23rd post, kibble revisited

Jill tagged me for this fun meme:

1. Go into your archives.

2. Find your 23rd post.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.

5. Tag five people to do the same.

My 23rd post was entitled "Kibble" and the fifth sentence was:

"Except... it was squishy."

I encourage all of you to go back and read what was squishy. I PROMISE you'll laugh.

And gag too!


Ummm, I don't know who to choose since I am one of the last to do this one! I'll make it optional, I guess, but my list shall Momtothelady, Yankee Transplant, Honey Bunny, and my two newest visitors, Kenju and Girl! We love new visitors!

leaves, oh leaves, where art thou?

As you all know, I begged and pleaded and cajoled and we are going to Vermont during Columbus Day weekend. The thought of leaf peeping in the leaf peeping capital fills my heart with uncontrolled warmth and happiness. I can. not. wait.

Knowing that we are splurging and spending far more on hotel accommodations than we ever have before (but hello? Jacuzzi tub? Fireplace? Free gourmet breakfasts?), I am understandably concerned that our weekend turn out to be splendid.

On Sunday we stopped by the local bookstore and picked up a copy of the Vermont Explorer Guide, chosen because it has slightly larger than microscopic type. I am slowly reading through my Explorer Guide and mapping out our route to, from and through Vermont.

Much to my chagrin, the most important factor seems to not be cooperating... The leaves. WHERE ARE THE CHANGING LEAVES? My friends, please tell me the leaves are changing in your neck of the woods. I know I have a week and two days to go, and I also know that leaves can change in the blink of an eye, but I am starting to have inklings of fear. There is one tree in my neighborhood that is changing, a normally lovely oak tree, but this year it is turning straight to brown. Not such a lovely view, I might add.

Reassure me, please. You see leaves changing oh-so-slightly so as to be in peak season on Columbus Day but not beforehand, no?

are you SURE you have friends?

New York was so much fun last week and this weekend, but oddly, I felt a bit down. Although I occasionally miss the shopping and excitement of the city, I believe the time in my life when I so enjoyed living there is over. I left behind many of the perks when I moved to Boston, such as the theatre, dog parks and Saturday strolls through the city, but I gained a sense of peace and equilibrium that I'd been lacking.

Still, I can't deny that the firm's events have been a blast. Thursday night was a 3 hour boat cruise through the Hudson River, followed by a Boston office party at a bar near our hotel. It was hysterical to see the partners doing alcoholic shots, although staying out until 3am really isn't my cup of tea. I am still exhausted! I also saw two of my closest friends on Thursday and Friday, and YG&B stayed at my hotel with me talking until the wee hours of the morning. Friday night I stopped by my MOST FAVORITE dog store and then stayed the night at a dear friend's house before returning to Boston. Again I am reminded, I am sooooo lucky.

I have no comical stories to share about this trip, but I think you might enjoy a tale from my last trip to the city- a far more boring business trip to complete due diligence (read through mind-numbing documents for 12 hours a day) for a portfolio company in which our client wanted to invest.

I had brought Tango and Murray to the city with me and arranged to stay at a dog friendly hotel in Times Square. After a long day of sitting in an interior office reviewing contracts, I took them out for a walk through the streets surrounding Times Square.

As we were crossing the square itself, I noticed the TKTS office, a booth that sells discounted theatre tickets to benefit the artists in these productions. I was excited to see that the night's showing of Rent was discounted and I called two of my friends to see if they would be interested in joining me to see it. They were, so with Tango and Murray in tow, I made my way to the front of the line and while wrestling with the two leashes asked for three tickets to the 8pm show.

The man quickly searched the system and told me he had great seats. "How many again?" "Three," I answered and waited for him to print them out. He leaned over the ticket counter to look at the dogs and said, "you know, dogs can't come to the show." I chuckled and waited for him to hand me the tickets. He didn't, continuing to stare at me, apparently waiting for a response. "Yes, I know," I said, "my friends are meeting me." He nodded and then asked in a very serious tone, "and are your friends here now?" I gave him an incredulous look and assured him that my friends were coming a bit later. But STILL he continued. "But you understand that your dogs cannot come into the show, so if you buy the tickets, they won't let you in, right?"

It literally took me 5 minutes of explaining and convincing him that I did have human friends that were meeting me at the theater. In the end, he laughed and told me that he had to ask because a few months before, a woman had brought her pet cat to see Cats. He said that it might not have been a problem, except that she was narrating the musical FOR HER CAT and was disturbing the other patrons.

See? How could you not love New York?

on the upswing

I was ready to write a lovely post yesterday about how I went home on Monday night and crawled into bed at 9:40pm and didn't wake up until 8:45am and how much better I felt, and then I had insomnia last night and didn't get a wink of sleep. Sigh. I AM feeling better, though, so hurray for that!

I went to the doctor yesterday and she said it looks like I had the misfortune of getting two viruses in a row. She doesn't think this is allergy related, and said it is typical for a person to get between 3 and 5 illnesses per year, so I am apparently not a sick magnet. Just to cover all our bases she did some bloodwork to make sure there are no underlying immune problems, since I was complaining about being sick all the time, but she thinks all is well on the health front. Phew.

