Daily Discussion Thread: 🌲💡⚡ Tuesday, 24 December, 2024

I can't express how good I feel about having my old friend in my life.

I feel anchored.

After the shedding of "friends" earlier this year, it's incredibly nice to have this guy back in my life.

In other news, gastro has taken out the peeps I was doing xmas with so probs will go to section 8 for lunch tomorrow and see who else is hanging around.

Who knows what could happen...

Always liked section 8. Haven't been in a while but they used to do coopers longnecks which I thought was a nice touch.
How are you feeling at the moment?
Better than the last few days of being exhausted?
It’s great that you got to reconnect with your old friend.
I’ve been told often you don’t need a lot of friends, just a few good ones for life.
- Feeling much better thanks for asking! I have a core group of friends, that I trust and wouldn't think twice to help with whatever they needed.
  But it's always good to keep yourself open to others as you never know who you might meet.
Hope you have a good Christmas! Do report back on how the lunch goes!

My mum loved Christmas. And any celebration really. Half my tea towels and things are old Christmas themed ones from the surplus she would buy. And every year EVERYONE got a present - kids, grandkids, in laws. We were not rich and I dunno how she did it but she did. I'm talking a big extended family here. And when we were little we had presents on Christmas Eve (after mass 😇) and a big party. Then she would back it up with lunch for everyone Christmas day.

That all changed a bit when she got old and sick and we could share the load, but the presents continued. When she got too old to shop she would research and buy things online through the year.

She died a few years ago now in November and there were so many pre-bought presents ready in the cupboard that we were able to package them all up and give everyone something from mum/grandma that year as a surprise.

So if you are sad or your family was crap, this is your permission to go buy (or cook or do) yourself something nice, from my mum. She would love it. ♥️✨

Nawww. This is beautiful. It's made me weepy because my Nana was the same. She used to collect presents throughout the year and always had something under the tree for the ring-ins.
God bless the ones that are no longer with us and taught us well. 💜
Thankyou for sharing this memory with us 🥲
That’s very sad but at least you’ll still have the memories of the time you had.
I’m doing exactly as prescribed tomorrow. I bought myself some beautiful lamb and I’m going to enjoy it with garlic dip.
That's incredibly sweet. I'm going to go grab that box of cherries i wanted ❤️
What a lovely memory - your mum sounds like a wonderful person

Pecan pie success. Very happy. One is already in the fridge and this one is about to join it.

That looks too good to eat!
- Thanks but I'm kinda hoping it's edible. Taking it to the in-laws today so should be interesting. Pecans kinda make it easy to look good.
  Have another ready for my family on Boxing Day.
Ugh, put that in me now!
- Uhhhh... Okay? She does look a bit of alright though. Quite chuffed. Thanks!
That looks awesome! I dislike pecans but appreciate a tidy pie
- Thanks. I'm not a huge fan either but this one was a big success with others many years ago. And it looks decent.
Hell yeah
- Cheers!

Everyone gets a gift lol

Edit:

The sunflower one is a rebound ramp in my house, strategically placed on a corner of the cat race track.
- Loungeroom parkour!
My boys got a tv each too!! Also toy mice.
That’s awesome dude. It kinda looks like an old microwave as well.
Like the flower one 😺
- It was 15 bucks from kmart!
She’s a movie star!
Perfect fit 👌🏻
Perfect fit 👌🏻

Sheeba says Merry Christmas. 💚

Toby says "Hi Sheeba. Look what they do to us for their own amusement".
- I'm totally making it up to her. Her present is a big Nerf gun that shoots tennis balls.

Merry Christmas Eve for those that celebrate tonight.

Frohe Weihnachten! 🍻
- Ja!!
  Wesołych świąt!!
  Veselé Vánoce!!
  Veselé Vianoce!!

I do it every Christmas eve: a big cleanup. Dusted, vacuumed, cleaned windowsills, threw stuff out, fluffed up floor mats, rearranged stuff, had a few tinnies of kirin hyok lemon periodically. I always figure that, aside from cooking Christmas lunch, absolutely fuck all else is being done over the next couple of days. It feels like new years already straight after Christmas for me for some reason, and I like to feel like I've cleaned 🤷🏼‍♀️ Also I watched this post where a woman cleaned a house that had an absolutely horrific cockroach infestation and my reaction to it was physical lol.

