The Person Below Me #39 - just thirty-nine; nothing witty today

Consider it done, Jill!

TPBM got an unexpected ~something~ this weekend.

Link to the last post in #38

Yes. Books. I almost feel queasy. I tried to mollify my conscious by buying books for Operation Paperback, but that only made it worse. I still bought some.

TPBM has noticed that the erotic authors featured on LT- not hot.

I hadn't even noticed them. Mostly I come straight to the message boards, lol.

TPBM enjoys listening to the rain.

I do if we've had a dry spell, and it means I won't have to water the garden.

The person below me is about to pick up a good book and start reading.

Earlier today I picked up a good book, A Thousand Acres, and both started and stopped reading it. I stopped because I came to the end. Then I napped. Then I reread the end and stopped again. In a couple of hours I will start reading a not so good book which comprises crib notes for the novel. I hope to stop it when I am done, I guess. Then, if there's time before duty calls me to sleep, I'll start Hamlet or King Lear. They should be good. Start Stop Good Bad.

The person below me was happy about Sunday.

Nice day with surprisingly nice weather.

The person below me sleeps in an antique bed.

I do! It's a rope bed made around 1830. I Had new side beams made so I could put down ply board and use a modern mattress. It's waaay high but one good thing is that when I slide over the side I'm already standing when I hit the floor. If you ever watch The Exorcist it looks almost identical to the bed the demon is tied down to except mine has urn finials and not cones.

TPBM is mainlining caffeine this morning.

Well, I've just had my fourth mug of Assam, so I probably am!

TPBM had an excellent weekend (I certainly did - my husband took us to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute for our anniversary - we had lovely weather and explored to our heart's content - BTW, Mount Stuart is a must-see! What an amazing house and gardens!).

http://www.mountstuart.com/

Edited to add link ...

I did have an excellent weekend. Friday was my birthday, and Saturday and Sunday were relaxed and laid back for a change (around here, at least).

TPBM is looking forward to a good week.

I don't know about a good week, but it will be a busy one. Doctor's appointments, petsitting, knitting meetups... and I'm still learning how to use my brand spankin' new iPod Touch!

The person below me does their own petsitting, thankyouverymuch.

Gasp!

TPBM will change the subject.

What to do about dancing in the workplace? I've listened to some good pieces from the '60's and '70's in the past fifteen minutes and I'm ready to go! (I do love some Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, I do!)

The person below me will name a particularly good piece of music to dance to.

James Brown 'Get Up Offa That Thing'. Or Stevie Wonder 'Superstition'. It's always appropriate to have a minute dance party, even if you have to go into the stairwell or the elevator.

TPBM listens to music all day.

I have Pandora on when I'm at my computer, and I have the car radio, occasionally the CD player when I'm driving, but I don't have music on all day, and not all of the music that I hear can I say that I listen to.

The person below me is a music snob.

No way! I'd tap my fingers at the noise that raindrops make as they hit the ground. :-)

TPBM could live on books, music and caffeine alone. (I know I would! ;) )

That covers most of the bases, but leaves off the really big, woolly one (knitting).

The person below me has a different item to add to the "could live on..." from #15.

The money my ex still owes me.

TPBM is waiting for the electrician, or someone like him.

Alternatively, TPBM knows that cultural reference.

Only to ten, Mudhead.

As it happens, the worst plumbing problem seems to have been resolved without the plumber.

TPBM is looking at a clean desk.

No silly! I'm looking at the screen, except when I type; then I have to glance (often) at the keyboard.

Phaedra, you must also know Betty Jo Bioloski!

TPBM doesn't have to look at the keyboard when typing.

Most of the time I don't. But when I'm typing on a keyboard that isn't mine, or when I'm typing with one hand (happens a lot when my preschooler is demanding Mommy's lap), I have to look.

TPBM is waiting for something.

Yes, we're on a road trip and have checked into our motel in Walla Walla, Washington. I'm waiting to get hungry enough to go to dinner.

TPBM likes to have a glass of wine with their dinner.

... or three!

TPBM likes flying kites.

I used to! I haven't flown a kite in years. In fact, I just gave my last kite away to a charity auction. The kids had a ball bidding on it.

SRed, Happy Birthday!!

The person below me has had an eye exam recently.

I have regular checks in the autumn so next is nearer than the last. I have pretty pictures done on an Optomap machine showing my Weiss ring. This is controversial technology of which my optometrist is proud. I'm not sure of it's true worth but comparing last years photo with a new one is somewhat reassuring.

TPBM has 6/6 (or 20/20) vision in both eyes, uncorrected.

You're talking to big time readers here! NOT LIKELY!

TPBM will tell us what interesting thing they collect.

Besides books? I collect Lladro Christmas Bells and have all of them since 1986. We put them on the hutch in the dining room at Christmas time. My husband and daughter get me the newest one every year.

TPBM is following World Cup Soccer this year.

I used to play soccer when I was in high school - right up until a fellow nicknamed "Leadfoot" relocated my kneecap to about half-way up my thigh. I still like watching the game, though, and I was an assistant coach for the 9 seasons that my kids played - one year, all 3 boys, different teams. Getting to 6 practices a week was a nightmare.

Normally, I really don't like to watch sports anymore. It's more of a mindset that I'd rather be playing them than watching them, so I avoid it all together. If I happen to come across a soccer game on TV, though, I'll watch for a while, but I start getting antsy, so I have to change to something else.

To answer your question (finally!), I've seen maybe 10 minutes of the World Cup.

TPBM could have answered that in a lot fewer words.

I didn't watch any of it because I don't follow sports unless it's the Olympics.

... Yup, that was shorter.

TPBM has an at least amicable relationship with their in-laws.

xor - thanks!

yep, I get along with them almost as well as my own family.

TPBM is perfectly happy with their relationship with their outlaws, I mean inlaws...

Indeed.
They visit us and don't criticize a thing, not even the fact that we still haven't 'got pregnant'. *eyeroll*
We visit them and I eagerly commend their cookery and help with the dishes.
We are perfectly happy. :-)

TBPM sees their in-laws as even closer than their own family. (Darn, I hope that's not setting the bar too high?)

High or not, that bar is irrelevant: I'm not married, and therefore have no in-laws.

The person below me routinely sets the bar too high.

I like to keep it where I can at least comfortably set a drink on it.

TPBM wonders what life was like before air conditioning.

I've lived with no air conditioning - life is miserable.

TPBM doesn't have cable tv.

I do have it (when it works).

The person below me doesn't have a land line.

Nope, nothing but a cell phone and no cable, either. The taxes are too damn high.

TPBM doesn't have internet access at home.

I don't have a job so I have to have internet at home. When I retired, I bought a computer, paid for access and have spent many hours lost in space, so to speak.

The person below me remembers how slow dial-up was... (Is?)

I remember. We have FiOS now. MUCH faster.

TPBM has an art collection.

No, sadly. We don't even have a particularly good collection of art books in this house.

The person below has applied the tag "art" to many books in their LT collection.

"Many" is a relative term. I have 131 books tagged with "Art". That's a lot of books, but considering that I have almost 2,000 books cataloged, it doesn't seem like all that many.

TPBM considers the tagging of his/her collections to be an art in and of itself.

Yes! I'm using tags and recommendations to form as many links between books as I can think of, hoping to discover similarities, sequences, and opposites. However, in my case the 'art' tag would mean 'porn'.

TPBM has done a good deed today.

I dropped by to visit a sick friend and see how she was doing (and to bring her soup and chamomile tea).

TBPM knows what a pangolin is.

A weird anteater thingumajig, and nothing like a mandolin whatsoever!

TPBM knows what a geoduck is (and how to pronounce its name!).

Gooey-duck. And it's a clam. (And after I wrote that I looked it up: Panopea generosa, is a species of very large saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Hiatellidae.)

I've never eaten geoduck.

TPBM loves raw clams on the half shell.

No, sorry. If I'm going to eat critters I want to be sure they are dead first.

TPBM has eaten snake

Yes, cooked on a campfire, in the middle of the jungle no less. Tastes like chicken. ;-)

TPBM has kept pet snakes.

ETA missing comma.

The closest that there has been to a "pet" snake in this house is an iguana.
In case you haven't heard, I'm not a Pet Person.

TPBM knows whether, if removed suddenly, violently and (honest to Pete) unintentionally, a cockatiel's tail feathers (all of them) will grow back.

The damn thing looks like a yellow quail with way-too-long wing feathers.

They'll grow back faster if you re-attach them with glue or a staple gun.

TPBM has been a prisoner. ('...of love' doesn't count. Kept overnight for doing 120 mph in a stolen Thunderbird does.)

How about cornered in an alley by three guys with sawn-off shotguns? If it counts, I'll tell the story.

TPBM will say if that counts.

Nope, but I once spent a night in a hostel that was converted from an old jail in Ottawa.

TPBM likes to knit in public.

Only if it doesn't shock the horses.

>>48 girlfromshangrila:- If you want to tell, it counts, but that sounds really terrifying.

TPBM frequently has a ringing in the ears.

What was that? I can't hear you through those darned church bells ...

TPBM enjoys shocking horses.

Acquitted!

TPBM drives a stick shift.

No, but my brother would gladly add that I might have been seen riding a broomstick.

TPBM loves their siblings, no matter how obnoxious they can sometimes be.

...Fine. They irritate me, but I love them

TPBM wants a cupcake.

Chocolate, please, with chocolate frosting. That would be lovely.

TPBM would rather have a different flavor frosting on their chocolate cupcake.

Well, I was planning on making rum raisin cupcakes with a rum sugar glaze... except that I'm out of rum. Used it all with the last batch and never bought more. So it may very well be chocolate with chocolate frosting, lol.

TPBM has a favorite cupcake recipe.

(ooh... I just got an idea. Gotta go raid my mom's cookbook for Grandma's cake recipe...)

No, but I do have a favorite cupcake photo. But it seems I haven't uploaded it to Flickr.

The person below me never liked uploading.

It's so tedious.

TPBM has plans tonight.

Oops. Too late. Maybe. I'm supposed to have dinner with my mother if I'm not too sleepy.

58. I don't like anything that takes time to do.

48> I think it counts as being a prisoner. Yikes! Glad you are here to tell (if you want).

The person below me has a ceiling fan (and is glad to have it).

Like my books, there's a ceiling fan in every room of the house - and 2 in the Living Room!

TPBM remembers when Air Conditioning meant sitting in a circle and blowing on an ice cube towards your neighbor.

Oh, you had ice! You were from the rich part of town. We just picked up rocks and knocked each other out to escape the heat.

TPBM didn't even have that.

It was so hot where I grew up that we watched the snakes shedding their skins and then tried to do it ourselves... (yeah, I know, lame)

The person below me can come up with something better to illustrate just how much hotter it really is where THEY are.

We fry eggs on the sidewalk here.

The person below me is also in a hot place.

More humid than hot, really, but the humidity makes the heat feel heavy, which makes it almost worse.

TPBM would rather live somewhere cold.

This time of year I fantasize about cold, but I don't think I could take too cold. I can't imagine how human life exists where lakes freeze enough to drive on, or the snow falls in feet rather than inches, or the cows freeze in the fields, etc. Someday I am going to summer somewhere cooler though.

I also don't care much for humidity even if it does put a nice curl in my hair. I live in a place where I can leave crackers out on the drainboard all night and they are still crackers in the morning. Not mushy things. And closets don't have to be aired and my shoes don't mildew.