I also discovered Advil Cold & Sinus medicine, which takes care of many of my aches and congestion complaints without the woozy feeling. I heart Advil.

Josh has requested that I detail for everyone all of the lovely things he did for me this weekend while I was sick, to combat his image as a lunch mooch, and so I shall. He made me bagels with cream cheese at every request. He went to New England Soup Factory and bought me several containers of soup in different delicious flavors like tomato, butternut squash and ginger, and sweet potato and caramelized onions. YUM! He made me tea many many times, brought my pillows up and down the stairs, served all snacks and food on trays while I lay on the couch, dispensed many hugs and bounteous pity on my plight. He also rented several movies and didn't even complain when my choices were scary movies, even though he hates them. He baked a pizza and then didn't say a word when I wouldn't eat it. He was, in short, an excellent sick nurse throughout the weekend and into this week.

Josh even prepared gourmet lunches for us over the past three days! Monday he put together the portabello chipotle sandwich* I told all of you about- delicious! Tuesday I had artichoke risotto- fancy! And today, I have vegetable pad thai! All made by him! The risotto and pad thai are from a kit, but who cares! I am very impressed and may start complimenting him at random to see if this keeps up.

Thanks for all of your well-wishes, and here's hoping that I have reached my quota of illnesses for this fall. I am TIRED of being sick and tomorrow morning I am set to go out of town for work. No fun when you are not feeling well. I need to enjoy all trips to New York, and I need a full appetite in order to shovel in all the cupcakes I can get.

And, of course, I need to start preparing for Halloween! I only have a month and a half left!!!
_____________________________
* Unofficial Chipotle Portabello Recipe

Preparation for the Portabello Mushrooms:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Take portabello mushrooms, slice into half to 3/4 inch slices.
Place mushroom slices on a baking sheet.
Crush one clove of garlic into 2 tablespoons of olive oil
Brush mushrooms with the garlic/olive oil mixture.
Bake mushrooms 4-8 minutes on each side, turning over halfway through (for a total of 8-16 minutes depending on how you prefer your mushrooms cooked)

Sandwich Preparations
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lime or lemon juice
1 can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (I found this in the Mexican food aisle at our grocery store)
Lettuce
Tomato
Red Onions
Mild cheese (mozzarella was our choice)
Italian bread or other roll type bread

Mix the mayonnaise, lime or lemon juice and one or two tablespoons of adobo sauce and chipotles together. We had to chop the peppers into tiny pieces because WOOOHOOO it is spicy. Spread on the bread, arrange the lettuce, tomato, red onions and mild cheese on the bread, top with the finished portabello mushrooms.

Enjoy!

still sick

I'm still sick, and called in sick to work for the first time ever in my legal career on Friday.

I tried to get out of bed finally at a quarter to 9am on Friday morning, made it into the shower, only to feel as if I might collapse from the exhaustion. Got out of the shower, made it to the bedroom and then fell onto the bed from the energy expended doing these simple tasks. I contemplated getting dressed, getting to the car, driving to work, walking from the car to the building (because taking the subway was an impossible task), and then attempting to do my tasks from the day which included a client lunch, and realized it was ridiculous.

So I made my phone calls and fell onto the couch where I slept fitfully until it was night and then I crawled into my real bed and slept until 10am Saturday morning. Unfortunately, a client wanted a call to take place Saturday morning and I needed to work. I begged off of coming into the office because I still felt like ass on a stick, but I had to review documents and comment from home in my bleary-eyed and feverish state. I got that done, my wonderful and merciful colleagues took pity on me and told me not to be on the call, and I once again slept all day on the couch.

The worst part (almost) was that this wasn't even "fun" sick. For me, "fun" sick is where you are sick enough to stay home, but not so sick that you can't enjoy some good tv or movie viewing. This weekend I was so sick that I couldn't stand the lights being on or the tv volume on low. I just wanted to sleep sleep sleep.

I did watch some movies on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon (The Wedding Date, The Ring 2 and Saw), and a friend had loaned me the fourth and fifth seasons of Sex and the City. Last night, I was convinced that my social and sex life are disgustingly boring, that a frighteningly creepy girl might crawl out of the television and that a serial killer could try to kill me at any moment. I also had insomnia last night, likely due to my choice of movies.

This morning, I am feeling slightly, but not altogether, better. I am exhausted by the typing and every fiber of my being is aching. I broke down a little bit ago and called my doctor to try and figure out why this is the second time in a month that I am sick. Or why I am still not better from my illness earlier this month. I would point to allergies except for the fevers, aches and exhaustion. Plus, this has metamorphosed into a phlegmy and loud cough. Hurray!

I wish I had something more exciting to write about, but I got nothing, folks. I did rally enough to make a delicious chipotle portabello mushroom sandwich for lunch today, from the Moosewood Cookbook. And by rally, I mean sit on a chair and tell Josh what to do with the ingredients in our kitchen. It was yummy.

