I think everyone in Natter should mail a spoon to Jesse, for Christmas/Hanukkah/Festivus/Solstice/New Year/winter-holiday-of-choice.

I think Tom needs forks more.

A wee measuring scoop.

Another thing to wash! I mean, with my spoon I measure the coffee, stir in the sugar and then make pretty galaxies with the cream. It's useful!

I think everyone in Natter should mail a spoon to Jesse

Ha! We could send souvenir spoons from wherever we live!

And there could be periodic quizzes.

OK, here's my question, all you spoon-avoidants: how do you get the ground coffee into the filtery thing in the first place?

Measuring scoop, which goes back into the bag o' beans, thus avoiding the whole "washing" problem.

set my grandparents got in sweden for my parents, an inexpensive everyday set. But the tines are thinner and longer than usual, and the balance on the knives is perfect

I received a really wonderful set of silverware as a wedding present from a local store that specializes in Scandinavian wares. I looked online to see if they had a catalog, but no luck.

Would everyone pitch in and mail me my nephew? I totally need a hug.

Work is killing me today.

We lose knives more often than spoons or forks. Pizza and Entenmann's danish box syndrome.

The people across the street from us are having a baby grand piano delivered right now. Which is only weird because they were having a yard sale a month ago, and selling a sofa and matching chair that the woman said was "too big" for their small living room.

I'm thinking they might have gone with a spinet, but whatever floats your boat, I guess.

What trappings define adulthood for you guys?

A car we bought -- as in did not inherit from family -- was a big milestone for us. We're still waiting on some of my others, namely owning a home.

Another thing to wash!

Maybe once every five weeks or s, when I run out of coffee and wash the storage jar, but the scoop is coffee-dedicated and lives in the jar with the coffee.

What trappings define adulthood for you guys?

This week, I'd have to say the baby and the apartment.

Matching dishes and flatware, I've had forever -- when I moved out of the dorms, one of the first things I did was go to Target and get one of those "kitchen in a box" deals that has dishes, flatware and serving stuff. And then there were all the wedding presents.

But the prospect of OWNING PROPERTY has me pretty freaked out, because no way am I grown-up enough to OWN PROPERTY.

Allyson, how old is your nephey, now? Are you going to be going to see your family over the holidays?