The person below me has things he or she likes about his or her neck of the woods.

The deer. Seven of them came to visit this evening.
And the birds. Hundreds of them.

The best thing about them is they are not pets.

TPBM saw a rainbow recently.

Saw a huge double rainbow a few weeks ago - magnificent!

TPBM has big feet.

Yes, at a US size 11 womens, I do have big feet. They were smaller, but going barefoot through two pregnancies kind of spread them out a bit. Sigh ...

TPBM has small feet.

Small?
*laughs hysterically*
I don't think my feet could be considered small by any standards. Most un-lady-like, ugh!

#50 & 58. I have no problem telling the story; it makes for great icebreaking small-talk in parties.

A few years ago, I used to do social work visits -kind of- in the poor ghettos in the city. Now, we're talking about one of the biggest, most dangerous cities in Latin America.

We used to go about in small mixed groups (you really can't enter such places 'unescorted'), and were also very cautious (never wearing jewellery or taking more money with us than we would inmediately use, stuff like that), which I believe spared us from trouble (as in, robbery) before. Not that day.

You know, most ghettos are ruled by gangs, which are constantly fighting with each other. That was the case in that particular day: one of the gangs was riding the ghetto in search of an enemy gang, and we were caught in the middle.

Imagine the scene: our small volunteering crew made up of mostly young people, meeting face to face with a group of scary-looking fellows, three of them with sawn-off shotguns, looking anxiously in all directions, confusing the heck out of everybody by pointing their guns at us and spitting out questions and menaces in the loudest voices. Some of the girls cried. Another one looked like fainting.

One of the guys -my hero- stepped forward and tried to talk to who appeared to be the leader, calmly explaining who we were and how little a threat we could pose to them. He even asked them to check his pockets and wallet, to prove his point, which the leader deemed unnecessary. After a few minutes that felt like hours, they let us go, demanding that we left the place inmediately.

Needless to say, I left the group the next Monday.

TPBM will share a cheerful story, now.

I think mine are average - UK size 5 (I think that's US size 8), or Eur size 37 ... or 38 ... or ... it really depends on the manufacturer.

TPBM is getting ready for school holidays

ETA - oops - too late!

It was in the UK newspapers today, a baby owl fell from its nest into a lion enclosure in the zoo, right in front of a lioness. As keepers and the public watched in horror, all prepared for the lion or its mate to pounce on the tiny bird, nothing at all happened. The lions just watched the owlet, who sat there for three days with no harm coming to it, and then finally it was able to fly away to safety. Awwwwwwwwwwww....I wish I could post a picture for you but I don't know how, but you can check it out on Google if you have a mind.

TPBM can't bear to watch wildlife films in case something kills something else.

I only watch the ones that don't involve carnivorous critters hunting or eating.

TPBM is drawn to a particular form of wildlife.

Well, yes, but darn it, I'm not as young as I used to be.

TPBM has a non-pet domesticated animal.

Nope. Can't say that I do. I did, when I was younger, help my sister with her science experiment mice (no, they weren't killed or maimed - she was experimenting with different types of mouse food to see what gave them the most energy).

TPBM is playing nurse to sicklings lately (son, dog, friend, good grief, everyone's ill around here!).

No, fortunately, that's not our issue. Our issue is that two out of three so-called adults under this roof need to learn how to think and plan ahead so that Mother is not solely responsible for how things turn out. *ahem*

The person below me wonders if there is another side to the story. (Editorial interjection: No, there isn't! Despite what they tell you...)

Not only can I sympathise, but I also know for certain that there must be just one side to that kind of stories. Especially if I am the one telling them.

TPBM disagrees with that twisted logic.

Edited: wrong preposition

I know there is no response to that other than 'What can I do to make you stop screaming/crying/staring at me that way?'

>>69 girlfromshangrila: Jeez girl, that's an amazing story.

TPBM had dyed their hair a funky color, like purple.

Don't be daft; how can there possibly be another side?

TPBM can conclusively demonstrate that Mother is always right!

Yup, purple. In college, I had my hair cut very short, and dyed transparent purple over very dark brown. It would catch the light at the weirdest times.

TPBM doesn't dye their hair, or hasn't in a long time.

# 78: Mother is always right. Unless she disagrees with me. And that's final.

# 79: I have never, ever, dyed my hair. I'm much too lazy to be touching up my hair's roots all the time.

# 77: I got a bunch of those, but none quite as frightening. Except for that day with the poisonous spider, but again noone got hurt. Except for the spider.

TPBM is known to have fainted at the sight of spiders, snakes, or other creepy creatures of the sort.

Not fainted, but I freeze at cockroaches and I tend to swat spiders as soon as I see them. I jump at snakes but only if they startle me.

TPBM has no fear of creepy critters.

Spiders weird me out. Not afraid of snakes, crocs, politicians or other creepy critters other than an awareness that they are dangerous and to steer clear.

TPBM wears wooden shoes.

Nope. Can't stand the splinters. I wear a lift in my right shoe to make up about half the distance that the leg is shorter than the other.

TPBM has or knows someone who has six toes on one foot.

Well, no, I don't think I know anyone like that. Or -- wait a minute -- do I?

*looks suspiciously at retreating backs of WHL and SGiV*

The person below me got a pedicure today.

Oh, I wish! That sounds lovely. I've never had one but I hear they are nice.

The person below me grows herbs.

I do tend to buy those growing herbs from the supermarket and tend them for as long as possible, but they're not built to last - and growing herbs outdoors here just makes for fatter, happier slugs ...

TBPM has a computer monitor which is surrounded with Post-It notes ...

How did you know what my cube at work looks like? They hang off my monitor, off the underlip of one of the hanging shelves, and just scattered all around my desk. I occasionally round up the little doggies on the desk and put them into a stack, but they escape quickly and graze contentedly on every surface.

TPBM has a different method for keeping track of things to do and reminders to self.

Yup....ballpoint pen and hand and when both hands are full, forearm comes into play.

TPBM has an amazing memory and has no need of aide memoires

I don't recall.

TPBM learned shorthand at some point in his/her life.

Yes -- at one point, I could take shorthand at 100 words per minute. But you had to be able to take it at 120 words per minute to get a job on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. Never made it.

The person below me dislikes arbitrary numbers for purposes of qualification.

Nope. I had a job once where the minimum typing requirement was 40 WPM (not shorthand, just regular typing). Most of us typed within the 60-80 WPM range. One girl they hired on was at that bare minimum of 40-45 WPM, and she slowed us down like nothing else. They eventually let her go for reasons unrelated to her typing speed, but I think hiring anyone with a slower typing speed would have driven all of us a little nutty.

TPBM wishes they could go back to preschool and naps, just for the day.

Too slow

No, I hated preschool. All those glaring primary colors and overly cheerful murals; I'd later recognize the same elements in communist propaganda posters, just farmers and tractors instead of bears and rainbows. And I never have liked florescent lighting.

They're often only useful to hiring managers, and in the case of 120 words/min idiotic because there aren't 120 words spoken on Capitol Hill in a day worth recording.

TPBM can talk backwards.

Naps take do I now even. My thumb sucked I preschool - dribble only now do I.

TPBM can speak Volapuk.

kupaloV? Would that be related to Russian? In that case, still no.

#84 - coincidentally, I did get a pedicure today.
#91 - my baby is only one and a half, so we haven't got to pre-school yet, so I can take naps whenever ... he does, which isn't often enough.

TPBM is still keeping track of the football (USA drew with Slovenia, FYI; hoping England can beat Algeria)

Only because it is being shoved down my throat every minute: the office's TV blares with sports commentary 9h/day just five feet from me, there is nothing else on the radio than football, and when I get home, hubby is invariably watching... you guessed it, football.

TPBM is sincerely grateful that these hideous football seasons last only a month, and come about with four-year intervals.

I've been ignoring it all, so it doesn't bother me much.

TPBM is planning an out of town trip soon.

I wish!

The person below me is planning an cross-town trip soon.

Sort of. We're spending the weekend about 100 Kms from home, yet in the same State.

TPBM loves road trips.

I'd love them more if gas wasn't so expensive.

TPBM prefers to fly.

Depends how long the trip is. New York to Boston or D.C. is a short trip, such that going by Amtrak takes about as long as flying, once you factor in the TSA and traffic to the airport. So I take the train.

That said, the train up to Montreal, while certainly scenic, took a whole day: I would not recommend it outside of foliage season.

The person below me doesn't like trains anyway.

I love them, but for long trips flying is much cheaper. When I lived in DC, I always liked to hear the train whistle blow.

TPBM had/has a tree house.

No, but my daddy built me a little house to play with. He was wonderful. Later, he built my little sister a playhouse that was as large as a room in a house. It had electricity, working windows, linoleum on the floor, curtains, small furniture, and a loft.

TPBM also had a daddy who did nice things for him/her.

PeeEss~I'm almost ten years older than my sister, and at the time he built me the little house, he didn't have much money, but he had more $$ by the time my sister was old enough for the playhouse. That's why I didn't have a life-sized one. I had tea parties in it with her. Fun days!

My dad is the best man I have ever known, bar none. His teachings, his silly jokes, his words of advice, his looks of approval, they all meant the world to me growing up. And beyond.

My mom was also an excellent, loving parent to me, and I was incredibly lucky to have her as well. I can only dream to be half as good a parent to my own children, when they come. God bless you both, mom and dad. I love you guys.

TPBM is missing a loved one just now.

Edited: I couldn't have chosen a worse adverb.

Yes. I made my great-grandma's Mississippi Mud Cake yesterday, and that always reminds me of weekends at Grandma's. I was close to her; she passed away when I was 16.

TPBM is close to a living relative.

Sometimes.

MY father was the best father and man who ever lived. I miss him every day.

In high school, my mother made me take shorthand (typing was pretty much something everyone took so no brainer on it). I was able to do 120 words a minute, BUT I could only type 40 words a minute (the numbers were beyond me, I always had to look). My friend and I used to exchange our shorthand notes because we could read each others better than our own.

The person below me has special memories spent with his/her father or another father figure.

My Dad was a very special man, I remember going salmon fishing with him and lots of family camping adventures. He was a naval fireman and looked fantastic in his uniform, I was a very proud daughter!

I come from a very close knit family. My Mom is 89, still going strong and I only hope I can be half as lively at the same age. The other relative I share a special bond with is my 11 year old grandson. He has always seemed like an "old soul" and we are sympatico.

TPBM would really like a piece of the above mentioned Mississippi Mud Cake - sounds yummy!

I do, but I am trying to get rid of it before I eat the whole thing! (It's yummy enough that my aunt did the happy dance in her chair when I told her I was making it, lol - it's definitely a favorite around here.)

I will try to get permission to post the recipe - it's a family recipe so I'm not sure I'll be allowed to, but I'll ask.

TPBM is arguing with his/her keyboard.

no, ever since a few drops of hot chocolate made its way into the keyboard, it has possessed superpowers that make it far too powerful for me to argue with. I just let it win.

The person below me has sufficient energy to beat up on inanimate objects.

#107 -- I have a recipe for Mississippi Mud Cake but haven't made one in a long time. It never lasts long.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No, no energy at all right now.

TPBM is going to bed.

Nope, it's 8.15am on Saturday and I'm just about to start work - and it's a beautiful sunny day out there, worse luck!