Now, it is 5pm, and I feel as if I have fulfilled my lawyerly duties and can start to pack it in. I need to lay on the couch for a few more hours tonight so that I can start to feel human again. I'll try to come up with something more interesting tomorrow, like pictures of my lamp or something : )

now, where did that ear go?

I want to post, I really do, but I am trying not to let my head explode from the pain. Cough, wheeze. I seem to have come down AGAIN with the cold/flu from a couple of weeks ago and I am once again struggling to make it through the day without blowing out my ear drums. Sniff sniff. Due to this fact, and the fact that I am valiantly trying to stay at work until after my 1pm client presentation, I have no more energy or brain matter to type a post.

I hope you are all having a more pleasant day. My only bit of happy news is that I rearranged my office and brought in a huge Eiffel Tower lamp with a honkin' big red shade and my office is just lovely and homey and colorful. I've gotten tons of compliments. Pictures to follow. Wheeeeeeeeze.

why my hubby is no dummy

Last week, I chastised Josh for buying lunch every day when we had plenty of food in the house to pack himself a lunch. He sat down at the dining room table and insisted that he had no idea what to pack and didn't have room to carry it.

"What do you mean?" I said, as I bustled from the refrigerator to the kitchen counter carrying things that he could take to lunch.

"See? We can make a sandwich here..." Bread, turkey and cheese on the counter.

"I can cut up some bell peppers and carrots for you here..." Veggies on the counter.

"Here's an apple and a yogurt and some crackers." And then I busied myself putting it all together into a brilliant sandwich container I'd gotten him at the Container Store.

I placed his completed container into the refrigerator for tomorrow's morning departure while he moved some items in his backpack around to make room.

The next day at lunchtime I got a call from him, profusely thanking me for the lunch. "It was delicious!" he exclaimed, "and I got compliments on my sandwich container, everyone wants to know where we got it. I loved my lunch! You're the best!"

In the afternoon, I got another email letting me know how much he loved his lunch. Apparently, it was a memorable part of the day because he mentioned it 3 more times after we'd gotten home for the evening.

"So, um, honey? Can you make me lunch again for tomorrow? It was just so delicious and I can't seem to think of things to pack."

Mmm hmmm. Its been two weeks and somehow I am getting suckered into packing lunch every evening for the next day. I can't resist the compliments, and the thought that people really are congratulating him on such a lovely, complete, and well-packed lunch.

Let's not burst my bubble, okay?

plug for a blog

If you haven't already visited, I wanted to make a quick plug for this very cool blog called Tiny Showcase. Every Tuesday, around 10pm, the folks over at Tiny Showcase release a new print by local artists for sale at reasonable prices ($15-20 per print). Any purchase of a print donates money to a charity of the artist's choice.

It is a very fun idea and these prints are beautiful! I got the Giraffe Swing print shown in the print gallery and the finished products are beautiful. If you are looking for unique and interesting artwork, check it out! But they sell out quickly, so hurry!

a full-time marriage

As I've mentioned before, Josh and I had a part-time marriage up until he returned from Costa Rica in July. By part-time, I mean that he traveled 4+ days a week for the 3 years we've been married. He'd never had a stretch of time without a plane ticket purchased for some future flight, whether it be next week or next month. The longest stretch we spent together without traveling was about 3 weeks.

I joke with people who ask how we do this, that we got married, but have a part-time marriage to ease us into the full-time stuff. The last time we lived in the same city was college! Over 5 years ago! It has been a long time, and we were happy to see it end.

We would sometimes talk about the benefits of such a lifestyle, frequent fliers miles, hotel points, independent lives and friendships, the ability to move to Connecticut, then New York, then Massachusetts or wherever my job might take us. In college, we might argue and then tearfully and dramatically make-up without really discussing the issue. When you are separated by thousands of miles, though, that becomes an impossibility and suddenly communication skills come at a premium. We did learn to communicate better during the four and a half years of travel pre and during-marriage. We also made sure to appreciate our time together on the weekends. Absence does sometimes make the heart grow fonder. It sometimes makes you want to fling the phone against the wall, too.

The downsides of this consulting lifestyle are pretty obvious. I missed him, I had to take the brunt of the housework, organizational details, dog care, family cards and gifts and visits. The worst part for me, though, was that after traveling all week, Josh had little energy or desire to take weekend trips or make plans. He was always exhausted, and after some weeks of no sleep, highly irritable too.

But thankfully, that lifestyle is over now. I find it hard to express what a pleasure it is to sleep beside him every night and wake up next to him every morning. Every Sunday night he gleefully slides into bed and informs me that he does NOT have to get up at 4am to catch a flight! Hurray!

It is an adjustment too, I can't lie. I am used to leaving a mess until Thursday afternoon when I do a mad scramble to clean up, and now I struggle to keep my clothes hung and my dishes thrown into the dishwasher. I can't leave my toiletries strewn across the bathroom sink or my pajamas on the floor. I have a full-time marriage now.

