Metatalktail Hour!

November 18, 2016 3:08 PM

Cocktails? Metatalktails? I don't know, come up with something cleverer. Belly on up to the metatalk bar and let's have some Friday chatter! Let's hear about your work, your family, your pets, let's talk about sports and TV and hilarious things you saw in the street, tell terrible jokes, and blow off some steam and be sociable!

This is a no-politics bar and the bouncers are menacing!

posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 3:08 PM (208 comments total)

I'm so excited for the weekend! Still have leftovers from last night - poached chicken and roasted cauliflower with a zaatar-mint aioli - for dinner tonight. I might make a manhattan. I am reading a thoroughly escapist book (The Magicians by Lev Grossman). I have a lot of Thanksgiving dinner planning and shopping to do. And on Sunday I'm going to see Bedroom Farce by the Huntington Theatre Company.
posted by peacheater at 3:15 PM on November 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

Today was Potluck Dinner day at work before people begin their Thanksgiving vacations. I made Amusement Park Cornbread and gorged myself on the rest of the tasty food my coworkers brought, and now I'm a 4 on the Glasgow Food Coma Scale. Over the weekend I'll bake some pizza or something and order my wife her big Christmas present (and me my little Christmas present). Life ain't so bad for the moment!
posted by infinitewindow at 3:26 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

I've been busy in my shop working on my Secret Quonsar gift and also building a guitar shaped like the state of New Hampshire for some reason. Tonight I'm going to see a friend in a community theater production of something, though I'm not really sure what.

I'm also doing thanksgiving so I guess I should probably start planning that.
posted by bondcliff at 3:27 PM on November 18, 2016 [5 favorites]

I took the afternoon off, realizing that after Daylight Savings and that event that happened last week and stuff that kept me in all weekend, I hadn't necessarily seen daylight directly in a while. So I am sitting on the patio plotting Thanksgiving shopping/cooking, racking up my grocery delivery order, watching cooking shows on YouTube, and getting a bunch of loads of laundry done along with some odd-job cleaning chores.

I am also having a cheeky glass of mid-afternoon chardonnay and eating Trader Joe's blue cheese walnut spread on crackers. Tomorrow I have Godless Feminist Arts and Crafts/Book Club, which hooboy am I looking forward to.

My husband has been working from 7a-10+p the last few nights finishing up a project, which is a little lonely for me and tiring for him but BUT this is his first multiple-month full-time gig in his second career and they really like him and are basically employing him indefinitely and he will be eligible for the union before too long. It's been a long six years to get to this point.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:29 PM on November 18, 2016 [6 favorites]

I try not to fixate on this because I recognize that it is probably not as interesting to most people as it is to me but the main thing happening with me right now is holy fuck you guys my baby is unbelievably cute. Holy God I just cannot stand it.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 3:30 PM on November 18, 2016 [68 favorites]

customs are no longer on strike! (public servants in general didn't get the pay deal they were hoping for. but anyways, silver lining and all that....) which means the final pieces of my bike should arrive next week, which means i can finish putting it together, which means i could be actually out riding it by the end of next week...

it's reynolds steel frame, hardtail, the best suspension forks money can buy (almost), a carbon seatpost designed to flex back and forth to give extra suspension, 27.5" wheels i built by hand, full xt...
posted by andrewcooke at 3:34 PM on November 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

Wife and three girlfriends went to Savannah for the weekend because work has been crazy and the last three girls night out plans have been cancelled, so yay wife and whatnot.

This leaves me with this bottle of Phantom and many pictures of puppies I will dream of adopting. Hope you guys have a similarly awesome weekend.
posted by Mooski at 3:36 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

It's amazing how babies can be both astonishingly cute and look exactly like winston churchill at the same time.
posted by jenkinsEar at 3:37 PM on November 18, 2016 [6 favorites]

likely looks more like this
posted by andrewcooke at 3:38 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

We have the grandparents coming this weekend, so my kids are excited but I have a lot of house to clean! I'm also starting to think about Christmas because that is a HUGE holiday for my family and it is kind-of stressing me out because I both have to think of things *I* want (I just Kon-Maried! I want negative stuff!) to tell my mom, and I have to come up with lists for my kids, AND I have to shop for husband, kids, parents, nephew, and whatever sibling I draw in the Secret Santa. It's just a lot!

But on the kid Christmas ideas, if anyone else needs one, OMG, Kiwi Crate is the absolute shizz. I LOVE Kiwi Crate! My kids LOVE Kiwi Crate! It is the highlight of their month when it arrives and all of the projects have been interesting and educational and well-put-together and FUN.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 3:39 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

I made some chili with beef I bought a while back before sinking into a sort of existential despair (AskMeFi probably would have advised not eating it but OH WELL) and am washing every single article of clothing I have in preparation for sorting it into keep/donate/garbage, I figure used clothing programs need more stuff around the winter and I have too many goddamn clothes as it is.

I'll probably go get beer in a bit (Nickel Brook Headstock IPA) but I'm dogsitting so I can't have more than one or two.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 3:41 PM on November 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

psst dogs can't tell on you for having more than one or two
posted by mannequito at 3:43 PM on November 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

I am having people over tomorrow and I'm very excited about that even if I am not at all ready for guests. (Outside of visiting family and cat sitters, I can count the number of people we've had over to our place where we've lived for four years on one hand.) My guy and our ward are headed to Popeye's right now so we have something to eat before we go to the grocery store. (There's a Popeye's down the block from us which is a traditional Friday night dinner spot, especially when nobody feels like cooking or even making the effort of going somewhere else.)

Saturday late-afternoon/evening I'm going to an acquaintances backyard holiday party and craft show where I hope to do some quonsar shopping. I'm usually very much about not starting "Christmas stuff" until after at least Thanksgiving*, but this year I'm all about the Holiday Joy As Much As Humanly Possible. (* Actually growing up, since my birthday is December 12, my mom made the point of never decorating until after that)

My sister and her husband are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time, and my brother and I and our partners are driving there next week, and I'm super excited about it in a way I haven't been about holidays for a long time. Even though I'm 41 years old so have now been out to my family for more than half my life, I feel like my parents and I have finally made some sort of breakthrough about it in a way that feels special.

(though none of that is stopping me from being sure we come home on Friday so that we can watch Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life the day it comes out.

Okay, even though I'm stone cold sober, I'm apparently the drunk at the Metafilter bar who just gives you his whole life story even though you really just asked him if he had the time.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 3:44 PM on November 18, 2016 [19 favorites]

My office is slowly emptying out and the sun is shining over the Bay Bridge and tomorrow is my sister & BIL's 30th-anniversary party. At which my BIL will play the saxophone in a hipster hat, and my awesome nieces and their friends will keep the wine flowing.

So that's all good.

Thanksgiving will be weird, though: It will be me and my demented father, and that's all. I think I will roast a chicken and make an apple pie, and that's about it. It's hard to do all the fixings for a total of two people. But after that I get 3 days to lounge about the house, and maybe binge on Stranger Things, and THEN I go to Chicago for a week!

WHERE I WILL SEE HAMILTON!!!! OMG!!!
posted by suelac at 3:48 PM on November 18, 2016 [13 favorites]

My kid is awesome. Today she went off to her super-nerd school, wearing her Joan Jett concert t-shirt, sporting her half-shaved head, where she and her friends are planning to spend lunch writing their alternate-universe fanfic/script for a Next Generation world where Tasha Yar lived...
posted by latkes at 3:48 PM on November 18, 2016 [15 favorites]

My husband and I are going to sleep in tomorrow (cats willing), have a leisurely breakfast, and hang out on the couch for a while. Then I'm going to get cleaned up, don my new t-shirt, and we'll go meet up with some friends for dinner and drinks.

I'm looking forward to seeing our friends but tomorrow night's really all about getting to wear the shirt.
posted by _Mona_ at 3:49 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

i am assembling my altar to the foam

all hail the foam
posted by poffin boffin at 3:51 PM on November 18, 2016 [12 favorites]

My SO got super sick, and is hibernating in a comforter-tissue-Nyquil-cat burrito at home. I'm still at work, because I might as well grind through a bunch more stuff tonight, and if I stay another hr, I can expense delicious cheap Chinese food, which will then feed us through the weekend.

Work has been super chaotic due to current events, BUT it's also been pretty optimistic today. I've signed 4!!! offer letters between yesterday and today, and all for young women, and it just feels super good to be making a dent in the M/F ratio in my super technical corner of Finance. Also I ran a 101 type workshop for a bunch of very jr. folks today (like 4-5m out of school) and I surprised them with pizza and they all got super excited and thankful and that was fun to be able to do.

Also, I work high above Times Sq, and not only did we have a gorgeous sunset that got all reflected on the glass towers around us, on clear nights like tonight the views are spectacular, and it's kind of nice to take a break and grab some water and look down on all the tourists and crazy NY-ers rushing around in the blueish electronic glow.

So I'm finding little nice things about tonight, because otherwise I'm going to go on a murderous rampage as I smash more data together into some semblance of order.

Also SO told me the super and plumber swung by and Now there is Potential for a BATH! at home (there was a slow leaky drip form the bathtub faucet).


AND AND AND CAT to hang out with at home. sorry I'm excited about quality time with the battlecat.
posted by larthegreat at 3:57 PM on November 18, 2016 [14 favorites]

I was up at Penn State a few weeks back and brought home some ice cream from the Creamery.
Perfect end for a crazy week.
posted by NoraCharles at 4:00 PM on November 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

I got into grad school! :D
posted by juliplease at 4:06 PM on November 18, 2016 [61 favorites]

oh, congrats. what are you going to work on?
posted by andrewcooke at 4:12 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Thank you kindly! I'll be pursuing an MLIS and joining the librarian ranks. So thank you, MetaFilter, too!
posted by juliplease at 4:15 PM on November 18, 2016 [9 favorites]

Congrats juliplease!

Thanksgiving will be nice--I'll be hanging out with my friends who are fabulous cooks and have the two most enormous and affectionate Maine Coon cats in the world--but for this weekend I'm really just looking forward to being AWAY from all my beloved students and colleagues, all of whom are currently brittle and raw and prone to snapping at each other for no reason, and also being AWAY from webinars with distinguished Student Affairs professionals who ostensibly are going to give us sage advice about managing campus climate post-election but who are really just sort of helplessly flailing, which I can do on my own w/o having to put up with a webinar. (Dear god, do I hate webinars.)
posted by Kat Allison at 4:17 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

(tosses confetti on juliplease)

I'm drinking Strongbow Hard Apple Cider after completing a full workweek. Due to EVENTS I've felt blue and unmotivated to do anything. I wanted to call out every day, even though I love my job. But I did it. Five productive days. Cheers, Mefites.

