jennanddave.com

Today I joined Curves. I want to start doing some strength training, but don't know enough about it to venture up to the University gym to try and figure things out myself. I thought Curves would be a good starting point. We'll see how that goes.

Meanwhile, I have great friends. One of them offers to make me cookies to keep in the freezer for emergencies, and another one drops off homemade beef stew because she knew I wasn't feeling well. Throw in a couple more who lend me cars or keep me laughing and occupied while I'm juggling a sore throat with a three-year-old all on my own, and you pretty much have the makings of someone who feels very lucky to have the people she has in her life. Thanks guys!

Posted by Jenn at 05:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yesterday evening Henry and I watched "Peter Pan" and ate cookies. Then we started "Aladdin", which, as it turns out, is perhaps a little too scary for a three year old. At one point Henry picked up Owl and asked him if he was scared of the tiger. Owl apparently said yes, so while Henry cuddled him, I switched the dvd out in favor of Nemo instead. Let's here it for Owl's honesty.

Now that he's on his way home, I can confess that Dave's been out of town since Sunday morning. Not that big a deal until I woke up yesterday feeling less than stellar. I used to wonder how people ever managed to take care of dogs by themselves, because even if you have a fever and feel like you're dying, the dog still needs to go out for a walk. Now that I have a kid, I don't know how single parents do it because even when you're able to finagle a situation where you're not as "on" as you usually are, you're still pretty on, and when you're a one man show, it's tough to resist the urge to put your kid to bed for the night at 5PM just to get a little bit of a break.

In other fascinating news, while Dave was out of town, my friend lent me her Jeep Cherokee Sport so I could take Henry to school and then to the grocery store (Where we bought a gigantic bottle of extra-strength Tylenol and two different kinds of pre-made cookie dough. Where we also ran into another woman I know who was keeping three kids in line while I tried to hide the contents of my shopping basket. I was so ashamed.) and finally back home again. The first few times I walked around the corner of the house and saw her car in the driveway I started looking around for her, thinking she had stopped by for a visit. It was sad. Anyway, the point of this story is I now want a Jeep Cherokee Sport, and since I already have one sitting in my driveway, I've decided not to give it back. Sorry. And thanks!

Posted by Jenn at 03:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I'm feeling again like I'm coming down with yet another something. After I dropped Henry off at school I came home, walked the dog, then climbed back into bed to try and warm up. Gah. Since I'm barely hanging in there, Henry and I went to the video store and picked up Peter Pan and Alladin, then headed over to the grocery store for some Tylenol and chocolate chip cookies. It's going to be the best evening of Henry's life.

Posted by Jenn at 03:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

1. Dandelion leaves turn red in the Fall. Henry and I were taking Flash for a walk when I happened to look down at the ground and noticed splashes of red everywhere. They were all dandelions turning color. Very pretty.

2. Putting Henry's owl doll in a little Baby Alive diaper makes Henry extremely happy. It also induces very strong maternal feelings toward Owl, who was gingerly carried upstairs, told how cute he was in his diaper, then tucked into bed on his very own pillow, which is right next to Henry's.

3. Gale Harold is on Desperate Housewives. Suddenly that show might actually be worth watching.

Posted by Jenn at 03:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The soup was delicious, but didn't work any magic other than the sheer joy that dumplings can bring to the table. As soon as I finish this post (any second now, really) I'm going to be making a spinach pie recipe that a Greek friend of mine gave me at the beginning of the summer. Now this is a magic recipe, because I know for a fact that after Dave had it for the first time, he loved me a little bit more than he did before he tucked into it.

This evening we're off to visit with Mr. L at the nursing home. We haven't seen him since we celebrated his May birthday last June. All of us have been feeling pretty guilty about how long it's been, and I'm looking forward to seeing him this evening.

A good friend of mine gave me a heads up re: this fabric she found online. If I ordered some, what could I make out of it?

Posted by Jenn at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Dave and I are so sad and pathetic with our colds (well, mostly just Dave now; I'm feeling better than I did yesterday) that I scored a kickin' chicken soup recipe from a friend of mine earlier today and I'm happy to report that it is currently simmering on the stovetop. Also, it has dumplings, and, you know, you are what you eat and all of that. I'm pretty certain that it's a magical soup that will make us instantly healthy and twenty pounds lighter. Also, all of our gray hair will turn back to a more youthful shade and we'll wake up to a much nicer car in our driveway.

