretend I'm Rosemary Clooney, although more often I pretend I'm one of the Hi-Los! I love the album Rosemary Clooney and the Hi-Los. It's the first time I ever heard the song I Could Write a Book and I'm always shocked at how differently it sounds when anybody else sings it.

TPBM is excited that it's time for the first Grand Slam of the tennis season, the Australian Open.

Isn't the Grand Slam a style of breakfast they serve a Denny's?
I suppose that they serve it differently than they do in Tennis.

TPBM never realized that Australia was ever closed.

How do you close a continent?

TPBM just hit a milestone number in their catalog(ue).

Aak! Leapfrogged!

Yepper, 1000 books too many.

I never got the sports gene.

TPBM wanted to be something weird as a child. (I wanted to be a junkie. I had no idea what a junkie was, but my mom said the Rolling Stones were junkies and all I knew about them was that they lived in New York, got to stay up late and listen to loud music, and that’s all I ever wanted to do. Sure enough, one day a friend of my mother’s asked what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said ‘I want to be a junkie!’ mayhem ensued.)

Hmmph! I was something weird as a child. Some folks think I still am.

People also think TPBM is weird.

I must have been pretty boring as a child. All I remember wanting was to grow up to be Dale Evans, only I was going to marry Perry Como. (Now that I think about it, maybe I was pretty weird...)

TPBM had a major crush on a celebrity when younger and would love to tell us all about it.

It was Perry Como. He was my very first crush. When I heard him sing "Till the End of Time," I was smitten. I was five.

TPBM thinks it's a small world.

I can assure you that when your car breaks down, it's an immense world. And most of it is hills.

TPBM has a keepsake beside their computer.

Mostly I'm keeping dust back there. But off to the side is my wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose coffee cup.

The person below me also laughs at loud at some of the posts (see above - and thanks!).

Lots and lots! A small woolly sheep, a Scottie dog (not a real one!), a snow globe with two little dogs in it, tiny wooden carved cats drinking from a bowl, postcards from BookMoochers, my wedding photos ...

TPBM has a major crush on someone now and will tell us about it.

Shhh! It's my husband. Don't tell.

TPBM had to read xorscape's post in 229 out loud a few times to figure out the expression on the mug.

No, I knew the drawing: http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/LinnieRed/Images%20I%20Like%20by%20Othe... by Sandra Boynton.

Ooooh - where did you get the mug?

TPBM wanted to be something weird as a child (I liked that too much to let it pass already).

I remember very specifically what I wanted to be in first grade. Miss Albamonte told us we had to pick 4 things we wanted to be and draw pictures of them. I wanted to be an archaeologist (I remember asking the teacher how to spell it), a teacher (suck up time), a Dutch girl so I could wear clogs, and a monkey for God knows what reason.

I've gotten my wish on one - I married a 4th generation descendent of Dutch immigrants, so I'm officially a Dutch girl. :)

TPBM has very vivid memories of when they were 6 years old.

But the question, karenmarie, is whether or not you got to wear the wooden clogs....

I know where I was living at the age of six (Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama) and have memories of the place. There was a huge mimosa outside our quarters.

The person below me has a mimosa tree in their yard.

Is that what they make the drink out of? No, but I have a very prolific Meyer lemon tree planted in an unfortunate spot so I have to do major surgery on it to allow people to walk through.

TPBM has a different favorite tree (does not have to be in their yard).

The King's Oak in Denmark. Ca. 2000 years old and still alive.

TPBM would never want to live that long (especially not rooted to one place..)

Heck, no. Whenever anyone expresses the wish to live "for ever", I like to point out to them that that would entail being there at the Big Bang and having to live through an awful lot of nothing very much happening ...!

TPBM is also a smart-arse on occasions.

Not my style.

TPBM needs to clean the rain gutters on the house.

Nope, but I need to scrub the balcony.

TPBM has two ovens.

I did when I bought the house. Neither worked very well, and I replaced it (them) with a single unit that is mounted in the upper part of the cabinet. The lower part now stores large items, like a crock pot and a blender and a large cutting board, to name a few.

TPBM is a pretty decent carpenter.

Measure twice, cut once, that's my motto.

Eons ago, I ran the woodshop for the architecture department of the college I was attending ... now, I have no room for tools.

TPBM has never used a string level.

I've used most hand tools needed for either carpentry or other woodworking, not to mention, masonry, plumbing and a host of other things.

TPBM thinks DIY is a dirty word (acronym, phrase)

No way, you need to be able to take care of your stuff and make new stuff if needed. I helped build a house one summer and took notes. That said, I know nada about wiring, but I can change out an overhead light.

TPBM refinished their furniture.

I refinished a little bench one time and it was about the most labor intensive and irritating thing I've ever done. Insult to injury, it was my boyfriend's, and when we broke up, he took it.