I'm throwing myself into the holidays again this year. Tomorrow I'm supposed to go to a cardmaking class at Paper Source with my mother. After that, I'm going to get started on my Secret Quonsar gift. I was a little intimidated at first by who I drew, but I think I've got this. I'm supposed to make stuffing for Thanksgiving next week, and I might assemble StoveTop because ... that's what everyone likes. And then I'll choose what cookies I'll make for Christmas.

I love you guys. Thank Mod for this thread.
posted by kimberussell at 4:17 PM on November 18, 2016 [6 favorites]

I am pretty sure that I am going to do ok in my computer science class, so I signed up for another computer science class. It's the math class that you need to take before you can do the second major-level computer science class. I have no idea why I'm doing this: everyone I know thinks I'm crazy. But it's fun, and I really like flexing my brain muscles.

In other news, if anyone has any ideas about how to bone up on math in preparation for a class on "the mathematical methods used in studying computer science," I would love to hear them, because I took my last math class before most of my classmates were born.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 4:18 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

psst dogs can't tell on you for having more than one or two


Yes but I'm dogsitting overnight, the youngest is a puppy and hasn't yet figured out the proper muscles for holding a poop in past 6:30 AM so I don't want to deal with a hangover. Through two laundry bags at this point, 7 to go, why do I own so many socks no one person could need this many socks.

Puppy Pic because it is unfair to talk about a puppy without a picture
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 4:28 PM on November 18, 2016 [10 favorites]

We went out to Harmony Hall for dinner and a beer. I had a vanilla porter, wife had a cranberry hefeweizen. It was near 70 degrees in Grand Rapids today; tomorrow it'll be in the 30s and snowing.

We have our Thanksgiving kind of planned out - there'll only be three of us, so instead of turkey we'll just do chicken, but we'll make it kind of fancy and do coq au vin from the Julia Child recipe.

We moved to GR in August and I just started looking for work and sent out a few resumes a couple weeks ago. I've had two interviews so far, and I'll have a second interview with one of those places on Monday.
posted by LionIndex at 4:30 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

After recent Samhain and Halloween shenanigans, I started a new Flickr album by dropping by to see the tomb of a dead king, then doing the same walk twice; 6 miles to a local university college campus that specialises in agricultural things. It's in a very quiet place, and there's not many students around, so it's all rather peaceful and lovely. And they do a mean lamb curry and you get a free mince pie with the coffee, so it's a win all round. The walk itself to get there is nice at this time of the year, down quiet lanes and through villages with trees and cattle and olde public houses where people nod at you as you amble past. Hardly any traffic, no TVs, just mainly the wind in the trees and various farm animal sounds.
posted by Wordshore at 4:40 PM on November 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

dinner update: I just gorged on 16 fried pork dumplings and bribed a colleague with a eggroll to run some reports for me
posted by larthegreat at 4:43 PM on November 18, 2016 [10 favorites]

We are having a family dinner at my brother's tonight (which means my mom is over there cooking right now, since that is apparently how he prepares dinner but oh well I don't have to make it).

This weekend I am sewing up the headliner for a 1958 Rambler Super Cross Country Station Wagon my bro has been rebuilding for me - we should be assembling the interior over the long holiday weekend and I am pretty over the moon.

Reading Kiki Strike for escape & good times.
posted by hilaryjade at 4:48 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

larthesignificantlygeater

> I had a vanilla porter, wife had a cranberry hefeweizen
we have lucuma beer this summer. awesome stuff.
posted by andrewcooke at 4:48 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Tomorrow at 6:45 AM ET, I go wheels up for a trip to Seattle, where I will turn my work email off for a week, and enjoy the west coast (BEST COAST) until my birthday on Thursday. Work, life, and anything that's not involved in my slight hedonistic tendencies is not going to happen for a total of 5 days.

Right now, I'm drinking rum so I can sleep easier in about 30 minutes and get up in time to call the Uber to get me to the airport.
posted by deezil at 4:49 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Today my office moved to a new building where we have three times as much space! Everyone was helpful and friendly and happy, and it felt really good to get settled in. There is talk of a foosball table in our future.

Also we are frantically packing tonight to go spend a week at my in-laws' house in Wichita. Our three year old will get some good time with his grandparents and my husband and I can decompress a little, I hope.
posted by beandip at 4:56 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Today I applied for 16 jobs.

My fiancée thought she'd cornered the mouse we heard last night in our apartment but it got away. So after I got home, she kicked me out so she could try to lure it out again, and trap it under something.

So it's been a weird day is what I'm saying. I just ate a burrito and now I'm not sure what to do with myself!
posted by dismas at 4:57 PM on November 18, 2016 [5 favorites]

On Tuesday, I'm flying to the US for my first family Thanksgiving in 22 years. Looking forward to it, but I have a lot of work to do before I go.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:59 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

Also I'm still pregnant so no cocktails for me, but I did just devour a bowl of cheese carby pasta like it was my job.
posted by beandip at 4:59 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

"This weekend I am sewing up the headliner for a 1958 Rambler Super Cross Country Station Wagon my bro has been rebuilding for me - we should be assembling the interior over the long holiday weekend and I am pretty over the moon. "

WHAAAAAAAT is there a flickr album or a webpage or is this in projects because I have a lot of questions!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 5:01 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm afraid no album or anything fancy for the Rambler project, but here are some pics -
Original state 1
Original state 2

New paint, clean chrome 1
New paint, clean chrome 2

And....
Upholstery fabric

The headliner is a creamy white - the fabric in the shot above is on the seat faces - sides and back are a black vinyl for durability - this is my new dawg hauler.

I <3 it.

I finished the seat covers last weekend - we still need to carve new foam and assemble those - and I've got the headliner cut out, just not stitched up. She is running beautifully (the body basically ended up transplanted onto a 1980's Monte Carlo or some such) and just needs tires & wheels, some audio outfitting, and a couple of dog beds for the back (I'm probably going to have the back seat down all the time - I do in my current vehicle). Oh, and shoulder belts up front, I made a fuss about those being a requirement.
posted by hilaryjade at 5:18 PM on November 18, 2016 [22 favorites]

Today I took my dog for a walk in the park just before sunset, and made him pose with the fall foliage.
posted by moonmilk at 5:19 PM on November 18, 2016 [16 favorites]

I am canadian and so don't have a holiday, but I am home from work now and lying on the couch listening to the cat throw himself head first into his cardboard box toy.

I don't post that often to metafilter, but I will share with you all that 2016 was just about the worst year ever. Layoffs and devastating friend breakups and scary poverty. Things started looking up at the end of September, when I was finally offered a full time job. The weekend before I was supposed to start work I agreed to be a volunteer at a rest stop for a charity bike ride - sit at a table by the side of the road, hand out water and bananas, be sociable. We were in kind of a ritzy rural area - the sort of place where people have a lot of property but not for farming? Anyway so my tablemate and I were busy talking to resting bikers, and these kittens wandered out of the woods behind us. One of the kittens, a grey and white tabby, was still hanging around when we were packing up. He just sat there in the grass while we took down the tent and put everything back into the car, and the longer he sat there and the closer we got to leaving the worse I felt about driving away without him. So I made the totally impulsive decision to just ...take the cat home with me.

That was six weeks ago. Things aren't perfect - I'm still trying to get back on my feet financially, and in a lot of ways my social life is still in complete shambles (and yes, my god the election) but opening the door to my apartment and hearing the cat come thumping down the stairs to say hello has been a nice change.

I know there are rulez about cat pictures but you'll just have to hold on until I have a chance to upload some.
posted by janepanic at 5:29 PM on November 18, 2016 [35 favorites]

I was off last Friday was Veterans day, I took a day of leave today for a dental check up and am taking black Friday off too. So that's three long weekends in a row for me, which is pretty nice.
posted by klarck at 5:32 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

hilaryjade, those pictures made me literally gasp out loud, especially the fabric.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 5:36 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

I need a hug.
posted by Melismata at 5:44 PM on November 18, 2016 [20 favorites]

Thanks MCMikeNamara! Like I said - I'm super excited about this baby - I've always loved fun old cars and this one just fits my needs to a T. The Hawaiian barkcloth really pops out next to the black welt cord and vinyl on the seats, so I think it will be fun once it's in the car.

We did the dash & steering column a champagne gold color, which coordinates nicely. My brother did the interior floors and inside of the back area with neutral tan bed-liner (better for dog wear & tear than carpet) - I think I'll find a couple of dog beds that pull out some of the brighter colors in the barkcloth, like a red & a teal.
posted by hilaryjade at 5:44 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

You got it.
(hugs Melismata)
posted by kimberussell at 5:47 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

Thank you, kimberussell!!

(Lousy, lousy day today, only going to get worse w/ holidays...)
posted by Melismata at 5:49 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'll be pursuing an MLIS and joining the librarian ranks. So thank you, MetaFilter, too!

Welcome to the Cabal! Very happy for you.

I had friends cancel on me for dinner and wound up getting scooped up by other friends to go get dinner which is sort of neat and not what I'm used to around here which is nice.

I quit my job at the Archive because I was tired of getting paid super part-time for a job that could have been a full time job. I blame Brewster directly in an "I'm not mad" way but seriously, they crow about Open Library but barely fund/staff it. Whatever! Taking the rest of 2016 off. Fuck everything, in a mostly good natured way!

Buy Nothing Day is a week from today and I always enjoy it.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 5:54 PM on November 18, 2016 [24 favorites]

I wanted to move a bookcase, did, and filled it with books I've been meaning to read. The purged books are going to a book swap I'm putting together. Since I was getting organized anyhow, I started restoring the old oak filing cabinet I posted about years (!) ago (and yes, I still need drawer liners!), but I had to clean part of the barn because I refuse to work amid a mess. I took the new kittens for shots and spay/neuter today, so that's done. Caught six turkeys and delivered them to the processor--and it's a luxury not to do them myself, for a change--and have put some meat in the freezer and have made some AMAZING stock. Repair and restoration are the order of the day.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:01 PM on November 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

I am pretty sure I broke 1 maybe two toes today in the most boring way possible. Safeway delivery, holding the bags as the guy handed them to me and the bottom came out of one, the quart of Tar Cherry juice jar hit my foot and bounced onto the floor. It did not bust the jar.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 6:02 PM on November 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

So I have been SUPER enjoying my new hobby of astronomy, which was given to me by my little boys, who are 7 and 5, particularly the 5-year-old who went space-crazy when he was three and is the one I had to make the plushie Mars Rover for and who blew kisses to the Mars Rovers every night and so on. Last year, when he was in morning-only preschool, we went to the planetarium about twice a week after school (when his brother was in full-day first grade) and I probably saw the star show a hundred times. (The foolish, foolish college-astronomy-major planetarium docents tell him there are 8! whole! planets! and ask, "Do you have any questions?" and he says, "Is oxygen on Pluto a liquid or a solid in the ice volcanoes before they erupt?")

