#delphia2000

I hadn't, that's really cool! At least for Chicago you have to book tickets but they don't cost anything -- I assume it's for seating-capacity reasons.

Oh yes, many times! It's worth the trip. It's a little hard to find because it's tucked back in a corner in a dark room but it's tons of fun. Especially if you have little kids with you, but I could poke around those miniatures for hours too :) There's all kinds of neat trivia about the various little objects.

If you're not aware, the Art Institute also has a sizeable miniatures exhibit! In the basement of the old wing there's the Thorne Miniature Rooms, a series of single room dioramas illustrating the architectural and interior design of various regions throughout history. Also highly worth visiting especially if you're particularly into miniatures or scale modeling. And if scale modeling in general is your thing, when you hit the MSI, make sure you don't miss the big scale train table either!

It's time for some Post Office Bounty! I am bad at checking my PO box but always delighted to find treats when I do. Up top, some delightful random flavored chips from @221squee, thank you! The takoyaki chips are very pungent -- they taste very nice but they do smell very strongly of fish -- and the "Chip Star" consomme flavor was delightful, I ate them all in like a day or two. I have to admit I haven't tried the foie gras flavor yet...I have had foie gras before but that's how I know it's, uh, a powerful flavor. I'll get up the courage eventually. :D And I love the card!

I always know when I get a package from @shirokou that it's going to be full of fun stuff -- there are some wonderful enamel pins (I'm going to have to redo my Ita bag for the new year!) and stickers, and I'm excited to learn about these diviniation dice that came with such a fun rolling mat. I'm going to be doing some tarot reading tonight so hopefully I'll do some dice throwing too!

And so many lovely cards! There's one in the middle that you can barely see because I wanted to make sure I covered up any faces, but I always love seeing the photo card every year! (And loved hearing about the new pup.)

The glittery gifts up top is a fun 3-D card from @scifigrl47 , and next to it the basket of boughs is from @delphia2000, thank you both for the holiday wishes! There's some pretty sheep from T in Berwyn (glad I offered some comfort and entertainment this year!) and a wonderful polar bear with some penguins from @kimmiesue13. I got a fun Christmukkah card from Josh & Kris (man the card also reminded me about the holiday I invented, Christisntspringhereyetmas, but there's always next year to celebrate that). Finally, a beautiful and indeed terrifying owl card from Wendy (it's so eerie, I love it) and some awesome glittery snowmen from Traylor.

It’s time for POST OFFICE BOUNTY! Two days later than I promised at least one person who sent me stuff, MY APOLOGIES :D

@lololovescheese sent me the second most horrifying owl in the world, I both fear and love him. Prowly now has a pal on the shelf where he lives when it’s not Halloween! (Also I don’t know when you sent the package but it genuinely did not make it into my mailbox until two weeks ago at the absolute earliest, sorry the Chicago post office still blows.)

@shirokou sent me some delightful enamel pins -- I saw the cats-chewing-their-own-tails kickstarter or possibly shop a while ago and almost bought some, so now I have some, hooray! I’ve put the lion on my bag for traveling. Also the lovely card and the very Whovian notebook, which has a nice heft to it!

And some cards! Top image, clockwise starting with the bear, is a lovely bear in snow from @delphia2000 (I salute the Frozen North!), one of the Art Institute’s snow-covered lions from @celticjade13 and the sticker that proclaims it was carried by dogsled (love the dogsled cards!), and lastly a vibrant rainbow unicorn card from @froofie and Biscuit. Deebs and Dot send their love to Biscuit :D

Lastly! A very Mandalorian holiday from @scifigrl47 (which also came with some delightful presents but I tore into them earlier :D), a peaceful snowman from @trayker (so much glitter!) and a Krampus meting out punishment from @221squee. I recently got to witness a LARP where a Krampus dragged one of the players around in a sack, so this was especially timely!

Thanks as always to everyone who sends stuff! If you’d like to say hi the slow way, you can always send mail to Copperbadge, PO Box A3309, Chicago IL 60690. 

Mina is honestly the most competent hunter in the group, or at least the only one that knows how to do proper research and planning (as opposed to charging in and hoping for the best).

She’s also far and away the best communicator -- I want to like Van Helsing but if he had told ANYONE ANYTHING they might have been able to do more for Lucy. I know it’s tough to tell a bunch of 19th century men anything, but still. 

delphia2000 replied to your post “Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola came out when I was...”

I read the original as a young teen and because of that, never found vampires to be sexy.

It does really crack me up how Stoker goes out of his way to talk about how even her fiancee was super repulsed by Lucy as a vampire, and popular culture just straight up skimmed on by all that. :D

archwrites replied to your post “kel121288 replied to your photo “HALLOWEEEN IS COMING [Description: a...”

Sam, they are NOT marshmallowy unless you are trying to imagine a marshmallow that Satan created to deceive six-year-old boys in 1955. I have not had a circus peanut since I was in kindergarten and yet their appalling taste haunts me still. But my dad loves them AND he loves candy corn AND I suspect him of being a supertaster, hence my curiosity

thethrillof replied to your post “kel121288 replied to your photo “HALLOWEEEN IS COMING [Description: a...”

circus peanuts are firmer and taste a little bit...bananna-y? i guess?

Thanks for sharing �� I’ve been sorely missing seeing the spring gardens pop up around the city, and tulips are my absolute favorite.

My mother’s too! She loves visiting Chicago in the spring because of the flowers on State and on Michigan. Going to Macy’s and spending ten minutes outside of it photographing flowers is one of those “every time we’re in Chicago” things :D 

redsector-a replied to your photoset “I took a long stroll from South Loop to River North today, in part...”

A) Thank you (and your mum!) for the lovely flower pics! B) It's really freaking creepy to see Michigan Ave that quiet (I know earlier in the day you can catch it that way, but still - eeeeeerie).

What’s so interesting to me is that intellectually I absolutely know it’s creepy to be on Michigan at 10am and see it that way, but because I’m so used to early hours, to me it also feels normal. Running that area at 3am, and walking around it on my commute at 7am, it just feels like home. 

rumtastique replied to your photoset “I took a long stroll from South Loop to River North today, in part...”

why on earth did sephora board their windows? that seems like....overkill, or something.

I couldn’t give you the rationale, but they’re far from alone, they’re just the Most Dramatic about it. A lot of the stores that have long glass windows boarded them up; presumably it’s to keep people from breaking in, though if someone is breaking into your shop through a plate-glass window they probably are going to attract a police presence fairly quickly. A lot of stores also boarded up just the doors, so that people couldn’t pick/jiggle/break the lock and get in. 

junker5 replied to your post “I was supposed to be taking my mother to a concert here this weekend. ...”

�� I’m sorry, Sam. I know she misses you.

Well, we had a zoom call yesterday and Dad’s treating her to homemade whoopie pies and bbq today, so I can’t feel too awful for too long. But it is sad, to see the Chicago so shut down like that. 

unholydevilhost reblogged your photo and added:

what a pretty little cat!

Thank you! I love her :) 

digitaldiscipline reblogged your photo and added:

yep, that’s a cat asking for a manager.

Dearborn “Karen” Starbuck. 

noriannbraindripshere replied to your photo “I took a couple of photos of Deebs on the ottoman yesterday, not...”

she looks like she moved so fast it left a light trail :D

Ahahaha yes, good point! Head whips around with a motion blur...

lightwit replied to your photo “It is the ninth of May. THE NINTH. OF MAY. We are TWO MONTHS into...”

This is a common occurrence in Germany, at least, probably most of Europe. Every May around the 11th. We even have a name for it: Eisheilige = Ice Saints. ;)

ICE SAINTS. What a wonderful, blessed phrase. 

delphia2000 replied to your photo “It is the ninth of May. THE NINTH. OF MAY. We are TWO MONTHS into...”

Woke up at 9am to 51 degrees with a high of 61 for today. Congrats on being colder than Alaska!

This sounds completely on brand for you. Probably as a lead-in to accidentally becoming a celebrity guru and then being injured by an armadillo.

Being a guru just seems very stressful. At least, the hollywood kind of guru. Perhaps if I avoid that I can avoid the armadillo too :D

kc-crawfish replied to your post “Sam you're the resident food expert, so I'm curious to hear your...”

Whenever someone says they don’t like mayonnaise, I think about the fact that most commercial brands make it wrong. It’s supposed to be made with egg yolks only, but almost all of the ones in grocery stores use whole eggs instead. That’s why I’m a Blue Plate snob (and because I’m a New Orleanian).

I think for me it’s a texture thing -- although making it only with the yolks might solve that problem too. But it’s the thin oiliness of it that I don’t care for. Mind you, I don’t mind it in cooking, like in deviled eggs or egg salad or similar, and I’ll eat lobster roll if it’s a lobster-salad type of deal, but mayo straight on a sandwich, no thanks. 

punchholesinthesky replied to your photo “Whenever I go out on my bike (and if I go running outside), I use an...”

is that strava? I always use the follow my ride option when I head out on my own

No -- it’s RoadID/eCrumb, it’s designed more to let other people track you than to track yourself, the functionality’s quite basic. I do have a fitbit that I use for run tracking. 

delphia2000 replied to your photo “So uh. You guys remember that Breadroom Set post?  A generous Anon...”

Is the bread pillow firm enough for good support? I could use a new body pillow.

Not really, it’s quite soft, but I will say that the pillowcase is removable, so if you wanted to stuff a firmer pillow into it you probably could. It’s also not reaaaally a body pillow -- it’s longer than a normal pillow but not quite long enough to be what I’d think of as a body pillow. 

kitsparrow replied to your post “,Snape is trans!! How delightful. I had to reread SH with all the talk...”

Possibly also the "slow-burn" feel came from when it was more like twenty short chapters before you combined them?

1) I approve. 2) I think you need to consider the fact that March is now the month that requires surviving, and lay off February in the future. 3) I remember when you used to call them doonagh days, and this is like two or three weeks of it!

OMG yes doona days! Although I still have to work from home and I need two monitors to do it, so a desk is necessary. But at least my commute is shortened. 

spiderine replied to your photo “Taking a break from the Purple Cow today to bring you some fun drawing...”

What is it with all the purple?

Well, I only had two Ed Emberley books, the Big Purple and Big Orange, and I figured I’d make purple a brand. :D 

I have the sequel to the Purple Cow book too, I probably have enough content to at least get us to May. Oooh and I have my Halloween Crafts For Kids book around here somewhere, it has the best “paper bat” template in it. 

geekgirl76 replied to your post “rdprice29 replied to your photoset “Decided it was time to change out...”

I have a problematic relationship with duvet covers, they're far too much bother to wash weekly so yeah, top sheets rock. But then, my bedding is more traditional, in that I often have a quilt or coverlet over my duvet, so it's not like I'm doing the whole all in one thing anyway.

I used to do duvet-plus-quilt in winter, but then I got a super thick duvet and started overheating if I did it that way...

kel121288 replied to your post “rdprice29 replied to your photoset “Decided it was time to change out...”

Wait... there are people who don't use top sheets?

Oh yeah. And I have to admit there is a very nice feeling in just crawling directly under a blanket. But my days of No Topsheet are long past me now...

delphia2000 replied to your post “rdprice29 replied to your photoset “Decided it was time to change out...”

Top sheets can be used as a bottom sheet if they are big enough to be tucked under. Also, sew 2 together with an open end to make a new duvet. My kid (who is old enough to called a full grown ass man now!) also hates top sheets. I figured it was generational.