(ETA: I learned shorthand when I was 21 and was surprisingly good at it - 160wpm, easy. Then I started working in offices and it was all audio-typing, so within about a year I'd forgotten shorthand completely - the moral is, use it or lose it!)

TPBM will tell us what they're having for dinner tonight.

Nothing.

But my wife did cook up a terrific salad WITH
chicken (as opposed to just a "Chicken salad" for
lunch. Or, I suppose, I can say dinner, since I'm old enough to remember when the mid-day meal was called "dinner".

TPBM has been a dish washer in a restaurant,
or someone in middle management who frequently gets called on to replace absent washers, scourers, etc.

If a fast food place counts as a restaurant, then I washed dishes there every day while I worked there.

TPBM is fascinated by something.

MrsHouseLibrary, of course!

TPBM better have a different fascination!

I'm fascinated by my kids; the intense concentration my baby can put into the simplest task that we adults do as thoughtlessly as breathing, or the complex stories my 6 year old can spin out of thin air, or the casual way he can bowl me over with his charm and abundant love, or the way my baby walks and walks and walks now - just because he can

My parents just landed, and will be with us for half a week. We're planning to surprise the various dads / grand-dads with breakfast in the playhouse tomorrow.

TPBM has plans for Fathers' Day

Not exactly. I'll be working. However, my husband's son is staying with us, & it'll be the first Father's Day in many, many years where he'll be with his dad all day. It's a little intense, because my husband has cancer. Barring a miracle, this will be his last Father's Day.

Sorry to be such a downer. I'm in the midst of working out how to tell his fans (he's a writer) how close he is to the end.

TPBM is experiencing the joy of new life in their home.

Oh, my dear PhaedraB, that must be so horribly difficult for you. And I'm very sorry that you have to deal with telling his fans on top of the rest. Truly, my thoughts are with you.

But no, no new life in my home this weekend. Both sons are out of range at the moment. But it would certainly help cheer things up if some one could supply a baby something-or-other in this thread (kittens, boys, puppies, mice, pick one)

The person below me is scouring their hard drive to find a picture of something adorable.

I have TONS of adorables. (preschool boy who knows he's cute, three pups, my friend's toddler playing in my wedding veil...)

TPBM will tell me how to put pictures into posts.

The instructions are in this thread which gets high marks for utility.

The person below me stayed up late reading last night.

Last night I was in bed before 10:30, and didn't wake up until almost 9 this morning.
The night before though... didn't go to bed until 8 in the morning - 2 Americanos (coffee) late in the evening will do that to a person. So, yeah, I read, and I worked on a couple of stories I've got going, and I decoded some Hieroglyphics, and wrote an opera.

TPBM usually has more ambition than that.

Who? Me? Nah!

PhaedraB my thoughts are with you and your family. Best to you.

rolandperkins, I'm with you. It was "Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner" if Lunch was the light meal and "Breakfast, Dinner and Supper" if the heavy meal was in the middle.

TPBM doesn't really care what the meal is called, so long as you call him/her in time to eat it.

Of course. (I am of the opinion that supper and dinner are the same. Lunch is eaten in the middle of the day. I do know others who are sticklers with Boo's definition.)

Lunch on Sunday is at a steakhouse! The person below me would like to go too.

Sounds good, but a friend has invited us for dinner tonight to meet/vet his new girlfriend, so a large lunch is not appropriate!

TPBM loves it when their friends are successful.

I do, I am, I am always hopeful for...

The person below me is wondering why a particular key on his/her keyboard is unresponsive.

My space bar. It's really slowing me down on typing and it's aggravating.

Edited: here are the pictures I promised a few posts ago:







"Helping" Gramma play the piano:


This was at the breeder's house three weeks before he came home.




TPBM stayed up late last night.

Cool photos. Cute kids! I love the one at the piano. My grandchildren always loved that, and now the greats have started!

If you mean early this morning, yes!

TPBM thinks Boo should go to bed earlier. Her husband certainly does.

By the way, I never say anything when HE sits up all night reading. lol

I'm a finicky sleeper and reading lights are a deal breaker. I don't have a telebishun (1 year and 2 days) but a teevee doesn't keep me awake. Unless is does. Which is why I have three kinds of sleeping pills- mild sedative, soporific, and Amy Winehouse.

TPBM has farted in an elevator and blamed a stranger.

Not lately.

A friend of mine once said that in every relationship, one person is a farter (and proud of it), and the other person is disgusted by it.

TPBM tends to be the latter of the two.

Well, yes. But I can produce wall-shaking burps that amaze and stun my family.

TPBM loves to listen to BBC news.

Nope. I don't listen to the news at all, I'm a newspaper person.

TPBM is also a newspaper person, and will tell us what their customary paper is.

I only buy two papers a week, both only on Saturdays, the Times and the Daily Telegraph, purely for the crosswords. I never read a paper (or listen to the news), it's far too depressing these days.

TPBM only ever watches 2 or 3 television channels, as opposed to the dozens that are available on cable/digital/Sky etc, depending where you are.

The two that are on most often at my house are preschool channels - Sprout and Nick Jr. When Kidlet's asleep or not home, it's Food Network during the day and NBC or CBS at night for the crime shows.

TPBM knows whether a zebra is black with white stripes or white with black stripes.

The latter, if barcodes are anything to go by.

The person below me is a zebra. Or a barcode.

At work we have barcode label printers on our manufacturing system that are called Zebras. Close enough?

TPBM is currently reading a book that has more than 500 pages.

I started a book this morning that has 675 pages, but I think it will be a quick read as it is a Marian Keyes, chick-lit, called This Charming Man.

TPBM never reads anything that could possibly be labelled Chick-Lit.

Not until a couple of months ago. And just like with Young Adult novels, and British Lit Classics before that, I got totally hooked.

TPBM also favors a particular fiction genre that is often looked down upon -or plain overlooked.

The local bookshops hide fiction at the back somewhere, on one or two miniscule shelves, and they don't even have a separate sci-fi / fantasy section, so it's impossible to get fantasy, which is my preferred.

TPBM supports a team that's actually managed to win one of its matches in the World Cup (sorry to drone on about football, but that's what my husband and kids are watching while I'm on LT) (I'm giving up, because any team I show the slightest spark of interest in immediately sets about doing it's best to lose)

No. It's enough that MrsHouseLibrary and I are able to support each other.

TPBM rarely follows a recipe in a cookbook precisely; instead, uses the so-called "Zen Intuitive" cooking method.

Yes. I throw a bunch of take out menus in the air and the one that falls closest to the phone gets the call.

TPBM is cutting up their credit cards.

Don't have any to cut up.

The person below me owns their house in conjunction *with* the bank.

CiWrong on both counts. I still owe money on the mortgage, and I don't own a bank.

TPBM is relatively debt-free.

**ETA: Cool! A simulpost!

No, in fact Citibank just offered me a Tru Pimp card because it mistook me for someone in the music business.

No, since I own it only in my mind.

Given any option, TPBM would/would not pick a grand estate. Show your work.

Yes, but I hope buy out that partner in the next 10 years.

Way late!

My current 'estate' is plenty grand for us

TPBM has taken control of their finances and has beat them into compliance.

EDT: add a link to a photo of the 'estate'

I've paid off my mortgage, but I have a home equity credit line to pay off, and the land is leasehold. So I own my house in conjunction with my bank and with the fee simple owner.

The person below me couldn't and wouldn't be bothered with owning a house.

Edited to add: HEY!

Eeehhx! (Annoying buzzer sound.) Paying off your home is the smartest thing an investor can do.

>>Edited for clarity.

TPBM has done something interesting with their money lately.

Yessiree! I had another bookcase custom-built.
This one is primarily for my reference books and books about writing.
I'll post a picture in my profile page gallery thingy later tonight.

Getting 5 books cataloged is the higher priority considering the logistics...

TPBM has some sort of organization to the way his/her books are shelved.

Yes - by size because my bookcase has weird shelf heights and I can't change them.

TPBM has a better book-organization method.

I'm moving them from one house to another so right now they are organized in plastic grocery sacks by the grab-and-stuff method. The bookcases haven't moved yet.

The person below me did something nice for someone today.

I refrained from murdering one of my work colleagues and stapling his remains to the notice board.

TPBM loves to hear long, earnest conversations about sport when they are trying to concentrate.

Having lived in a house with three men for 20+ years, I have gotten really good at tuning out such conversations.

The person below me annotates his/her books when reacting to an author's point.

That's what NOTEBOOKS are for!
I usually keep a blank card stock bookmark to make immediate notes, and lightly star or arrow and only in very light pencil.
And I NEVER dogear!

TPBM had better get back to work because the boss is observing you.

Nope. Unless "boss" is code for "big brother", in which case... hmm, no, the answer would still be no, I think. Nothing interesting to observe over here.

TPBM likes pop-up books.

Yup, pop-ups; but lift-the-flaps is my baby's current preference. Today we had a good read of a Spot the Dog book, and a couple of others. And by good read, I mean turn the pages, flip backward, read upside down, back again to favourite page ... and then he kept seeing pictures of bananas and apples (and very proud of himself on identifying the banana) so he got hungry, and that was the end of that session.

TPBM knows a good cure for nightmares, and will tell me!

It may sound a bit trivial, but once you're ready for sleep, simply - please don't laugh - Think Happy Thoughts! Tell a story to yourself - it can be as self-aggrandising as you wish - in which all your most extravagant dreams come true, and make it as detailed as you can. It worked me for years ago, and I can't recall the last time I had a nightmare! Apparently yoga/relaxation therapies work well, too.

TPBM is looking damned handsome today.

Insomnia is a wonderful cure for nightmares.

...But TPBM will have a less insantiy-inducing method.

>>153 Sophie236: Soph- No, it's about a bazillion degrees here so everyone's kind of wilted.
>>154 RandomActofMuse: SRed- I don't usually have nightmares, and once I wake up I think they're kind of cool so I don't worry about them. Morning workouts are good for insomnia if the meds don't do it.

In the town where TPBM lives, there is an old house rumored to have a fortune buried somewhere inside it.

Really? Can you tell me which one? I'm a little short on pocket change, and that would really help!

TPBM would help me with the digging for a share of the treasure.

I wouldn't mind, but I've never manage to dig deeper than about 6 inches down, no matter how much effort I put in.

TPBM will provide refreshments for the dig.

I've hit the "refresh" key in my keyboard about five times now. Will that do?

TPBM played pirats as a child.

Oh yeah, and war, and cowboys and indians, and bank robbers. And we had candy cigarettes, too.

>>156 WholeHouseLibrary: WHL- Indeed I would. When I was a kid I was fascinated by treasure and spent years digging up old houses and sites. Found some cool stuff, got a lot of cuts and bruises.

Within the past month, TPBM has met someone of incredible personal beauty or remarkable intellectual prowess.

You mean besides the folks here?

The person below me buys new electronics or appliances and then doesn't get around to using said item for quite a while.

Exact opposite. I seldom buy electronics/appliances and am a late adopter; I've been eligible for a free phone upgrade since June 2007 and haven't done it. My brother is the early adopter. That being said, when we talk, his souped up silicon-based sentient being phone sounds like he's yelling in a tunnel. Or maybe he is, I never know with my brother. MY phone always sounds great; it just doesn't work all the time.

ETA: What?

TPBM creates.