Anyway when this all began I could only identify Orion and the dippers. Now I can find Taurus, Cassiopeia, the Pleiades, Scorpius, and Orion's dogs. I've seen my first meteor, and I can fairly reliably find Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars! I can name maybe a dozen stars. This is all really exciting for me!

The incessant trips to the planetarium are a big help, but so are the night sky apps and so is a planisphere, why did nobody tell me of this dark $10 magic?

We take the baby to the planetarium on weekends now. She likes the star show but falls asleep during the "full-dome" movies.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:02 PM on November 18, 2016 [18 favorites]

I just ate a burrito and now I'm not sure what to do with myself!

overwatch is free all weekend
posted by poffin boffin at 6:04 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

MonkeyToes! That filing cabinet is a beaut!
posted by hilaryjade at 6:07 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Lost one of our cats to kidney failure earlier this week, which was sad - anyone who says pets aren't family doesn't know what they're talking about. We're comforted, though, by the fact that she had a long, full life - 15 years here on this big blue marble we call Earth.
posted by Roger Pittman at 6:12 PM on November 18, 2016 [12 favorites]

I am taking the next week off, and so I started that out by taking off at 2:30pm today. I've been trying to get over a chronic cough, so I'm using that to not feel guilty. Take that, work!

Right now friends and I are just finishing up some grilled meat, and setting up to play our regular D&D game. Being around like minded folks, who are willing to escape into a fantasy world with me, is helping my mood.

I wish I could breathe, though. That's not helping my emotional situation.
posted by blurker at 6:16 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Also, there is wine. So much wine.
posted by blurker at 6:16 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

The incessant trips to the planetarium are a big help, but so are the night sky apps and so is a planisphere, why did nobody tell me of this dark $10 magic?

There's a free app for that. Auto-adjusts to show the region you're currently looking at.
posted by LionIndex at 6:16 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

"There's a free app for that."

Yeah, I like Star Chart (also free for the basic version, add-ons include meteor showers, etc.) ... but a paper planisphere is CRAZY USEFUL! I can't imagine why I never saw one before this year!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:20 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

So I had ground beef and I wanted to make something different. I put the meat, two eggs, a couple of hotdog buns, a little milk, Worcestershire, onion and garlic powder, ginger and freshly ground nutmeg in a food processor. A couple of pulses. Then I made some oval patties with it. On a greased sheet pan. A touch of Pam sprayed on top. In the oven at 350 for some time... 15, 20 minutes? Meanwhile a jar of gravy with more Worctershire, soy sauce, and a dash of maple syrup. Sounds awful, right?

Heated up the gravy. Topped the... burgers? Flat meatloaves? Serve with mashed potatoes and corn.

Actually pretty good. After a few beers.

FWIW.
posted by Splunge at 7:00 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

My son and I are binge-watching Star Trek TNG on Netflix and I'm drinking vodka with lemonade.
posted by Daily Alice at 7:04 PM on November 18, 2016 [5 favorites]

I spent much of today with a five-year-old who is amazed by things like water dripping down a windshield when a car with snow on top stops, a tent in the children's section of the library, the fact that she got on one boot by herself, and a funny-sounding sandwich shop name. It really lightened my mental and emotional load.
posted by mynameisluka at 7:18 PM on November 18, 2016 [14 favorites]

"a funny-sounding sandwich shop name"

When my transit-obsessed younger son learned to read he saw the name "SUBWAY" everywhere and while I tried to convince him it was a sandwich shop, he remained profoundly convinced that Peoria had a subway system and I was just cruelly hiding it from him and refusing to let him go into the stations!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:20 PM on November 18, 2016 [23 favorites]

I am currently draped in cats, enjoying an episode of Murdoch Mysteries, and drinking a tasty but nameless cocktail (grapefruit juice, mezcal, Aperol, fizzy water). There are various squashes roasting in the oven, awaiting their fate as "pumpkin" pies that gingerbeer will make tomorrow for Mama G's Thanksgiving Street Dinner in the TL on Sunday. Which, as usual, we will not be helping at because we will be counting hawks instead (watching them try to get their own "street" dinner in the Marin Headlands, I guess).
posted by rtha at 7:21 PM on November 18, 2016 [6 favorites]

This sandwich shop is called SNARF'S, so her laughter was justified. I am now dying at the thought of Peoria's underground public transit solution.
posted by mynameisluka at 7:22 PM on November 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

I had the most technically difficult week I've ever had at my current job. I stepped on so many metaphorical rakes, Sideshow Bob-style.

Still freaked out about Trump and climate change.

I was worried earlier this week about my toddler hitting another guy. Had a parent-teacher conference today, found out he's very reasonable re: boundaries and does not usually just start hitting people. Also, he is friendly to the other kids but usually wanders away to build stuff by himself. He knows a lot of numbers, into the twenties, but not in order. He's doing great, overall!
posted by ignignokt at 7:23 PM on November 18, 2016 [5 favorites]

> And.... Upholstery fabric

WOW THAT IS SO AMAZING!

(yes I am reading from the bottom up, of course .)
posted by rtha at 7:29 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a - I also broke my toe in an incredibly boring fashion! I was feeding the kitty her dinner and bashed my pinky toe with abandon against the tv on the floor and now it is all purple and blue and in pain.
posted by Suffocating Kitty at 7:37 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Husband is out of town, so I went sunset ice skating by myself on a gorgeous frozen lagoon, came home and turned the heat up to my own ridiculous preferred temperature, made a Moscow mule with some really great homemade ginger syrup and am baking/icing sugar cookies to give to my 215 middle school students on Wednesday. My sister just added another picture of my brand-new niece to the sibling text chain and dumb jokes are flying back and forth over there. It is pretty swell, actually, and it is the first time I haven't spent an evening obsessing over That Event Last Week since it occurred.
posted by charmedimsure at 7:39 PM on November 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

My dog got onto the sofa, and, I just thought fuck it let him stay, everyone needs a break. It's fair I guess because he is getting used as a bookworm's sofa a lot himself.

Since this is a good news thread, my little bookworm is 5 years out from end of treatment for that nasty brain cancer, and is more or less 100% now.
posted by Rumple at 7:50 PM on November 18, 2016 [49 favorites]

Woohoo! Go, bookworm!
posted by blurker at 7:53 PM on November 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

That's great, Rumple!

Overall today was a pretty nice day here in AZ. The weather is finally getting consistently cool, which is good news for my electric bill as well as my bike-commuting habit. I realized while cranking through some calculations today that something I have taken to be true for the past few weeks is actually not, which I suppose is progress even if it doesn't entirely feel like it.

Now, I'm drinking some bourbon, listening to the new Metallica album, and trying to figure out what I'm going to bring to Thanksgiving potluck. If I'm lazy I'll do a reprise of the mushroom pie I made last year--it was pretty well received. Recipe here in case anyone else is making the same last-minute decision that I am.

overwatch is free all weekend

ooh, I've kind of wanted to try that even though I'm not usually into multiplayer games. Downloading!
posted by egregious theorem at 8:10 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

Now I am binge watching Good Eats. I actually find Alton Brown kind of soothing. In a pedantic way. Just watched the episode about deep frying a turkey. Now understand that this will not be happening. At least this year. But the beginning of the episode had a very good tutorial on what turkey to buy and how to brine it. As I have mentioned before, this Thanksgiving will be a small group. I still have to make everything perfect. And that's okay.

I'm thinking a brined, fresh turkey. Maybe spatchcocked, although the SO disagrees. Sauteed Brussels sprouts with olive oil and toasted garlic. Sweet potatoes, no marshmallows for me, but a separate dish for those that want it. Mashed new potatoes with caramelized onions. Maybe a few other veggies. Guaranteed cheesecake and banana bread, courtesy of the SO.

Much wine. Always wine.

I find the thought of a day or two (brining) of immersing myself in the zen of cooking to be incredibly soothing. Discussing the menu. Buying the ingredients. The controlled chaos of two people dancing around each other in the kitchen. Some of the best things are actually the basic things. Blasting our favorite music from a crappy little CD player on the rack above the jars of sugar and flour. Hopefully it will be sunny.

Even if the sun is not forthcoming... the kitchen will be sunny.
posted by Splunge at 8:13 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Can't stop eating wasabi peas, even though the top of my head is about to stop being attached to the rest of my head. Got annoyed at the two cats swarming me to steal wasabi peas. Offered wasabi pea to cats. Laughed out loud much too loud at the face of the first cat who licked the wasabi pea, and even louder at the face of the second cat who went ahead and tried it even after the reaction of the first cat. Have apparently discovered way to get cats to stop stalking my food.
posted by lazuli at 8:21 PM on November 18, 2016 [8 favorites]

And yet, second cat STILL came back to steal another wasabi pea. Which the two of them are now batting around the living room.
posted by lazuli at 8:26 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Cat 1: This can't be food. Food does not hurt.
Cat 2: Exactly. You are correct. But then what is it?
Cat 1: Non food is always toy.
Cat 2: Brilliant! Get another one.
Cat 1: On it. Prepare for play.
posted by Splunge at 8:29 PM on November 18, 2016 [12 favorites]

I'm procrastinating and stewing over an ankle injury. Totally catless. Out of essentials and planning my big adventure to the store across the street to restock. It feels really far :/
posted by cotton dress sock at 8:34 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Last night Triceratops found an errant malted milk ball that must have escaped the Halloween candy bowl, and spent about 20 minutes chasing it madly around the living room. Alas, it was then lost to eternity behind the bookcase and she had to be distracted with a bottlecap.
posted by ChuraChura at 8:42 PM on November 18, 2016 [8 favorites]

Aww, Triceratops could be another twin to my two. Or maybe the slightly wiser older sibling who doesn't try to lick the wasabi.
posted by lazuli at 8:48 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

Triceratops has her own lookalike tabby counterpart, Sadie. Maybe we're looking at quartuplets?
posted by ChuraChura at 8:51 PM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Alas, it was then lost to eternity behind the bookcase

So I'm guessing under the fridge was all full up?
posted by Splunge at 8:57 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

BROWN TABBY ARMY!
posted by lazuli at 9:08 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

I had a dream.
posted by y2karl at 10:14 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm feeling a little tender; earlier in the week I was horrified at the prospect my pork tacos gave me and the youngest food poisoning. Taking her into our bed after she had spewed in her own was a... tactical mistake.