Never again.

TPBM has built-in bookshelves in their house/apartment.

I do, and I need to build some more, the current shelves are getting a little tight.

TPBM doesn't have to worry about book storage space.

Judging by the fact that we're renting two storage units, I'd say it is in fact a bit of a concern.

But that's what you get for living in a multi-bookworm household.

The person below me is the family black sheep, simply for reading a lot.

Nope. I get my love of reading from my family. They're all bookheads too! :)

TPBM is reading an excellent book at the moment and will share it with us.

Edited to get the title right.

Not excellent but it's pretty good, in a The Man Who Was Thursday odd kind of way: He Who Whispers, by JD Carr.

TPBM is the only reader in a family of non-readers, and will tell us about how many books a year his or she reads. (I'm from a reading family.)

I gave my son three books the Christmas of 2008 and they are sitting in precisely the same place he put them after he unwrapped them. Needless to say I didn't give him any more books last year. My husband snatches books from me but doesn't read them. My daughter reads some but is getting more into writing these days. I read about 70 books last year.

TPBM is a writer or has one in their family.

My Uncle has ~50 books in print. Alden Carter. Most of his stuff doesn't fit in what I like to read but, what I have read it very good.

TPBM is related to a well known author.

WholeHouseFather-in-Law was the author of two books, but I can't say that he's famous.
An uncle of mine has published several catalogs (I have seven of them) of iron works and statuary his company has made; and although the text is his own, and the catalogs are hardcover bindings, he's not famous for what he wrote. You can see a lot of his work all around NYC - the eagles on the Chrysler Building, and the armillaries on the statues in Rockafeller Plaza, for example.

Our favorite former-waitress at the local Outback is the granddaughter of Samuel Coleridge. I'm afraid that's a close to it as we get.

TPBM is related to a well-known artist.

I know of no famous relatives. Darn it. Family rumor says my great grandfather in Louisville KY invented some kind of notebook, but it would have happened sometime in the mid 1800's. (My grandfather was born in 1860 and I think my great grandfather was born in the late 1820's.) If there was money as a result, it didn't come our way. Darn it.

232> sunny, The mug was a gift from a fellow I was dating (1983). I still like it; it makes me laugh. It is on my computer because I must have had it in my hand on my way somewhere. It is still in its little box only to be used at Christmas. And I sing these lyrics instead of the real ones.

The person below me has song lyrics in his or her head that aren't the actual song lyrics. (Like: Hark, the Hairy Angels Sing or I'm in Pieces, Big, Fat Pieces or Wee fish ewe etc.) Oh, and please share.

From My Fair Lady there's I've thrown a Custard in her face. Also all those old Allan Sherman parodies: "There was a man whose name was Lang who had a neon sign....." You can finish that for yourselves.

TPBM can do better.

Not necessarily better, but wonderfully strange.

Tom Lehrer's song The Elements, put to the music of The Major General's Song by Gilbert and Sullivan from The Pirates of Penzance:

"There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium,
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,
Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium,
And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium,
And gold and protactinium and indium and gallium,

And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.

There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium,
And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium,
And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium,
And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium, and barium.

Isn't that interesting?
I knew you would.
I hope you're all taking notes, because there's going to be a short quiz next period.

There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium,
And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and terbium,
And manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium,
Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium.
And lead, praseodymium, and platinum, plutonium,
Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium,
And tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium,

And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium.

There's sulfur, californium, and fermium, berkelium,
And also mendelevium, einsteinium, nobelium,
And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc, and rhodium,
And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, tungsten, tin, and sodium.

These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard,
And there may be many others, but they haven't been discovered. "

I couldn't resist putting in the whole thing.

TPBM knows another Tom Lehrer song that they're quite fond of.

Didn't he write "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"? I'm not particularly fond of roof rats, and it's a fun song.

TPBM has an ear worm that won't go away, no matter what they've tried (mine is currently Queen's "Somebody to Love" - over a month now, it just keeps coming back!)

Well, my ear worm was the 'Austin Powers' theme tune, but now it's also 'Somebody to Love' by Queen! ; )

TPBM is now humming the Austin Powers theme tune.

Mine is "It Must Be Love" by Madness (well, by Labi Siffre really). And now it's even more firmly entrenched - thanks for that!

TPBM is going to go for a long walk today.

I won't be going for a long walk or humming the Austen Powers theme song (I have no idea what it sounds like). I'm just going to stay home and sniffle.

TPBM is working on a jigsaw puzzle.

Nope, at my place a jigsaw puzzle stands a snowball's chance of not being scattered to the four corners. I like them, though.

TPBM is going to do something completely different this weekend.

You mean like watching Monty Python?

TPBM likes spontaneity in their life.

I do, until it upsets my routine.

TPBM is having a routine day.

As long as I know it's going to happen, I'm fine with spontaneity.

A tad slow on the response...
Today (this evening actually) I begin a writing class, so it will be far from routine.

A few years ago, MrsHouseLibrary and I were in a Goodwill store. We were there about 10 minutes when the music switched to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. The scene was surreal - virtually ~EVERYONE~ in the place was singing along with it while they were going about their business, not noticing that everyone else was doing the same. I'm definitely going to include this incident in a story that I'll write someday.

TPBM relishes moments like that, and will relate another.

Sitting in an office a few years ago, mid-December - one person quietly started to hum "Winter Wonderland". Another joined in. Within a couple of moments, 15 people were all humming away - no one met anyone else's eyes - it was all quite surreal!

TPBM has had quite enough of earworms and will firmly change the subject.

All right. I bought some knitting-related toylets off Etsy last week: a necklace featuring a miniature ball of yarn, a row counter, and some fancy stitch markers. All from different shops, and only the markers haven't gotten here yet.

The person below me has also bought stuff through Etsy.

No but I have sold a couple items through etsy. I need to put some more stuff up there as well.

TPBM hasn't even heard of Etsy.

No, the older I get, the vaster my ignorance becomes.

TPBM is crafty.

I can knit, crochet, sew (with or without a pattern), quilt, embroider (including with beads, a la Italian Renaissance clothing), braid (both standard and Kumihimo), weave (flat, tablet or inkle), and have been taught to throw a pot, but never practiced. I can do simple carpentry, rewire a lamp, remove & replace a sink trap, install a washer or dryer, spackle and paint.

I'm also occasionally sneaky ... like a fox ...

ETA more crafty stuff lol

TPBM has never heard of kumihimo.

Guilty, as charged.

TPBM will tell me of the abovementioned substance/act/state-of-mind/theory/whatever, please.

Kumihimo is a Japanese braiding method, using one of several types of looms or stands. It is most commonly used to hold together the samurai style of armor. It can resemble flat-woven shoelaces, or be braided in a tubular style. The larger loom types can produce braids several inches wide, with varying patterns (WAY beyond my skill level). Jacqui Carey has written many books on this art.

TPBM likes to look at pretty pictures of crafty things, but doesn't do them as much as he/she would like.

I'm not patient so crafts are not really my thing. I am going to take up knitting I think, one of these days...

We are having weather today which means it is headed east. More rain, snow and wind on the way. It was blowing so hard a minute ago that it blew the damper open on my fireplace.

The person below me buys him/herself at least one birthday gift. (My birthday is coming and so I just bought a vacuum cleaner! Hmmm. I wonder if I can do better.)

I like to take myself out for a big deal steak dinner, you know $200 for a meal for one where the drink is tap water. I miss it at least as often as I do it, though. Sometimes I buy a more expensive than usual book.

The person below me doesn't know how old they are without thinking about it.

Not me! I'll be 70 this year and feel every bit of it, but it could be worse.

SomeGuy, you can find small on-line jigsaws. Try here http://www.aarpmagazine.org/games/
edit: I also play the games that came installed on my monster -- hearts, solitaire, etc.
Here's a short game resembling Scrabble®. http://games.yahoo.com/daily-games/wordsense

TPBM likes to play games on-line, but only against the computer, not real people.

Actually, I never have taken much to online games. I play some but I'm not a devotee. I play only against the computer as you say and never against real people.

The person below me is watching a pot -- you know, the one that never boils?

Dinner for me is going to be a ham sammich, as much milk as I can slam down before it turns, and a Krispy Kreme doughnut. I'd be dead if it weren't for mega vitamins.

A few days ago I was talking with a leasing agent here and she told me that someone was growing a pot plant on their balcony and took a picture of it. They got the film developed at a drug store and the developer saw the plant and called the cops. I think locking up people for getting high is wrong, but the guy who took the picture needs to do some time for unbridled stupidity, at least to take him out of the gene pool for a while.

TPBM has been the victim of a road rage incident.

Yes, a few years ago I encountered a woman in a huge 4x4 coming towards me, the wrong way down a one-way street. I patiently waited for her to back up. She didn't. I got out, smiling pleasantly, and asked to her back up. She screamed abuse at me and threatened to ram my car if I didn't get out of her way. I shrugged and pointed out that my car was a 10-year-old rusty hatchback so, sure, go ahead. Five minutes and more screaming later, she finally gave in (but not without threatening to find me and burn my house down, because her husband was a Top Policeman, apparently).

People amaze me sometimes, and not in a good way ...

TPBM has a more pleasant motoring story.

Back in the winter 1984, my husband, 5 year old stepdaughter and I were traveling to the Grand Canyon. I had both new husband and new car. He was driving. It was snowing. We slid off the road into a little gully. A very nice man came along and pulled us out with his truck. Off we went and had a lovely time. I have had many nice people stop and help me over the years. But it is scary out there these days.

The person below me also has a story to tell, either of rage or kindness.

During recent heavy snowfalls (well, heavy for England) I bought some dogfood to put out for the hungry foxes

TPBM has a really nice recipe for dogfood

Well, I'm sure the dogs of my acquaintance thought that steak would be a really good form of dinner...

The person below me is looking at a necessary purchase this weekend.

Since I count knitting needles as a necessary purchase... yes, yes I am.

TPBM wishes winter would be over already.

Absolutely, I didn't move to Arizona to freeze.

xorscape, we had horrible rains, our back yard was under water and it was over part of the patio, lapping at the door. We had to put our friend, who was living in the pool house, into a nursing facility, the house was completely surrounded by water that was at least ankle deep. Since we only put a five inch riser on the floor we installed we were afraid he'd be in trouble. Hospice agreed with us, they arrived for the regular visit with a bed already arranged and paperwork started. All that remained was to convince him to go. Finally did, but it took some blunt talk.

TPBM would trade their snow for my water in a heart beat.

no, because here it would very shortly become ice and no one would go anywhere.

TPBM would like to try Ice fishing someday.

Yes, I would. It looks like a lot of fun, although keeping warm would be hard, I think.

Since I live in central North Carolina, this probably won't happen.

TPBM loves watching curling.

Well, while it's fun to watch, it involves way too much sweeping to be any fun lol

TPBM has naturally curly hair.

Not exactly curly, but enough natural wave that I never really have to do much with it.

TPBM exercises daily.

If we can count the brain as a muscle, I attempt the Soduko and crossword puzzle every morning.

TPBM doesn't count the brain as a muscle and does sweat generating excercises.

Well, I keep saying I'm going to start...

siubhank, what a storm! I'm sorry it resulted in so much worry for you and your friend. I've had the water lapping at the door and it isn't fun. (I always feel really sorry for flooding victims.) It rained quite a bit in southern Arizona too, but I watched the Phoenix and statewide reports and was amazed at the size of this storm. I will head back to Phoenix today (book sale!) and see what the rain did at my unsold house there.

The person below me has attempted one of the "challenging" Soduko puzzles. I usually just call them the weird ones in funny configurations or gazillions of numbers instead of just blocks of 9.

edit: no changes after all, she said sheepishly.

No, none of the challenging ones, however, I do have a subscription to the "best" of the NY Times crossword puzzles. Not much Soduko for me.

TPBM is reading the second book of a rather boring trilogy but is too hardheaded to put it aside and aslo has the third book, which must be read because of the aforementioned hardheadedness, awaiting his/her attention. Le sigh.

Frightening as this may sound, I understood that on the first read...

But to answer your challenge - No, I'm not; nor have I ever done that.

TPBM smells something burning.

I did about half an hour ago, it was my power supply in my computer here at work. It's much better now...

TPBM doesn't worry about computer problems.

I back up my Quicken files and have a spare laptop somewhere. I would not like a computer failure, but I don't worry about it for the most part.

The person below me rides a motorcycle even in the rain.

I don't. If it happens, it happens; and if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen; so why worry?
No, but my husband does.

Mr. House, I fear for your sanity!

TPBM no longer has a headache.

The second deadline for senior projects is today and I have been helping them. These are the research papers that didn't pass the first time around and many are likely to not pass again. Most of the time I just need to help with formatting and page numbers but some need entire rewrites.

TPBM is working on a research paper and is stressing.

No research paper, but there is always something to stress over.

TPBM has seen Avatar 3 or more times.

Not even once.

TPBM prefers substance over style.

Well, I like both if I can get 'em!

TPBM agrees that using a proper fountain pen improves one's handwriting enormously.

Yes I do. I have used fountain pens and Rotring pens at various points of my life and they really make you slow down. They also allow you to enjoy writing.

Alas, I'm lazy now. I do like to use a fine point pen, though, and #2 pencils. I don't use mechanical pencils anymore.

TPBM uses whatever pen or pencil comes to hand.

If I have to. I'm fussy about the combination of surface and writing instrument, especially when doing crossword puzzles. Ball points work best on shiny magazine paper, but an ultra-fine point Flair-type pen is better on absorbent paper. Pencils feel scratchy on the wrong kind of paper. They make my teeth hurt. When I use a pencil, I prefer mechanical and use them mostly for marginalia. I can't bring myself to mark books in ink.

TPBM would never use a pencil for a crossword puzzle.

No. What would be the advantage?

TPBM (like me) does Sudoku puzzles using a pen.

I have, but I prefer pencil. I like it to be tidy when I'm finished. I can't claim to complete all of them without making notes in the margins. So, erasing is just part of the doing.