Yup :)

(warning: shameless plug!)

http://randomactofmuse2.deviantart.com/

TPBM writes.

Yes, but you might not agree if you saw my handwriting. :)

The person below me sings.

Not in the past few decades.

And even when younger, I tended to avoid singing, because I had only hear one folk singer -- Carl Sandburg -- who I thought had an even worse voice* than mine.

* b t w , my idea of the best voice in
a folk singer (though not the best repertoire by any means): Peggy Seeger

I do sing, though I'm my biggest fan.

TPBM participates in an Open Mic Night.

Can't. You can find me in the Who's He? of Folk Music. It'll explain everything.

TPBM avoids Karaoke Bars.

I avoid all bars, unless they are chocolate related. Yum, chocolate!

TPBM can't stand chocolate.

At first I thought that made sense only regarding chocolate bars, but then I thought of chocolate rabbits and other candy statuary. So I guess some chocolate can be stood, but, without implements or modification, the bars defy standing.

The person below me prefers sandwiches to both meat alone and bread alone.

The sandwich is nature's perfect food.

TPBM makes and keeps their Halloween costumes.

Yes. Especially ham and peanut butter sandwiches.

Don't do Halloween any more.

TPBM would as soon have a sandwich as a cooked meal.

Sandwiches are easier. And when it's hot, the last thing you want is to be heating up the house by starting the stove going.

TPBM works with children.

Sometimes a few of them act like kids, yeah.

TPBM works in a white collar sweat shop.

I retired early before I killed my self-centered, mostly incompetent, mean boss. She was one piece of work.

The person below me is all caught up on doing his/her laundry.

I was, until today happened. But I'll be caught up tomorrow:)

TPBM is going to sleep soon.

Not for another fifteen hours, once the caffeine kicks in.

TPBM will tell us what they have been listening to.

Currently, it's Suite No.1 for Two Pianos, Op.15 written by Arensky

TPBM is not familiar with Arensky.

That's right! -- How did you know?

TPBM is not familiar with the works
of Joost van den Vondel.

That's true. I'm contentedly listening to a Schumann quartet on Pandora.

The person below me is not familiar with baroque opera.

No, I tend to avoid opera whenever possible, but I do like baroque music.

TPBM loves JS Bach's Brandenburg Concerto.

Wrongo!

For example: The Three-Penny Opera is thus titled because that's all the profit it made in its first (and last) weeks run. It went baroque real fast!

A bit slow on my response to #179!

It's one of my favorites.

TPBM can tell us the Catalog Number for PDQ Bach's The Seasonings.

S 1 1/2 tsp.

I particularly like "By the leeks of Babylon, ee-ii-ee-ii-ohhhh...."

TPBM has never heard of PDQ Bach.

I have now.

TPBM is reading a book in PDF format.

nope, I refuse to read books in electronic format.

TPBM prefers ereaders for the space savings.

Pfft. I like real books with pages.

TPBM likes books sans pictures.

I could take them with or without. Cookbooks need them, so do really dry financial text book type things (which I try to avoid reading), and the kids seem to like them.

TPBM will be reading to kids sometime this week.

I wish!

The kids in my life don't like books. I blame it on the telly.

TPBM had someone to read to them during childhood and is endlessly grateful for that.

I credit my mother's reading to me as a child for my learning to read at age 4. And for my interest in books in general.

TPBM has a new favorite genre.

Not at the moment, but I do have a new favorite toy (my iPod Touch -- 32GB and not even half an inch thick!).

The person below me thinks the cute red snap-on case I got for my iPod won't do much, and that I need to go for one of the sleeves that make it, like, twice as thick.

I have sleeves for my iPod (4GB, don't- pay the extra money for the 160GB or an iTouch) that look like headbands with one end sewn. I think they're fine.

TPBM listens to audiobooks on an iPod or MP3 player.

No. When I was fixing up my late in-law's house (in order to sell it), I listened to audiobooks on tape and CDs with the player in my truck. I preferred the tapes for ease of use.

TPBM never used an audio cassette before.

hell, I even have a turn table and a working 8-track in my house...

TPBM does not know what an LP is.

Are you kidding? I still have some in my mother's basement. My little brother had no clue of what those were for, though. Amusing.

TPBM can't believe it's been almost nine years from 9/11, eleven from The Matrix, seventeen from Jurassic Park (the film), and decades since Thriller.

Edited for clarity: I forgot we were in a readers board. ;-)

Jurassic Park does seem a lot more recent than 17 years.

I don't have any special feeling of how recent or how long ago was 9/11.

The Matrix is only a name to me, but I think commentaries on it flourished during 2000-2006 when I was on AOL.

I don't remember Thrller at all.

TPBM knows of several movies that more deserve to be "great classics" than Citizen Kane does.

Black Christmas. Greatest movie Of.All.Time.

TPBM has been to the Oscars.

Yes, cousins Luis and Selma Oscar. Lots of fun to hang out with, quite worth the +100 Km ride in the train.

TPBM has a funny last name.

Question edited back

Only if you pronounce it wrong, which many people do.

TPBM wishes it were time to go home.

I think so, but since everyone in this state with my name is either me or one of my cousins, I'm refraining from posting it.

absolutely, if I could just find someone to pay me for staying home now...

TPBM also has a unique name.

Umhu. Both first and last name. That's why I never ever use them over the Internet. Ever.

TPBM is gritting their teeth at my horrid grammar.

Scratch that. Too slow.

What horrid grammar?

TPBM never had any trouble learning how to spell their own last name (took me till I was 7, lol)

No. I'm wondering about your name.

I think my name, first and last, was one of the first things I learned to spell.

The person below me parks in a green garage.

No, the wooden parts of my house are painted brown.

TPBM collects art.

On the contrary, TPBY doesn't hav e adriver's license, or even know how to drive.

But wouldn't object to a green garage, if I did drive; might even prefer it. (I'm Irish.)

TPBM has driven at least one of these makes:
Dodge, Willis, Terraplane, Model T- OR Model -A
Ford, Packard.

#202: I'm too much of a spendthrift to have any money left to buy artpieces.

#203: My grandad had an old beat-up Dodge. I liked to sit behind the steering wheel and pretend I was driving, does that count?

TPBM really has driven any or all of those makes.

TO girlfromshangrila:

Oh yes, that counts. I used to do the same in a Model A Ford, In fact, I knew more about cars (within the limitations of that era) at
age 8 than I know now at age 79.

I used to do the same in my uncle's old car when I was about 5. Sometimes he'd let me sit on his lap and "drive" to the house when we got about three houses away from our driveway. Ok, ok, so he ran the pedals and helped me steer. but to my five-year-old self, I was driving and that was cool.

I drove a Dodge Caravan to get my license. Never touched it after that (I always hated driving vans). I have a Saturn now, which I will have to start babying soon; it's approaching 100,000 miles and I can't afford to replace it. And trying to find a mechanic who can repair it? Pfft. Saturn's been bought out and the dealership where I bought it is a Kia dealer now.

TPBM is about to go on an excursion of some kind.

Does going home from the office count? (If so, I'm going on an excursion in just a few minutes.)

The person below me will be going on a road trip this summer.

No, we just got back from a small road trip last week. Not planning on another one till the fall.

TPBM went to the library today.

Bookstore, really. Can you believe there is not a single library in the entire municipality? Not that the public libraries spread about the rest of the country are any good, but still! *sigh* It's depressing.

# 205: You were very fortunate, you know that?
# 206: So cool! My dad 'taught' me how to drive in his Renault 5 when I was about six, using pretty much the same method you pointed out. :-)

TPBM couldn't live in a town without a library.

To be precise, I wouldn't live in a town without a Library.

TPBM still has his/her first Library Card.

I'm lucky if I can hang onto my present one.

Distantly related is the fact that I still have occasional dreams about trying to visit the
first library I ever went to, well aware, in the dream, that it is a library of the distant past.
I always wake up before getting inside the door.
(It was an endowed library that did not charge fees, and so de facto public, but not part of the City Library System. We had City, not Town, government, but were actually a small town
in the old suburbia of Greater Boston.

TPBM has used both the Main and one or more BRANCH libraries in her/his municipality.

Edited for continuity.

All the time, we have a great library system in Northern VA and I've used most of them. Plus, in this system, I can order a book and have it delivered to the local. Tres jolie.

TPBM remembers when libraries didn't usually smell like pee.

Can't remember one that DID smell like pee (!?)
My library visiting extends from about 1937 to the present. I couldn't begin to make a count of the number of libraries, public, college, and special, that I've visited.

TPBM has been the boss of someone who (at that time or later) held the rank of "Librarian" --whether IN a library or elsewhere.

Oooh no! But I have a great librarian story. I worked as an analyst in a consulting firm in DC and on my first day I was riding the elevator when this blond beach bunny gets on. Beautiful, long blond hair, deep tan, sun dress and barefoot (we had a business casual dress code, but she looked like she was just in from sipping margaritas by the pool.) I'm thinking someone has hired his girl friend as secretary. Turns out she was the head librarian, a sooper geenuz, and a great person to hang out with. So it takes all kinds to turn the page.

ETA the bit about the tan. Also, she took me to see the Rolling Stones (but that's just a bragging rights thing.)

TPBM would be afraid to try and boss a librarian.

You betcha! MrsHouseLibrary ~IS~ a Librarian, and she doesn't put up with much nonsense from me.

TPBM is fairly self-disciplined.

In some areas, yes - I work hard and efficiently - but I can procrastinate about housework for ages!

TPBM has never broken a bone.

I wish. Touch football in the 8th grade. My finger has never fully recovered. Index finger for those of you who think I was using a different one inappropriately. :) Just an accident but boy it hurt.

The person below me has broken an arm or a leg.

The best I can do is toe (tripping up the stairs at work) and finger (stubbed very hard on steering wheel) - the finger was 2 years ago and because of using it every day and my age, it refuses to mend.

TPBM was once in plaster for several weeks

Editied because Carrotlady beat me to it, but this answers her PBM.

December 23, 1994, I stepped out my kitchen door into the garage, on my way to a doctor's appointment and broke my right ankle. Made for a really interesting Christmas that year. I removed the first cast myself, EXTREME Claustrophobia here. In all, I removed three casts and was re x-rayed three times before my doctor got back and town and put a moon boot on me. He is also Caustrophobic.

TPBM is broadening their horizons by reading a new genre.

I recently rediscovered a liking for fantasy. I read the first few Dragons books by Margaret Weis a long time ago, and came across some of them at the library last week. Gonna have to get back into those...

TPBM can refer me to a metalsmith for work on a custom-designed necklace that I can't make myself.

220 > my sister makes jewelry and necklaces, she can do quite a bit but depending on what you want she might not have the equipment available. But she is worth communicating with to find out. http://www.etsy.com/shop/PZdesigns is her etsy store and can be contacted through that.

(my etsy store is http://www.etsy.com/shop/makeafew)

TPBM has never heard of Etsy before.

I have heard of it, and have bought some items from it. (A spindle and some fiber a while back; more recently some stitch markers, a row counter and a necklace.)

The person below me wishes they could make things to sell on Etsy.

I have things listed on Etsy. I've sold exactly one thing, lol.

My shop is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SRedRose

TPBM does plenty of online shopping.

PS- >221 readafew: - thanks! I'll go see what I can find out.

actually most things that aren't food.

TPBM wears out their mail carrier from all the stuff they buy online.