It was with a mix of vindication and gut cramps that I received an email from her daycare explaining that a case of gastro was going through the centre. My pork remains unsullied, unlike my sheets. My own stomach condition was exacerbated by the intestinal fireworks, which resulted in a day off yesterday, but I'm on the road to recovery now. Gonna make some chunky rye sourdoughs this weekend.
posted by smoke at 10:25 PM on November 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

Drinking bourbon (what else is new? This has been a nightly ritual since THE EVENT of last week). Trying to forget about a week of attempting to provide medical care to undocumented immigrants who have no access to medical care, soon to have no access to civil rights, generally.

Planning a thanksgiving for all the Seattle orphans who are no longer speaking to family (myself included) -- the guest list is up to 25 including a couple of Mefites new in town which I'm tickled about. Loving my kids who spent the evening playing Star Wars charades with their mom. But really, there is so, so much awfulness in the world right now I'm trying to figure out how to not turn into a bitter old man. The Seattle Times just posted precinct by precinct election results and I am delighted that I live in the most progressive precinct in the state where NOT ONE person person voted for He Who Cannot Be Named, literally it was 148 to 0, so I guess some things are ok. We are doing a vegan thanksgiving with lots of stellar alcohol. Orphan Mefites in Seattle, hit me up, there's always space.

Ps. a bunch of us are going running in the AM and there's always a mud football game that goes on here in Wallingford on Thanksgivings .
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:34 PM on November 18, 2016 [12 favorites]

So I own a rabbit, right? And it's really soft and cuddly and if one of us is having really bad insomnia we can bring the rabbit to bed. Last night this was my husband. I am on the couch with my own insomnia playing X-Com. When my husband wakes up, he doesn't have the rabbit. He says it peed on him, so he put it on the floor. I search the floor. There is no rabbit. I search under the bed. No rabbit. I imagine my daughter's sad face. I look for the rabbit more. Still no rabbit.

Out of desperation, I think: "I have a German shepherd who always wants to play with the rabbit who can smell out his stuffed dinosaur wherever I hide it. I will let the dog in on the leash, he will point to the portion of the room where hides the rabbit, then I will search that section." I let the dog in. The dog sniffs around the room, then gets bored and runs off to see if his food bowl has mysteriously sprouted meat in his absence. I think: I need a better hunter. Enter cat! Cat, when brought, also stubbornly refuses to find rabbit and lies down and starts licking himself.

I sit down on the floor to weep. I find the rabbit hiding inside my box spring. After half an hour of hijinks, I secure the rabbit. The cat and German shepherd are now very interested. I give them both dirty looks and play with the rabbit before returning him to his cage.

A Day In the Life Of A Menagerie Owner.
posted by corb at 10:42 PM on November 18, 2016 [22 favorites]

corb, that made me go through many faces and I'm not sure I settled on any.
posted by lazuli at 10:48 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

I thiiiiiiink I will be in the Chicago area for Thanksgiving (although due to infant sleep patterns I have not decided for sure yet) and Friday night would be willing to hit north suburban bars if anybody else wants to, memail me!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 10:50 PM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

I find the rabbit hiding inside my box spring. After half an hour of hijinks, I secure the rabbit.

HAH. Better a rabbit than a boa constrictor, ask me how I know.
posted by suelac at 11:16 PM on November 18, 2016 [7 favorites]

Today I took my dog for a walk in the park just before sunset, and made him pose with the fall foliage.

SO MAJESTIC
posted by poffin boffin at 11:28 PM on November 18, 2016 [8 favorites]

Usually I spend my Friday nights on the couch but this Friday night was pretty awesome. We went into Liverpool to the World Museum for the animal mummies exhibition and noticed they also have an insect room. The mummies were great, especially the cats whose shrouds were decorated so they looked kinda like homemade cat stuffed animals and were quite cute with it. But the unexpected highlight was the cockroaches in the insect room. I have a phobia but I managed to look at them while my husband held my hand. The big brown/black ones were horrible but there were also some smaller ones with bright yellow spots on them which were also, very surprisingly, quite cute! Then out to dinner at a Lebanese street food place and the theatre afterwards for a weird dystopia/dance thing. And fudge from a street stall for the train ride home!
posted by hazyjane at 11:55 PM on November 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

I was more than a little surprised yesterday morning to get confirmation of an upcoming promotion and pay-rise. Such a thing had often been hinted at in years past, but had consistently failed to materialize. It’s a welcome development, even if, after the rise, I’ll still not be earning as much—adjusting for inflation—as I was when I started at the job six years ago. Later, Paddy the Labrador, now mercifully free of the intestinal indisposition that has been afflicting him, will be dragging me down to the estuary where I’ll watch him splash in the tidewater pools and drag heavy sticks of driftwood around. Later still I might have a glass or two of Talisker and listen to some records.
posted by misteraitch at 1:03 AM on November 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

I haven't celebrated Thanksgiving in over a decade, but I am traveling back to visit family in the US on Dec 9, so that's nice. (Apologies in advance to anyone flying Incheon to JFK on Korean Air that day as I will have my 3 little kids with me and it is bound to be a disaster) I am currently trying to potty train the middle one and it isn't going well, but it is getting better, and the littlest one is actually eating solid food (rather than smearing it all over), which is pretty awesome. The oldest and middle kids have been on a Yo Gabba Gabba! kick, so it has been living room dance party pretty much every day this week. Life is all right, I guess.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:08 AM on November 19, 2016 [5 favorites]

For reference: hero 1, hero 2, hero 3.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:20 AM on November 19, 2016 [11 favorites]

My big moment this week was courtesy of my son. I handed him his pants unbuttoned, unzipped, and unbuckled and told him to put them on while I made breakfast and then come find me to help him finish. He came in buttoned, zipped, and belt buckled wearing a big grin. For a kid with fine motor control issues in his hands and a tremor in his dominate hand? That was amazing.

Also, I found an obsolete toy he lost and kept melting down over and it only cost me $15.

But now I'm ending the week at work in my cubicle at ass o'clock trying desperately for overtime, because as a contractor I don't get paid next Thursday and Friday and there's no overtime available on Saturday, so it's a question if I'll be able to pay rent the first week of December and I'm trying not to end up in a cardboard box in a Wal-Mart parking lot for the new year. Yay, holidays!
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 5:56 AM on November 19, 2016 [9 favorites]

It's nice and warm here and we're putting up xmas lights.
We got a huge blow mold santa from a thrift shop for $12. It's gonna be great.
posted by fixedgear at 6:18 AM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yesterday was my birthday. I'll just pretend this thread was really for my birthday. Sorry I missed it, but I was out to dinner with my wife and son. Then we watched Deadpool on HBO. This is what passes for a birthday celebration when you are old.

My daughter will be home from college for Thanksgiving this evening, so we'll have the whole family together for a week.

My wife has recovered from her two breast cancer surgeries and we now are waiting for her to start six weeks of radiation immediately after Thanksgiving. She won't need chemo, and we are looking forward to starting next year with all the cancer treatment stress behind us. And she just lost her job but I just don't even care. She can get through radiation without worrying about trying to to work we'll figure out the money issues later. If cancer is good for anything it does help you focus on what is really important in life.
posted by COD at 7:03 AM on November 19, 2016 [15 favorites]

HAH. Better a rabbit than a boa constrictor, ask me how I know.

suelac, my family has some stories like that, too! My favorite one is when my mom and my brother got to his classroom one morning and it turned out all he had for Show & Tell was a big empty shoe box with holes poked in the top.

(Fret not: Bing the King snake was discovered safely snoozing under the passenger seat in a very good hiding spot several hours later and lived a long, happy life.)
posted by juliplease at 7:04 AM on November 19, 2016 [6 favorites]

Roger Pittman: I am so, so sorry about your cat. You are absolutely right-- pets are most definitely family.
As for me--my appetite is back with a vengeance! I splurged last night on an unholy amount of Chinese takeout, and today I'm going to make a huge tuna casserole--one of my go-to comfort foods. I think I'm also going to buy some shoes and get my hair cut (not at the same place). Beyond that--nothing more strenuous than reading and napping for the rest of the weekend.
(Thanks to everyone who has posted here--I LOVE this thread!)
posted by bookmammal at 7:06 AM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

A year ago, I taught my little fluffy dog how to give hugs. You say ANNIE HUG and she will put her paws on your shoulders, soften her eyes, and lean in for pettings. It's amazing, you guys. I have needed dog hugs so much lately and this feels like an investment that is paying off.

This weekend, one of my oldest friends from out of town is coming by and bringing her three insanely cute kids, all under six! I am preparing by buying tiny juiceboxes and rabbit-shaped snacks for them to nom, and rushing around trying to pick up anything in the house that would possibly kill, maim, or choke them because I have figured out how to keep dogs and plants alive but I have no idea about kids?
posted by mochapickle at 7:48 AM on November 19, 2016 [7 favorites]

There is literally nothing cuter in the world than a pair of 4 year old hands wrapped around a juice box. Enjoy!
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:58 AM on November 19, 2016 [4 favorites]

We're going hiking! We went hiking last Saturday, too, and are trying to make Saturday mornings go-outside-no-matter-what days, but I'm currently still hunkered down in bed, because the temperature keeps holding below freezing. Three days ago it was in the low 80s here. Colorado doesn't know how to weather.
posted by deludingmyself at 8:04 AM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yep. Yesterday: near 70 degrees. Today: snow falling since early this morning, an inch on the ground, and it's still coming.
posted by LionIndex at 8:06 AM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

I watched the sun rise this morning. It was so lovely. Now I'm browsing soup recipes and thinking about comfort food. I've also overloaded my ereader with books, which might have been a mistake because now I want to read everything all at once and am failing at focusing on one.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 8:14 AM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

Cat pictures!