I have some movies on laser disk. Not a format I hear mentioned these days.

The person below me also has some electronic device that is rather outdated.

Does an 8-track player in the stereo system count?
It's got a great amp and the speakers don't buzz, so I hate to get rid of it.

TPBM has a cold.

A cold what?

The person below me has a good one.

A good what?

TPBM will help us get out of this rut.

No. I'm huddled under a fleece sweatshirt blanket with a head cold all of my very own.

Such things shouldn't be shared.

The person below me is thrilled at the idea of chicken soup for dinner.

Chicken soup sounds good.
Do we have an internet virus if several of us have head colds at the same time?

TPBM will tell us the title of a book that they have read while coping with a cold.

I can has cheezburger? by Professor Happycat

TPBM will tell me how to remove ignored threads from the list. All of my ignored ones still are at the bottom of the list in pink, and that page is getting full. Thanks.

I cannot, I've got the same problemo.

It's supposed to be cold and very rainy tomorrow, so I am going to bundle up, open the windows and read cheesy mysteries all day. Heaven. No cold, but there's one going around so I will catch it, I had pneumonia as a tot and it left me with the immune system of a crack whore. Plus, I like to do stuff like leave the windows open all winter, bundle up and read cheesy mysteries. If the germ that causes the dead to rise and feast upon the flesh of the living ever goes airborn I am toast. TOAST!

TPBM has a good and cold something.

Two things - marriage (although "fulfilling" would be more apt), and ex-wife (applies to the latter term).

TPBM understands the concept of the 'cold' ex -thing. You need not elaborate.

Oh yes, I have one of those. Just one, though, so I haven't done too badly in my romantic adventures!

TPBM has cold hands and can't type properly.

The tips of the fingers are a little cold, but I'm sitting under a fleece blanket and I'm wearing a turtleneck. Shy of jacking up the oil heater to 78 degrees (which nobody really wants), I'm as warm as I think I'm going to get.

The person below me is sipping something hot and steamy as a way of getting hands warm.

Coffee, nectar of the jumpy gods. Tonight when the rains start I'm going to fix hot cocoa.

TPBM makes their own pasta.

I haven't lately, but have made both spaghetti with a pasta machine and my great-grandmother's noodles without a pasta machine. Time-consuming but worth it. Yum.

TPBM bakes things from scratch.

I used to make yummy cakes, but the only thing I bake from scratch these days is muffins, cornbread and occasionally some hot water bread.

TPBM is craving cinnamon rolls -- good cinnamon rolls, with lots of gooey goodness.

Not really, to me most baked goods are better in theory than reality. I like ice cream, though. There's a place in DC that makes the awesome cupcakes, but they're 4 bucks each.

TPBM has walked into a dressing room of the opposite sex.

Yes, but it was a mom thing - he swore he was old enough to go in on his own, but then he wouldn't come out to let me see whether the clothes fit right, and he wasn't sure ... what's a mom to do???

TPBM has a chore they find particularly disgusting ... but, alas, they still have to do it (mine is taxes).

Emptying the cat litter tray. It's a bit like a lucky dip, except that the prizes are always crap ...!

TPBM likes to go on the swings when there are no kids hogging them.

Only the ones with flat seats. The ones that look like wide rubber strips are too tight.

TPBM carries emergency supplies in their vehicle.

Not really- kitty litter and a golf umbrella. So I'm prepared for any inconvenience but not an actual problem.

TPBM has saved a life.

Well, probably - but not a human one. My cat was adopted from the shelter as an adult. She most likely would have been put down if I hadn't taken her. She's such a sweetie, very cuddly - I adore her, and she adores me.

TPBM has saved a human life.

Yes. When I was ten years old, I noticed at the side of the pool a small boy. He was vertical and kicking like mad but couldn't get to the top. He was about two. I picked him up and asked who he belonged to. A woman came and got him and didn't even say thanks. Oh, well.

TPBM wonders if maybe that mother was up to no good.

Hopefully she was just plain rude or maybe you ruined her chance to be a hero.

TPBM has been struck dumb by someone who neglected to be thankful for something TPBM did for them. (Confused yet?)

{hijack}mamzel, I hope so, too. That other thought never occurred to me until after I was grown and started noticing news reports of mothers killing their child(ren). Sad, sad, sad.{/hijack}

No post to continue the game. Carry on, please.

No. I mean yes. I'm confused, but that was even before your post, mamzel. Not much shocks me when it comes to my species. A friend of mine, another good Southern boy, was riding the subway in New York. There where no seats and an older woman was hanging onto a pole with one hand and had packages in her other arm. Friend says "Please take my seat, ma'am." Woman sits and says, "Thanks asshole."