No. We'd still have to carry all that stuff up the stairs, anyway.

The person below me has some entertaining stories about their mail carrier's thoughtfulness (or idiocy, for that matter).

Just one story, but our mail carrier is not supposed to bring large packages to us. We live at the end of a cul-de-sac and if a package is larger than our mailbox (which is actually quite large) she's supposed to leave us a note and return it to the post office for us to pick up. However, there are times that she will bring things to our house for us and put them next to the french doors even if we're not at home. We appreciate this because it saves 18 miles round trip to the post office.

TPBM hates the long lines at their post office.

Yes, but it's hard for me to get angry with my local PO because the people behind the desk are remarkably friendly.

>>225 AnnaClaire: AC- The last straw for me living in DC was catching the carrier taking a leak in the outside stairway. I lived on a route that nobody wanted so we were assigned some real clowns. My house was on the corner and one guy just dropped at my front door a box with all the mail for everyone on the street. (My neighbors got some interesting mail.)

TPBM has worked for the post office.

No, but I did take the test back in olden times when I was job hunting.

I have found the little post offices in store fronts (mostly Hallmark?) are great to use.

The person below me collects the very cool stamps the post office produces.

I have, although not recently. I use them, however; the bigger stamps are easy for a maladroit old man to handle, and they are a cheap thrill.

The person below me has noticed the marvelous numeric interest of the number of this thread, 39, and knows some more. It is a digit, the first odd prime in some reckonings, followed by its square. Both digits and the two in juxtaposition taken as a single number are divisible by three. There must be more, but I don't have my Dictionary of Interesting Numbers at hand.

it also the product of 2 primes and 3/4 of a deck of cards.

TPBM gets a glossy look in their eyes when math shows up.

Yes. Yes, I do.

TPBM was good at math in school.

In my dreams.

The Good Sisters (TM) told me if I did not do my arithmetic homework, I'd never learn arithmetic. Damn them, they were right.

TPBM was wrong about something else.

I was wrong about Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, deposed Shah of Iran. I DIDNʻT like him*, but I grudgingly admitted that, whatever else, he was a fighter; he would never run away. Of course run away is exactly what he did.
I was probably very influenced by a Fletcher Knebel fictional scenario: His Seven Days in May takes place in a near future in which there has already been a Korean-type civil war in Iran, in which the U.S. has intervened to prevent a total victory of the Shahʻs enemies. Yeah, thatʻs what the Shah would foment, I mused.

*I think what most turned me off about him was his placing the crown on his own head -- nobody else could be "worthy of that honor" -- at his coronation. Napoleon Bonaparte had done the same, which left me, when I read of it, with mixed feelings about a previously admired politician.

T PBM has never been wrong in predicting the result of a U.S. presidential election -- be the prophetic feelings optimistic or pessimistic.

No, I've been agog by some of the choices of the Supreme Court over the past decade or so.
I have been dead-on target with predicting their performance, though - except for Carter.

TPBM prefers to read biographies.

Only if they are about the person who wrote them.

TPBM prefers reading to almost any other activity. Mr. House, I didn't mean that.

God no. We live in a world where Al Gore is a Sex Poodle. There's lots to do.

>>229 Mr.Durick:- Mr.D- Golden mean (1:3). I suck at math but I'm larning myself at home. As long as I don't think of them as numbers, I'm ok because it's like philosophy.

TPBM can always pick the perfect color.

I can pick what seems to me the perfect colour but I know that my wife will want something different - she has an eye for that sort of thing........she says - but I can guarantee that, before the day is out, she will have changed her mind.

TPBM will say something that will move me away from this negitavism of mine.

You are SOOOO right!

TPBM is watching the news.

No. I'm watching a crappy-even-for-Hallmark TV movie with my mom and sister.

TPBM has higher standards for the movies they watch.

No, not really.

TPBM has seen their name in lights.

Ooh, I can play! I once had my name on an elementary school sign. It welcomed me as their visiting storyteller.

TPBM has recently gone on vacation, and will tell us where they went.

Back in mid-March, MrsHouseLibrary and I spent a week in Washington, DC. She just finished the scrapbooks - yeah, it took 2 of 'em! - last week.

Next week, we're going to be spending a few days in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Apparently, that's where we'll be able to find the most number of paintings in the Hudson River School variety. I also hear there's a really huge Half-Price Books store there.

TPBM enjoys a particular style of artsy-type paintings.

I'm a sucker for the Pre-Raphaelites - Waterhouse being a particular fave ("Hylas and the Nymphs" is in the Manchester Art Gallery, and I do miss it now I live in Scotland!).

Link:

http://swittersb.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/john_william_waterhouse_-_hylas_and...

TPBM prefers more dangerous art.

I reckon that your Waterhouse picture is pretty dangerous! - that Hylas would get arrested and on the Sex Offenders register quick as you like nowadays. Surely some of the bathers are younger than sixteen?

The Pre-Raphaelites were certainly easy on the eye. I loved seeing Flaming June on its recent visit to the Tate from Puerto Rico. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_June

TPBM has spent more than $500 on a piece of art.

No, but I did get $300 dollars for this 'pirate chest'


TPBM knows of where I'd be able to sell a bunch of these.

Pass them my way! I'm in a 'vintage' spate right now, and these chests would only need the slightest of alterations to fit my decor perfectly.

# 221: Lovely! I really like the bowl. If I had the US$, I'd buy them myself.

TPBM is very interested in indoor decoration.

Edited to avoid the jokes. Only time will tell if I succeeded.

I am fairly Spartan in my view of how a house should be decorated - very few windows and bookcases wherever possible. Yet my house has a lot of windows.

MrsHouseLibrary has seen fit to fill any horizontal surface (and a couple of good places for bookcases) with picture frames, seashells, railroad spikes, glass insulators, pieces of coral, lab glass, brass weights, pottery, candlesticks... I can't close most of the window shades on the first floor.

TPBM also feels a sense of loss of privacy.

We only have window shades on 2 upstairs bedrooms and my library. Everything else is shadeless. But, since we live at the end of a cul-de-sac behind a (smallish) stand of trees, someone would have to have binoculars and stand at the top of the cul-de-sac to see into our bedroom, the living room, or breakfast room. And on the other side of the house the closest habitation is 1/4 mile away. :)

So technically we have no privacy but really don't feel it.

TPBM is planning a summer vacation and will tell us when and where. (Or, for you southern hemispherers, a winter vacation).

No plans yet. My tax refund wasn't quite enough to cover my cheaper fall vacation (go visit a friend in Texas for Halloween and the bookfest), so I spent the about half of it on an iPod Touch* and will probably spend the rest at the fiber festival in Rhinebeck in mid-October.

The person below me doesn't own a DVD player.

--------
*This was a week or two ago; it wasn't advertised as being on sale, but it was noticeably cheaper than usual because of the new iPod/iPhone OS they came out with since.

No, I do have a DVD player because I love movies.

TPBM finally figured out what the problem was with something.

Yeah, baby!! I just fought off a bug in a spreadsheet's formulla. Finally, the file is updated and I can move on. To more boring data uploading. Meh.

TPBM actually enjoys their job.

I am retired, and I enjoy it.

The person below me needs the direction in life a job provides.

not really, I need the income, if my house was paid off, I'd seriously consider quitting and spending most of my time working in my woodshop.

TPBM is also hoping for early retirement or better yet financial independence.

Seeing as I haven't been gainfully employed in nearly 3 years, the latter seems to be the more likely. Tell me. Tell me.

AnnaClaire, the TBF is in mid-October this year - not the first weekend of November.

TPBM has never been to a Book Festival.

Nope, never have. I think DC's is in September. Jeez, it used to be a short walk to the LoC, now it would be a day trip.

Last night, TPBM had a dream they were in some place from their youth. (Juvi Hall counts, but really...)

No, last night I dreamed that I was rolling out dress fabric like cookie dough with a rolling pin, and that the old guy from Up was living in the house that ate people from Monster House (which was flying, but with the roof acting like wings, not balloons attached to the top), and of an evil mermaid who looked like Ariel, acted like Ursula and sounded like the ugly stepsister from Shrek, and she liked to switch peoples' voices.

I don't know WHAT was going on in my head last night...

TPBM has saner dreams.

No, last night I may have had a dream of some sort but I woke up at 2am bathed in sweat and that part was all too real!

The person below me has experienced a power outage this month.

Every morning. Fortunately, MrsHouseLibrary knows how to turn on the coffeemaker.

TPBM has big plans for this weekend.

I will work and sleep and attempt to take a photograph of a seedhead of Goatsbeard. A friend has lent me an 'idiot-proof' camera which can take ultra close-ups of wildflowers. It remains to see whether it can cope with the depth of my idiocy with cameras...

TPBM is proud of their photographic skills.

Quite. I can't take close-ups without a tripod though.

TPBM is looking forward to today (or tomorrow, if it's evening already).

Yes, except for the heat. And it is the anniversary of our 122 degree day (20 years ago - it seems like yesterday).

The person below me knows how to stay cool when it is really hot.

Be like the Dude, and abide.

TPBM dislikes fireworks.

I enjoy fireworks, but I hate the noise, crowds and heat (the desert isn't the best place to watch). I marvel at some of the amazing displays.

The person below me has plans to attend a fireworks show next weekend.

Living in DC it's kind of a given.

TPBM is also up at an absurdly early hour. (Hell, I'm out of coffee and the grocery store doesn't even open for another 33 minutes. And counting.)

TPBM is so not a morning person.

Not really. What's there not to like about mornings? Coffee, cereal, sunrise- I love it all. Waking up is an ordeal I don't particularly look forward to, but that's another story.

TPBM has had an overdose of football courtesy the FIFA world cup.

Not yet! There is at least one more match I have to see - tomorrow, England v. Germany. Both teams have lost or drawn games that they might have been expected to win. The Germans even missed a penalty. My heart says England to win, but my head predicts a 1 - 1 draw with Germany winning the penalty shoot-out. David James will save one for England but Defoe and Rooney will miss.

The USA could go further - Ghana is definitely beatable - but they will have a job to continue after that match.

The winner? Argentina - little Messi will come good.

TPBM approves of athletic competitions that only inflict themselves on us every four years.

I'd prefer that ALL of them occur during the same couple of weeks.

TPBM doesn't suffer from a 'tribal' mentality.

I'm sure I do, they are very hard to avoid - family = tribe, town = tribe, workplace = tribe - but I don't suffer from a sports-related issue.

TPBM learned a new kind of solitaire this week, either with real cards or electronically.

Can't honestly say that I have. I learned 150 versions of Solitaire as a kid, and every now and then, I'll play each of them a couple of times, just so I don't forget.

TPBM is a decent speller.

Oh hell no. I didn't even learn to correctly spell my full name until I was 12. (To be fair, it does require some skill.)

TPBM has an ashtray from someplace famous or infamous.

Nope.

TPBM has a souvernir that they are a little ashamed of.

I have a plaster cast of Jack Nicholson's face. Don't ask. I've done things. Terrible things.

TPBM collects souvenir spoons.

I didn't even know such a thing existed.

TPBM is famous for something.

Notorious, perhaps... I'm in the Who's He of Folk Music.

TPBM has helped a friend move a body.

(Good gracious, ignore the internet for ONE DAY, and look what happens! 16 messages to catch up on!)

I helped a friend bury her cat, and I was the one who moved the box from the house to the hole in the ground.

