Missed the chance to edit again, but kai!! and picu!!! Good to see you two again! If I missed any other returnees, I apoligize. Read the part about being awake till after midnight and getting up at 5… 
Headed to the parents tomorrow provided the weather holds - lots of cancellations to flights in the UK due to the weather:rolleyes:
Lots of work to do tomorrow before I head that way then I get to see mr ems next week. Yes that is correct folks 7 days still I see hubby again for 6 days!:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
We are doing our Christmas at New Year 
I never blew up any GI Joes but my sis’s Ken doll was a spy and died by firecracker. He deserved it! He was a COMMIE SPY!!! He blew up real good too!
(((((((Dotty))))))
I went to a toy store today, to look for a couple of knicknacks for stocking stuff. I am not doing anything but grocery shopping until after Christmas. The lines of desperate-looking people appall me.
I almost bought Nat a $50 unnecessary-but-cool wooden stringed instrument. Which he’d probably break within twenty seconds. Sort of like a dulcimer. He’s frantically excited about Mr. Lissar’s guitar, which is very nice, and toddlers aren’t allowed to play without strict adult supervision.
Right. What are y’all making for Christmas dinner, those of you who celebrate Christmas? I think we’re having a stupidly big turkey with sausage and cornbread stuffing, broccoli and cheese sauce, roast carrots/parsnips/sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and lots of gravy and cranberry sauce.
What’s on your menu?
My brother is hosting Christmas brunch again. I was asked to bring the tossed salad. I have no idea what else is on the menu. But my bro and my mom are good cooks, so there will be good eats.
Here’s a quick hello to everyone and hugs for Dotty.
The hives are a little better but still hanging around. Last night they were crowding out my belly button!
Not that I know anything much about the details, but I also hate what they have done to Strawberry Shortcake. (Remember those little scented plastic figurines? On at least one occasion I left a bunch in the car. In the summer. In Texas. gag) I think it’s the same reason I hate what they’ve done to Sesame Street – it’s not the same as when I was a kid, which makes it automatically suspect at best and evilly horribly bad at worst.
Winter storm warning! Woot! Though how they can label anything that drops under a foot of snow up here a winter storm, I will never figure out. But I will happily take a few inches. (I am leaving that even though I know exactly how it sounds!)
Haunted Pasta needs a nickname. I suggest Spookghetti
Around here, they called it Scarios.
We’re doing a non-traditional Christmas dinner: KT’s making his wonderful chicken-n-sausage gumbo. (No seafood 'cause I don’t like it! So there!) It’s teh YUM.
For Christmas Eve, I’m making lasagna, 'cause that’s my tradition. Not my family’s. It’s one I started when I moved out on my own.
Crazy busy weekend and then work day here. And I didn’t sleep well either, FCM, but in my case (and KT’s too) it’s cause we were sniffly and stuffy yesterday so we took pseudoephedrin (i.e. Sudafed) before bed, not realizing that it’s a pretty powerful stimulant. :smack:
At least I wasn’t stuffy all night.
My manager made cake today for my birthday tomorrow. Mmmmm, chocolaty goodness.
Now if the others that I’m working with can finish up the file that has to be done today (It MUST be to the vendor before they get in tomorrow morning.), I’m gonna get out of here (It’s already 6:16. Bleh.) and go have dinner out with KT, as an early birthday dinner. My parents arrive tomorrow, and we really want to cook while they’re here so we’re eating at home for the rest of the week. So tonight’s dindin out night. Yay!
Lots of hugs going out to Dotty. Glad they caught it early. Hope this is the last you have to deal with it.
What a fun OP, rosie. And it’s a really good week for it, since lots of us are shopping and remembering.
We were also a Lincoln Log and Tinker Toy family. Wish we’d kept them for my niece and nephew.
I never had an actual Barbie, but I had Midge and Skipper. Also had a Twiggy doll and a Tina Cassini (scroll down a bit).
I loved Betsy McCall, too, kai! Hi, BTW!
Someone we knew used to have wooden blocks like the ones you linked to,** Nava**.
We made creepy crawlers, too! Those were fun. Somewhere, I still have a green spider. I had a version (this will astonish you, I’m sure) that made flowers. Kind of stylized flowers, but still. They have an article about this stuff on Wikipedia. Yay! I was trying to remember what the liquid was called: Plastigoop! And my flower kit was called Fun Flowers.
I loved Spirographs, too.
I never felt like we had a lot (we were pretty poor), but listing it now, it’s hard to believe I always wanted more…
Welcome newbies and returning Mumpers!
Gotta go find some dinner and then get some Christmas cards written so that I can send them tomorrow.
ETA: Forgot to talk about Christmas dinner. Turkey breast and stuffing, I think. And sweet potatoes. And gravy. The rest is still in the planning stages.
Back later.
GT
WHAT.
I refuse to accept that as Rainbow Brite.
{{{{{{{{{{{{Dotty}}}}}}}}}}}}
I slipped on black ice and bruised my hand.
Well, lay off on the snow bringin’, dammit.
We’re not doing Christmas, at least on Christmas day. It’s gonna wait until Da Rugrat makes an appearance after New Years. We’re trying to think of something original to do on the 25th instead. My idea of sacrificing a virgin was shut down immediately by VWife because of the 1) mess, 2) legal hassles, and 3) the extreme difficulty of finding one within a 3 county radius.
I figured I deserved it.
Strawberry Shortcake’s current incarnation also infuriates me.
It’s not so much the modernization of an old favourite… that I could live with. It’s the fact that they had to Barbie-fy toys that were perfectly good when they weren’t the slightest bit Barbie-esque. We already had Barbies (not to mention Jem and her Holograms) if we wanted to play dollies with full-grown imitation women, and we were happy with that arrangement.
I’m still sitting on the fence about Christmas dinner. I’m working all the way up to Christmas Eve, and I’m not all that keen on braving the grocery store on my way home from work… I don’t like beating off the hordes of desperate people fighting over the last yam in the bin or the last tub of sour cream. Normally I try to take a day off beforehand so that I can sneak in and out of the store early in the morning, before the frantic masses descend upon it.
I’m also a little pissed that my cousins unilaterally decided I should host Christmas dinner at my house, especially since they didn’t offer to contribute anything other than their presence. They’re grown-ass women, and I’d expect that by now they’d have figured out that the fact that I earn more doesn’t give them the right to show up for a free meal. :mad:
Anyway, if I do decide to do anything, I’ll probably make a traditional Quebec tourtiere. I’m thinking it might just be The Boy, me and Mumsy Dearest, though (his folks are coming for brunch the following day).
Many hugs to kai; want to hear more of how you’ve been doing (surgery yet?!). FCM, I so envy you having the boufant Barbie! I had a Midge with the brunette bubble.
Christmas dinner will likely be spiral sliced ham, scalloped potatoes, lime jello and pineapple salad, rolls, and maybe green bean casserole. If not the casserole, then probably just fresh green beans. I’m also planning on having a bit of roast beef and probably a small turkey. With the turkey will be sweet potatoes and cornbread dressing. And for New Year’s Eve, probably a pork loin roast -maybe- with cabbage. LOL That’s enough food for the next two weeks, I think!
Back to work tomorrow; I’m going to wait until it’s light outside to venture out so that I can see where I’m going. I’ll get there when I get there! LOL
Whew - furnace guy just left after 2 hours of not figuring out what the heck is wrong with our 2-year-old Trane. So I’ve got to call again tomorrow and see if they can get someone over tomorrow afternoon or Weds.
I’m exhausted. I was going to go to bed early - like at 8. So I’m off to bed. Hope I can sleep. Stoopit furnace. 
No pre-birthday dinner for me. Still stuck at work at almost 9.
Seriously, that is wrong.
:: HUGS :: for Dotty. You’re in all our thoughts.
Boyfriend sent me an email saying his father’s doing poorly and that he might want to stay in Ireland a bit longer than scheduled to help his mom out. I am sincerely worried about his dad but I am also a selfish bitch and want my boyfriend HOME. Boo.
ETA: go home Taxi! Birthdays are only once a year!
We’re going to be having ham, mashed potatoes, rice, corn, applesauce, rolls, and chocolate cake for dessert! *Yes there are alot of starches and not much else. *But we’re catering to an extremely difficult crowd. There might be other desserts, but I’m not quite sure yet. It depends on my ambition level tomorrow afternoon.
As far as toys go, I’d have to say that yes, I remember the original Strawberry Shortcake, Matchbox cars, Cabbage Patch Kids, and of course the Holly Hobbie oven was pretty popular with me. I also have a Mickey Mouse record player that you open up and Mickey is on the inside of the case and his arm plays the records.