Hmmmm. Any idea what to do next? The advice I read (from from here) gives a few coherent suggestions.

Wah! Stuck at 10 lbs...
*feels re-energized now that bilby's watching*

:-)

How's the diet going? Any progress to report?

I played with your name. 

Arrr! Good Mornin' maties!

:-)

dontcry, you are right, it's definitely not right to say "set phasers to ..." In retrospect, I deleted it because I don't think it's right to promote it's usage.

Perhaps you could explain that he may regret it deeply if he misses the funeral and that itself may be more painful in the long term.

You're the biggest bunch of smart people I know. How do I explain to a a 13 year-old boy why it is essential to attend the funeral for one of his friends? When I tried to explain how it might comfort the parents, he walked out of the room, holding his ears. *help...words of wisdom needed here... trying not to cry...probably will...hates that*

Zzzzzzzzzz...

Two thousand something words!

Run like a girl! Whoo-hoo!

;-)

Thanks for your last comment on moro reflex.
*still laughing*

Well, I remember you. I'm back from the Chesapeake Bay!

Or maybe John T Graham. I might blame him...

I'm blaming Facebook.

Ummm, I just had to log in. Me. How come wordie didn't remember me? Wordie always remembers me...
*feeling forgotten*

Pro........where are you?

I'll wave to you from I-95, Pro. :-)

dontcry! I'm visiting friends in Baltimore this afternoon!

Just in case I'm the first person ever to die from fear of being on camera, I just want the record to show that I TOLD YOU SO! And, no, I don't want to talk about it. I just wanted to make a record of it. Thank you.

Seems to be here all alone today. Going off to vacuum. Really.

Ha ha ha! (This was between me and dontcry)

#26: I cheated!

Heya! I think you might enjoy this web page, it's a hoot.

Wooooorrrrdddiiie sooooo sloooowwwwww tooooniiiiiiiight....

Yes indeedy! Just now getting the feeling back in my towel--I mean tahl arm! Here we go!

What. A. Game!

Yes, have you?

dc: See any good football games lately?

Pleth - sorry you're so hot. Know who else is hot??? The Steelers.

Good grief, pleth! Please do what you can to keep cool! I'd gladly ship some frigid air down your way, but I doubt it'd make it.

Heat stress is more likely to get me in my flat, to be honest. It's been about 45 degrees Celsius here all week, and I don't really have much in the way of cooling at home. We're looking at high 30s for the next week too.

I wish I lived closer to the beach. I'm not a huge fan of swimming, but nighttime walks as the water laps at your feets are just heavenly.

You're in the NT, right b? For some reason, people seem to just take you for South Australia. Maybe it's because NT isn't a real state :P

I didn't even get that message.

Yeah, hope you have a fun Superbowl DC. Here it's on a breakfast time ... might catch the last half.

I'm at home, which is full of the smell of roast lamb. Tomorrow though I'll be dreaming of your superbowl spread!

I'm glad plethora's staying home. Last night I received this SMS:
"IMPORTANT S.A. GOVERNMENT HEAT HEALTH WARNING: Heat Stress Can Kill; Stay Cool; Stay Inside; Drink plenty of water; Check the safety of vulnerable neighbours; Listen to your radio"

I'm roughly 3,000 kilometres from Adelaide so I think I'm safe, hence I did sneak out for a walk along the beach last night. But I have no idea why I ended up with another state's health advisory on my phone.

Ooops! Silly me!

Go Steelers.

Pleth -- morning? Oh, oh! What are you having? Coffee? Tea? Cocoa? Toast? Are you reading the Sunday paper? Mine's not here yet. Anything I should know? Can you pass the jam?

I was home last night, dc. And I am here this morning.

I have to get up early to make my sauerkraut, pierogies and kielbasa for the game tomorrow.

Go Steelers.

Apparently, I'm the only wordie pathetic enough to be home on a Saturday night.

Go Steelers.

Go Steelers.

Thanks mate! Avva good one!

Happy New Year to wordies Down Unda!

Allowed?? They're mandatory!

Yay! I win! *does happy dance in office...frightens officemate, Max (aka: Mr. Whiskers) the rabbit*

Only if naps are allowed...

I'm fairly certain you've got that one in the bag.

You know, I was just sitting here, rocking and all, and wondering if there was an interest in a "Porch of the Year" award..? *humming to self....on porch*

Merry Christmas from the porch!

Not miny.

Hominy did you find?

Let's go with "used a spoon" okay? *checks face for bits of hominy*

I was sort of wondering that myself, yarb....

*wondering why the phrase "stick your face into" makes me laugh so hard*

Did you use a spoon, or just stick your face into the pot?

I made grits this morning and ate them right out of the pot. I just felt the need to confess that.

Uh, oh....

Awwwww... *blushes* ...shucks!

It's good to know there are people like you around.

I've been distracted lately, and maybe I missed this -- but are we having a graduation party for pleth on the 8th? If one isn't in the works, I can host one on the porch... (shhh).