TPBM has never had to bury an animal.

No, I've always been cowardly and allowed a man to do it ...

TPBM frequently does something not normally done by a person of their gender (ouch, what an ugly sentence!).

Having once parsed that sentence for its meaning (and yes, I'm sorry, Sophie236, it was an ugly one...), I can't say that I do anything not necessarily done by my gender because I am pretty sure my gender does whatever needs to be done. (And you'll note that the run-on sentence *I* constructed is likely as poorly constructed and punctuated a sentence as you're apt to find this side of the Mississippi.)

The person below me prefers brevity in these things.

As I was the comma splice Queen in college, I do prefer brevity. Having said that, there is sometimes nothing like a good old run-on sentence to get your brain working.

TPBM thinks it is too early in the morning to think about grammer.

....or even to spell it correctly.

Sorry, sorry! That was ungallant, to say the least. My only excuse is that England have just been slaughtered by Germany (at football, that is).

TPBM watches Wimbledon tennis.

Watches what?

#227 - Jill, just for the fun of it, I diagrammed your sentence. It took four sheets of paper.

TPBM understands what abbottthomas is blithering in about (no offense intended to the friar).

We lost to Ghana. GHANA! Is that even a country? Main export, Ghanarreogh? Located between Sodom and Gerroffame? It's a world gone mad.

TPBM slept like a log last night.

A ship's log, perhaps - lots of tossing and turning.

My TPBM in #280 is still waiting a response.

*Edited to fix a typo.

I have no idea what he's blithering about. I don't follow sports unless it's the Olympics. My fiance, who's following the scores, but not the actual games, was happy that Ghana won. He's never been particularly thrilled with the way the US plays the game. He lived in Ghana for a year during high school, which is where he fell in love with football (he refuses to call it soccer). That's also where, despite being a born-and-raised New York Indian (figure that one out, will ya?), he picked up the British spelling of things like spilled, spelled, etc. Oddly enough, he'll still use the American spellings for color, honor, and the like. I don't get it.

...

TPBM is less prone to bunny-trail tangents than I.

One time, in Band Camp..

TPBM is spending a nice, quiet, relaxing day at home today.

Well, after church this morning, and a 2-hr long meeting after church, I am now alone. Jim just left to go to a Rangers game with our daughter (her father's day gift to her). So my plan is to A)Watch TV B)Read C)Sew D)Play on computer D)Nap. Not in any particular order though.

TPBM will recommend a good movie that's recently been released.

I'm paying some homeless guy to camp out in front of the locak Redbox so I can be first in line to rent 'The Crazies', out this Tuesday.

ETA kicker

TPBM likes exploitation movies. Especially if they're made in Ghana. Which really is a country and not just a PO box for delivering foreign aide checks.

Not particularly.

TPBM wonders what happend that no one responded in over 18 hours.

P'raps the World Cup blues became unbearable, and everybody spent those hours sobbing on a pillow? Not that I know, of course. My 'favorite' team is still alive and kicking, pardon the awful pun.

TPBM has a better theory than mine.

No I don't.

>254 WholeHouseLibrary: Uh oh... Not the same weekend as Rhinebeck I hope!

The person below me will be WHL, confirming or denying that the organizers of the TBF have taken a dislike for New York fiber festivals.

Edited because we now have Texas weather in New York, which has apparently interfered with my ability to use grammar correctly.

Wow! I don't think anyone has ever called for a particular person to respond to the TPBM challenge before!

I have no empirical knowledge of this, but I strongly doubt whether the good folks who run the Texas Book Festival consider the goings-on in NYC (or any other city outside of Texas). Is there a scheduling conflict for you now, Anna?

TPBM doesn't have to be anyone in particular, but is quite being happy whoever you are.

I would hate to be anyone else.

TPBM has been someone else and decided it wasn't for them.

I feel more like myself now than I did a while ago.

I have it on good authority that SGiV used to work under the name "Bubbles".

TPBM has a Procol Harum album - ummmm, that would be a vinyl disk, about a foot in diameter; used on something called a "record player".

A what, and by whom? (OK, I know what a record player is, but who is Procol Harum?)

WHL - That weekend is the only one in October that creates any kind of scheduling problem. Unfortunately for the folks behind the TBF, books don't turn into socks and hats when you're done with them.

The person below me has read at least one book by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

Nope, never heard of her, but I have heard of Procol Harum. 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' was the first song I remember hearing- I was about 3 and it put me in a kind of trance. (And I got the name 'Bubbles' because of my effervescent personality. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

The place where TPBM lives is undergoing a radical change in the weather.

Here in MN a 'radical change in the weather' means it hasn't changed in 48 hrs.

TPBM has also had a lot of lighting storms the last couple weeks.

Not so much, though the weather's hot enough for them. (It's also hot enough to make everyone drowsy.)

The person below me will state what the temperature was outside when they woke up this morning, and what time it was. (In my case, I think the specific number was 82°F -- at 7AM.)

Edited because I'm drowsy enough to hit the wrong key, with the wrong hand.

75F - 3:50 a.m. (I know, I know! I'm beginning to fade)

TPBM wears a wind-up wrist watch.

I haven't worn a wristwatch at all in the past 15 years.

TPBM has a pocket watch (whether it works or not is immaterial).

I do! I got tired of having to replace watch bands as often as batteries.

i'd really like a wind-up.

TPBM is trying to help the animals stay cooler this season, and will tell how.

I do, my granddaddy's.

TPBM wears vintage clothing.

Jinx! You owe me a Coke!!!

I Looooove vintage clothing, especially if it's ethnic too.

Back to staying cool, now...

Gracie and Frankie, the geriatric kitties, stay inside in the air conditioning. Like any sane Texan does in the summer.

TPBM has bought fireworks for the weekend.

Not yet, I expect them to be bought for me, I just throw money in the pot and get to light them off!

TPBM really likes the 4th of July holiday because they get to blow things up!

The founding fathers thought that we would be lighting fireworks on July 4, but they didn't foresee our forgetting that it is Independence Day. Firecrackers are not the big explosions that I really get a kick out of. If a mountainside doesn't get blown into a valley, it's not worth the attention.

The person below me likes celebrations just because..., it doesn't matter what's being celebrated.

I remember once at Disney World someone saying that if they saw a parade like this every day they'd get sick of it and I looked at the floats and crowds and people dressed up, the balloons and music and noise, and said 'Are you KIDDING ME?'

TPBM has been in a parade.

Almost - I got involved in an art college "rag" week, dressed in a pink plastic jumpsuit with a twist of cellophane on my head - I went as a stick of seaside rock. Eeee, in them days we made our own entertainment ...

TPBM has worn a more ambitious fancy-dress costume.

I dressed up as an african for a parade. Used actual boot polish on my face
TPBM - will know how I should have taken it off without having to take off the first layer of skin

First, rubbing your skin with vegetable oil, then wiping the mess off with tissues, then dabbing on some alcohol to remove whatever is left. Finally, a thorough shower after a good exfoliating process, preferrably a 'natural' one so your skin doesn't suffer any further. I'd go for a paste of raw oat flakes mixed with sea salt and liquid milk.

TPBM knows a healthier, non- lab produced exfoliating method.

Isn't oatmeal supposed to be the best one? I thought your advice looked pretty sound.

The person below me took part in a recent evacuation (of a building, for example).

Well, at work, we started to evacuate our building yesterday - turns out it was a false alarm, but everybody was in the stairwells before they told us.

TPBM has participated in a fire or severe weather drill this year.

Yes, I have to. It is the law, since I live in an area with severe risk of wildfire in the dry season and mudslides in the rainy one. Sounds like fun, nay?

#309: Thanks, jillmwo. I'm a bit dreary about the salt, as it can be a tad abrassive, but it works for me.

TPBM will share a funny -or not so much- anecdote of a flood or similar phenomena.

120 days ago we had 3 feet of snow on the ground: It's been around 100 for the past several days. Not funny!

TPBM has been in a flood.

No I haven't.

>312 SomeGuyInVirginia: That's sorta like what we had in early April, only backwards and on Steroids. We had a few days at 90° (weird for that time of year), followed a week later by flurries (rare but not unheard-of).

The person below me has had funny weird weather fairly recently.

It hasn't rained for two days in a row! That's a new record for June. We sowed corn by the end of May, a little late if you ask me, but we've been having so much rain that it's already thigh-height and branching out! My wild lilies are drowning, though.

TPBM only has indoor plants, if any.

Yes. We have bamboo in the bathroom that I'm surprised hasn't died yet.

TPBM has a near-to-their-heart project in the works.

Yes I'm trying to build a garage so we can park our cars (and my tractor) indoors in the winter.

TPBM has a smaller project in the works.

Figuring out how to download songs to itunes, then figuring out how to get them on my brand-new iPod. A fun project for sure, just will take some time as I am not the best when it comes out to figuring out new technology.

TPBM has over 1000 songs on their iPod.

I have over 10,000 songs on my PC, but I don't even have an iPod. I had an MP3 player, once, and how I miss the old thing. Now I keep my music in my cellphone, which saves space in my purse.

TPBM is carrying a very, very cluttered purse today.

Edit: Leaped! Hate when that happens.

Not on an iPod; I donʻt have one. But i may have that many in memory; Iʻve never made a count:
mostly folksongs, with a few long-term pop items that have almost reached ʻFolk" status.

TPBM knows at least one song of at least 3 languages.

Yup. French (Corneille), Italian (Bocelli, Nek and Ramazotti), English, and Spanish (too many to count). None of those are folk songs, though. Except for a few ones in Spanish that must be stored at the back of my head.

I love foreign languages and music, so that's two obsessions for the price of one. :-)

TPBM loves world music, and will share a favorite of the genre with us. (link, please!)

Indian tribal music but the kind made at ceremonies, not the kind with a floor show in Vegas. One of my favorites is the Rabbit Dance, taped from the Cree Nation. I love it, drives most people batty. It's like techno or trance, and you get to wear fur. What's not to like. (Is that what you meant? No link, I've only got CDs.)

TPBM has pulled an arrow out of themselves.

No. Actually, I attribute that to the speed with which I move through hostile territory.

The person below me watches cats hanging out in the backyard.

Occasionally the neighbor's cat will come to the backyard, sit in the window and watch my two cats, which drives them nuts.

TPBM has recently seen an interesting museum exhibit and will tell us about it.

Today - Michelangelo's first painting - The Torment of Saint. Anthony, in display in the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth.

If they had refrigerators back then, I'm sure his mom would have hung it in the door using a magnet.

TPBM has so many magnets on the refrigerator there is a danger of knives spontaneously flying out of the drawers and across the kitchen.

It's even worse than that - I have the knives in a butcher block on the island near the cooktop so they're only about 10 feet from the refrigerator! Fortunately no mishaps so far. We also put the school calendar, various receipts, daughter's checks from work, etc. on there too so you can hardly see the front.

TPBM can look out a window and see a bird's nest.

Window? None in this room. Oh, wait, there is one, completely blocked by a non-functioning A/C unit. In my little basement apartment, I'm grateful to have a pane of glass in the front door. It's just barely visible from my desk and the curtain is open a crack, so let me see...no, no bird's nests, only the landlady's minivan.

TPBM has a spectacular view.

Not in the office, but I have a nice - if not spectacular - view at home. Out of my sitting room and bedroom window I can see cornfields, trees, a small wood and a white mansion house on a hill on the horizon.