Even if I was staying on after Xmas I'd absolutely do the same. The year pretty much kinda ends on Xmas so I agree with you whole heartedly about truly relaxing in that sacred period where everyone basically agrees that it's okay to do fuck all
I’ve done this, too. Wanted a fresh start and to mark the work year being over. And the house was trashed so definitely needed it
How tasty are those cans?! I've also been doing some cleaning today, just helps set the tone for tomorrow!

Can't sleep. Boyo had a near nasty on the way home, had to drift out of a speeding head on. If fuckwits could stay off the road please!

hugs
- Thanks. Close enough he threw up apparently.

Well, that wasn't as early as I would've liked, but... I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

... With work - now to grab some onions and garlic and then tackle the doom pile of dishes then cook up two dishes and wash that up. And clean the house and pack. It's looking doable though!

e: first frog swallowed - submitted fooking fine appeal in the nick of time. Now to brave the shops for the aromatics...

e2: shop items acquired. The tension is palpable out there. Glad to be out of it.

e3: dishes all washed and kitchen cleaned ready for cooking... but I am le tired (and hungry), and if I have a little nap, I will probably not fire ze missiles. Okay, I think I'll just eat dinner first and let it sit for a bit as I'm flagging quite badly. But I'll put all the ingredients out so I don't completely sink into the couch

e4: one dish made. Slowly but surely. Have not had dinner yet. Would become too sleepy otherwise. Now to make the next one... hardest part is making the mustard seed and green chilli and garlic paste with desiccated coconut. I'll do it now and the rest is easy enough... Can't wait to sit down and eat dinner tho

Woohoo. I also got to go home 2.5h early 🥰
- Hell yeah! Feeling pretty good about leaving it all for a while? There's a shittonne outstanding at work but I've cleared up my part of it and then some, so I'm feeling really satisfied.

Well Hans has reached the bottom of the advent calendar which can only mean one thing: Die Hard is going on tonight and Die Hard jumper shall be worn tomorrow.

That is so cool!!

That is the deadliest large land mammal on the planet stay safe!
Ok that is adorable 🥰
Smh my head, they're even putting screws in moo dengs now

My neighbours are having a party, and everyone sounds very happy. There is karaoke and much laughter.

I love when neighbours have parties, it's nice that people are happy and having fun. 🙂

Bit green tonight.

And, tomorrow's plans cancelled due to other people's covid. Is it terrible that I'm not sad? I'll eat pavlova in my pjs and have champagne for breaky, sounds like a pretty good time.

That sounds like an amazing Chrissy, tbh
Can I come?
Sounds excellent, onya for making the most of it!

Just had a $2.95 125g ALDI camembert 'wheel', which is really good and amazing value. Now I'm in my armchair drinking scotch and playing games. Comfy

On beach. Sky pretty.

Every year I buy my kid the same thing. Big jar of Nutella and money in her bank account. Too easy.

I bought mine some vinyl this year. Taylor Swift, 21 Pilots, and Phoebe Bridgers.
The kid emails us a Christmas wish list power point presentation lol.
- That's so cute. 😂
  My kid has a list then will say "look, just send cash. I'll be happy with that". Good girl.
- emails us a Christmas wish list power point presentation
  Heh that's actually genius. Makes it much harder for you to say no.
Kids are the age where it's clothes and gift cards for clothes. Wife is always perfume and some clothes, for me it's whiskey and clothes.
Are we basic? Yes. Are we happy? Also yes.
- Basic is good. They get to spend time with their friends shopping and shit while mum and dad are busy.
- ( I made a loud shirt for mr seagoon with fabric I painted with dye myself , just flowers and leaves and stuff )
- Bunnings vouchers forenand aft, but inmanage to throw in a few curveballs.
  His lordship couldn't decide what he wanted for the Big Present, so he's getting a wad of cash
Can I be your kid?
- Sure but I will remind you to clean your room and my bathroom after you've trash it.
I think this is my last Santa year. I think he's playing along for my sake and more presents.
- Those that don't believe don't receive.
  I still write From Santa on gifts.
My ex's friend would withdraw a number of silver coins where the total was equal to his age for his birthday. The 5c piece bag was a cracker.

