(in August, she's going to turn 20!)

Unpossible!

Aha, I only had actual name! That is a quality joke. Bonus points for a Russian translation I will not ask my dad to verify.

Cool gift, Gud! Also, that was a lot of words you said up there about something you did. Well done, presumably.

Last time I was in Nashville, I drove by my old house. They cut down the two big trees in the front (one was an evil pear tree, and one was a peach tree past its fertile time, and they attracted wasps so I don't really blame them, but plant something else!) and there's lots of cutesy Americana lawn ornaments. I didn't stop to meet them.

The house where I was born and the house I lived in growing up are both still there, pretty much the same. The farm - the land - has changed; in some ways that make me sad, but I don't live anywhere near there anymore, so I don't have to see it, and it can live on unchanged in my head. Excuse me, I'm going down to the spring and play with the bullfrog.

That not-hobbit house is awesome and I want it. Speaking of hobbit houses, a friend of mine is an architect and he's been idly playing with (if we say "working on" I have to pay him) my ideas about building actual underground hobbit houses. I want to build several living quarters connected by underground tunnels to a common kitchen/dining/hang-out area, so we can get to that and to each other's "houses" without having to go outside in the horrible heat/cold/snow. If I ever have money I'm doing it.

I leave dirty dishes in the sink, two feet from the dishwasher, all the time, and I annoy myself.

That Russian shirt is hilarious.

I am at work, and I STILL have almost nothing to do.

I haven't seen any of the... eight places I grew up at for a quite awhile. Only know where three of them are.

I leave dirty dishes in the sink because it takes a couple of days to get enough for a dishwasher load, and in my dry climate I'd rather have dishes out in the air and not in a dark, humid box. If I walk in the door and smell something, I call myself a slovenly slattern and do the dishes.

I grew up in the house my father grew up in, which was built by his grandparents, who built it next to the house their older cousins built to replace the small cabin their grandparents built when they settled the area. My family doesn't go very far, typically.

Your hobbit house is my dream living space, Zen

Your hobbit house is my dream living space, Zen

adds another unit

*\\o/*

I want to live in the hobbit commune!