TPBM can see natural water from one of their windows ie pond, lake, river, stream, sea

Does morning dew count? If so, I can see it every day.

TPBM could set up a yummy salad with the contents of their garden.

Only if your idea of a yummy salad is thyme, oregano and dill.

The person below me grows herbs in windowboxes.

I try to grow all my herbs in containers. Years ago I planted mint in my backyard and we are constantly having to cut it back to keep it from taking over everything.

TPBM enjoys using fresh herbs in their cooking.

No, I've been in this place for 6 months and have yet to even turn the oven on.

TPBM is surrounded by things they never use.

Oh yeah. I'm not a hoarder, but you might get, mistaken, unanimous consent from visitors to my house that I am.

The person below me thinks that people who have stuff are lucky.

Yes. We could be living in a box under a bridge.

TPBM is grateful for what they have, even though is isn't very much.

edit: I mean material things. I am rich with love and family.

I confess that I have more than I need in the way of material goods. Consequently, I had more fun when I was poor and could appreciate the things I had to a greater extent.

The person below me is wondering if they might have spies living next door like those living next door to the Russian espionage types in New Jersey.

Not exactly, but they are very strange. I suppose "strange" is in the eye of the beholder.

TPBM would be more comfortable if his/her present close neighbors would disappear.

Not the one who just brought me over some books, magazines, and homemade blueberry jam, but yes, the ones on the other side of me. Fortunately I rarely see them, but it would be nice if someone else lived there.

TPBM learned to type on a clunky manual typewriter.

No, I learned to type on a computer keyboard, but I do HAVE a clunky manual typewriter that needs a new ribbon.

TPBM is hungry.

Aaak! Leaped.

Yes, I'm starving. Dinner in 15 mins.

It was electric. I took a typing class in high school because I thought it would be easy. The teacher made a deal with us; we each give him a fifth of JD and we each got an A. I got an A. Man that guy could drink. Looked like Wally Cox.

TPBM has been shot at.

Only with a water gun.

TPBM is impatient for something.

Yes - payday!

TPBM is going to treat themself to something nice soon.

(ETA: theirself? themselves? I appear to have forgotten English!)

I keep telling myself I'm going to treat myself to a trip to the laundromat, but I seem not to so long as I haven't run out of clean clothes.

The person below me wishes on stars.

Well, I did wish I could meet certain stars when I was a kid/teen/just-plain-younger.

Now I just stare at their pictures in threads like this one.

TPBM hasn't outgrown their teen crush(es).

No, I look back on my teen crushes with a mixture of bewilderment and embarrassment... which is sad, really.

TPBM found something.

Yes, that I'm probably going to be late for my haircut this afternoon.

TPBM lost something.

Yes, I have lost it and not in a good way.

The person below me is fairly disenchanted with modern society and its priorities.

Leaped!

Yes, of course I am. Actually, it's not modern society, but society in general. Always been. Just live and let live, folks! Geez...

TPBM just got earworms for a great Beatles song and will tell us how the lyrics go.

I should have known better with a girl like you
That I would love everything that you do
And I do,
And I do ...

And if I tell you that I love you, oh
You're gonna say you love me too, ooo, ooo
And when I ask you to be mine,
You're gonna say you love me too.

TPBM watched A Hard Day's Night recently, too :-)

No. In fact, I'm not sure that I've watched any movie lately.

The person below me subscribes to Netflix.

Nope. We use RedBox. Or I go see movies with my fiance, who works in a movie theater.

TPBM has gotten caught in the rain recently.

Just today; I believe the remnants of Hurrican Andrew have made their way up to central Texas already. Rained so hard I could hardly see the road.

TPBM has "ridden out" a hurricane.

I like hurricanes although I would stay away from one in an airplane and be careful around one on the ground. I've never ridden one out at sea. I loved the flood one produced in a nearby wild park in Massachusetts when I was a boy. In the Navy for a long time I never saw one; every time one came in our direction I'd be on a crew evacuating an aircraft to where the hurricane wasn't. Then I got to sit through a few in Okinawa and Hawaii; where I was it was lovely fierce, but there were people hurt.

The person below me can appreciate fierce, desserts and earthquakes and big wild animals and all the like.

I like fierce desserts. And wild animals. However, if pressed, I'll always go for dessert first.

TPBM has a zoo.

No, but I have been to one. Didn't like it

TPBM doesn't like zoos, either.

>theexiledlibrarian -- "Just today; I believe the remnants of Hurrican (sic) Andrew have made their way up to central Texas…" Huh? It really took it a long time.

Not any more. I liked them when I was a kid. We have the NC Zoo about an hour away from us, but have only gone once, and that was 13 years ago when my daughter was 3.

TPBM has just gotten a book that they're very excited about.

I just started one that I've had for a while. The Teardrop Story Woman.

But I'm more excited about finally being able to live with my fiance (move day is August first)!!!

TPBM has trouble containing their excitement about anything.

_________________________________________________________________

>Boobalack - I'm pretty sure she meant Hurricane Alex. The name Andrew was retired in 1993 and will never be used again for a hurricane. But Alex is the current hurricane.

Well, there's just one of me (except in name - then there's at least 92 of me), so I can say that I rarely show my excitement about things. There are things I get very excited about and show it, but for the most part, I tend to be about 1/7th (approximately) as stoic as my mother.

TPBM saw something absolutely spectacular recently.

Yes, a huge pile of stones/bricks in our garden, which used to be the chimney stacks on this house. Spectacular, because one of them was right over our bed and apparently was on the verge of coming through the roof ...!

TPBM is really beginning to despise capitalism and the profit motive.

Well, after almost two hours of listening to the radio blaring with political -and sideways economic- talk during my drive to work, I remembered how sick I am of even hearing the topic brought up. :-( Living in a politically fragmented nation sucks.

TPBM has BIG plans for Sunday's festivities.

I think my Mom said she and my brother have picked up about $1000 worth of fireworks, and my brother and I put on the show. Lots of fun!

TPBM has seen fire work mishaps.

No, but I do know that if you throw an M-80 in a tub full of water it will blow the bottom out of it and a tub holds a lot of water. Ah, youth. Ah, statute of limitations.

TPBM is traveling more than 500 miles this weekend.

I don't think the distance between the couch and the fridge is that long...

TPBM seriously is taking a long trip this weekend.

Just got back from one (if a 4-hour journey is considered ~long~). Spent 3 days in art museums and book stores - watch how my collections list grows!

As for this weekend, the furthest I'm going to travel is to the grocery store, except in my mind - I'm in Cape Cod (see current-read).

TPBM practices bibliotourism.

Time travel actually, but properly done, that's a form of biblio-tourism.

The person below me is jaunting off for the holiday weekend. (No need to define how long, how far or how exotic the jaunt might be, unless you choose to do so!)

It depends on how you look at it. I'm spending the weekend at the house I'm moving to. Where I don't mind putting the ac at an actual cool temperature (as opposed to the 83 I'm keeping my moving-from house). I've decided I need to get moving on the move.

I've only been off-line a few days and there were over 100 messages!

The person below me is planning to go swimming this weekend.

The condominium pool entrance is less than twenty paces from my back gate. I am almost certain that I will swim this weekend with a great likelihood of doing it more than once.

The person below me goes to the pool or beach but never goes in the water.

If I were to go to a pool or a beach, it is very likely that I would not go in the water. It's not my thing.

TPBM doesn't get into the National Holiday mood all that often.

Not for the last almost-a-decade. I'm always working on holidays. I'm not too likely to go in the water, either.

TPBM is not likely to do some other summery thing.

I am unlikely to sunbathe. I will lurk in the undergrowth until the sun stops shining (which shouldn't be long if we have a traditional British summer).

TPBM has made a sketch.

Many - I used to really enjoy life drawing - but I haven't wielded a stick of charcoal in a looooong time ...

TPBM has a birthday cominng up.

Not until January, but my mother's 100th is coming up in November. Planning has started.

The person below me doesn't enjoy birthday parties anymore.

I don't bother with birthday parties for me anymore, beyond maybe dinner with family or friends. But I still have to plan birthday parties for my munchkin.

TPBM doesn't want to be a responsible adult today.

Not even a little. My responsibility plate is overloaded, though, so I have little choice in the matter.

TPBM wishes a magical Mom would show up to handle all the problems.

Some of them. After a manor house in the mountains and driving my enemies before me, I bet it it would devolve into the old standbys of criticizing my friends and telling me to clean up my room. Or else.

TPBM plays bridge.

At the time I might have learned to play bridge I listened to the bridge players picking every game to pieces and arguing about what West would have bid if only he wasn't such an unmitigated ass. I realised it was not for me. I stuck to cribbage.

TPBM plays cribbage, or, if not, Aunt Sally.

Oooh, I love cribbage! Haven't had a playmate for years, unfortunately.

TPBM, unlike me, has a clue as to what TPAM means by "Aunt Sally."

I didn't. I had to look it up. It is a throwing game. Since I can't hit anything with any accuracy, I probably wouldn't play it.

The person below me is looking forward to picnic food/drink this weekend.

I even bought a new tank of propane! I haven't used the grill in at least 2 years. We're having one guest - #2 son. The oldest is out-of-town, and the youngest already had his day planned for him (courtesy of his absolutely terrific SO). So, the now-unattached middle son will be bringing over his guitar and we're going to have a good time. If only it weren't so da**ed humid!

TPBM is going to go to the Park (or wherever the locals congregate) to watch the fireworks display tonight.

We're expressly avoiding fireworks. My preschooler hates the sudden loud noises they make.

TPBM can overlook the noise fireworks make to enjoy the colorful explosions.

If I watch them at all anymore I sit on a ridge about ten miles from one batch and about three miles from another. At loudest I hear a muffled whump that doesn't even trouble the cat. If it weren't for my well-established hearing loss, I'd just as soon hear them close up.

The person below me has seen green, red, yellow, and purple fireworks, and figures that's enough.

I prefer blue fireworks, really ...

(Our two young cats seem relatively unbothered by fireworks, thank heavens - but we did foster a ginger cat a couple of years ago who actually used to stand with his paws on the kitchen window and watch fireworks with obvious delight - he was a strange beastie!)

TPBM is tired.

I ought to be! I've been up since 8 (LT-Time) yesterday morning.

TPBM had just gotten up for the day.

Oops. I took too long. 381> No, I'm still up but hope to be in bed soon.

380> A little. Sleepy too. Once again I enjoyed the Washington DC fireworks on pbs, then we walked out and saw the local version (not quite so spectacular). While playing cards earlier, I was dealt four kings...too bad we weren't playing poker. Nice day.

The person below me has been really, really irritated by a book (for whatever reason). I just wasted my time on a bad one. Sheesh.

Transmission by Hari Kunzru being the most recent. It wasn't bad, per se, but after you got over the perceptiveness of the satire ultimately meaningless.

TPBM has tomato plants just loaded with ripening tomatoes.

No, but something is sprouting on my outdoor rug. Highly doubt it's a tomato plan, though. All the rain (Florida in the summer, after all -rains every afternoon) is making things grow.

TPBM isn't getting rained on today.

Not yet. For the better part of a week now, we've been in a weather pattern where it's hot and humid (despite a fair amount of sunlight), and as the day progresses clouds build up and then it'll rain pretty hard for several hours. You can ~feel~ the mold growing...