This morning, Josh had a later class and we decided to go out for breakfast before he dropped me off at the subway. I groaned when he shook me awake at 6:30am and Josh told me that if I'd rather sleep in, we could do breakfast another time. But I looked over at him, reminded myself of what life without him on weekday mornings was like, and jumped out of bed with a spring in my step.

I'd give up sleep anytime to hear his voice instead of the buzzer every morning. This full-time marriage is worth the lack of sleep.

101 things (finally)

1. I am an only child.

2. I have gone through periods in my life both adoring and detesting the fact that I am an only child.

3. I think that being an only child has made me have an overly-idealized and perhaps false idea of family (that may be why I dream of having lots of kids).

4. I love to travel (anywhere and everywhere), even though I didn't really start traveling until I was in college.

5. I believe I was meant to marry my husband. My college roommate thinks so too.

6. I told my mother that a week after meeting him.

7. One look at his smile will still make my stomach flutter.

8. We share the same morals and beliefs, even though I'm Catholic and he is Jewish. But we practice mainly Judaism in our house.

9. This is comical if you realize that I went to Catholic elementary school (with nuns!), an all-girls Catholic high school, Catholic college, attended church every Sunday and then found the only Jewish boy at my school and married him.

10. Thank goodness my parents thought it was funny too.

11. I often worry that I am overweight, even though logically I know that I'm not. I worry that this will turn into an eating disorder.

12. I am freakishly good at languages.

13. In one college semester I picked up enough Italian to pass as a native Italian (for a few minutes) when we were in Cinque Terre that summer.

14. I also speak native Spanish, and French with a Spanish accent. That cracks me up.

15. I don't like being alone, and I've never been a person who desires 'alone time'.

16. Ironically, I am actually a very independent person.

17. I thought I was going to be a doctor from childhood through college and then decided in my junior year to go to law school.

18. I was also convinced that I hated history because of a terrible high school teacher. To avoid university requirements I took history in summer school, and my summer school professor asked me why I wasn't a history major. That next semester I dropped biology and became a history major.

19. The day I got into my law school was one of the happiest days of my life.

20. I loved law school and I still think those may have been 3 of the best years of my life.

21. I usually think every year that passes is the best year of my life, though.

22. I have never felt smarter than during those three years, and that is probably why I want to teach someday.

23. I think I'll teach a combination of law and history. Preferably to undergraduates.

24. I was valedictorian in high school. But I didn't feel that smart.

25. I kept my good grades a secret in high school, and my friends thought it was a mistake when my name was called.

26. Remembering that makes me sad because I used to think that intelligence was a bad thing.

27. This is probably because a high school boyfriend broke up with me because he didn't want a girlfriend that was smarter than him. Assh*le.

28. Now I know that my best feature is my big, beautiful, sexy brain. : ) Yours too!

29. I am empathetic to a fault- other people's pain makes me cry. I worry about this when I think about having children.

30. I did human rights work in college and law school. I cried many times.

31. I still hope to go work at a human rights organization in a few years- the tears will be worth it.

32. Even the news makes me cry.

33. People open up to me about their problems a lot. I think I give pretty good advice. Maybe that is why.

34. In the month before September 11th, I remember thinking that life was so wonderful and good and that I was so grateful for how fortunate I have been in life. Now any time I feel wonderful or grateful, I worry that something terrible will happen.

35. I have been blessed with many good friends that I know would come at a moment's notice.

36. I am very loyal.

37. I am also very forgiving. Too forgiving sometimes.

38. I think I'm funny. I hope you do too.

39. People love to tease me and I don't mind being teased. I think people only tease if they like you. I hope I'm not wrong!

40. I used to hate the fact that my parents were from Argentina, now I love it and it is something of which I am terribly proud.

41. Argentina feels like home to me.

42. The scent of Buenos Aires brings tears to my eyes.

43. Josh and I danced the Argentine Tango as our first dance at our wedding as a surprise to my family. I can still hear the music starting and see my father's tears.

44. That was hands down the best moment of our wedding.

45. My wedding day was the happiest day of my life, so far.

46. I am a pretty happy person.

47. I often wonder what I did to deserve this wonderful life.

48. I worry that I don't love it enough.

49. I am a far-left crunchy leaning liberal.

50. And a pretty radical feminist.

51. I try to be reasonable about those subjects, but it is very hard.

52. Fundamentalists scare me. So do homophobic, racist and sexist people.

53. I have seen my fair share of all of those and it hurts my heart every single time.

54. I need to be more assertive.

55. I am very indecisive, it is something I am working on.

56. I worry too much about what other people think.

57. If you met me, you probably wouldn't be able to tell on the outside.

58. I've never done anything to my hair, no dye, no perm, not highlights, except hair cuts.

59. I very rarely wear makeup or do my hair. I am a shower-and-go kind of girl.

60. I also hate wearing high heels and don't do it often.

61. This is mainly laziness, although my mother-in-law likes to call it the fresh-faced look.

62. I have never smoked and never would.

63. I don't like alcohol and will only drink it on select occasions and if it doesn't taste like alcohol (pina coladas excluded).

64. I don't have a very good immune system, although I've never been seriously ill.

65. I am a total bookworm. And a speedreader. I devour books.

66. I believe I saw a ghost once. I was scared to death.

67. My mom believes I am psychic because I did really strange things growing up, like warn her before the phone rang, or tell her that something would happen before it did. I sometimes dream that things will happen before they do. And no, I am not crazy.

68. I love farmer's markets and I try to go whenever they are around.

69. I also discovered this year that I love gardening.

70. I am pretty creative and crafty, and will try to make things at home before buying them from a store.

71. This means I have a lot of unfinished projects lying around the house.

72. My mom purposely didn't teach me to clean, sew, cook or do laundry. She wanted to make sure I never did those things for a man.

73. Now I love to sew and cook. And I can't live without a cleaning lady.

74. 50% isn't bad, mom.

75. I believe that I can do anything- I think my mom also instilled that in me.

76. I've always wanted to adopt a child and I believe I'll do it someday.

77. I had braces in law school.

78. I am very clumsy and consequently have bruises a lot of the time.

79. I HATE shaving my legs, but unfortunately, I am very hairy so I have to shave often. I would love to have laser hair removal, but I'm chicken.

80. Between the hairiness and the bruises, I wear pants a lot.

81. I get terrible motion sickness. On planes, boats, cars, trains, subways, buses, rides, and sometimes just from watching things move too fast. It is very annoying.

82. I never knew you could love pets so much until Tango and Murray came to live with us.

83. Now I understand. They are a part of my family.

84. One of my only regrets is living so far away from my parents.

85. I miss them every day. I have expensive phone bills because of that.

86. My husband and my parents are my best friends.

87. I grew up in San Francisco in the same small apartment for 12 years.

88. I've moved every year over the last 9 years.

89. We moved to Boston because we were tired of moving.

90. We bought our first house in October and now I am an obsessed do-it-yourselfer.

91. I love the fall, and halloween, and the leaves, and pumpkins!

92. For this reason, I love New England. I can't imagine not having New England falls.

93. I left part of my heart in San Francisco, though.

94. I've been to almost every vineyard in Napa, even though I only like sweet wines. Its a tragedy, I know.

95. I hate peanut butter.

96. And mean people. Yuck.

97. I love almost all vegetables.

98. I worry about money.

99. I also worry about having too much money and what it might do to you.

100. One of my biggest fears is that I won't have any children.

101. Another one of my biggest fears is that I won't do enough to better this world.

I like to amuse you

Yesterday, I had a meeting with a senior associate and decided to fill up my water bottle on the way to her office since I'd have to walk in front of the water cooler. I recently bought a tupperware-like container that has a straw that flips up and down. It is about two and half glasses worth, and I love it because it allows me to take more water back to my office with me. Less trips to the cooler=happy lazy halloweenlover.

Anyway, I was sitting in a chair in her office listening to her speak about the current assignments and fiddling with the water bottle. Flip the straw up... flip the straw down. And then, while listening intently, I flipped the straw up? And squeezed. And spewed water all. over. my. lap. All over my pants, and all over my lap so that after 13.2 seconds it soaked through and wet my underwear. And made me look like I'd peed myself.

There was nothing to do but laugh, so as she fumbled through her drawers to get me napkins that is what we did. For the rest of the afternoon and until my pants were dry, I made excuses as to why I couldn't leave my desk, and I wondered why the office had to be so freezing. Maybe if I hadn't been sitting in wet clothing it wouldn't have been as cold, but damnit, we need to be more considerate for the people that pour water all over themselves. Diversity, people, diversity.

another meme

You all are so sweet. I didn't write about cancelling our trip to elicit your comments or approval, which I later realized you might think, but I appreciate the comments nonetheless. We decided to cancel because it was a little thing that we could do, and without lots of funds lying around, it was the only way to donate to the rescue effort. Thanks for all your kind words, though!

I owe Amygeekgrl a meme that I started last week and then couldn't bring myself to finish, so here it is. I also am almost done with my 101 things that I have been working on for 3 weeks! Finally!

1. Name as it appears on birth certificate: Halloween W. Lover

2. Nicknames: Halloween, HL, Wench, Witch (I think these nicknames come from a place of love, no?)

3. Place of Birth: San Francisco, CA

4. Favorite food: cheese! Almost all kinds.

5. Ever been to Africa: I wish!!!

6. Love someone so much it hurts: So timely, YES.

7. Been in a car accident: Yes, several! Thankfully, none were my fault.

8. Croutons or bacon bits: Neither.

9. Favorite day of the week: Saturday.

10. Favorite restaurant: Oishi Sushi. Yummmm.

11. Favorite sport to watch: Seriously? I have to pick a sport? Maybe baseball.

12. Favorite drink for summer: Iced coffee.

13. Favorite ice cream: Sweet cream. I don't like chunks in my ice cream.

14. Disney or Warner Bros.: I suppose Disney for movies, although Warner Bros. isn't homophobic, so I guess I should say them.

