This Happened

[Elle]

As our repertoire of Star Wars movies and knowledge expands, at age five, we have a new character to go along with dark Vaguer... Yoga.

[Elle]

I'm not usually much for caring whether kids score goals and such, but after dragging my carcass from the warm bed and sitting here this AM, it was particularly pleasing when the kid just scored awesome goal.

[Elle]

If you like baseball, watch Cubs highlights from tonight, wow! That diving catch - He gets the double play. This is the stuff of happy dreams.

[Tahlvin]

I early/absentee voted today, since I thought I was going to be traveling for work on election day (which now turns out to not be the case). So from now on, I can completely ignore any election-related ads, news stories, debates, etc., until after the outcome of the election is known. Not that I wasn't already doing that to some extent, but at least now I get to do that while knowing that I have already performed my civic duty.

[Elle]

I cannot wait until I get to do this. Some dude called me up and made a big case for why he should be on a local board for ----- and I was so impressed that I'm getting everyone I know to vote for him. If he runs for Legislature he gets a check.

[Zen]

[Elle]

I love baseball and rarely have time to watch it, but am really enjoying highlights from these playoffs.

Also, I have a whole clump of white mums that bloomed for a few weeks and now suddenly have turned purple!

[Eliahad]

[class="tooting_my_own_horn"]Laid down a cello track for another artist today. Started setting up at 3:50. Done at 4:08 with two full takes of a 4 minute song. #nailedit #nowthatsanhourlyrateIcangetbehind[/class]

[Elle]

Yay, that's awesome!

This AM, for the second time this week, my dog has been frantic to go outside in the early morning, and when he does I hear a bizarre snarling sound from an animal in the trees beyond my backyard. Possum? Raccoon? Mountain Lion? WTH?

[Elle]

I was sitting here running my fingers through my hair because something unknown was bugging me (ha ha), and what do I pull out but A TICK that was trying to make its way to my scalp! Since the AM shower I have been out on my back deck a few times, or in the house. So presumably just sitting on the back deck = get a tick. Or maybe it fell off the dog because he has his tick repellent. AAAAAAARGH!!!

[Elle]

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?



Out of 12 medium size dinner plates, I have now accidentally broken three over the years. This spells doom. I have to either wash one dish in order to get through two meals per day that go on plates, or I have to add an irregular dishes, or... other unspeakable options. Needs minimum ten plates. I am unable to obtain replacements for these because apparently the world is gone mad. The only solution is new plates. So, there are a few things that can prompt a little OCD on my part. One of the greatest of these is the selection of new dishes. It seems like a harmless manifestation! They're just dishes, right? Wrong. Example: when I got married, I examined at least a couple THOUSAND china patterns before narrowing it down to a few dozen, and then down to one, and then I totally freaked out and started over again at the store, and thank God my mom stepped in and was like, "This One is Right" and I just decided to believe her. She was right. So I have good dishes. Nowadays I am expected to fend for myself like an adult, unlike the 20-something who could not choose dishes. Outcome? House buying means at least 6 weeks of learning full details of every possible house anywhere in a fifty mile radius that might potentially be suitable. Purchasing a new rug for a house means another deep dive into THOUSANDS of rugs - I am such an expert on rugs now, btw, I think my knowledge probably surpasses most people who retail them for a living. If you need a rug, call me. Anyway, my entire body vibrates with the excitement potential of choosing new dishes. It's a bad situation. Things are very, very stressful and overworked right now. I am NOT allowed to look at dishes, simply not allowed. It's a recipe for disaster. Prediction: the next seven weeks involve a lot of illicit, bullshit, detailed examination of dinner plates, followed by a 3 am frenzy, a rethinking of it the next morning, and some bizarrely unpredictable decision leading to 12 new dishes appearing under the Christmas tree, as if I have no idea what is in the box. Where oh where is the giant eyeroll smilie I need.