The last photo was taken the day I found him. It still surprises me how little he was. He is now 14ish weeks and six! pounds. He is probably going to be huge.
posted by janepanic at 8:26 AM on November 19, 2016 [20 favorites]

I've also overloaded my ereader with books, which might have been a mistake because now I want to read everything all at once and am failing at focusing on one.
I feel you mixedmetaphors - I currently have 13 books checked out from the library and some of them are starting to come due.
posted by peacheater at 8:42 AM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Janepanic, that is one super cute kitteh!

I was looking forward to a Saturday bike ride with my friend, but I started feeling icky around 3. Like, I think I am gonna hurl, but not quite yet. I rode home very gently, which is not easy given my route home involves a stairsteppy hill about a mile long. So I got home and went straight into a fetal position on the couch. My sweet BF went out and got me ginger ale and saltines. I did end up getting sick but after 15 hours of sleep I feel a little better.

If I am better tomorrow we will drive up to BF's sister's for birthday dinner and cake for the recently turned 14-year-old nephew.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 8:44 AM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

I've also been reading up a storm, and I've had a chance to watch some TV for the first time since September. I also cast on some Latvian mittens and have learned some new knitting techniques, such as two-colored cast-on and Latvian braid. It's amazing how productive I can be when I'm trying to distract myself from the impending apocalypse!
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:44 AM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

So, do we all have the privledge to open a drinks, whatever thread (The Cardoso Lounge worked in the DAY, and it was alive, pulsing, gritty, and endearing)

Because this is awesome and a novel ice breaker for these trying times, times were shopping and crafting the revolution does work because it is work, it's our soul people, our very inner light that yearns for a Salty rimmed, fruity cocktail comfort.

I say one ever Friday nite, with mod approvel.

All rounds on McGee!
posted by clavdivs at 9:08 AM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

beware the stealth Cubs tagging tho
posted by taz (staff) at 9:29 AM on November 19, 2016 [4 favorites]

janepanic-what a perfect kitty!!!
posted by hilaryjade at 10:02 AM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have had a manic week - a mixture of crazy busy work and socialising and babysitting and studying - culminating in a family birthday dinner last night for my partner and several gin cocktails. So the plan for today was to do absolutely nothing but lie in bed as long as possible (mission accomplished, despite having to get up at 3am and hunt for earplugs due to my asshole neighbours). I was happily watching tv in my jammies, drinking tea and munching cheese on toast and reading this thread, when I was suddenly gripped by SQ panic seeing how many people were planning their gifts. So I put on actual clothes - see how much I love you Quonsee! - and went out in 3C to get the first couple of things. Now I'm back home and back in my jammies and feeling better for having made a start, drinking more tea and waiting for Strictly to begin. Later there will be G&Ts and caramel filled chocolate. All is well. The world is scary but life is full of small joys and I'm happy to be sharing all of yours.
posted by billiebee at 10:12 AM on November 19, 2016 [5 favorites]

I was going to make chicken Paprikash because it's comfort food and fussy cooking Keeps Me Distracted when a thoughts hit me ...there's a large enclave of Czech/Hungarians in east Texas, no? So they wouldved adapted the local infridents right ? Which led me to the idea of TEX MEX PAPRIKASH

Basically the same idea, but with annhiem peppers added along with the onion, lime juice to deglaze, cilantro paste and chopped mar mixed in with the stock, some dried smoked chipotle mixed in with the sweet paprika and a little pit of smoked pork on top.

Before that I made Yankee cassoulet, an Americanized version of the fussy French dish using new Englandy flavors like fennel and rabbit and sage and cinnamon and nutmeg. Very thanksgivingy, almost like traditional stuffing but with beans rather than bread.

I'm currently looking a good source of venison to make a great wild hunt stew - juniper and lavender and wild rice and other new world flavors- a home on the range take on German Hasenpfeffer.
posted by The Whelk at 10:31 AM on November 19, 2016 [7 favorites]

ok yes but did you see where I made cheese on toast
posted by billiebee at 10:34 AM on November 19, 2016 [24 favorites]

On Friday night me and the oldest boy played Doom (huh!). I hadn't played since 1997 and felt just as guiltily pleased as I did then. Now I'm just hanging out with the youngest and the biggest.
posted by firstdrop at 10:35 AM on November 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

due to random family drama issues we are having TG dinner with my MIL and a few others today. so the oven is heating up for the turkey mr. supermedusa will be cooking. we've got squash and taters (hardcore) for the smashing, and plenty of butter. our guests will bring the stuffing, cranberry sauce, other sides...

we've never hosted TG at our house before. luckily its a cold rainy day in Oakland, perfect for running the oven for hours. until this week its been freakishly warm in the Bay Area. just don't seem like the holidays without some cold weather.

I wish you all a lovely weekend!
posted by supermedusa at 10:48 AM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

janepanic, SQUEEEEE! That is one cute kitty.

ok yes but did you see where I made cheese on toast

billiebee, that made me snort-laugh.

My wasabi-pea-stealing cat has started sitting next to me on the couch and swiping at my chest, on the assumption that I've probably dropped some food item there. The fact that this is probably going to be a very productive food-stealing strategy makes me worry both about my own ability to adult and my cat's ability to take over the world.
posted by lazuli at 10:50 AM on November 19, 2016 [4 favorites]

Today I walked to a nearby village, some five miles away, as the primary school was doing their Christmas fete thing. There were the traditional stands, selling plants and books and all manner of homemade goods of varying nutritional value, additives and quantities of sugar. There was a very basic Santa's Grotto.

And there was the tombola.

This is a very traditional thing. You buy some tickets, usually a strip of five for a pound; I bought green 331 to 335. When the time comes, all the associate tickets are put into a bag, box, hat, whatever and drawn out. The prizes are usually things like a box of chocolates, a perfume set, a bottle of cheap wine or two.

It's the alcohol that gets the attention of many of the adults.

The main prize at this tombola was a large bottle of Prosecco, the currently favored drink of the middle class detached house in the sticks gastro pub Friday night socialite. It had pride of place on the table of goods, and I could hear people commenting about how much they would like to win it. Because Prosecco. Several queued to buy more tickets than the value of that prize alone; one person squealed with excitement and anticipation. Oh, rural England.

The draw took place. This consisted of the local vicar waiting for a tiny person in a shawl with cats on it to pick and hand him a ticket, and him bellowing the color (blue, green or yellow) and number into a megaphone. Which was somewhat overkill as we were in the main hall of a tiny village primary school.

Each person came up to receive their prize to polite applause. The chocolates went; the perfume sets went; the cheap wine which looked suspiciously like the rough stuff every corner shop around here sells to the people who queue when they open in the morning, went. There was a tension in the air as the table was gradually cleared, leaving the last and main prize: the bottle of Prosecco.

"GREEN 332!" yelled the vicar, unnecessarily.

Everyone looked at their tickets. There was palpable disappointment, and some muttering. No-one came forward. The vicar checked the fist full of tickets he had bought, and looked crestfallen, like he had just noticed a hole in the church steeple. He raised the megaphone again.

"GREEN 332. WHO HAS {pause, bitter swallowing sound} WON THE PROSECCO? JUST COME FORWARD."

Amused by this, I looked around at the disappointed faces. Then remembered I was holding a strip of tickets and glanced at it.

Green 331 to 335.

Me: "Yes!" I moved forward. There was a small smattering of applause. One person in a bobble hat, who I strongly suspect knew I could hear her, mumbled something along the lines of "I don't think he's from these parts, you know" to the person next to her.

I collected the Prosecco from the vicar, who had an air of defeated resignation about him. For a moment, I was really, seriously, tempted to do that thing winning drivers do on the podium and shake the bottle, uncork it, and spray it over everyone victoriously.

But I didn't, because I am English and that would be unseemly. I just returned to my table, whispering "In your face!" to the bobble hat wearer in passing, and sat down with my newly acquired bottle of Prosecco. A few people came up to congratulate me, a couple genuinely, a few through gritted teeth. Most others immediately left, one or two glaring. Bobble hat wearer glanced back as she exited; I winked and blew a kiss.

I returned to base, the one downside being that I walked back with a heavy bottle in my bag. But leaving was preferable to hanging around after dark, just in case a few people had thoughts of building a wickerman with gathered winter wood. No-one tried to run me over (the thought crossed my mind) or kidnap me as I left the village; stranger things have happened. I guess some of them are, right now, in the village pub, bitching about the tall bearded outsider who somehow rigged the tombola and won the Prosecco, and drawing up elaborate rules for next year's school Christmas fete so they can still take his money but it can't happen again. Because England and the English. And I probably shouldn't go back there for a while, but whatever.

In your faces.
posted by Wordshore at 10:51 AM on November 19, 2016 [37 favorites]

I'm making several gallons of cranberry sauce and a few pumpkin pies, as rtha mentioned above, for my friend's Thanksgiving event tomorrow. We're hosting Thanksgiving at our house on Thursday and I'm looking forward to the cooking and the having people here, but not the cleaning and de-cluttering. It turns out that most of the people coming are my best friend's extended family members and there's some family drama there (an impending divorce from a person no one else likes) but it's not MY family so it's all good. This week I had a totally-not-a-job-interview conversation with someone about a very interesting job that I think I want to pursue. I love what I do, but am less enamored with where I do it, and this would solve some of that problem. The really cute purple/pink shoes I ordered online arrived and they are cute and comfortable IRL. Also, I have recently taken up playing Pokemon Go and just leveled up to level 21 and have learned some new strategies and it is actually getting me to walk around the block a few times just to see what's out there.

janepanic, that kitten is completely adorable. Good job getting chosen by that kitten!
posted by gingerbeer at 10:54 AM on November 19, 2016 [7 favorites]

Wordshore, that is marvelous. Enjoy your priceless treasure!
posted by lazuli at 10:59 AM on November 19, 2016 [6 favorites]

brown tabby army reprazent!!!! left: Bellatrix, right: Herbert. this is an old pic they are a bit bigger now but still as cute!
posted by supermedusa at 11:16 AM on November 19, 2016 [9 favorites]

Me and pips are visiting my 101 year old mother in law. Ordinarily, I'd be at work, but I have foot troubles keeping me home for the next week letting me miss Black Friday and the increasingly toxic atmosphere at my workplace. We'll grab chiliburgers and stuff at the Merritt Canteen later.
posted by jonmc at 11:25 AM on November 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

life challenges: keeping the 13 pound cat off of the 13 pound turkey chillin in the sink...not sure how this will end
posted by supermedusa at 11:51 AM on November 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

Well, we lost Hathaway (rat) and Sabre (our 16-year-old cat) within weeks of each other, and we are now quite broke because my wife had to hand in her notice at work, so things are a bit eh at the moment.

