jennanddave.com

I was just on the phone with Dave and he insisted that I update the website so here I am. Henry and I arrived in Salem last week Friday, via Cambridge where we picked up my mom. Dave and my dad arrived later that day. We unloaded on Saturday morning and by Saturday afternoon we were done unpacking. We'd also managed, by that time, to pay an exorbitant amount of money for a new mattress. Nothing makes you feel more inclined to splurge on a great mattress than eight (in Dave's case) or fifteen (in my case) months of not getting a full night's sleep. It's scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. I've been enjoying the anticipation of getting it. It better live up to all of my expectations. The apartment is nice. Everything is painted taupe and the kitchen/dining/living rooms are basically one big room. We didn't bring much furniture so it's somewhat bare which is perfect for the stage Henry's at. He gets free reign to roam around wherever he wants and I don't have to worry much about him getting into anything. Right now my biggest fear is that he'll throw up a big green or red puddle onto the off-white carpet. I have a can of Resolve within arms reach so I'm hoping that'll help manage whatever may happen on the floor. Right now the greatest thing in Henry's life are the springs that are installed behind the doors to keep them from slamming against the wall when you open them. They make a satisfying "sproing"-ing noise.

We stopped by Target last Saturday to pick up a few essential items, one of which was a book for me. I have a few books that I brought with me but I was interested in something a little lighter than what I had packed. I ended up buying "The Devil Wears Prada" (non-movie-related cover, thank you very much). I started it that night and finished it sometime Monday. I couldn't put it down. It was like an addiction. When Megan arrived on Tuesday I told her she *had* to read it. She started it Tuesday night and finished it Thursday. It's got to be some sort of chick lit bible or something. Very satisfying read.

Other than all of the aforementioned excitement I've been busy being utterly, thoroughly, and dramatically exhausted. Megan and I have seen some sights, but right now I just want to crash out on the couch with an Archie Double Digest and maybe some cookies. I'll regale you with tales of our adventures a little later...

Posted by Jenn at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Henry and I will be hitting the road tomorrow morning, heading for the wilds of western Massachusetts. We'll be stopping there for the night, then carrying on to Salem Friday morning. I'll be offline until Saturday or Sunday. I know you'll miss me terribly, and if you won't, say you will anyway.

Posted by Jenn at 05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Saturday Dave's mom came up for a visit, the idea being we could pack while she got in quality Henry time. Not much packing was done, mainly because there really isn't a lot to pack, and most of the stuff we have to pack, we use everyday so we'll be throwing it all in boxes at the last minute. What did we do instead?

Saturday night: After dinner Dave's mom suggested we go to a movie. Sounds suspiciously spontaneous, doesn't it? But you know what? Ten minutes later we were in the car driving to the nearest cineplex. We played air hockey, bought popcorn and a coke slurpee, then watched The Lakehouse. The movie was all right, but the being out was great. On the way home we rolled the windows down because it was such a gorgeous night. As we were waiting at a stop sign, listening to the crickets, it suddenly hit me that I hadn't had the experience of driving around on a warm summer night since last August. It was so nice to be out.

Sunday: We went out to R.B. Winter State Park where we spent the day lounging, swimming, eating, and fishing. Well, I fished anyway. The water was absolutely frigid. I could only manage to go in up to my waist. I dipped Henry in a few times and much giggling ensued, but when I plopped him down in an inch of water near the beach, after a few seconds he burst into tears. He spent the rest of the day playing on his blanket and not bothering to nap. I can't blame him; there were lots of bikini clad girls to look at. I taught our friends' daughter how to fish. She's 5 or 6. She caught on to spin casting very quickly. I was impressed. No fish were caught, but she and I did manage to dream up the perfect lake (pink water, no mud, fish w/Hello Kitty bows, trees w/Hello Kitty bows for leaves, Hello Kitty rocks, Hello Kitty waders; I think you get the idea).

Monday: Leisurely breakfast. Lunch at the Fence. Naps. Swimming at the pool. BBQ.

It's ridiculously hot right now. Perfect packing weather. Not really. I forsee a trip to Walmart in the afternoon. You know, for packing supplies. The a/c will just be a bonus.