Well, I make stuffed grapeleaves from my Grandma's recipe. She was Lebanese. We put meat and rice in ours. I've seen variations on the recipe in cuisine from Africa to India - but most are just rice-filled.

i love yogurt sauce! are stuffed grape leaves included in Iranian cooking as well, or is that from somewhere else?

frog - Yes! I have a friend who is from Iran and many of the recipes I found were Iranian. He made us dinner one night not long ago which included that heavenly rice with the dried berries. I could live on it!

I know many Afghanis. The food is closer to Persian cuisine than Indian or Pakistani. I am an experienced cook and own many Persian cookbooks. I think your menu would appeal to the Afghanis I know. Feel free to write to me at shoecabink at yahoo dot com if you need a recipe, etc. I also speak Persian (as do many Afghanis).
--
I wish I'd seen your request sooner. I could have made your life a lot easier. And those weren't raisins in your brother's rice. They were zereshk (dried barberries).

Not really, but it does make them easier to swallow ;-).

Hope it goes well, sounds like you've put in an enormous effort :-)

P.S. Does all this cooking make the books taste better?

I've never been so frustrated in trying to find recipes from a country. There's not a single Afghani cookbook in my community library. The few recipes I got were from the web. I could serve Indian or Pakastani dishes and nobody would be the wiser -- but nooooooooo, I have to go for authentic! I'm making bolaanee, lamb kebabs with fruit and vegetables, chapli kabobs with yogurt sauce, shir berenj and baglawa!

Sorry, dontcry! I wanted to help but I don't know anything about non-Italian-style cuisine...
By the way, your Flickr link is tothebananapatch :)

I would have helped if I'd seen it in time. Grilled lamb or goat, rice with raisins, flatbreads, okra - yum! My brother in law was out there for 8 months a while back and came back with recipes.

After exhaustive research, shopping, shopping, cooking, cooking, cooking and baking... I think I finally have a nice selection of Afghani foods that I actually can prepare for my book club meeting on "A Thousand Splendid Suns."

Thank you, dontcry. I always can count on you.

Why, you're welcome, dontcry -- always happy to help.

Wordie Challenge: Does anyone have recipes for appetisers and/or desserts from Afghanistan? Don't ask. Just give. I'll explain later. Pictures would be good. Thanks!

Yikes! That is dreadful. It makes me think of a small cog in a big wheel! Our PTA's are not associated with the government. We are independent, non-profit organizations.

At my old schools, it was P&C (parents and community).
And here it's the APA. A for the name of my school and PA for Parents' Association.
There's also a Boarders' Parents Association.

Over here, and this is regional, it goes by the dreadful acronym COGSO - Council Of Government School Organisations. So each school has its COGSO committee, who elects a representative to the Territory-level COGSO, etc.

Also, Parent Teacher's Association...

Pikachu Tormentors Anonymous.

What is PTA for?

I'm tempted to start a PTA list... I'm just not sure what the topic should be...

One idea I have is: "If you miss wiping noses, become a PTA President."

I have more, but they are less nice...

which - my eyes are dry! Thank you!

I wish you an illachrymable birthday.

Many thanks to all! I love my birthday (except the getting older part -- I'd like to stop that now please...)!

Whoops! Missed it I guess. Well, a very merry unbirthday to yooooouuuuu!

Happy birthday to you.
Yes we're going to a party party
Yes we're going to a party party
Yes we're going to a party party
I would like you to dance - Birthday
Take a cha-cha-cha-chance - Birthday
I would like you to dance - Birthday dance

Happy birthday, dontcry! Many happy returns of the day!

*cheers*

And now you have to inhale the candle flames.

¡ʎɐpɥʇɹıq ʎddɐɥ

¡Bappy Hirfday!

Happy!

Felicitations!

Happy Birfday!

Today is my birfday! Yay! I got the new John Lennon Biography. Only about three chapters in but so far so good! Back to the fire and my book...

There's also a Flickr Wordie group here that you can join.

Yay! I learned a new trick! Quick, someone give me a cracker before I forget it...

The pumpkin's yawn for the hearing impaired worked out well too.

You can add it to your "also on"!

Dontcry:

The link tothebananapatch checks out just fine.

I love the baby hawk photos!

ooops. I think... this is the way to get there: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tothebananapatch/

Feedback, please. Not on the photos, just on getting to them. I'm pathetic..

I'm pretty excited! As some of you know -- I don't do "internet." But I just joined Flickr (or something like that-you know what it is). Anyhoo, I posted (or whatever) some pictures, just a few, to test. So go look at my "site" and let me know what I did wrong. I'm "dontcry the first." Does that help? Help!!

Hey, it's a real thing! I've been to an event! But it's not on my Boss Button. :-)

Yes! The Gay Rodeo is my favorite random site! Yee Ha!

But what if you haven't entered a site in the Boss Button preference ... do we go to a random site or one from a list John has compiled? I just tried it and got this!

You can set that function to come up with whatever site you want (go to "Edit personal preferences" in your profile). I use Amazon.com at work.

There is that nifty boss-button feature, ctrl+b, that John installed a while back, for what it's worth...

7:37 pm on 9/19 - I just heard my first gaggle (?) of Canada Geese this year heading out. It was unusually chilly today. I love that honking sound...

pssst... dontcry... someone sent me this link once and it helped me make funny characters.

Dontcry: Took this photo while on vacation, just for you. :-)