Of course, I can be rude, too. One day I was in Williamsburg and this white guy who was dressed like he was in a rap video comes up to me and says "Yo, how can I get outta this dump and back to Jersey?! So I said 'Oh, you want to take I-95'. He said, 'Right, right.' So I gave him directions to Kentucky and off he went.

TPBM has also been rude to strangers.

I expect so - but it's only really fun if you know what you are doing. Inadvertent rudeness is just dull!

TPBM will be saying, or has just said, the Selkirk Grace.

A version thereof.

The person below me is Googling the phrase (Think Robert Burns...)

Is it Burns night already? Where did January go, then?

TPBM has given up on the quest for symmetry and is wearing odd socks.

Mine match, but my 16-year old daughter deliberately wears non-matching socks. My sister gave her a package of deliberatley non-matching socks for Christmas. My daughter loves them.

I do not know where this need to wear non-matching socks comes from. I still do her laundry, dutifully match the socks I can, and leave the orphans in a drawer in the utility room. She comes in there all the time to make up a pair of non-matchers.

TPBM swears the dryer eats their socks.

Last load of laundry, I ended up with 12 odd socks for my daughter. How on earth can you explain 12 odd socks? And she does wear matching socks, although at this rate there won't be any pairs left.

TPBM can explain something more complex than odd socks.

Yes, I can explain wearing different shoes - it's called getting dressed in a power cut

TPBM still believes in the Tooth Fairy

Nope. If she existed, she'd bring me some better ones!

TPBM knows why I keep a chopstick on my desk, or can at least make an educated/hilarious/surreal guess.

To reach the off button on the TV without getting up?

To poke husband who in the chair next to your desk snoring?

You can only play the air drums with one hand?

You are waiting for the other one to turn up?

Am I close on any of these?

TPBM has a better use for one chop stick.

I do indeed have a good use for one chopstick - it's for scratching those hard-to-reach places on my back! Essential kit for those who work from home ...

TPBM works/would like to work from home.

I would love to, and if this stupid department would go paperless and image everything, it would be easy. Unfortunately, everything is on paper, because they're reluctant to spend the cost of the conversion (thousands of files to scan, while the new info coming in gets scanned, not to mention training people who've been doing it the same way for 30 years ...) I would miss some of my coworkers, but I'd really enjoy having a cat on my lap while I work. I think it'd balance out ...

TPBM feels they wouldn't get a lick of work done at home, with all the distractions (like that TBR pile in the corner ...)

I'd be absolutely awful at working from home.


> I do not know where this need to wear non-matching socks comes from.

I think in France it's supposed to bring luck (or so I heard).


TPBM gets nuts if they have to stay inside for a whole day.

Leapfrogged! Yes, I get cabin fever in an elevator.

I think I'd like to work from home one or two days a week, but I also like getting out and being around people. I already bring enough work home as it is.

TPBM fought the law and the law won.

It wasn't a fair fight. The weeds cheated.

TPBM has a collection of glass and/or porciline insulators.

I wouldn't say a 'collection' but I do have several, mostly because I don't throw much away that could be 'useful' later, drives my wife nuts. any yet, she gets a sheepish look every time we need to buy something because she through or gave away something we 'wouldn't need' any more...

TPBM will tell us if they are a collector or distributor.

Oh, definitely a collector. Books and fabric, and books about fabric, and old sewing stuff, and sewing machines, and rocks, and stuffed dragons, and rubber ducks, and Depression glass, and vintage kitchen glassware, and earrings, and probably more stuff. Mostly, I like to say that I collect collections. One of a thing is unique, two is a coincidence, and three is a collection!

TPBM just doesn't get it. Sewing machines, seriously? ;-)

Other than books, I am more of a distributor, so no, I don't get the sewing machines. I am married to a collector and have to constantly try to talk him out of things - I mean do we really need two barber chairs??

TPBM understands that one man's junk is another man's treasure ...

My stuff is my treasure, and your stuff is junk, unless I want it.

The person below me has a hard time throwing junk out.

No, I have no problem getting rid of junk, however some might disagree with my classification of 'junk' and 'not junk'.

TPBM has already completed their 2009 taxes.

Nope. Still awaiting statement from bank.

TPBM thinks filling out tax forms is bor-ing to the max.

edit: It's not as boring as it used to be with paper, pencil and calculator. lol

More like appalling to the nth degree. If the federal government were assigned a credit rating, the whole bunch wouldn't be able to swing a loan on a Twinkie. (For the Brits, that's a spongy snake cake so devoid of natural ingredients that its shelf life can be calculated in geologic terms. They are, oddly enough, delicious.)

TPBM can write upside down and backwards.

Why yes. I started practicing in grade school; still can do it.

TPBM can read upside down.

As long as what I'm reading is upside down also.

TPBM saw a movie this past weekend.