Airport not as bad as I expected. But the carpark…. Wow what a shit show. Mrs asked me what they were building at a construction side, I told her a big gold plated hand giving the middle finger to their customers.

The stuff for the community pantry got delivered and there looks to be a decent amount of food there (even though Woolies is still an absolute rip).

Edit: My zucchini plants are still being stoopid. I have four plants but they keep sending up male flowers completely out of sync with the female flowers.

After this I need to stop fkn spending so much. And doing so much.

Just trying to stop things here feeling so hopeless and bleak

I know I'm not really relevant to this at all, but thanks Melba. You're a good egg, and I'm sure you've made a lot of people happy, or at the very least made their Christmas and new year time a bit easier
- Thanks.
  Not really a good egg. Just kinda trying to shake myself out of hating humanity and feeling like shit. Something to do.
  I timed it wrong so the place might not be open but it’s possible people will need this stuff more afterwards, when the Xmas donations have dried up
Yeah zuccs do that the little bastards. They eventually sync, we have a few coming out now
- I think I got them in too late too… someone on another block has huge plants already fruiting. But then they were able to grow in ground.
  At least my weird randomly staggered planting might extend the season
  I’m scared that they might not do well or I’ll get really sick again and let them die

Done for the day.

I will now proceed to candy my nuts.

Smooth peanut butter works just as well and doesn't involve molten sugar. Nuts for nuts!
- But the screaming is so cute

@StudChud@aussie.zone I seem to have cracked the Zooper Dooper code:

So the old magic ones with the lady robot have streamlined their design, too. But they still have the classic ones like lemonade and Jaffa

"Aussie flavours" Zooper doopers seem to have been fully discontinued, but we're essentially a mix of the best of both magic and normal ones after the redesign

The magic ones are still around and can apparently be bought at any super IGA as well as a handful of non super ones. If my store is open, I might go down there today and see if I can find them cause I realllllly want my lemonade Zooper doopers :(

As for just lemonade Zooper doopers and no others, they aren't sold at Coles or Woolies for some reason, but also seems to be sold at super IGAs and also on Catch. But the price on Catch is $17 for a 24 pack ($7 at IGA, would be about $6 if they were at colesworth, and probably under $5 in the good old days)

E: the magic ones seem to be for sale at Foodworks too. They come up on Doordash from Foodworks that offer ir

Oh man you gotta laugh. The Mrs has given us food poisoning. Yep, second time in a week! Made it to the in-laws but I suspect that’s gonna screw me for tomorrow’s big car ride. We will see.

Which of the suspect foods might have caused it?
It’s going to be a very painful ride tomorrow, maybe you should call it off as a precaution.
Better out than in as they say.
- It really is! Its your body getting rid of germs
Laughing and clinching on your behalf.
Merry Christmas. All the best with keeping it down.

Merry Christmas Eve. It’s a fun time for some but not everyone is in the same position. It can also be a time of strained family interactions, loneliness, stress, etc. So I just wanted to say that whatever your Christmas is like, hope you survive it ok.

Thank you, and same to you ❤️

Bloody chilly today... I almost turned the heater on before I realized I now have to pay for it and decided more layers are considerably cheaper

Well I did it, I bought myself a Chrissy present and a mud cake 😂

My pressie to myself is a robo vacuum thingy since this house is about 90% carpet. Time will tell if it's either an invaluable addition, or a cheap piece of shit that'll shit itself and end up in landfill within 3 months (I went budget end, but slightly up from the cheapest)

(It won't arrive until the 27th though because holidays)