15. Favorite fast food restaurant: Tace Bell, although I rarely eat fast food.

16. What Color is your bedroom carpet: Hard wood floors.

17. How many times did you fail your driver's test: 0

18. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail: Co-worker.

19. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card: Pottery Barn, even though it pains me to say so.

20. What do you do most often when you are bored: Email or blog.

21. What time is Bedtime: 11pm.

24. Favorite TV shows: Law and Order, all of them, but SVU is my favorite.

25. Last person/s you went to dinner with: Josh and Tiffany.

26. Ford or Chevy: Honda!

27. What are you listening to right now: Air conditioner and assistants chatting in the hallway.

28. What is your favorite color: Red.

29. Lake, ocean or river: Swimming? A lake. To look at? The ocean.

30. How many tattoos do you have: None

31. Have you ever run out of gas: No, but once while driving back from Connecticut with a co-worker, the Mass Pike decided to close all the gas stations along the highway for construction without prior warning and the car was ready to stop at any moment. We had already started to call AAA to come and pick us up when we saw a sign for a gas station down the road, and were saved. Phew.

I won't tag anyone, but anyone can do it! Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

an excuse

I've been rather absentee on the blogging thing, and for that I apologize. I can't seem to find anything meaningful to say, and all of the terribly sad events of this week have drained my creative spirit.

My friend A has posted with many of the feelings I am struggling through, such as how in the hell can this really be happening? Not the hurricane, but the aftermath. I won't attempt to put into words the helplessness and anger, because I know you all feel it too. And everyone knows where to go to donate money, and all we can hope for is that our contributions reach those who need them. Josh and I were planning on going to Provincetown this weekend, but we have cancelled and will send the money where it is needed. Its not enough, because oh my G-d it feels like NOTHING, but its a start.

I wish everyone a lovely weekend and lots of fun and please please please no more terrible news. No more horrific crimes, or oil spills, or people starving, or sharks in the streets. And please please please let this government do something adequate for these people.

I have heard some nice stories, however. Such as Delta flying victims of the hurricane free of charge to wherever they need to go, people offering up their homes and food and blankets, foreign governments sending money to aid the relief. There are wonderful things in this world, it is just hard to see them through the mess.

and then there are wonderful things

Two of our dear friends, the previously mentioned L who loves demolition derby, and her husband D, became an aunt and uncle for the second time today! L's brother and sister-in-law gave birth to their first child, a beautiful and healthy baby boy this morning.

Although the birth of a baby is always a happy day, today was especially touching because this same couple suffered through two terrible late-stage miscarriages and have been wanting and praying for this baby for a long long time.

So CONGRATULATIONS to the new aunt and uncle and the new parents! I know I wasn't alone in crying tears of joy when I heard the news! Welcome to the world baby! You are so loved!

heartbreak

Sometimes you read someone's blog and they let you into the most painful, most private areas of their lives, and you are forever changed.

Badger is one of these. My hearts aches for her and her son today.

Contributions are still being accepted for her family, and Academic Coach has offered to forward cards along from those who wish to send them.

the things I'll do for content

This weekend two of our favorite friends called to ask if we wanted to meet them for a day at the beach and a visit to the Marshfield Fair. Unfortunately, we had errand-running plans for the daytime, but I am not about to miss out on an opportunity for fried food, so we decided to meet that evening at the fairgrounds.

I wasn't expecting much for a small town festival, and was surprised to find rides and games and an abundance of food and a performance area and farm animals! It was a definite large scale fair, not some rinky-dink festival. It took us about 35 minutes just to check out all the food options and settle on four different options that would satisfy everyone. We finally had potato pancakes with apple sauce, a chicken caesar wrap, a kebob and grilled vegetables on fried rice between the four of us. Plus lemonade and sodas. See? Quite a variety there!

Stuffed on the varieties of food, we wandered over to the performance area and discovered... and I'm almost ashamed to admit this... but there was a Figure Eight Junk Car Show that was just starting. Our friend L got very excited over all this and began telling me about the joys of junk car racing. Her family has spent childhood summers visiting Vermont fairs and festivals and many of these include racing and demolition derby, something of which I'd never heard or experienced before.

For those of you that have also never had the pleasure of seeing figure eights or a demolition derby, I'll give an explanation. People (or perhaps I should say, white men, since that is all there was) bring these really old cars out to the fair and compete in these races or derbies. The Figure Eight race had about 6-8 old painted cars lining up and then racing around a dirt track that was a double figure eight. While they are driving around the track they crash into each other and push each other off the track and a few of them start smoking or stall out and have to be pulled off the course. A demolition derby consists of these same old painted cars on the same dirt track, but this time they crash into each other until all the cars stall out or break down and the last car standing wins. Crazy, huh?