No, I went to an museum exhibit instead.

The person below me has an aversion to movies that last longer than 100 minutes.

No, but I do have to plan my liquid intake ahead of time.

The person below me could watch movies all day without getting out their seat.

Yes, I could, except for when I have to go potty, use my nebulizer, get something to eat, answer the telephone, go to the door, talk to my husband, etc.

TPBM doesn't watch movies very much -- short attention span.

Actually, it is more of a mood thing. Sometimes I want to see a movie and sometimes I'm just not interested enough. I guess it depends on what else is going on in my life.

The person below me tries to see a new movie every week.

I did go to the cinema once, in 2008, I think, which was the last time they released a movie which really appealed to me.

TPBM is missing something.

I'm missing lots of things, but mainly quite a lot of brain cells, beer and age does that to you I guess

TPBM is hiding something under his/her shirt

Only those items one normally hides under one's shirt.

The person below me can't swim.

Well, technically I can, but I hate chlorinated swimming pools and the Clyde's a bit chilly, so I don't get much chance!

TPBM is wearing something blue today.

of course but then I am wearing something blue most days.

TPBM for some reason whether by choice or circumstances has gone 'Commando'.

Guilty, as charged.

TPBM ~always~ goes 'Commando'.

I just love camouflage gear, you can hide in the frozen vegetables section of the supermarket or just about anywhere in a garden centre

TPBM believes they were hatched from an egg

Not sure whether you're talking about the camoflage gear, the supermarket or the garden center, but none of them were hatched from eggs. They were manufactured one way or another.

TPBM will explain to me what manner of beast is depicted on TPAM's Profile Page.

To me, it appears to be a very young owl.

TPBM will let us know if I'm right.

Of course you're right!

TPBM would rather ride a train than fly.

entirely depends on my destination, I would for instance prefer to take a plane from MN to say Britain...

TPBM prefers to keep their feet on the ground.

Yes, except when parasailing.

TPBM wonders who TPAM is.
::Chortle, chortle, chortle!::

Well, TPAY bears a striking resemblance to Samuel Clemens ... amazing ... and shares 154 books with TPBY.

TPBM has never chortled.

My chortles end up sounding more like snorts. I always think of Charles Boyer and his gutteral French chortles.

TPBM remembers Charles' French chortles (and loves alliteration).

Newp, and 'deed I do. I was in grade school during the 'Stranger Danger' mind warp days, and that song Thank Heaven for Little Girls always kind of weirds me out.

>>360 readafew: readafew: Wuss.

TPBM owns or has owned a 16th century edition of the loathsome and dread-making Malleus Malleficarum.

it would be useful, knowing what questions they will ask and what answers they are looking for could be a life saver. I suppose they might think it's cheating and call me Satan spawn anyway...

TPBM wonders if SGIV has a copy for self preservation or more nefarious purposes...

I would certainly assume that it is due to nefarious purposes. Where would the fun be otherwise?

The person below me still hasn't made up their mind yet about ebooks and ereader devices.

True. They're somewhat intriguing, but do I really need another battery to keep charged?

TPBM will invent the ultimate energy source which will have no negative environmental impact and will never require recharging or replacement.

I already have, but I am a misanthrope, and I'm not going to release it to the world.

I have to this extent: they are not for me now, even having read about Apple's new ... thing, I guess. They will become more mature, more convenient, and cheaper, perhaps by the end of my life; I may buy one before I die.

The person below me likes to get into the new stuff right away because they can play with it and stuff.

Nope, I'm the original Late Adopter. I hang around until new stuff is tried and tested by others and, most importantly, the price has come down! My ex passed on a first-generation 10gig iPod to me about seven years ago, and I'm still using it, to the deep amusement of my teenage nephew ...

TPBM can't imagine being a teenager these days.

Heck no! It was hard enough back in the dark ages. I'm sure it would be worse now. I can't even imagine trying to raise teenagers these days.

The person below me has a closet organizer system (which means more than a bar and a shelf).

No, I use a geological ordering system, least-used stuff forming a sedimentary layer at the bottom. Never, ever open a cupboard unless you are wearing a hard hat in my house.

TPBM knows exactly where everything is.

Let me put it this way, I know where everything is "supposed" to be. With a micro-managing, semi-retired husband, 'things' seem to migrate from their proper places to where ever they choose to be, all by themselves. Then, of course, he demands to know where I put this or that thing.

TPBM agrees that while spouses are wonderful things, they sometimes make you wonder if it would be worth the prison sentence. . . . .

I do agree wholeheartedly, but if we were very clever we could get away with it and spend the rest of our lives hiding in South America

TPBM believes that the sky is just a lid on God's toybox keeping us, his toys, in

Ummm.... no.

TPBM watched the State of the Union speech last night. (No opinion is required.)

nope, don't have TV.