I loooove my robot vac. His name is Barnaby, as he makes binary decisions and always turns to the right. I don't yet have googly eyes on him, but that is coming someday. He doesn't deal well with getting stuck in corners, so has to be rescued when this happens. I don't count this a fault or a problem.
- Pew (pete two, original rommba pete was an aldi special) has extreme issues with our black rug. He thinks it's a black hole come to claim his soul
- Mum got into those TV shopping things and bought a vacuum that came with a first gen Roomba. Those things were idiotic as. It used to suck up the curtain, end up upside down and spinning it's wheels back and forth while screaming for help
  This new one is considerably cheaper but does have lidar. It's also had like 7 years to evolve, let's see how it's changed!
  E: actually I was wrong, it couldn't have been a first gen. Apparently first gen goes all the way back to 2002 (I didn't know that). In my head, roombas are a recentish thing from the mid 2010s. Don't remember which one we had exactly, but it was damn near useless
We must name robot friend!
- Vaku!
- And give it googly eyes
- I'll name it the same way I name pets - wait until I meet it and see what it's like
  It's by the same company that makes the cameras I have that yell at me about it seeing me - TP Tapo Link. I always call my cameras taco links though because idk what a Tapo even is. This might be named the TacoVacc
We bought a roomba back before ~~they were popular~~ you could get them in AU. Zero ragrets. Still trucking

@StudChud@aussie.zone I have secured magic Zooper doopers. Bad news. They've been enshitified

Jaffa and banana flavours have been removed. It's still a 24 pack, but only 6 flavours instead of 8. The Strawberry and cream cluster flavour is now just strawberries and cream, but more of a pink instead of a dark pink. Solar sherbet is now orange sherbet. Galactic grape is now grape bubblegum. Jaffa Jetstream no longer exists. Toffee apple flavour has kinda been removed? Before it was a brown, now it's light green. Still called toffee apple though. Beaming banana has been removed. Lemonade launcher is now just lemonade (but still here!). Red comet has been replaced by red creamy soda

They're in the freezer rn. It's been, God, almost a decade since I last had these flavours so you're not getting a taste comparison. I'll let you know if any of them taste shit or not!

Can confirm they're at my local iga which is a medium sized one. Might be at you local one, or food works in a stretch

(Sorry, idk if you care, but you liked all my flavours so motivated me to go hunt these down... Your hatred of splices is unwarranted though!)

I can't say I have super strong opinions on Zooper Dooper flavours (I'll take anything pink for preference, yellow next), but raspberry splice are divine. In fact I've never met a splice I didn't like. Even the mini froyo ones are yum.
I also picked up some Frosty Fruits today for Boxing Day, they're so good on a stinking hot day.

taking on melbourne airport today. Why the funk did I agree to this?!

I might look around and see what places are open tomorrow. It will give us something to do because Christmas had generally been a slow and sometimes boring day for me in the past

Take the boys down to the park early in the morning and spend the rest of the day with your young family playing games. Create nice memories.
- I think I'll do that, I haven't taken them for a ride since I rolled my ankle so I think it's a good day to go out together again
The zoo's open if you want a fun activity, it's usually pretty busy. Otherwise movies, parks.
- I was just thinking the corner store that's open and maybe somewhere like McDonald's if it's open, but these are good to keep in mind

I can’t believe I was dumb enough that I still have to work today

It's a good day to be paid to do hopefully not much.
Saaaame. I think it's going to be very quiet for me at least
Depending on what line of work you're in. I'll be getting paid to be at home with a clamp on the TAB key of my work laptop so I look like I'm available
- So, there's a bug with the graphics drivers at work, where if the 4K displays go to sleep, all the windows are on the primary display when I get back to the computer. It's super annoying, but nothing worked to stop it.
  In the end, I bought a little gadget that stops the display from going to sleep. It is a small USB device that moves the mouse 1 pixel every 10 seconds. While it solved my problem, it is designed for your exact use case: https://amzn.asia/d/cyeA6qH
  It presents as a USB mouse to the computer, doesn't need any software. It keeps you "available" all day. Just thought you might like to know it exists. 😉

weak voice

After weeks of procrastinating, I have set up the basics of my new phone...

Bob Katter-style face change

But I haven't got time for that because I CAN'T CHANGE THE ORDER OF THE NAVIGATION BUTTONS ANYMORE REEEEEEEEE

anyway at least my major messaging apps and tasks and alarms are on this, and adaway + iceraven + YouTube vanced. Goodnight

YouTube vanced is a god send lol
- Vanced is dead now, ReVanced is the new godsend

I hope everyone has a great day tomorrow, and for those of us who struggle during this time, I hope you can find some peace ❤️

Also if anyone here plays Destiny 2 please let me know because I'm desperate for a buddy to play with.

