Living in the US - Where we say TO MA TOE and you say TO MAH TOW

[alipiggie]

Wow we filled the thread guys. So as I was about to Say UR you've probably had squirrel if you've eaten Chinese . Think I've had most things. Just don't ask eat. Roasting hot here, very busy but having a blast. Enjoyed our new gym yesterday and picnic in the park tonight which was wonderful. Live music, handsome young men - need I say more.

Please call me a sick person. I just taught our cockatiel to whistle Jingle Bells.

On the other hand, we went on vacation and my friend taught the cockatiel to whistle 1812 Overture.

Surely, Jingle Bells is better.

Thank you for the recipe.

Well, life around here is going to grind to a halt. Snow in the forecast for tomorrow. We Oregonians get very skittish at the first sign of snow, and the whole city shuts down at about the 1 inch level. It is going to be wicked cold, too. It is supposed to get down to 11 for a low, and I can't remember a time when it has been that cold here.

Email arrived

But what did it say??????

I know it is really bad, but I keep being put off by mince pies because of the name. There is no way they could taste good.

Yeah I have been traumatized about eating raisins as mum used to call them dead flies. Totally gross. So a pie made out of hundreds of dead flies ...

The email said did I want to go for coffee tomorrow avo, if so let him now. Let's have a vote shall we? LOL.

One vote for you going and reporting back on everything that happened.

Another vote for you going and reporting back on everything that happened.

A third vote for you going and reporting back on everything that happened.

Oh look, so far it is 100% for you going and reporting back on everything that happened. I think voting is now closed.

LOL I just sent him a reply saying I'd call him in the morning to sort out a time and place

Of course I'll report back, this is all a delightful distraction from the disaster zone that is my pigsty of a room that I can't seem to get under any sort of control! I have a pathological dislike for Putting Things Away. I blame my mother.

Hello ladies - can report that our house is now completely decorated for the holidays. Finished the tree today, and it looks festive and sparkly. Haven't done much to the outside of the house though - some people go mad, don't they?

We are currently hosting dd's first ever American sleepover. Girls are in bed and giggling loudly atm. Wonder how long 'til they drop off, and whether they'll be awake at dawn....

Must get down to some serious Christmas shopping early next week. In spite of all my resolutions and best intentions, I've still got a fair amount to do.

How exciting! I called other nephew's wife (brother of Bostonian nephew)last night to report on what I had been up to She heartily approves.

earlybird, were the girls up all night?

LOL at Jabber

Cali, can you link to the recipe? Sounds great. I was just thinking about making mince pies. I usually use Nigella's pastry which is pretty good. Where did you get your mincemeat?

Mananny, how exciting. I wisj I were going for coffee with a young man this afternoon. Please let us know where you went, what you had, what you talked about and how lovely it was. If it turns out to be one of those awkward meetings, feel free to fabricate.

I had curry! It was delicious. Lots of buttery naan to go with it. Mmmm.

Hope the sleepover went well, Earlybird. Did they get any sleep?

Anorak, are you going to make the candy?

Girls did sleep, thanks for asking. I told them they could chat, but that they must stay in bed. Think that encouraged them to settle more quickly than if they had been able to run around. They slept 'til 7AM, so a pretty good night.

They asked for chocolate chip pancakes this morning. Think I went a bit overboard with the chips though - far too chocolate-y for my taste.

Have a quiet day planned until later when we will visit a local church that is well known for it's annual holiday 'walk through' Bethlehem event. Evidently it is quite wonderful with animals, shepherds, angels etc.

Jabber and mananny - will watch with interest to see if a lovely friendship develops. Could be exciting!

No I'm not going to make it SB. My daughter was challenged by one of her friends to lay her hands on some. So perhaps she will try to make it. But she will have to find a prickly pear to plunder first - perhaps one of her friends has them in the garden.

Bethlehem sounds lovely, EB.

Anorak, everything sounds so exotic.

I'm stuuuuccck. It is snowing here, and there's probably 2-3 inches on the ground. Nobody is out driving in it, so the roads are covered. DH was going to get FIL's present, but he doesn't want to go out in the snow. Is it wrong to have cabin fever after 3 1/2 hours?

dooney - could you 'embrace' being stuck and go out and play in the snow with the kids? Snow angels, snowcones, snowball fight, etc?

Yes, go out and play in it! And have snowman soup when you come back in.

Will the roads be ploughed later? DH could go out then. Here, 2-3 inches doesn't stop anyone. A bit of rain, like last night causes choas though. Chicagoan cannot drive in the rain.

Doing snowman soup right now. DH actually went out, because he didn't have much gas in his tank and didn't want it to freeze.

Will go outside a bit later, it is actually quite blizzarding down right now. I keep staring up at the sky being hypnotized, as there is just so much snow. I bet DH and DS will be just fine, but I can already predict Caitlin lasting about 2 minutes.

It sounds lovely, Dooney. Better on a Sunday morning than a Monday morning. Have fun!

dooney - yes, sounds typical. You'll probably spend longer getting Caitlin ready to go out then actually being outside. But, if you've got cabin fever think of it as a welcome distraction/activity and a good way of killing time.