The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, I come from a long line of pack rats, and I married a man who is the offspring not only of pack rats but junk sale fanatics. The amount of absolutely incredible stuff in his parents' house, you would not believe -- his father was the king of the hard bargainers, and just couldn't pass up a good deal.

After his father passed away several years ago, we went up to VA to help his mom tidy things up. We found SEVERAL old typewriters. Not to mention record players, an old gasoline pump, shortwave radios, boxes and boxes of old vacuum tubes, tools, advertising signs . . . the list goes on and on. Some of it was actually "useful" - and was added to the pile of junk in OUR house. Some went to the dump - five loads in a Aerostar van with all the seats out and packed solid to the roof - and then his mom had an event billed as the "MOTHER OF ALL GARAGE SALES". And then we went to the dump again last Thanksgiving . . . and the house and garage still look as though we have hardly put a dent in them!

Fortunately I don't mind clutter. (It's dirt I can't stand.)

[Wneighbor]

I forget spellcheck. It's not exactly in my field of work so I forget to use it when I do go into Word. My bad. I would have loved it if we'd had spell check when I was a secretary though. (yes, secretary, it was pre-1980)

[Corin Stormhands]

This is the first morning I could sleep late in all this time off. And I've been up for half an hour.

I actually went to bed at a decent hour and was even awake at 4:00 a.m. (when I was sposed to go to the gym). I was awake enough to think "I'm going back to bed..."

[AnAmericanMother]

That's exactly the way I made a pair of pants for my husband when he went to a Hallowe'en party as an "Afghan Freedom Fighter" back in the late 70s or early 80s. Made a baggy top, a turban, and a shawl too. I got a theatrical goatee beard and glued it on with spirit gum (this was before hubby had a Grizzly Adams beard of his own), then made him up with Dark Creole makeup (he is a redheaded Irishman). Accessorized him with a .303 British Mark III rifle (took out the bolt and put a canvas bolt cover over the receiver), about six bandoleers of surplus Greek .303 ammunition draped all over him, and the biggest darn bowie knife I could find in the closet. It was a huge success - nobody recognized him at all (and everybody was extremely polite.) :-D

[Corin Stormhands]

Why do you creep?

Beg pardon?

I'll have our minivan. So I'm more than happy to provide ground transport. Jr. and I will be arriving sometime on Friday a.m. Perhaps as we get closer to the date ecurbh can post arrival times, etc. and we can figure that out.

[Wneighbor]

Fortunately I don't mind clutter. (It's dirt I can't stand.)

Yes, the only thing is that all this clutter collects dust. I'm having company come later today and I finally gave up on dusting yesterday evening about 11. Just too pooped. When I walked in the den this morning to log on I noticed that this big ol' cabinet the TV is sitting on is covered with dust! How could I miss that and have wiped off all the silly nooks and crannys on the knick-knacks in the room?

I've been real tickled for the last week. A friend gave me an old stereo with a turntable. My old one finally bit the dust about 2 years ago. I thought I'd get rid of the albums but don't have the money to replace them with CD's. SO! Now I don't have to. I'm back in business the old fashioned way. My 17 year old even likes it this way.

[Overtaxed]

various other ooey gooey stuff but not cookies or cake.

What about brownies?

[300winmag]

You are an amazingly knowledgeable person!

No, I just have a mind that retains vast amounts of trivia. Or, as a friend once said, "a mind like a lint trap".

[Corin Stormhands]

I'm going to find someone at county to chew out today....

Mornin' LF. Sorry about the house troubles. Can't post 'em here (I gots reasons). But I can share some county/developer horror stories with ya at Entmoot.

[Wneighbor]

I was awake enough to think "I'm going back to bed..."

I thought that. It was as if I had an IV drip of espresso running and my eyelids were superglued in the open position. I hate that.

[Corin Stormhands]

However, I am finding that waking up early becomes unavoidable with age...

Then there's the waking up frequently...

[Wneighbor]

Now that is a cool costume. Must add to my list. However, it wouldn't work as well for us. It's just me and one daughter left at home. We'd end up being the burquad (sp?) woman. NOT!

[Corin Stormhands]

Hmmm, maybe I should make a cheesecake at Entmoot.

We're not worthy! We're not worthy!

Hungry? Yes. Worthy? No.

[RosieCotton]

What about brownies?

Brownies aren't cake, are they?

Hmmmm...just made me think...could lembas be thin, slightly crisp-at-the-corners blondies?

[Corin Stormhands]

It's Friday...yay!!

Yes, but the weekend looks just as busy as this week...

Jr's youth choir production is Sunday and Monday, but it's getting tricksey to work around baseball and make-up games that we missed because of rain.

He's got a game and a rehearsal at 6:00 p.m. tonite. So he'll just go to the rehearsal late.

Tricksey part is Sunday. He has rehearsal from 2-5, and now has a make-up game at 3:00 p.m.

Under normal circumstances, we'd just miss the game (he is missing the Monday game because of a performance, but we told the coach that at the start of the season).

BUT, we have a short roster, only 11 boys on the team. One of the boys had an emergency appendectomy on Thursday nite and is out for the season. One of the boys on the team is Mormon and will not play on Sunday (I admire them for that commitment).

So, it means if Jr. doesn't play, the team has to forfeit, and that may mean missing the playoffs. Mom is talking to the youth pastor this a.m...

[RMDupree]

Morning everyone!

First let me say HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSE IN ROSEBEAR!

I glanced over the posts and decided that, instead of traditional birthday cake, I'd whip up a lovely strawberry cheesecake!

As for traditional breakfast munchies, I've got deviled eggs, 8 platters of bacon, buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy. Coffee is brewed and juices are chilled. ENJOY!

[AnAmericanMother]

Oh, yes, you should always have a turntable available. Our old B&O right-angle track turntable is still soldiering along, and we have a REALLY old heavyweight turntable out of a recording studio held in reserve in the attic. Replaced the old arm with a lightweight adjustable balance arm and a "new" (to us) Stanton cartridge, and it will be good to go if the B&O ever croaks.

We couldn't possibly replace all our old 33s with CDs. A lot of the really strange old stuff has never been reissued - garage bands, historic recordings from the old Spoken Word and Vanguard labels, Alan Lomax field recordings . . . (I told you I was a pack rat). If we moved the turntable over to the computer, I think my husband could probably rig something up to copy the recordings into digital and then burn them on CDs - maybe.

[Wneighbor]

What about brownies?

only a couple days a month. and only if they're not too cakey.

[RMDupree]

WN - my cyber meals are sadly lacking compared to the real culinary abilities of the ladies in the Hobbit Hole!

[Overtaxed]

Brownies aren't cake, are they?

A clever cross between cookies and cake? Anyway, if you bake brownies in a small pan - making thick brownies - they have a cake-like texture. Bake 'em thin and they're chewy.