Thread 16 - TalkLair: "Well, I'm not exactly quaking in my stylish-yet-affordable boots, but there's definitely something unnatural going on here."

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 15).

Another year over, a new one just begun...

In the TalkLair, the hearth is glowing, the walls festooned with tinsel, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, rugs are down on the floors, the tree is twinkling with fairy lights (and possibly being clambered on by cats). The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch though, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics.

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey Christmas roast beast over there in the corner of the cave…

I saw that, very sad. Apparently she'd recently had a liver transplant

@Britinme I just saw the news too, how sad!

Oh, that's absolutely no age. Poor woman and her family.

I WhatsApped a friend about that earlier because she's a huge Buffy fan. It seems amazing to me how many child stars actually come out of the whole thing alive and living something approaching a normal life. I think Macauly Culkin is almost miraculous. I could see the press almost waiting for him to be found dead from a drug overdose and while I think he did lose his way a little when he was younger but here he is now, older, married, with children, perfectly able to take the piss out of himself and seeming like a really happy individual. His life makes me happy because it could have gone so wrong and I think a lot of people wanted it to. Sucks to be them.

DH and I were talking about how sad it was, if the bits of discussion I've read are true then she was another child star damaged by the fame and environment.

We're still partway through Buffy Season 4, so DC don't know about Dawn yet (we're being careful not to leak any spoilers; it's nice seeing DC being surprised by various plot developments). And now I feel guilty that I never liked Dawn!

I just read the OP's posts on the 'out of my mind with worry' thread. What can you say? That poor woman: for the millionth time, I reflect on how lucky we were with a healthy child.

Yes @duc748 - I found that thread heartbreaking. Oddly, DH and I just finished watching a series on Acorn called Best Interests (which you Brits probably saw some time ago) with Michael Sheen and Sharon Horgan, about a court case over a young girl with a rare genetic disorder in PICU, whose doctors want to discontinue treatment and the parents disagree with each other how to proceed. What a terrible situation to be in, and with a baby catching something as simple as a cold.

If my dossier is correct, I believe it is BritInMe's birthday.

So happy birthday, and here's a celebratory salad for you: www.facebook.com/share/v/1AKE8Y1Sgz/

Happy slightly belated birthday, lovely @Britinme 💐

Thank you! I had a very nice birthday. I went to a potluck lunch with a group of British expat friends over here and had delicious chilli and trimmings, plus quiches and salads. I took my own birthday cake (rum raisin carrot cake with chopped walnuts and a little fresh ginger grated into it, and cream cheese frosting with a little of the rum soak for the raisins beaten into it (I drank the rest). The buggers put three candles on it and told me it was one for each quarter century, which sadly was the truth.

The house of our hostess was a gorgeous log-cabin-style one at the top of a hill on one of the finger-like peninsulas that stretch down into Casco Bay, and it had the most glorious view over the snow-clad pine wooded landscape and the stretch of water between this peninsula and the next one.

When I got home I had video calls with all my kids and with my cousin in Hull so that was lovely too.

Happy birthday wishes @Britinme!

Happy birthday, @Britinme it sounds like a delightful day!

Belated birthday wishes, Brit! It sounds as though you had a wonderful time in a fantastic location.

That sounds amazing, Brit, and happy birthday!

Impressive dossier work, bint.

Sounds an amazing day, just lovely, Brit!

A belated happy birthday to you @Britinme - sounds like you had a lovely day!

Belated Happy Birthday, @Britinme! MrG will be 83 on Wednesday, Given that last year, 3 x 83-year-olds died in our road (two in the frankly awful local hospital and one at home in her sleep, for no known reason), I think I should probably at least take him out to lunch? Just in case ...

<on edit> Sorry! Too many years working in probate have made me more than decently sanguine about death.

Out for lunch? Are you sure you want to risk salmonella, or campylobacter?

🤪

Thanks @Gonners . DH will be 83 in August. I hear you.

My 99 year old mother (who thinks she’s lived too long) regularly complains “it’s living in this road, people don’t know when to die!” Reckon she’d be very interested in a move to your street @Gonners

I'm now being told that unless I disable my ad-blocker on MN, to permit them to attempt to sell me Mounjaro/green glitter lipstick/a sense of humour remover, I can't post. My current ad-blocker was either on or off, with no ability to select per site. So I've installed a different ad-blocker, but if that doesn't work it is Goodbye From Me.

Wow! I use an ad-blocker on my laptop, MN has never objected.

I use one too and have had no issues on MN. You might try another browser, that can make a difference.

I'm on Firefox, having abandoned Chrome following "other issues" - constant nagging to update alternating with "Can't Update!" I had forgotten that I had a different ad-blocker here, so have disabled it and installed the other one (which shall be nameless for fear of jinxing it).

At the moment I'm rather down on MN generally, though: it's as though half the posters have synchronised their PMT and the other half have run out of HRT. And the third half are just permanently quarrelsome!

I use Firefox but also have Duckduckgo in there somewhere and that seems to be able to block or redirect ads so I don't see them, without setting off MN's peripheral alarm. So far. Sorry for vagueness, lovely R the computer man set it up for me.