We watched two of the races and a championship round, and then they announced that as a surprise extra, they would also be having a demolition derby with whatever cars were still going at the end of the races. I still can't believe people ACTUALLY do this. They lined up, tails of the cars against tails of the other cars, about 30 cars on the dirt field, and just start crashing into each other. And crashing into each other. Cars even caught on fire! And meanwhile, people are cheering and yelling for the drivers and booing when the cars finally shut down. It was a new experience for me, and left me a little incredulous as to what these people are thinking. I mean, they only win $500! I know $500 is a lot, but I don't think I'd risk my life for that much money.

We finally left the spectacle after a winner was crowned and the tow trucks started coming onto the dirt field to drag off the cars and I was granted permission to choose the first ride. I chose one of those pirate ship things that sways back and forth, almost like a swing, thinking it would be pretty tame. OH MY GOODNESS. Tame does not begin to describe that thing. I literally thought I might be having a heart attack at every peak because I couldn't breathe or even open my eyes from the fear. That ride goes wayyyyy too high to just have a little bar over your legs. I needed five different safety mechanisms to make me feel good about it. As it finally slowed down and the lights came on I began to breathe like a normal human being and stopped uttering curses at my choice. And then the other riders began chanting "one more time, one more time".

And yes, you guessed it, he gave us a free ride. It is a good thing that the other riders issued up a scream of thanks so that the children couldn't hear what I called him.

At some point during that second ride I lost control of my stomach and leg muscles. My legs started shaking from the effort to keep them on the ground and my stomach staged a revolt of the previously mentioned vegetables and fried rice. Blech. I did survive and after sitting on the steps of a nearby ride for a while and keeping my eyes averted from anything that moved faster than a snail's pace, I began to feel like I could walk again.

So I did what any rational person would do, I sought out some food that might settle my stomach. Fried dough seemed an excellent choice, even though I've never had fried dough before and I don't think I ever will again. I have to say that those 20 minutes of munching on that sweet cinnamony goodness was fantastic. But for the next 6 hours, I begged Josh to never let me eat fried dough again and to please put me out of my misery. Lets just say that I kept tasting it over and over and over again. Ugh. Shortly thereafter (well, after losing out on my opportunity to win a care bear), we hit the road back to our home and the throes of Cape Cod traffic.

Still, I think our fair going was a success. Don't all good fairs end in vomit?

how about a leather whip?

Three years ago today I stood up on the bed in my hotel room and flung open the heavy curtains. After a full week of thunderstorms and terrible forecasts, my mother, my bridesmaids and I cheered at the sight of blue skies and puffy white clouds.

That day turned out to be the best day of my life, as well as one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Before we got married I used to worry, quite a bit, about losing my identity by marrying Josh. I had these fears of being suffocated. I hated the idea of not being ME anymore and I cringed at being called HIS fiancee or HIS wife. Call it craziness, call it typical cold feet, whatever it was, it scared me to death. One night I threatened to call off the wedding because he wouldn't change his last name to mine even though everyone expected me to change my last name to his. Another time when friends assumed I was busy with Josh and didn't invite me out to a party, I lay in bed and sobbed over my loss of independence.

I think Josh was at a loss for what to do with me. My fears had little to do with him, and if I had been able to think logically, I would have realized that he didn't want me to change and would have been disappointed if my personality had been subsumed into his. Someone finally took pity on me and gave me a book called What No One Tells the Bride. I tell people that book saved my life by making me feel like I wasn't alone, but truthfully, I think it took time and seeing how my life changed or didn't change with marriage.

When I look back at my tearful demands, I wish someone had told me that I might get mad at Josh for his anal-retentive neatness, but I might also find great joy and support by letting go of my fears. That first year was rather, ummm, hard, as I've mentioned before. But not a day has gone by that I haven't felt incredibly lucky to have found my partner so early in life.

I sometimes can't believe that it has been three years already, but I also can't believe that I get to spend so many more years with this wonderful man. He makes me crack up daily (sometimes hourly) by how silly he can be, and he laughs at my jokes too!** He shares many of my likes and dislikes and is willing to try new things with me all the time. He forgives me easily when I lose my temper. He grounds me when I begin to feel anxious or stressed. His kindness takes my breath away.

Sometimes I look at him and the love feels like it might crush me. Well, the love and his hotness. : )

Marrying him gave me so much more than I ever imagined it would and I wish I could go back and tell myself how blissful my life would be if I'd just stop worrying.

Happy Anniversary Hubs! You are the best thing that ever happened to me!



** But no, I don't care if this is the leather anniversary, I'm NOT buying a leather whip.

why I haven't posted

Lets do a recap of my day:

6:15am: Josh gets up, makes big racket getting out of bed, leaves to take shower.

6:35am: Josh comes back, makes big racket getting dressed, decides to pet dogs while they are in bed with me, initiates play with them.

6:45am: Josh's alarm goes off because all he did was push snooze instead of turn it off, he makes a racket running up the stairs and into the room to turn it off.

7:00am: Josh comes into bedroom and sweetly tries to get me to wake up.