[Stan]

Luckily my plate situation is not so dire. Have you considered 2 sets of plates? Like breakfast and dinner? Or traditional and festive? Then you can keep what you have and just get ~6 more.

I recently decided to replace the gross melamine plates that I had since college. I had bought 8 for $1 at a yard sale. The girl said they were gross and stained. Worse, they were non-microwavable and neither are our pfaltzgraff, which are our main dishes we got at our wedding. Only the few Corell plates we have are microwavable.

When the girl and wife went to outlet malls, I said to get some new plates. They cam back with 2 Corell that look ok. But only 2. Apparently, they were afraid to commit to a new set; like I care that much about the pattern.

I take the girl to a monthly outing to Goodwill on their half price Saturday so she can get sweaters and cat statues (her goal is to become a crazy cat lady when she is older). After a quick check of boardgames, CDs, and movies, I sauntered over to the dishes. I spotted some grandma style dishes with a red flower pattern around the border. The girl approved of the style. They had 12 plates ~10 each of salad plates and saucers, and 3 bowls. It came out to ~$12. I wish they had cups for the saucers but no luck. Now I have too many dishes and have to decide where to stow the extras.

[Mike]

Alternate proposal:

Cheap-ass dishes from Walmart (or wherever). You have good set and you have "who cares" set. Hell, take your kids along with you and let them pick out whatever they think looks cool. They can be a little nicer if you want (and still cheap), or they can be cheap, plastic four-for-a-dollar sectional plates, perfect for informal meals and snacks. They're just dishes. And unless you have company over, you're the only one who cares if they all match and what pattern they have on them. And when you DO have company over, you're STILL the only one who cares if they all match and what pattern they have on them. (Except for a few judgey relatives, and they just need to learn to deal with it.)

Cheap-ass dishes holds you over until you have time to make such a huge decision as the proper pattern for your "real" dishes. If you're under a time crunch, you'll only hurt yourself and never be happy with the decision.

[Elle]

Truly, I read your dishes comments with great interest and these are great suggestions. If I were a normal, reasonable person whose head was screwed on flush, this would all make sense. Here's hoping for progress. I've inhaled some kind of walnut droplets or gotten walnut residue in my eye or something, so along with the rationally explained internal itching there's a kind of frantic, trapped-animal anxiety about whether X matches Y matches Z is on sale is nice is ok with Ron is heavy is fitting in cupboard is...

[Elle]

So I'm just having a kind of bullshit sick day when I should be toughing it out and working. I'm KIND OF working. But really it's that Chloe is going to be a zombie cheerleader for Halloween and we bought her these awesome pompons from The Internet somehow, and they arrived at the house so I'm just having all kinds of fun with them. Pompons should be wrested away from the world of cheerleading and worked into lots of other everyday situations so people can use them, I'm just saying.

[Ronster]

So our new work uniform shirts will be purple in 2018...I mean "passport plum".

Lots of the guys are in an uproar saying "I'm not wearing that. They are trying to make us look gay," etc. Their words , not mine. I didn't know there was an official LGBTQUIAP color...Anyway...

I have another take on it...it is as OPPORTUNITY.

I will have the bright green Joker lanyard with my purple shirt every day at work...It will be like wearing normal clothes for me

Passport Plum? you mean Joker Purple...muahahaha

[Elle]

I always used to go out on Halloween with my friend and her kids. Sigh. Now I just hand out candy. Ron always gets to do the walking around. It is a sad evening for a person dangerously surrounded by starbursts and twix.

[Cazmonster]

Henry managed about twenty houses. He hit one of those motion activated things that howls and drops from the ceiling and he was done hitting any new roads.

I will get two or three more years out of him, I hope.

[Elle]

Oh geez, that would scare me too. I was pretty freaked out on Halloween as it was. Still freaked out! But what can you do?

[Elle]

Why up at wee hours? Crawling around floor to collect pieces of silicon from hairbrush eaten by dog. Chewed. Who knows. DOG!!!