BUT it is my birthday today; and BlueNorther and I GOT MARRIED in September and had a glorious day; and I have managed to scratch together enough cash for the Birthday Treat of both of us going on an uber-cheap London daytrip in late December to see a midweek performance of Les Misérables* at Queen's Theatre - just before Jeremy Secomb (Javert) hops off across the pond to do Sweeney Todd - and BlueNorther is making me a birthday dinner of macaroni and cheese from her mother's recipe at this very moment; and our 5 remaining fat furry ratty sons are bouncy and wonderful as ever...so things will be okay. :)

* Though I LOVE Les Mis, I have NEVER ONCE seen it live on stage, so this is All Very Exciting for me.
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 11:53 AM on November 19, 2016 [21 favorites]

Aw, kitten love! He is turning out to be an excellent impulsive decision (except when he sinks his teeth into my iphone cord, at which point I remind him gently that I could have left him in the woods. He so far remains unruffled by these admonishments).
posted by janepanic at 11:59 AM on November 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

Well, as long as we're sharing cat pictures, here's my two - Dipper in the grocery bag, and Mabel (another brown tabby!) finding an unusual perch.
posted by miratime at 12:24 PM on November 19, 2016 [4 favorites]

hilaryjade, that FABRIC! That restoration! Oh, please tell me you're going to document it all somewhere! What terrific work!
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:21 PM on November 19, 2016

supermedusa, Herbert's face! I want to squish them both!
posted by lazuli at 1:44 PM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

And there was the tombola.

This is a very traditional thing. You buy some tickets, usually a strip of five for a pound; I bought green 331 to 335. When the time comes, all the associate tickets are put into a bag, box, hat, whatever and drawn out. The prizes are usually things like a box of chocolates, a perfume set, a bottle of cheap wine or two.

That's so interesting, Wordshore, because over in India tombola refers to what Americans call bingo. Whenever I read tombola in British books I always assumed that's what they meant.
posted by peacheater at 2:10 PM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

That's so interesting, Wordshore, because over in India tombola refers to what Americans call bingo. Whenever I read tombola in British books I always assumed that's what they meant.

It can also mean that (Bingo) here. There are other variations on it, such as instant win or reverse draw tombola, where you pick a ticket out and either instantly win a matched pre-ticketed prize, or don't win a prize at all. But, I prefer the more traditional, raffle-like tombola where there's a suspense and build-up; it's a good way to finish an event.

I'm also drinking the Prosecco now. Cheers!
posted by Wordshore at 2:19 PM on November 19, 2016 [5 favorites]

Cheers!
posted by gingerbeer at 2:29 PM on November 19, 2016

I'm making brown sugar, bourbon, and vanilla bean custard for approximately everyone I know. 6 quarts total. I have a compressor ice cream maker, so that helps. But my first batch got too warm when I was cooking it and the custard broke. So, really it's now 8 quarts. Which wouldn't be so annoying except that now I have literally 40 egg whites and nothing to do with them. (Custard just uses the yolks.)
posted by Weeping_angel at 2:30 PM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Weeping_angel - 3 Angel food cakes? Freeze the slices so you have them whenever you find pretty fruit at the store?

MonkeyToes - thanks! I should get some pics organized for sharing.
posted by hilaryjade at 2:39 PM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

we have lucuma beer this summer. awesome stuff.

Oh goodness, PLEASE tell me where I can acquire lucuma beer.
posted by pemberkins at 2:45 PM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Bravo, Wordshore, bravo!
posted by Splunge at 3:06 PM on November 19, 2016

Heading to the outer banks for a week at the beach with friends and dogs and cooking and wine and stuff....
posted by Cocodrillo at 3:27 PM on November 19, 2016 [4 favorites]

> PLEASE tell me where I can acquire lucuma beer.

well, it's sold in most of the large supermarkets here (in santiago, at least in the fancier areas) - i think i've seen it in jumbo, lider and unimarc ("volcanes" brand). but i guess you are in the states? googling for "lucuma beer" turns up a couple (1, 2), but i doubt this is exported (as far as i know, it's not a big company - just one of the many smaller local breweries that have sprung up in the last 10 years or so). sorry!

ps on the cooking front, i bought 3kg of apricots at the market today and monday will be making jam :o)
posted by andrewcooke at 3:28 PM on November 19, 2016

It is gloomy and rainy here, and the house smells amazing because of the many gallons of cranberry sauce gingerbeer is making (we went to Costco for the cranberries and a few other things, and even there, we bought so many cranberries that we got looks that were definitely "wow that is a LOT of cranberries" looks). I have vacuumed and cleaned the bathroom, and now I am once again covered in cats. I have tea with rye in it. This is all pretty great, considering the current state of everything out in the world.
posted by rtha at 3:48 PM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Which wouldn't be so annoying except that now I have literally 40 egg whites and nothing to do with them.

Make meringue for the Metafilter cookie exchange? :)

Yesterday was kind of awful. We got nearly 6 inches of snow in just a couple hours, somebody crashed into our car (my family is ok, car is likely totalled), then I got the van stuck in snow when I tried to go rescue my family. Oh, and the cell phone died, so I couldn't even tell them I wasn't going to be able to pick them up. Sigh.

Today was better. I worked in the living room and the kids made snowmen and sledded and now there's a fire in the wood stove and I am going to have a vodka tonic and watch a movie soon.
posted by belladonna at 3:51 PM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

I recently adopted a super cute kitty who is a sweet, loving, and playful guy. It's been more stressful adjusting than I anticipated (I'm slightly allergic to him, still trying to figure out the right allergy meds to keep it tamped down, and he wakes me up when he runs around at night) but he climbed onto my bed and started purring this morning and cuddled up next to me and that makes it all worth it.
posted by capricorn at 3:56 PM on November 19, 2016 [9 favorites]

Which wouldn't be so annoying except that now I have literally 40 egg whites and nothing to do with them.

MACARONS! Keep the whites in the fridge for a few weeks and then make macarons!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 3:58 PM on November 19, 2016

Just mailed my secret quonsar package off, very unusual for me to get it out the door so early! I've been in a show, The Diary of Anne Frank, which will be closing tomorrow, so the sadness of not working with this great group of people will be deep. Also been fighting off a serious cold, trying my best to not get into a coughing spasm on stage (ah, the magic of show biz!).

Otoh, my daughter came in yesterday (from Hamilton, janepanic!), so that's a major good thing! Getting geared up for BBQ turkey is always one of my favorite things.

I feel the cold fingers of doom tightening around our throats since the... THING...that happened last week. Trying to stay focused on local issues and surrounding myself with people who are part of a larger movement for good. Which includes you all! Bless you all, the founders and mods past and present, all who fund metafilter.com and all who don't, but continue to come back here to be part of this light shining in these dark days.
posted by jasper411 at 3:58 PM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

I went to see one of my Idols in concert last night, Laura Stevenson. It was a small tour, and she was opening, so she manned her own merch booth. I got to talk to her for about half an hour before the show, she was very charming in an adorable awkward way, and seemed genuinely interested in talking to me.

The show was beyond spectacular, her voice is so powerful and lovely, she had to request less on her mic several times. It was an extremely small crowd, maybe 20 people standing on the dance floor in front of the stage, with the rest at the tables. I even caught her on camera her smiling at me because I was singing along to a song, which happened to be the first of hers I'd ever heard. It made it even more special. She continued to be charming and funny, despite the crowd directly behind us, at the bar, being loud and obnoxious. She took a point without vocals in a song to tell them to hush, but they were paying so little attention it didn't phase them (they were also very, very drunk).

I met up with her again after the show, more chitchat. We (my partner, myself, and a friend we had picked up during the concert) apologized for how rude the crowd was being. We hoped it wouldn't interfere with her coming back to our city. She was really nice about it, and said the only reason she bothered to tell them to hush was because she was worried that our concert experience was going to be ruined.

It was about time to go, so I took a moment to thank her for who she is and what she does, and expressed how valuable I found it, and the amount of love I had for one particular album. Of course I started crying. Then she got teary eyed telling me that it meant a lot to her, and that's what keeps her going. Then she asked if we could hug, and I managed to refrain from saying "um duh I've wanted a hug from you since the beginning of time".

Oh, also I got a signed CD and signed tour poster and I'm just thrilled.


Tl;dr: small, awkward elf with the voice of an angel graces my presences and thanks me for crying.
posted by FirstMateKate at 3:59 PM on November 19, 2016 [12 favorites]

Got together with a friend and his wife last night for board game night and played a couple rounds of Mai-Star (new to me) and Tiny Epic Galaxies. Got hammered the first game of Mai-Star but the second game pursued a strategy of minimizing the other players score rather than running up my score and won 24 to -2 and -12 much to the chagrin of the experienced players.
posted by Mitheral at 4:07 PM on November 19, 2016

I keep buying avocados but always forget one thing or the other and never have what I need for guacamole on hand before they go overripe.
posted by indubitable at 4:20 PM on November 19, 2016

well it's Saturday night now, but I can't drink at ye metafilter bar anyway and I can tell you why because I finally told my boss, it's because I'm pregnant and thus the secret is OUT and probably some random askmes are coming y'alls way

yesterday in Louisville it was 79 degrees and I fell asleep watching project runway at 9pm and today the high was like 46 so it's been a weird time but I'm about to bring some hot chocolate and a huge bag of mini marshmallows(!) to a bonfire so that should be fun and hopefully not too cold.

Happy Saturday everyone!
posted by likeatoaster at 4:24 PM on November 19, 2016 [35 favorites]

Oh congratulations!! (I will drink gin and describe it to you any time you want hth)
posted by billiebee at 4:29 PM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

tbh i think husnog might have that one covered
posted by likeatoaster at 4:32 PM on November 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

Trying really hard to stay off Twitter but it's a constant drip of substitute human connection and I have nothing else to do. It's pretty sad.
posted by bleep at 4:41 PM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

My big plans for tonight: pouring Bailey's over ice cream and binge-watching Shameless. Just another exciting Saturday evening in Minnesota.
posted by a fish out of water at 4:49 PM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

So would you say you've got a bun in the toaster oven?

CONGRATS!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:49 PM on November 19, 2016 [9 favorites]

Those AskMes must include a #bravelittletoaster tag or you will break metafilter.
posted by mochapickle at 4:59 PM on November 19, 2016 [17 favorites]

my big news here is a few months back i had sex with my wife

HERE!

Jebus man, I had a tooth pulled!
And I could ask some aftercare on the askme, avail yourself sir. On the art front I decoupaged a nice Fuetes (sic sp ) cigar box with old newspaper, a movie theme, complete side lettering mast head and listings for shows on the lid. It was from scraps, Detroit News, 11-22-63.

I hung my old favorite VHS tapes so they rest at a slant along my studio window ledge moulding (6 windows)
Dug out some drafts and revised a few horrid lines into passably 1997.
Trying to find or obtain a copy of the City of Flints Emergency water switch over booklet as part of a thing I'm working on.
I watch seagulls fill the automated car village slated to go up next year and someone busts a cap by the river and flying cloud of squawks. Oh, I sealed my last Cohiba in Mod Podge and am looking for a suitable medium to hang on the wall.
posted by clavdivs at 5:09 PM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

I was supposed to go on a first date that I didn't really want to go on, and apparently my car caught my ambivalence, because it won't start. Jumping it didn't help. Changed out of my fancy clothes back into my jeans and now I'm waiting for the tow truck. There's pretty much *no way* the dude thinks I'm telling the truth about that, so...
posted by lazuli at 5:10 PM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Lazuli, where are you? Maybe we can give you a lift! I'm in San Francisco about to head down to Palo Alto, if that would help!
posted by jasper411 at 5:55 PM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

my big news here is a few months back i had sex with my wife

Kinky!
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:05 PM on November 19, 2016

jasper411, that's super-sweet, but I'm in the North Bay and was supposed to go the East Bay. I was also supposed to be there an hour ago, so I think I'm well past any help. Alas! And I texted the dude 90 minutes ago and haven't heard back, so I'm guessing that ship has sailed. Which is maybe not the worst thing right now.

I'm going to make myself the anti-date spaghetti aglio e olio and breathe garlic breath on the cats.
posted by lazuli at 6:12 PM on November 19, 2016 [7 favorites]

Birthday sleepover with 7 twelve year old boys. I know you're jealous.
posted by Cloudberry Sky at 6:23 PM on November 19, 2016 [10 favorites]

I love sleepovers! One of my greatest compliments ever was at a sleepover- I helped 4 12-year-old girls pull a prank on 2 10 year old boys. Afterward, during their victory celebration, one of the girls came to thank me and said "I wish you were one of the kids".
posted by FirstMateKate at 6:25 PM on November 19, 2016 [8 favorites]

Update: we went on that hike, and it was gorgeous. Then I made soup and brought it over to my friend's house, because she's been chasing down her pantsless firstborn all day trying to get potty training to stick, and she's not drinking right now but her child just peed on every single clean pair of socks in the house, so it's tempting. Said toddler was excited to see me, and informed me that both she and I had hoodies on. I was then told that my husband was a) not here, b) at home, and c) with his computer. Pretty sharp for a 20 month old.
posted by deludingmyself at 6:42 PM on November 19, 2016 [7 favorites]

I don't have cancer! Probably. It looks like it's acute erosive gastritis, which is fixable and looks like I swallowed an angry cat, but yay! Moving from the planning for major illness to managing another chronic condition is just such a relief. I'm on my way to church with a huge tray of birthday brownies to share for my kid's fifth, and her party this afternoon will be friends and family. This morning I officially enrolled back in university for a BSc in Ecology. In part, thanks to a book I discovered through metafilter, Lab Girl, which made me think seriously about science and science writing and how much I loved geography and natural sciences still. Not a bad weekend at all.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:20 PM on November 19, 2016 [36 favorites]

I went on a long walk with my pupper Ruby for the first time all week (ugh night, why so early) and she nearly pulled my arm out of its socket several times chasing squirrels and birds and ducks and suspicious pieces of trash. I then went to the gym (also for the first time in a while) and took a luxuriously long shower and quasi-napped for a bit, then went to the grocery and reveled in the holiday merchandise on the shelves and the finally slightly cold weather and now I'm drinking hot chocolate with Bailey's and eating heath bar cookies (I got the last box on the shelf!). And I think I'm about to settle into The Crown on Netflix. Introvert weekends are the best weekends.
posted by MadamM at 7:31 PM on November 19, 2016 [7 favorites]

I want to boop Ruby's nose! Give her scritches for me.
posted by lazuli at 7:40 PM on November 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm hangin' in there, baby.
posted by not_on_display at 8:11 PM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

OK! Date dude finally texted me back with "You and donald trupm needs somee serious therapy on mental health issues. Delete my number and dont contact me ever again you liar." Love men who accuse me of mental health issues for not living up to their expectations! Getting happier with my previous decision never to date again!
posted by lazuli at 10:05 PM on November 19, 2016 [12 favorites]

I thought I was out of chips and then I found a secret chip stash and now I have chips and am happy, the end.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 10:15 PM on November 19, 2016 [7 favorites]

And now he's blowing up my phone accusing me of being a pathological liar who's insecure because I'm smarter than him. I just... gah. I blocked him, but now my adrenaline is going too much for me to sleep, despite it being past my bedtime. THIS IS WHY I DON'T DATE.
posted by lazuli at 10:42 PM on November 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

Just be thankful that you didn't get any further into a relationship with him than a broken date. Can you imagine the crazy you'd have had to put up with? No guy is worth that.
posted by sardonyx at 10:51 PM on November 19, 2016 [5 favorites]

YES! ACK. Thankful.
posted by lazuli at 10:52 PM on November 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

Mind you, it's still completely terrible that you have to be subjected to any of this kind of wackadoo behaviour at all. What the hell is wrong with people?
posted by sardonyx at 11:12 PM on November 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

OK! Date dude finally texted me back with "You and donald trupm needs somee serious therapy on mental health issues. Delete my number and dont contact me ever again you liar." Love men who accuse me of mental health issues for not living up to their expectations! Getting happier with my previous decision never to date again!

He incorrectly conjugated a verb in the present tense and you elegantly avoided splitting an infinitive so there is no fucking way on earth this man deserved even a moment of your time*.

*This judgement assumes English is his first language, he doesn't have any language or development related challenges, &c. -- totally a different situation in that case vis a vis grammar but he's still a dick.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 1:58 AM on November 20, 2016 [4 favorites]

This is kind of rando, but since I won't be around this Thursday...

My amazing kid took a bus from college to visit me for the weekend because he'll be spending Thanksgiving with his father! A lot of things suck, but my most important thing is great.

Metafilter users are providing gifts for 70 kids and seniors this season. When I start to lose hope in humanity... well, there's humanity. Thank you, MeFi.

And finally, the foster kitten that we decided to keep is lately showing signs of becoming NOT literally Hitler. I might be able to have nice things again someday.
posted by houseofdanie at 3:21 AM on November 20, 2016 [5 favorites]

Crap! What kind of community member am I? Obligatory cat pic. On the left, obviously shy, the former kitten in question. On the right, his mother, who was rescued from a shelter when she was pregnant with him and two others, who have also been adopted.
posted by houseofdanie at 3:31 AM on November 20, 2016 [6 favorites]

Mooski:
Wife and three girlfriends went to Savannah for the weekend

I genuinely thought for a moment when I read that sentence that you had a wife and at least three girlfriends.
posted by houseofdanie at 3:39 AM on November 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

Hooray, dorothyisunderwood! I checked back to your ask recently to see if there were updates, I'm so glad it's looking brighter for you. (I know not everyone reads the grey- might be nice to jot a note on your ask. :) )

I spent the weekend NOT camping with the amazing human powered vehicle team (a delightful group of the nice kind of 7th graders) as I finally came down with the nasty chest whatever that has been circling all winter- decidely unfun way to spend a weekend. The reports system had issues which is worrying because I administer it- but overall the soon to be mr feet spoiled me, by making sure I was supplied with tissues and chocolate- it was a good weekend.
posted by freethefeet at 4:19 AM on November 20, 2016

I had a garage sale yesterday and made almost $400.

My goal was really more to get rid of crap than to make money though, so I was pleasantly surprised with that outcome!

Tiny the cat was the star of the show. She is an affectionate attention hog, so despite randos coming in the house every few minutes, she settled in like the royalty she is on top any pile of clothing that could have cat hair stick to it. One kid told me he wanted to rob her (his words), and since I basically stole her* from her former owner, I don't hold it against him at all.

Another high point was the couple I sold a china cabinet to. When they came to pick it up, I groaned inwardly at the "Not a Liberal" bumper sticker. After some time, the man said, "Oh, I want you to know that we actually are liberal. This bumper sticker is the bane of my existence whenever I have to borrow my stepfather's truck. Last time I had to haul something to the dump I taped a leaf over the 'Not a' part of the sticker."

Finally, this guy was looking at the jewelry I had for sale and told me he is a collector, and did I have anything else that I would be willing to sell that I hadn't put out. So I thought, what the hell, and got a few things that I like but hadn't worn much or ever. A couple of vintage broaches, a gold ring with an amethyst, an interesting pendant that was sterling with maybe some kind of black stone. Other than the ring, nothing was inherently valuable, and the ring was not exactly a huge, heavy slab of gold or anything.

He asked how much for all of that, and I had no idea how to price it. So I asked him what is a fair price? His response: "I don't have enough money on me, I don't think. But $80?" I had decided in my head that I would take $20, so that was pretty awesome. And he had the $80. That was cool.

*With permission. Long story, but basically she adopted me and is now the love of my life. <3
posted by Stewriffic at 4:28 AM on November 20, 2016 [8 favorites]

My dog gets excited about walky time when he sees me put on shoes and socks. Just now when I asked him if he wanted to go for a walk, he went over and pointed at my socks which I'd left on the bed.
posted by moonmilk at 6:02 AM on November 20, 2016 [12 favorites]

I dreamed that on the anniversary of handing over your $5 to Metafilter, if you have not been banned since then, mathowie and cortex hold a coming-of-age celebration for you.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:54 AM on November 20, 2016

*This judgement assumes English is his first language, he doesn't have any language or development related challenges, &c. -- totally a different situation in that case vis a vis grammar but he's still a dick.

English actually is his second language, and I suspect he was drunk, and I'm not super-picky about splitting infinitives unless I'm copywriting/editing, but yes! He's still an asshole! And getting complimented on "elegantly avoiding a split infinitive" made me very happy! Thank you!
posted by lazuli at 7:56 AM on November 20, 2016

Today is Prosecco hangover day.