Posted by Jenn at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's a foul, horrendous, beastly day here. It rained last night and this morning, and now it's gray and ridiculously humid out. I took Flash and Henry out for a walk and we couldn't go by Libby's store without stopping in to enjoy both her company and her a/c. She's been bringing her dog in to work with her. His name is Wyatt. He's a sheltie. Also, he's beautiful. Also, he thought Flash was smokin' hot. They mingled a bit through the dog gate and when Flash seemed to be okay with him, Libby let Wyatt out into the store. He made a beeline for Flash and commenced what would end up being ~10 minutes worth of walking around her, checking her out, nosing between her shoulder blades, poking his nose up and down her back, and panting, lots and lots of panting. Flash was a cool cat throughout all of this, alternately standing, sitting, and finally just laying herself down as flat as possible against the floor. Usually when another dog tries any funny business with her she really lets him have it, so I was surprised by her general non-reactive reaction. Finally Wyatt decided that the rest of the world needed to know that Flash was his girl so he lifted his leg to mark her but Libby jumped up and put him back behind the baby gate before he was successfull. It was quite a show. A little later she gave Wyatt another chance at freedom and after a few preliminary sniffs he tried to mark Flash again, and once again he went right back behind the baby gate where he spent the rest of our visit whining in protest. To be so close and yet so far...

Posted by Jenn at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Henry getting his poop on.

Posted by Jenn at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I can't seem to post anything these days without including lots of pictures. Why stop now? This weekend I wove in all the ends on my Mom's Victorian Lace Shawl. Megan and Adrian moved into a huge new house a few weeks ago and they have a carpeted third floor room which they kindly allowed me to take over for a day so I could block it. I was thinking of using Henry's room but we're in and out of it too much, not to mention the fact that the shawl itself is rather large and we would have had to actually move a few items out to make room for it. Saturday morning I headed over to their house, loaded down with six towels, a damp shawl, and lots and lots of T pins. The result?

It didn't take long for it dry because it was a toasty day, so at 7PM I wandered back over and unpinned it. Here's a shot of Megan modeling it.

Notice how it looks like Henry is growing out of her head? She can thank Dave for that. Anyway, I'm very happy with the way it came out. I think my Mom chose a great color. It shows off the lace pattern and it will go with everything.

Posted by Jenn at 03:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This morning I learned how to dye yarn with food coloring. Libby at Mad About Ewes is thinking of offering it as a class next Fall and wanted to run a test class to see how it would work. So four guinea pigs descended on her shop at 11AM and got their dye on. It was a lot of fun. The only hard part about it was being faced with having to do something with the blank canvas of yarn. I could never be an artist because the blank canvas thing always stresses me out. We had blue, yellow, and red dyes with which to work our magic. With the first skein I went really heavy with the dyes. I used lots of red and blue with a bit of yellow here and there. Yellow isn't my favorite color, but it is the key ingredient to making orange and green, so I really saturated the yarn until I got those two colors, forgetting that the last thing you do before steaming the yarn is cover it in saran wrap, roll it up, and mush the colors together. By the time I finished rolling my yarn, tons of dye had been pushed to the end which meant everything at that end looked brown. I was a little bummed. Libby suggested using less dye on the second skein which I did, but I think I undercompensated because it came out very pastel. I might overdye it sometime. Or I might decide I love it and keep it. The first skein came out much better than I thought. The part that I thought would be brown is more of a brownish red. Very Fall-like colors. Anyway, if you live around here and she offers the class, definitely take it. I ended up leaving with eight skeins of undyed yarn so I can give it another go at home.

Posted by Jenn at 03:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I took a video of Henry in his pack and play the other day. He discovered he could poke his bottom teeth through the mesh on the sides. In the background you can hear Dave and his dad talking (the sound is a little off-track):

Posted by Jenn at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We've taken Henry to the pool a few times this past week and tonight we managed to bring the camera along. They revamped the community pool last year and frankly, it's absolutely amazing. There's a water slide, spouts that shoot water up into the air, a water umbrella, and as if that weren't enough of an attraction, they've actually heated the water. Let's hear it for Lewisburg...

Posted by Jenn at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)