Last night, we had nearly a dozen deer in our yard. This was while kids in our neighborhood were setting off firecrackers a few hundred yards (distance, not lots) away. There were 2 stags - a 4-pointer and a 2-pointer, and the rest were does. The alpha male kept the does at bay while he and the 2-pointer ate the corn we had out for them. When they had their fill, the does ate what was left. I brought out more corn for them while they (for the most part) backed off towards the shrubbery at the edge of the property. I then went back inside and we watched them from our (open) back door. One approached warily and started eating. Then another. We decided to let them dine in peace, and closed the door. At that point, the alpha-male came back into the yard, snorting. I guess the does had enough of him because the largest of them reared up and kicked him hard in the head. He took off like a shot.

TPBM also gets creatures visiting his/her yard.

Birds. I bought a rubber snake and put it on the balcony to scare them away. First time I looked, the birds had crapped a circle around it. I guess they wanted to see if it was something to eat. No joy.

>>382 xorscape: xor- I read Best American Crime Writing 2005 this weekend, with an intro and essay by James Ellroy. It was the first thing by him I'd read and I absolutely hated his work. On the Road meets Dragnet, has Maynard G. Krebs as a love child.

TPBM recently started reading something then realized they'd already read it.

Yes, well,a t least had already read SOME of it: Yeshua Buddha by Jay Williams - - but I probably had not read ALL of it the first time. I discovered my previous reading through annotations in my own handwriting. Iʻll now read it all the way through.

TPBM rarely does a s econd reading of a book no matter how good she or he thought it was on first reading.

Rarely, but not never. I still have another reading of War and Peace, The Glass Bead Game, Lord of the Rings,and Paradise Lost in me, and I may take on Remembrance of Things Past one more time.

The person below me has read enough and has decided just to watch teevee.

Nevah!
Mr.Durick, that was blasphemy.

TPBM doesn't watch very much television.

@ SomeGuy~ my next-door neighbor had a python and would take him out in the yard while mowing the lawn. One day, I heard this loud chirping and squawking and went to look out the door. There was ol' Boomer, slinking up my steps with birds attacking him all around. I yelled for Steve to come save his snake. So much for the idea that birds are afraid of snakes. lol

Well, I don't technically watch much. I do have it on for background noise because I don't care for a totally silent house. But I can sleep through anything they broadcast.

The person below is looking for a recommendation of some sort (books, wine, restaurant, useful resource...)

Define "very much" ?

-- On 2nd thought, cancel that request. Iʻm against expressing TV-viewing time being expressed in hours-per-week. But if I did make such an estimate, I would probably understate, rather than overestimate it.

We have become a one-newspaper town here. Which makes me all the more dependent on TV for news. (I was old-fashioned enough to get most of my news knowledge from newspapers -- and still do get a lot from the New York Times Online --even write comments in it sometimes.

For sports events live or delayed broadcasting, more and more events are labeled NA ("Not available") in our one newspaperʻs schedules.
Of course if they were absolutely unavailable there would be no point in lilsitng them, but what is meant is that theyʻre by subsciption only -- neither regular network, nor pay-per-view, ,nor cable.
Anyway, the general trend here is toward more NYT and less TV.

TPBM has at least FIVE favorite TV shows ("Shows" being any genre of TV production -- fiction, comedy,
drama, news . . .)

Stargate (all 3 types)
star treck (not ds9)
CSI
Criminal minds

and strangley create and craft channel

my husband cannot understand how I can read a book in another room while "watching" tv

TPBM also does something that someone living with them cannot understand

Yes. I always put something back where it is usually kept when I finish using it.

TPBM understands my frustration.

Oh, yes indeedy! Then I started acquiring the slobbiness. Scary. I'm now trying to recover my true self, hoping it is one of neatness.

A repairman came to the house. Come outside, says he. I did. He shouts and points at the snake on his hood. Then laughed. He found a rubber snake on my roof and put it on his truck to make me jump. Which I did, but only a little so it was okay. I wasn't very close when he admitted it wasn't real. I think the previous owners may have thought the snake would deter the birds. (A friend says the local thrift store had an employee that put fake snakes around and in things to scare customers.)

The person below me doesn't like practical jokes very much either.

The total sum of the amount I favor "practical jokes" is on the very far other of zero.

TPBM like Sudoku puzzles.

Nope, can't be doing with them. I much prefer cryptic crosswords, even if they can be darned frustrating at times!

TPBM likes travelling alone.

On the way to and from work it's great - I listen to the radio, audiobooks, and just get some downtime.

Next week will be 12 days on the road visiting family, seeing historical sites, and doing some genealogical research in the midwest. So I'll be with my husband and daughter 24/7. It will be a fun and busy time.

TPBM went camping when they were a child and has fond memories of those trips.

I went camping. My "fondest" memory is when my uncle collapsed the tent on my head while I was sleeping. On purpose. You can guess how "fond" the rest of memories from that trip are.

TPBM thinks that, to quote my mother, "' 'roughing it' is a hotel without room service."

I went to guide camp once, and it was fun. Since growing up, though, I've declared several times that I'm quite happy to scramble around in the wild (snakes excepted) as long as I can have a five star hotel at the end of it. Mind you, even that was a decade ago, before the kids came along - though my one year old would toddle along quite happily forever; or at least 'til nap time, when he'd get really cranky.

TPBM supports Netherlands for tonight's match (I assume it is tonight?)

We loved camping - I have one fun memory of waking up yelling at my sister to get out of my bed, when in fact I was the one who'd been rolled over when the tent came unstaked (short stakes, sandy soil, rain storm).

TPBM prefers campers over tents, and will explain why.

398 - My eldest (at six years old, would you believe!) would agree with your mum.

Shall we go with Netherlands again (399) for TPBM, since we all answered to 397?

# 400: I prefer hotels to either of the others, sorry.

# 399: Not unless I want to be murdered in my sleep by my husband! He even painted the car with Uruguay's team colors today.

I don't follow football (soccer) at all, so I choose my 'fave' teams for all sorts of reasons other than their skill.
For example, I like Italy because their uniform is pretty.
I root(ed) for France because I'm learning to speak French.
I support Uruguay because they're Latin Americans -as I am. ;-)

TPBM picks their favorite teams for sounder reasons than mine.

(Uruguay is not in my good books now - Ghana should have gone through, with two brilliantly timed goals)

girl, that bit about the Italian uniforms cracked me up. I don't follow soccer at all so I haven't picked a favorite.

TPBM has accomplished something rather grand today.

Depending on the scale you use...

I just picked up more bird seed and deer corn. I'm almost afraid to mow my back yard now because of all of the deer crap in it.

The picture on TPBM's driver's license (or ID) doesn't look like TPBM anymore.

Well, I admit to having gained a little weight. But the hair is still grey and flipped under.

The person below me is fond of lemonade.

Only when Life gives me the lemons.

SGiV: it's the honest truth, you know. ;-)

TPBM bought a new *something* last weekend.

I did!! I bought an i-pod Touch. I love it. It is my first MP3 player. I'm hooked.

The person Below Me had an important conversation with a loved one about.....

A new keyboard and trackball for my computer - it's nice to have decent input devices at last.

TPBM bought something used over the weekend.

nope, the only thing we bought this weekend is gas for our travels and one meal at Hardeezs, neither of which would have been useful used.

TPBM remembers offering friends 'ABC' gum and thinking it was funny.

Oh, yes! We are showing our age.

TPBM knows what ABC gum is.

Despite the fact that I've never (ever) chewed gum, I ~do~ know. It's the pre-softened, pre-gnawed, Already Been Chewed variety.

TPBM has made (at some point in his/her life) salt-water taffy (or, at least, has seen it being made.

I saw it being made, but I don't remember where or when. So I must have been in college and been really high.

TPBM says 'peachy keen' whenever people ask how they are.

I not only have never SAID "peachy keen", but have never HEARD it said -- except once as a parody of someone whose supposed diction the speaker was parodying.
(early 1950s).

TPBM manages always to say something OTHER THAN "Have a good/nice day" as a parting-greeting.

Yes I do.

TPBM has had a Shpadoinkle Day.

I don't think so. I really can't imagine that I would have had a Shpadoinkle Day unawares. Nor have I recently been caught in a bear trap (which Google suggests has some relevance to the topic).

The person below me wants to go back to the days before Google.

No, but I'd like to go back to days before Twitter, Facebook, etc. I have to admit to looking stuff up on the net when a perfectly good book was standing by. It takes longer too sometimes to look it up online. Go figure!

I have said "peachy, keen" but it is usually said when I don't mean it. I also say "holy cow" and other such old fashioned phrases.

The person below me says "kitty corner' versus "catty corner" or maybe even "catter corner."

At age about 11, I heard my father say something was "at catty corner" (to something else, I guess he meant), and because he was pointing to a distant golf course, I thought there must be a place called "Caddy Corner" on the course.

In the ensuing decades, I havenʻt had occasion to use any of the variants of "caddy corner, etc." If I did, I suppose I would say "catty corner".

The old lady who used to live across the street from me used to say "antigodlin to the world" to mean the same thing. She's the only one I ever heard use it.

TPBM knew what antigodlin meant without having to Google it.

No, but at a guess it's something like "widdershins" ...

TPBM has an unusual favourite smell.

Not my most favourite, but I do love the smell of Galloway's cough mixture (but only Galloway's) and also baby's gripe water (not sure if you can still get it these days, but when my niece was a baby I was often found sniffing her gripe water, and drinking it if I got half a chance, I loved it!)

TPBM still loves some foodstuff they used to eat or drink when a small child

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. I know it's not real cheese, but still...

TPBM has more sophisticated taste buds.

Sometimes. But mostly I prefer the same simple stuff I grew up with. It's just easier to cook.

TPBM has a favorite recipe (for anything) that they'll share:)

My Favorite Breakfast:

Get out a slice of Swiss Cheese and set it aside (you don't want it cold).
Start a pot of coffee )Dunkin Doughnuts brand is my preference).
Toast an English Muffin (make sure it browns sufficiently).
Fry two slices of Taylor Pork Roll (about 1/8" thick, each).
Butter the EM.

Stack it this way:
EM top
TPR
SC
F Egg
TPR
EM bottom

Coffee should be in a mug, drunk between bites, and afterwards.

Being diabetic, you'd think it'd be a horrible meal. I've found that eating EM by itself will raise my blood sugar by easily 20 points (2-hour post-meal, relative to the Morning, pre-meal reading). The above slice-of-Heaven will drop that number by at least 15 points.

TPBM never heard of Taylor Pork Roll.

You're right, I haven't. Is it particularly local, by any chance? :)

The person below me has never heard of egg creams.

We used to get it maybe once a month when I was a kid in northern NJ, and I've seen it it in grocery stores in NYC. It'll either be at the Deli Counter (get it sliced at 3 -thickness), of you may find it presliced and packaged in the refrigerator section. It comes in a red carton about 3" or more on a side. Most of the center of the carton is gone. TPR (also known as Taylor Ham) is a very mild salami (so even folks with sensitive stomachs - me, for example - can eat it.

I'll be answering the TPBM challenge in the next thread (#40)

I know what Taylor Pork Roll is :) My first job was in a bagel shop and served up TONS of pork roll!

However, I have no idea what an egg cream is.

To continue with the "disgusting" food theme...

TPBM likes fried Oreos.

ETA: Whoops, there's a new thread...I'm too slow! :)