Thread:Nugu54/@comment-33437691-20171113214449/@comment-33437691-20171119020443

Hey! You didn't give me a chance to work it out!! My first tendency is to overcomplicate things, then smack myself on the head and work it out. Anyways, clever you! I sent off a short 'has this reached you'  in case there were any capitals in there and the message went to a completely different person. Hopefully not, so then I'll see your return message in my inbox. (And disappoint anyone who's been following our conversation--bye folks!)

Thank you for the dwarves. Believe me, I know the violins come from the Joy Cafe: someone else is getting them because I'm nearly at the blue level and still haven't got any (well, few and very far inbetween). Ditto for the other creatures. Two other game-friends were able to send me violins, so I've taken them off my wishlist for now. Do you need anything? I might have some rare items that have come from bonuses that you might need (whereas I will not be able to collect the other things in whatever collection they belong to until I'm at a much higher level. You might as well have them.)

Your Cheesy Chicken Pies sound delicious! The pies I mentioned awhile ago are also in the freezer: I needed to use up the apples but my son has begged me not to send him any goodies as he wants to lose weight, and if I eat them all, I will also have to lose more weight. I used to be so fit and slim; these last 10 years have been fraught, but I'm getting the urge to get back into shape. Fortunately my muscle memory is strong. I have an indoor rower that I used to use regularly; somehow the habit slipped. There is an online challenge at Christmas, to row 200K between the American Thanksgiving (Nov 24) and Christmas Eve, for which you get sent a badge of honour. I have had an unbroken string of them for the past 12 or so years, so I can't break it now. Which is ridiculous, because all 12 badges are still in their plastic baggies and tossed into a drawer, never looked at again. Still, it's the challenge--and an incentive to exercise a bit of seasonal food control, which is really tough, as I love baking. (Though not at the level of the Great British Baking Show, which we get here on PBS.)

Oh, by the way, from what I now know of British cookery, shepherd's pie is made with lamb; cottage pie with beef, so that's what you've got. We called it Shepherd's Pie all through my childhood; strange to learn I've never eaten it. I know we had lamb as the occasional Sunday roast, but it never found its way under a mound of mashed potatoes.

I knew you didn't live in London from the trip you had to make to get to your sister's place, but you would at least know it as a reference to the cost of housing. Even I've heard that London prices are ridiculously high. But how nice for you and your partner to have found someone at last; relationships are tough enough when you're suited but hell if they're not right, and yet so many people stick together out of fear of being alone. I was married for 4 years, which was fine until I got pregnant and hubby-dear got jealous of the baby. Off I went. I was engaged once afterwards but...it seemed when I met someone, he was either right for me, but not for my son, and vice versa. I am a few years younger than you and at this point, think it highly unlikely that I will meet the he for me. Which is fine now; it wasn't when I was younger.

But I would like a house and garden. Yeah, the allotment gig is for the birds (literally, when you don't look after it!) Have you heard of square-foot gardening? It's a fantastic way of growing veges in small spaces. When I was married, we lived on a bush block in Tasmania, and I had 4, 4 sq ft beds, all planted and sprouting when the goats broke through the fence and ate everything. Earlier, I had tried in another part of the block, and they ate those sprouts, too. And the rose bush my mother bought me. And probably the blueberry buses at the side of the house, but by then the marriage had gone sideways and I had stopped looking.

It is time for me to go cook dinner, or yet again I won't eat. All the best, "Chloe"