fairffaxx

I've only seen it once but it struck me as a classy soap opera. Nothing original about the story (at least to a soap opera fan like me) but very enjoyable.

I rented a video of it soon after it was released & we enjoyed it. My dad watched the Army-McCarthy hearings live on TV in 1954 (I was 7).

Worth the effort (for the right kind of party, anyhow). Somewhere, I have a life-sized clear plastic Jell-o mold shaped like a human brain (so does Alton Brown).

Alton Brown has a "recipe" for making perfectly clear ice cubes.

That's where I saw it years ago.

I've never had an ice maker, nor did my parents. My dad had to call the Sears repairman once because water kept appearing on the floor in front of the venerable Kenmore refrigerator & he assumed there was a leak. The repair guy pulled it out from the wall & checked everything thoroughly but couldn't find a leak. Next day, another little puddle appeared & my dad was furious because he'd had to pay whatever Sears' flat rate was for the visit, without results. Then a visiting friend poured herself a glass of cold water from the plastic jugfull they kept in the refrigerator & pointed out a tiny hole in the bottom of the jug.....

Emergencies such as that are what canned tuna is for -- it keeps forever (remember bomb shelters?).

I, too, miss adverbs. There's a big new sign downtown in my city that instructs us to "DRIVE SLOW". Of course I agree with the sentiment, but I'm always tempted to speed up in protest of the assault on grammar. 😾

Like Christmas carols for months on end. The only thing worse than me having to endure them until I leave the establishment are the poor employees who aren't permitted to escape. A bank teller assured me that she soon becomes deaf to them & that must be true, but I remind myself every year that it's an even worse travail for them.

For me, dealing with the public at all would be the 9th circle, let alone being forced to smile & pretend to care about their good day!

Stores in the San Francisco Bay Area that are trying to keep track of potential shoplifters (i.e., everyone who enters the premises) all require the cashier at the checkout counter closest to the front door to greet everyone with "Welcome in!" & a great big smile. Maybe the trend is working its way east.

Order your 2026 calendars now!

Yoga may confuse that cute little dog but it comes naturally to cats.

I've never hired a housekeeper either. When I was 5, my mother was pregnant with my little sister in Ohio during Spring/Summer. My dad was highly frugal but he took pity on her & hired a local woman to clean the 2 story house once a week. He didn't realize that my mom would feel the need to "just tidy up" for the cleaning lady, which entailed moving the sofa out into the middle of the living room to vacuum behind & under it, sweeping the kitchen & bathroom floors, washing the breakfast dishes, running up & downstairs to collect & stash all of my toys, etc., etc., etc. I watched in horror as my increasingly pregnant mom "got ready" for the weekly visit while the temperature & humidity level rose month to month, & decided that I'd never put myself through such an ordeal.

I've used this recipe to adapt with different additions for several varieties of very easy cookies that everyone likes. Instead of the 1 1/2C chocolate chips called for by the base recipe, you can add: 1 1/2C Raisinettes (covered with either dark or milk choc) = "Raisinette Cookies"; or 1 1/2C Trader Joe's mini peanut butter cups = "PB Cup Cookies"; or 3/4C dried cherries & 3/4C white choc chips = "Cherry Chip Cookies"; or 3/4C dried cranberries & 3/4C white choc chips = "Cranberry Chip Cookies"; or 3/4C dried bananas & 3/4C choc chips (milk or dark) = "Banana Chip Cookies"; or 1C dried mandarins (chopped) & 1/2C semi-sweet choc chips = "Orange Choc Chip Cookies"; or 1/2C dried cherries, 1/2C dried blueberries, 1/2C white choc chips = "Red White & Blue Chip Cookies"; or Etc., etc., etc.!

The last time I saw a movie in a theater (rather than on TV), it was the Indiana Jones movie with Sean Connery as Jones' father. I just looked it up for the date & have forgotten the title in the time it took to come back to this site, but apparently that movie was released in 1989. I remember it was pretty good, as I thought it would be with that cast & all those snakes, but nothing since has attracted my attention. Instead, I watch TCM comfortably in my bathrobe & am more than satisfied with Cary Grant.

I bite my tongue whenever someone refers to children as "the littles", because I don't want to berate a fond mother or grandma for brutalizing the English language (however much they deserve it). But I was just watching a wildlife camera at a waterhole in Africa being visited by a herd of elephants, when a comment suddenly appeared on screen about how cute "the littles" are! I suppressed the urge to add my own comment, but felt free to rant about it in the privacy of my own room: Hey, idiot commenter! Elephants are the epitome of dignity, even the baby ones, & deserve to be respected (as does the language). 🐘

Vegetarians eat only vegetables, so people like me who eschew meat & poultry but do eat seafood are not vegetarians. We are pescatarians, but I don't say that because it sounds like some weird Calif religion & I don't want to open that conversation with strangers at the salad bar.

There's no question in my mind that cats do wonder while wandering, & vice versa, but that doesn't make me feel better about what's happening to the poor English language. If the 2 words are pronounced the same down east, you're probably right about the origin -- but who knew that area had such a farflung influence on the rest of the country? And I agree that spellcheck is much too limited to help with this.

The language continues to deteriorate (or, as many would say, "evolve"): "It's not safe for your cat to wonder around the street like that!" I see "wonder" used instead of "wander" so often, though never the opposite. One is no easier to spell or say than the other & they don't really sound alike, nor do they mean the same thing -- they're not technical or complicated terms. How does this happen, & why? Is it just because people don't read anymore? So many questions.... 😼

Sadly, no -- it's everywhere! 😿

Very common in Calif -- if a restaurant offers burgers, there's pretty much always a vegetable patty alternative. Surely Canadian supermarkets carry Impossible Burgers or Beyond Beef, etc?

I feel the same way about "veggie" but that's become so common it's on pretty much every menu. And to make matters worse, I don't eat meat or poultry, so a burger made with a vegetable patty is often the very thing I'm looking for, but of course it's referred to as a "veggie" patty. Once, I asked for "the vegetable burger" & the teenage server replied "So, a veggie burger, right?" & I winced involuntarily. 😾

Not awkward, just dignified. Congratulations on your having learned to speak like an adult!

Or any of those other cutesy shortcuts -- veggie, convo, etc. Grow up!