TPBM DID watch the State of the Union and can tell us one thing that was mentioned.

I believe pickled cucumbers got a mention.

No, only joking. I was busy watching Dan Snow's programme on the British Navy in the eighteenth century, waiting to see if he fell from the rigging.

TPBM has been sailing.

Nope, but I have been mackerel fishing in Cornwall

TPBM thinks his dog talks to him

That would be something! I had a dog once, but she got old and sick, and had to be put to sleep when I was in high school. (Not to mention I'm not a "him".)

The person below me thinks his/her/its dog is a total doofus.

Yeah, but I still love him! :)

TPBM prefers cats

Absolutely - dogs are great, but I am absolutely a cat person. That's why we have 4. Well, one of them moved out and moved in with my boyfriend, but she's still my cat ...

TPBM prefers another type of pet.

Yes, somebody else's. I like critters, but I can't take one on now. My brother feeds feral cats and keeps telling me he's going to bring me one. I reminded him that I live far off the ground and told him to bring four- the one that lives is the keeper. He said what if none of them jump/fall, and I said 'The one that lives is the keeper.' No joy.

TPBM has a horse.

We have two, Dolly and Chance. They were supposed to be for my daughter to ride, but they are now huge, lovable pets who consume pellets, sweet feed, hay, and supplements and get visited by the vet and farrier regularly. Money pits. Cute money pits.

We also have cats, a rat, a gecko, and fish.

TPBM also has more than one type of pet.

I have more than one pet peeve --> do those count? *grumble, grumble, grumble*

The person below me is friends with a rhinoceros.

There is a greater likelihood of that than there is of me befriending so-called "domesticated" animals, yet the answer is still, a resounding "NO!"

TPBM will kindly shunt the topic as far away from "pets" as humanly possible.

Sure.

The person below me uses Gmail.

Oops leapfrogged!

Yes, I do, it's handy, as I can at least see who wants to talk to me from work.

TPBM is bucking for a promotion, and has a good chance of getting it - yippee!!

I recently got myself a raise by taking courses for a professional growth raise bump. That's about all I can hope for working in a school library.

TPBM got a year end bonus.

Well, I cashed my Costco Executive Member rebate yesterday. Does that count?

The person below me is tired of the new year and just wants to get on with it.

My 'new year' lasts until I stop forgetting not to write 2009 on cheques, etc. - so it's well over by now and I am getting on with things.

TPBM has planned a spring vacation

Surprise! We're going to Washington DC in mid-March.

MrsHouseLibrary just finished reading Dan Brown's latest book, and she's all fired up to see it all for herself. I'm merely going as her Guide, and Interpreter. She only speaks Texan.

TPBM is fluent in at least 3 languages.

Texan, Southern and Jersey.

The person below me is snickering because everyone knows that none but a true Jersey native can really speak *that* language...

Yes. My granddaughter, when she was about six, asked me why people from New "Joisy" had "ois" in their voices.
I don't know how to spell oi.

TPBM will tell us which of Dan Brown's books is the latest.

The Lost Symbol. Haven't read it yet.

TPBM read Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys when they were young.

Yes I read both Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys book, but my favorite was Trixie Belden. I wanted to be Trixie Belden!

TPBM has to share computer time with someone else in the family, and gets grumpy about it.

Nope, nobody here but us chickens so I get to do what I want. (Edited fer spellin' and sich.

>>393 karenmarie: km: My favorites were the Alfred Hitchcock presents The Three Investigators series.

TPBM has a degree in medieval French poetry.

Not even close.

(I preferred Trixie Belden too.)

The person below me has just finished, is in the middle of, or is about to have a blizzard.

No, I just finished some bananas and peanuts.

The person below me pays attention to climatic omens.

I'm not much on any kind of omen, but I have developed a theory about the impossibility of randomness in games of chance, based on a set of unproven hunches and too many hours spent playing craps.

TPBM plays poker and is good at it.

I'm very, very, very good at bluffing and at keeping a poker face.

TPBM prefers Spades.

It depends on how deep the hole and the kind of soil I'd be digging in.
Around my house, there's less than three inches of topsoil; then it's solid (so to speak) limestone. I prefer a jackhammer.

TPBM utilizes a raised garden to grow fresh vegetables.

Not exactly but I used to grow fresh veggies until I got sick of slugs, aphids, next door's peacocks (on a farm) digging them up or eating them

TPBM thinks their neighbour is Hannibal Lecter

Could be. Too far away to see clearly.

TPBM has his/her neighbour almost within reaching distance.

Well, I can lean over the wall and point out that his dog is scared of our kittens ...!

TPBM thinks 400+ means it's time for a new thread.

Absolutely! Earwigo...

http://www.librarything.com/topic/83527&newpost=1#lastmsg