I have nothing else to add.
posted by Wordshore at 8:46 AM on November 20, 2016 [21 favorites]

Ugh, hangovers from cheap prosecco are the worst.

Dude's still sending me messages, now through the Meetup app, calling me a liar. I just reported him to Meetup. I know this is supposed to be a happy fun thread, but my PTSD is starting to get triggered, and I'm having a little bit of trouble coping right now. (Not in major scary can't-cope ways, just... struggling a bit.) Looking at y'all's pet pictures helps.
posted by lazuli at 8:55 AM on November 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

lazuli, you deserve lots of pet pictures, so here you go. xo
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

And not least: Tinycat with her Tiny Cat.
posted by Stewriffic at 9:26 AM on November 20, 2016 [12 favorites]

Stewriffic, I love you! And I would favorite that 19 times (one for each picture!) if I could. I made a very odd but weirdly comforting noise upon seeing the first one, especially. That expression is perfect-cat. Please pet Tinycat for me, assuming she allows such liberties.
posted by lazuli at 9:53 AM on November 20, 2016

Tiny is super duper duper affectionate as far as receiving pets goes. She needs to up her snuggle game, sadly. Her preferred way of showing affection is to wind around your legs until you fall down trying to avoid stepping on her!
posted by Stewriffic at 9:55 AM on November 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

lazuli, I'm so sorry you are having such a gross interaction with dude and I am soooo glad that you did not go on the date. he sounds like an unstable, unsafe person. ugh! also Herbert wants you to know that you absolutely deserve better, he'd be happy to go on a date with you any time, if by date you are ok hang out and give him tummy rubs :)
posted by supermedusa at 10:12 AM on November 20, 2016 [8 favorites]

Is there some version of dating that does not involve hanging out and giving tummy rubs? I may have been doing this wrong... :)
posted by lazuli at 10:20 AM on November 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

ugh lazuli, that's awful. What an asshole. I assure you that Ruby would be 100% down for a tummy rub date as well. See here.
posted by MadamM at 10:30 AM on November 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

PUPPY BELLY!
posted by lazuli at 11:07 AM on November 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

The neighbors' dog came over to my porch and snuggled me for 15 seconds or so, which is actually pretty long for him, so I got in-person doggy snuggles, too. Yay, pets!
posted by lazuli at 11:09 AM on November 20, 2016 [8 favorites]

I'm hanging out at my boyfriend's folks' house while he and his brother are driving around. My companion is Myles, the orange bobcat housecat, killer of small adorable animals. He desperately wants something, but I don't speak Grumpy Cat Squawk, so we've reached a detente and I am very gingerly rubbing his belly and he is purring and kneading and getting his claws stuck in my jeans and, by extension, my thigh.
posted by ChuraChura at 1:21 PM on November 20, 2016 [9 favorites]

I just wanted to say thank you for all your stories. Reading this thread has been really lovely. I second whoever suggested upthread that we do this regularly.
posted by ocherdraco at 4:12 AM on November 21, 2016 [8 favorites]

I had a MeFi dream last night. Submitted an Ask which read simply

"Question?"

To which Cortex responded

"Correct".

Marked as best answer.
posted by threetwentytwo at 6:36 AM on November 21, 2016 [13 favorites]

The Dearly Departed, In Memory Yet Green
posted by y2karl at 2:35 PM on November 21, 2016

Because it wouldn't be appropriate in ask.metafilter, I'm just gonna say this here:

Metafilter: grease the tomato with Vaseline.
posted by moonmilk at 2:47 PM on November 21, 2016

I genuinely thought for a moment when I read that sentence that you had a wife and at least three girlfriends.

Dear MetaFilter, I never thought it would happen to me but...
posted by Dip Flash at 5:06 PM on November 21, 2016

Okay - I am very late to this thread, but I missed it because I passed my comps! and as a treat we took a road trip to the Green Bank Observatory. The highlight of which, apart from visiting winter (Friday in home city was 78 degrees, Greenbank was 34 and snowy) was super acerbic tour guide. Let's call him Bob. Storytiems: it was the last tour of the day. Bob was obviously expecting to get to go home early - since it was a fairly overcast Saturday, with a wind and winter storm advisory, so despite arrival at three and the observatory being open until 6 - with tours on the hour, I suspect not a whole lot was going on that day. Plus the Observatory was closing Tuesday for the holiday weekend. Enter three young women - obviously home from college for the winter break... add me and Mr. Gyre...... the tour starts with a little documentary about the history of the observatory and fancy space images. The three ladies sit in the front, me and Mr. Gyre a few rows back. Tour Guide/Engineer Bob enters - and pointedly stares at College Lady #1, .....for a significant amount of time. The following exchange occurs:

Lady #3: Awww, he thinks you're pretty (she was)
Lady #1 and #2: laughter
Tour Guide/Engineer Bob: Actually there are multiple signs that forbid food in the auditorium. She has food.... in.the.auditorium.
Me and Mr. Gyre: oooooohhhhhh, buuuurrrnnnnn, somebody get a fire extinguisher.

A little while into the talk, a discussion of the observatory's participation in the Breakthrough Listening project/SETI:

Lady #3: So - have you found evidence of aliens?
Tour Guide/Engineer Bob: No. That would be fairly big news and I am sure you would have heard about it.
Lady #3: What about this sticker that I bought in the gift shop?
Tour Guide/Engineer Bob: It is possible that there is life on other planets. We haven't found it.
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 6:13 PM on November 21, 2016 [9 favorites]

I should clarify that the sticker in question had a little alien on it.
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 6:20 PM on November 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Congrats on passing comps, GGW!
posted by deludingmyself at 6:28 PM on November 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Thanks! I was in a pretty poor emotional state when I took them due to last week's event, but I apparently did okay, anyway!

Congrats to new babies announced in the thread. And pats to all the cute pups and kitties!
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 6:38 PM on November 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

I am way way late to this thread, but will chime in that Mr Fig and I are enjoying a vacation in fabulous (...it's sorta non-fabulous right now but I will try to refrain from complaining about where and when we willingly chose to vacation)..ahem, FABULOUS BEIJING CHINA!

And, holy moly the Great Firewall is so much worse than the last time I was here 5ish years ago. No Google anything, so sorry to anyone I said to email me. No American social media whatsoever. Metafilter is the only site that consistently works that has people that I consider friends on it, so, thank you for this thread and sharing all of your lovely stories. My internet is slow here though, so, I can't favorite things like I normally do. Imagine I'm giving all of you favorites. And hugs.

Also, I am making plans with a fellow mefite to meet up over here, how awesome is that?

And and, Learned League is also not blocked, which is good because I'm doing better than expected, am totally addicted, and would hate.to be kicked out my rookie year.
posted by Fig at 2:35 AM on November 22, 2016 [11 favorites]

Way back in October, in honor of Marvel's Luke Cage, I invented a drink for binge-watching the show called a Sweet Christmas:
ice
brandied cherries
juice of one or two satsumas
1 oz rum
holiday spice syrup to taste

Holiday Spice Syrup:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp peppercorns
1 nutmeg seed, cracked with a hammer (big chunks)
1 vanilla pod
5 cardamom pods
1-inch piece of ginger, sliced thin
zest of an orange

Simmer on low heat for 10-15 minutes, turn off and let steep until cool. Strain into jar and seal tightly. At this point, if you want to pour a bottle of wine in the empty pot and add the spices back in you can make mulled wine too.

The holiday spice syrup is also good in cider, tea, wine, or coffee and your house smells amazing when you make it.
posted by domo at 12:49 PM on November 22, 2016 [9 favorites]

I have procrastinated so hard on making dinner that it is now 1:22 AM.
posted by en forme de poire at 1:22 AM on November 23, 2016

(eats resentful handful of seeds)
posted by en forme de poire at 1:23 AM on November 23, 2016 [7 favorites]

en forme de poire, you and your seeds can come sit by me. I've done this So. Many. Times.
posted by taz (staff) at 1:55 AM on November 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

aw thanks taz! Nice to know I'm not the only one.

(The seeds, for reference. They are pretty good tbh. Around 10 minutes ago I finally caved and put on some water to boil.)
posted by en forme de poire at 2:10 AM on November 23, 2016

Just because people emailed to ask - I worked 10.25 hour days for three days, and an 11 hour day today. So I made my 40 and can pay rent next week. I guess it was a lucky wishbone break. No worries, but thanks for checking on me.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 4:27 PM on November 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

I've kind of been saving this thread for a moment when I needed it, in fact I've been stockpiling little niceties for myself hidden around my life so that the dreadful weight of reality is lifted on occasion by good thoughts or something funny or cat pictures. So thank you for all the fuzzy animal pics herein, they are much appreciated on this not-normal Monday morning.

My holiday was very pleasant. Some time off work, some good work too, some excellent bike riding around town, and a wonderful Thanksgiving meal shared with friends. Many MeFites sat at that table, folks I know simply because I didn't know anyone else in LA when I moved here and they were good enough to want to have dinner with random internet strangers like 8 years ago. We played Nanocomics* after our vegetarian Thanksgiving, and one of the titles was so weird and the resulting comic so good that I had to record it for posterity. I didn't realize it until after, but what I initially thought was random after-dinner chatter is actually holyrood telling the story of how the title of the comic is based on a real-life encounter. The whole thing was gut-busting funny and being able to go back to listen to that has been one of the best of those little tucked-away smiles I'm hoarding.
posted by carsonb at 12:00 PM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

* I forgot. Nanocomics is like a tiny game of Exquisite Corpse. Blank paper, pens, and a timer: Everyone gets 3 minutes to come up with a comic strip title, they're jumbled together and passed out at random, then everyone gets 10 minutes to write a comic strip for the title they received and the results are passed around for all to read causing much hilarity.
posted by carsonb at 12:04 PM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

I sold the Epson 4000 for $200 today. The logic is this, it had $500 worth of ink in it, but it needed $350 worth of a visit to the guys who maintain such a thing, then it needed the other $500 worth of ink to make it run, even to clean the heads. So weighing in at 100 lbs with the cabinet, it seemed worth it to have someone pay me to take it away. Epson won't support it much longer anyway, but a really fun printer in its day.
posted by Oyéah at 8:36 PM on November 30, 2016

Yay! This AskMe has a #bravelittletoaster tag!
posted by mochapickle at 2:10 PM on December 13, 2016 [3 favorites]