7:03am: Halloweenlover is alternating between ignoring him and snarling at him about keeping me up all this time.

7:05am: Wake up, take shower, trudge through getting ready. Head pounds.

7:25am: Put purse and work papers by the front door in preparation to leave, go to kitchen to grab breakfast.

7:30am: Rush out the door to drop HL at train so that Josh can get to class.

7:37am: Exit car and begin walking to train, and realize that work papers are still propped by the front door. Start screaming, waving arms and frantically running after the car.

7:42am: Josh drops HL off for the second time at the train, after rushing home to pick up work papers and ensure that HL doesn't get fired.

7:45-8:15am: Struggle not to vomit on the subway.

8:20am: Arrive at work, wonder how people deal with allergies and how it is possible that allergies could hit so hard and so fast for the first time ever.

8:30-11am: Work feverishly, start to feel lightheaded and achy.

12pm: Attend work lunch meeting, struggle not to fall asleep.

1pm: Begin to wonder whether perhaps this is a cold or the flu because whole body aches and head is throbbing.

Time passes v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.

3:45pm: Close office door to put head on desk and wonder what is an acceptable time to leave the office if I think I am dying.

4:02pm: Recall that I stopped taking the anti-malaria pills because they made my stomach hurt. Begin to question reasoning there.

4:05pm: Research malaria symptoms.

4:10pm: Figure that I probably don't have malaria, but maybe I'll go home anyway.

4:57pm: And here we are, waiting for Josh to call me so that I can beg him to PICK ME UP PLEASE SO THAT I DON'T HAVE TO TAKE THE TRAIN AND POSSIBLY DIE ON THE WAY.

I don't know. Help me Internet, can allergies make you want to curl up under your desk from the achiness and the tiredness and the head throbbing and the throat hurting? How could I be sick in August? Could it be a combination of the two?

continuing in my quest to be better than martha stewart

About 6 months ago, during one of the many many snowstorms of this year, I got the itch to try to sew. I've never touched a sewing machine in my life (I may have touched a needle and thread twice), but our little old house has lots of areas that would benefit from crafty sewing projects. In particular, we have a few nooks and crannies that are perfect for window seats, but because of their odd shape it was hard to find seats that fit into the space well.

I did some research and discovered that sewing machines are not cheap. They are so not cheap that there was no way I could justify buying one without ever having used one. So I scoured Craigslist and found a used sewing machine that was reasonably priced and came with all the pieces (including a manual). Voila!

On a snowy day in January, I dragged a friend who actually knew how to sew out to the Craiglist poster's house in Waltham. She showed us the sewing machine and accompaniments and upon learning that I'd never sewn before in my life, gave me a quick lesson on how to thread and turn the machine on and off. I kept sneaking looks at my friend to see if she thought it was a good deal and she just shrugged her shoulders as if to say, why not?

That weekend I played around with fabric and thread and got to work making this window seat. I even put in a zipper, which my mother-in-law says is a difficult thing to do. It turned out okay although I had several cursing episodes where I had to pull out the stitches on which I'd made mistakes. I also made a dog bed that matched our bedspread. And then I petered out.


Sewing is fun, particularly because the projects are finished so quickly, but between the painting and the gardening and the life that keeps happening, I haven't had the time to sit down and do it.

There is one spot in the house that was in dire need of a window seat, though, and that is the front window. Tango and Murray spend the majority of their days sitting in this window barking at every human, squirrel, dog and vehicle that drives by. I can't tell you the number of times we have driven up to neighbors laughing at the dogs doing their imitation of vicious animals through the window. Up until now, we have positioned a couple of couch pillows into the area and the dogs hop from the chair to the window without too much trouble. Occasionally, though, we'll drive up to see Murray prop himself against the window barking and then POOF! no more dog. You see, they and the pillows fall of the window seat quite often. Clearly, I don't want to have to pay the vets any more for their services, so we needed a new and sturdier window seat.

Ninotchka asked for a picture of my handiwork, so here you go.




Here is my newly completed pillow standing up on end. Very exciting, I know.






Here is the zipper that is rather difficult to sew in. For future reference, remind me not to buy a 12 inch zipper for a 38 inch wide pillow. It does not add to the ease of sliding the pillow in and out of the cover.






This is the finished product- see how it is an odd space? It was impossible to find a pillow that would fit correctly.





In this last picture, you can also see the newest addition to our house and the last of Josh's House Husband duties. He put in all of these new knobs!!!




Old ugly knobs... and my hand, but don't call my hand ugly, please.







New and beautiful knobs! Hurray!






The new knobs are throughout the house now, on all the built ins, and the office and kitchen paneled doors. Don't look at the chipping paint on the built-in, though, I am ignoring that part.

in the car

Conversation that took place last night between Josh and I...

Halloweenlover: I thought I said that I didn't want to do that.

Josh: I thought the last thing you said was that you DID want to do that.

Halloweenlover: Why do you always hear whatever you want to hear instead of what I actually say?

Josh: Its just a lot easier that way!