Merry Christmas to you too. 😘😘
I'd volunteer but I haven't played a game for a very long time nor do I have any gaming equipment just got this asus gaming pc.
- That's incredibly sweet of you ❤️

Getting started early. You know…

For Jesus.

Also to reiterate because I sent it my sister and she thought it was a snazzy dessert.
It’s not.
It’s booze.
- Are you sure that's not chocolate booze?! I thought that was some kind of interesting mousse...
That looks divine 😋

Don we now, our gay apparel

Mine is just me naked though
Wait sorry. Got confused. That’s the apparel I do gay things in, not my gay apparel.
I wearing a soft dressing gown with a big pointy hood , pompoms and a dalmatian print. Is that gay enough 😊
- Nailed it 😎
Leopard print dressing gown, ugg boots and sunglasses here.
Sibglet and boxers lol
Mine’s got bells on it
Ok, how many Christmas jumpers do you own and which one are you gonna don today?
- I don’t own a single one sadly. I’m wearing my FXD pants and steel cap boots tho, so that’s a bit gay I guess.
I can arrange rainbow socks, leather chaps, and hot pink leopard print knickers.
- I’m open to that
Remembering that Mr Omoikiri is a second-language speaker of English and that Christmas isn’t really a thing in his culture, it’s only really been since he’s been with me that he’s been exposed to the full on festive spirit. He’s a newly discovered big fan of Christmas carols and has a beautiful singing voice so he’s always belting them out, but doesn’t have the best grasp on the lyrics.
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard as the other day when he was singing while he was cleaning the kitchen and came out with:
🎶Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let the gay times rolls🎶
- That’s gold😂

Made both dishes! The yam curry is still reducing and looks more like yellow soup atm but here's my banana blossom fry with Maldive fish chips, whole spices (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon), chilli flakes, curry leaf, Pandan leaf, garlic, and caramelized onion. Plus a bit of turmeric powder, a hint of cumin and coriander powder, and a bit of sugar to round it off - finished off with a splodge of tamarind paste. There's a lot going on, I'm excited to see what it tastes like tomorrow.

Dinner time with an episode of Blue Lights, then a final clean of dishes and kitchen, and I'll pack for my trip. Vacuuming can wait for tomorrow evening. Only other must do is drop off my spare keys at my friend's place down the road. Gosh, maybe everything won't be a mad rush ☺️

😊
Silly question… do you have to pick the whole spices out after?
- The cinnamon yes (though right now I've only got small pieces and sometimes I just end up eating them), cloves sometimes, but I always leave the cardamoms in. Mustard seeds, cumin and fennel seeds I always leave in when using
  Gotta pick out the pandan leaves as well

Bourbon sweet potato with candied pecans is complete.

Sounds really delicious. So when is dinner?
- It goes with lunch tomorrow. There’s no dinner tonight but I can make some eggs and avocado on toast if you like.

Ffs… I have socks that are still going after many years but Kmarget ones I haven’t had very long keep ripping at the toe.

I just sewed up the hole (using a lightbulb because I don’t have a wooden darning mushroom) and put it back on my foot. Not bothering to darn as the cheap fabric will likely just rip at the edge.

I’d knit my own but the materials are also getting expensive and shitty. Also I massively burned out on crafts over locky d’s

So where's Santa going to leave the treats?
This sounds like an emergency.
- I don’t think he’s getting past the magpies
A lightbulb 💡 that is genius!
- It’s not perfect but I didn’t want to buy the proper thing

Coffee break

Knock off o clock.

Time to pack a bag and clear the dishes out of the sink

Cool running infographics time. Thru Runalyze (free tier).

Really f-ing hurt my toe in August. Took a while to get back to it. Yellow is my first 10k FunRun which was indeed fun.

Sanka, ya dead?

We did 4 Christmas movies today and I couldn't be happier.

Guess which oned and you'll receive my film gratitude.

Hint. 2 from the 80s, 1 from 90s, 1 from 2000's

Work is slow today (yay), I've done most of my 200 pages of textbook reading (boo) so now I'm making a list (of things to do to the house to prepare to sell to move back home) and checking it twice.

Anyone have a keyfinder with replaceable battery they can rec? My stick n find hath finally died after a decade of solid service

just to reiterate: replaceable batteries. No tiles, no airtags, no ewaste bullshit

If you have Apple, Airtags are the best. Stupid expensive ($50) though. You can get cover things to make them into keyrings.
Has the advantage of being able to find your keys on an app wherever you left them.
At less than half the price and with a much smaller 'find my tag' network is the Tile Mate. You can get them at JB or Officeworks.
A decade of solid service? How often are you losing your keys? Do you have to whistle then it whistles back? How does it work? Have you tried a rounders bat like the servo dunny keys have?
- I rarely lose my keys, but handy to have.
  Larger concern is His Lordship has the other one from the packet...and ADHD

Whole shopping centre got Whammed ayeee

I still haven't been whammied yet
You guys have like 10 hours and 48 minutes
- ask and ye shall receive
Oh noooooo!!

You know the other day when I brought up the topic of alternative milk? Well the brave man went out to run some errands and bought back coffees. Apparently our Coles express ran out of milk so oat milk it is. Not bad. Not good either.

If lucky numbers pop into my head, I'll let youse know!

Oat is probably my least favourite of the alt milks. Soy is best, almond is good enough as well.
- I burped. It tasted like coffee flavoured porridge.

Made a fillet o fish sandwich for dinner tonight.

Very yummy indeed.

Might put a movie on later tonight depending on my mood.

Watched Challengers last night. Wasn’t bad but I’m definitely not a fan of all of the time skipping in it. Didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

I've had a bad success rate with sunflowers, and I can usually grow anything.
- It says they’re drought resistant and don’t like to be transplanted both due to the long taproot… but someone else said they like a bit of food and water to get them started.
  So I probably need to start them inside or in a container where I can attend to them a bit more and then plant out while they’re still small enough to not be as bothered by it

Ant bait stations built, time for incessant carolling

I'm just taking it slow. Make pizzas for dinner, then all the scones and cream.

Iron my pants for tomorrow. Make sure all the presents are there and wrapped and tagged properly. Tomorrow morning make the fairy bread, water the garden then get ready and off to the cousins. 🙂

Hey, I had pizza for dinner, too! I didn't make it though, I just bought one of those Dr. Restaurant things from IGA. Hawaiian 😋
- I'm doing one hawaiian and one mushroom, it was easy as I had some sauce in the freezer already.
People are still ironing things?
- Of course. 🙂Not often, just when needed.

good night everyone and merry christmas , love you all 😘😘😘

Merry Christmas seagoon

Beep Beep 🚚
🍏🍎🍐🍊🍋🍈🫐🍓🍇🍉🍌🍒🍑🥭🍍🥥🥦🥑🫛🍆🍅🥝🥬🥒🌽🥕🥐🍠🫚🥔🧅🥯🍞🥖🥨🧀🧇🥞🧈🍳🥚🥓🥩🍗🍖🫓🍕🍟🍔🌭🥙🧆🌮🌯🥗🍲🍜🍝🥘🍛🍣🍱🥟🦪🍥🍘🍚🍙🐠🍤🪼🦀🐙 🍗🥮🍢🍡🍧🍰🧁🥧🍦🍨🎂🍮🍭🍬🍫🥜🌰🍪🍿🍯🥛☕️🍵🍺🍶🥤🧋🧃🥂🍷🥃🍸🍹🧉🔋

cheese, crackers and a big glass of baileys please chef 😘😘😘
- 🧀🍘
  🥛🥃
Me mom's Christmas Turkey like that one year she had to cook instead of my Dad.
It needs to be simultaneously dry, but yet completely raw and inedible inside, something you try and nuke to save but have to give up. Thanks in advance chef!
- ☄️🦃🔥
  We are glad she cooked the turkey instead of your Dad. We frown upon cannibalism.
A slice of panettone because fuck it it's christmas
- The staff took some artistic liberty and carved the slice into potato shape🥔

3 dozen party sausage rolls have been made. Next 18 tropical fruit scones and cream.

🥛🥃