I’ve been enjoying popping my bubble wrap calendar daily, a Christmas gift from Jeff. Brilliant idea, and oh so satisfying! Thanks to Ray for giving Jeff the idea.

Mirrored from Debbie's Blatherings.

You have nine apples and four grocery bags.

Can you arrange it so that each of the four bags contains an odd number of apples? (You may not cut the apples, or use any other items not mentioned above)

Comments are screened to prevent spoilers. I will un-screen comments after some time.

( Hint behind the cut )

Cool...

http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-tinyhouses12-2009may12-pg,0,5210809.photogallery

Hey all. I’ve been asked to remind everyone that the deadline for the Filk Hall Of Fame nominations is coming up: January 15th. Though the FHOF’s inductee list includes performers, I think that this is especially a great chance to nominate someone you know who tends to work behind-the-scenes and deserves more recognition for his or her contribution to the filk community.

For more info about the Filk Hall Of Fame, past and present inductees as well as how to nominate online or by snailmail, see the Filk Hall Of Fame website.

Mirrored from Debbie's Blatherings.

All images on this page cropped from photos by Walter. Click any image to see the original. Iain also took some pics but I don’t think he’s uploaded yet.

Above: My “Eye Of Sauron” cookies for the Lord Of The Rings movie marathon yesterday when we watched all three extended versions of the LOTR movies in one day. The orange pupils are so messy because I ended up having to smear on the orange icing with a knife.

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Mirrored from Debbie's Blatherings.

Jeff and I are going to watch all three LOTR movies (the extended versions, of course) with some friends in one day, and I am collecting ideas for food.

Right now I’m trying to figure out what to use as leaves for lembas bread. I’d love to make these:

…but the process is way too elaborate for a one-off event. Plus I’m hesitant about using acrylic paints on something that’s wrapped around food. I may end up just using lettuce leaves. Or hm, maybe corn on the cob husks? I’ll have to see what’s available.

Anyway here are some resources I’ve found so far:

Middle Earth Recipes
The Geeky Chef: Elven Lembas Bread
Lembas (Elvish Waybread) recipe: from Lorien & Craig Parker’s website (Craig played Haldir)
Mallorn Leaf Wrapper Tutorial and Lembas Bread Recipe
Lembas (Tum Tum Tree)
The Food of The Lord of the Rings Theme Party

I’ll let you know how it turns out. :-)

Added: Also see Livejournal comments.

Mirrored from Debbie's Blatherings.

Thanks for all the posts in response to my gaming survey. I’ve marked down a bunch for checking out, and have responded to all your comments via my main comments board (on Blatherings.com) as well as the mirrored LJ site comments.

But on to torch relays, cold doves and how much sugar is in a 12-oz can of Coke…

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Mirrored from Debbie's Blatherings.

Playing "Parlour Games" on the Wii and they include Gorodki, a game I vaguely knew as Skittles but obviously this is more in line with the traditional Russian/Finnish.

I am filled with questions, and the English-language sites (and my lack of cultural awareness of this game) don't fill me in.

Okay, not filled. But I have a few...

Are there strategy guides? :)

Why is there a little diagonal tape mark in the middle of the court?

Why is one quarter blue? (Edit: have found the answer to this... this area is called the Suburb, and the front edge is evidently a penalty line... new question - what is the penalty for letting your bat touch before it reaches the penalty line?)

Is it in fact legal to knock a gorodok forward into the (edit: Suburb) zone? Does that count as knocking it out of the city?

(Here's the English site I found most helpful for my edit http://www.strangelove.net/~kieser/Russia/RussianImages/gorodki-photo_tn.jpg ... there's also a Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorodki )