Great comments and recaps everyone!

Well spotted on the possible black eye on her right side, Socal. If you look carefully in Socal's pic, you can see Darlene's left eye area is faintly reddened too.

Just checked and apart from the brief clip of her waddling around the kitchen bombsite in yesterday's video, she hasn't reappeared since. The messy kitchen scene is sped up but at normal speed, her face is partly hidden and very badly lit - perhaps deliberately? It does look as though she has a black eye as there's certainly a heavy darkness around both, but this could equally be the poor lighting.

She's angled the camera so she's headless in the gift wrapping clip too . . .

Can't imagine Stupid thumping her but he might've caught her if she started a fracas and lashed out and he was defending himself.

And can't imagine Andrew getting physical at all when Darlene is spiteful to him. He seems a gentle soul who'd be much more likely to get very upset and put his hands up to his face or just run away. Besides, Darlene would have long since made it known if Andrew were violent - the pity partying would be too much to resist. She's also bigger and taller than him and it's not as though she couldn't handle herself.

It's possible someone else might thump Dar though. She's hardly Miss Popular, lol!

Agree too, it's also likely she could've banged her face on a cupboard door or such, when she was drinking.

If she does have a black eye, it's odd she didn't come up with a story about it. She might prefer not to go there at all imagining she could hide it, while not realizing it would worsen after Socal's pic and take at least another couple of days to fade enough to be hidden by makeup again. So we'll see how long it takes for her appear again.

Good point, Kayla, about Stupid's office party. Let's see if she comes up with some lie about it - would she wear those cranberry pants and a black top to the party? That would be quite the climbdown from 2022's knock 'em dead number!

Wouldn't be surprised if last year's stories were a charade either, including the hilarious party outfit. We didn't see a single pic of the do. Nothing, not even Dar all dolled up (lol) posing with Myhusband as they were about to head out for the evening.

And thought the same about that checked jacket. I'd pay good money to see Dar bedecked in that . . It reminds me of that bright orange jacket she bought a few years ago and we've never seen again. Sheesh, she is clueless.

LOL, Chortle! I also laughed out loud at her being "grateful for help as I'm getting older"!! I thought she was 49, not 79! Her mom didn't need any assistance until she was eighty and Dar still hated doing the tiniest thing for her, but somehow it's fine Dar already expects help?! The preceding line was just as funny, about always wanting to do everything, as though Darlene has always been hardworking and diligent to a fault!

Good point too, Chortle about the cranberry bliss bars. She finally admitted their HER favorite, so of course she's making them! That oft repeated story about Stupid's colleagues looking forward to them, is utter baloney. It's Darlene who wants them - even though she messes them up every time. As if strangers look forward to anything out of Darlene's kitchen . . .

You mentioned never hearing about any joint or back issues and whether she'd have breast reduction surgery.

Years ago, back before she started hiding more, she used to complain about knee problems. Another time, she mentioned she'd asked her doc about breast reduction but they'd said she should lose weight first.

She looks like she'd still be busty if she were a normal weight, but this might well be still in line with her frame. Darlene is a very big woman and not necessarily someone who's afflicted with an out of proportion bust size. Trust her to want breast surgery rather than actually lose the weight though. If such a procedure were feasible, Darlene would have all her flab regularly removed just so she could carry on stuffing her face.

As for her recent use of 'interesting', seems this is now a euphemism for being well pissed off.

Sarah decorates her tree a la grandma - "it's interesting".

Dar accompanies her mom to a long appointment - "it's interesting".

Pat repeats the same question - "it's interesting".

A day without the Internet "is interesting".

Dar opens her Advent calendar and finds a coconut flavored coffee (having failed to make the connexion with the coconut on the flap, lol) and "it's interesting".

She then whines about the coconut coffee not being very Christmassy right after she's said "it's interesting". How interesting can a simple coffee pod be, let alone one she clearly doesn't want . . .

As for Dar being "very private about my religion", oh please! Which religion is that - Devil worship? . . .

Does anyone else remember that time she implied Andrew was the reason she doesn't attend church? How exactly is he stopping her!

If it were important to her, she could go whenever she likes and if Andrew's home, leave him with Stupid or a support worker. Besides, there may be services that are set up to help SN folks fit in.

Andrew doesn't like having to sit in a car for hours on end, then be forced to trail round Costco but that's never stopped her! Yet somehow gradually introducing him to church is a no-go.

Darlene's behavior towards others proves she's not even vaguely religious - other than when it suits her purpose, like pretending she was meant to buy some stuffed toy because it's been possessed by her dad!

She's probably hinting about "my religion" because she thinks it sounds good at Christmas. As the proverb goes, the Devil can cite scripture for his purpose.

I don’t have cats but they have four so I would think they would go through a lot of litter. What do I know

Lemon decided to give her family diabetes for Christmas.

She has been posting lots of sugar overload Christmas SWEET TREATS .

My question is. Why doesn’t she just PRINT the recipe out???? Why does she sit and write the entire thing out on a pad of paper? It took me 2 seconds to find the recipe she is copying.

Whilst I was looking at the couch situation, I heard her say they had been in their first house 9 years, then the next one a year and now this one... thats hardly quick or frequent moves. Here it is at 1:57

I had my hips replaced a few years ago. Everything went well but coming off the morphine made me so nauseous. I had a box of hot tamales (cinnamon candy) on the second surgery that helped a lot because I read that cinnamon was good for nausea. I think that drug was worse than the surgery itself for me. Be patient with your recovery. Come here for laughs...laughter is great medicine too!

I just finished Fourth Wing and I loved it from beginning to end. Fantasy is not my favorite genre. I don't love a lot of world-building and background info, but Fourth Wing did it really well. It was a 5 star book for me very early in. The characters are likable and the dragons just make the story, they are cute and vicious and snarky, very human-like and they add so much to the story. The romance had a lot of angsty enemies to lovers and great chemistry without feeling forced. When I finished the book today, I jumped online immediately to order Iron Flame.

I read the first 3 A Court of Thorns and Roses books, loved the first 2, the 3rd was very hard to get through, and I have no motivation to read the rest. But Fourth Wing was 100 times better IMO.

Thanks Pond Scum & Socalgal I'm so ready to get it over with so I can enjoy December. I joked with my husband I'll finally sleep through the night for once. He snores and I mean he SNORES. There was one night a few years ago I said to myself not a single woman on your jury would convict you. I love my husband very much, but I have wanted to smother him with a pillow once or twice with his snoring lol.

Rose possibly is on some sort of spectrum, children on the spectrum usually are attached to one thing and get fixated by them. My nephew is on the spectrum all he cares about are trains.

Darlene's Summer come hither look. Don't forget about that one.