Posted by Jenn at 05:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I finished Twilight this morning. I think that may be the fastest I've ever read a book. Now I'm *really* looking forward to seeing the movie.

Last night instead of going to bed early to give myself a chance to recover from the cold I inherited from Henry, I stayed up and read. Now, at 2:40PM in the afternoon I'm considering myself officially done for the day. I had plans to make chicken soup with the chicken I baked yesterday, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm thinking that if we want to eat this evening, it's going to come down to the following choices: peanut butter and jelly, instant mac and cheese, or take-out. Sorry Dave. I feel a little bad because I think all three of us could really use the chicken soup.

Posted by Jenn at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While foraging through the book section at TJ Maxx, I came up for air holding three Dr. Seuss books and "Twilight". I managed to avoid the Harry Potter wave of the late '90's that carried everyone into the new century, and when people started talking about this latest literary obsession I figured I'd sidestep it as well. (Hey, I never claimed to not be a book snob.) Then I heard it was about vampires and the eighteen-year-old proud owner of a library of vampire fiction in me was all "Huh? Wha? Vampires?" That's when I knew it was only a matter of time. That time came to an abrupt end at the bargain bin of TJ Maxx.

Yesterday afternoon I finished the book I'd been reading and last night broke into "Twilight". It's not very well-written, and some of it sometimes makes a person want to cringe, but darned if the story doesn't suck you in anyway. I will definitely be going to see the movie, especially after checking out the cute guy (Who was apparently born in 1986. I mean, Iremember 1986. Clearly. I'm feeling a mite old now. And how does that play out with the rule of seven?) who's playing the main character, however, I might be too embarrassed to make Dave go see a teen vampire romance with me. I might have to drag a girlfriend. Or go by myself. That might be best.

Posted by Jenn at 04:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It is Sunday night.
One of us is sick, sleepy.
It's well past bed-time.

Had a good week-end,
tomorrow is for school and
getting up early.

I can already
tell that I'm not going to
want to leave the bed.

Twenty-nine degrees
is not for the faint of heart.
Best to stay inside!

Posted by Jenn at 07:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Megan and I went on a birthday shopping expedition, two weeks after our actual birthdays. Better late than never. We bought matching ponchos, although Megan insists they're capes. It's not sad or embarrassing at all that we might one day find ourselves showing up at places wearing almost the exact same outfits.

Posted by Jenn at 06:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Henry's going down for a nap extra-early today (does a little jig) because this evening we're heading off to State College to see the Wiggles. We had a great time the last time we went and saw them. Unfortunately, every time I mention us going tonight, Henry insists that he'd rather stay home. We watched one of their concert dvd's last night and while he protested vehemently when I was putting it in, once "Toot Toot, Chugga Chugga" came on he was hooked for the rest of the hour. I'm hoping that once we get there he'll be excited about it.

Perhaps the best part of the evening will be stopping by India Pavilion to get some indian food to bring home for dinner. Actually, the best part of the evening won't be stopping to pick it up, the best part will be digging into it later.

Posted by Jenn at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We hosted playgroup today. Five thousand kids (Or maybe it was just fifteen. Yeah, I think it was fifteen. Or sixteen.) came and made good use of Henry's toys. We had the back door open so everyone was wandering inside and outside, enjoying what could be one of the last nice days before the long winter sets in. We followed one of Henry's playmates home and had lunch at her house before heading back via tricycle to kick around in our very quiet house. We've been going non-stop since Henry didn't have a nap today, and I'm a little ashamed to say I'm counting the minutes to bedtime.

Posted by Jenn at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Since everyone else is writing about the election, I've decided I'm going to write about my hair.

Yesterday while picking up various items at the grocery store, I happened to go by the hair color section, and also happened to reach out and pick up a box of "Dark ash blonde". It's Fall. It's time to lose the blonde. When I got home I opened, mixed, shook, and distributed goop evenly through my hair. After breathing deep the familiar smell of ammonia, I set the time for 25 minutes and watched a little news coverage of that thing that was going on yesterday. What was it again? Oh yeah, the election. When the timer went off, I checked out the nice shade of brown that had developed on top of my head, then jumped in the shower. After getting dressed and toweling off my hair I looked in the mirror while reaching down for my socks, then did a double-take. My hair was a beautiful shade of dark gray. Apparently my colorless hair soaked up all of the ash tone and none of the brown. After ten minutes of careful inspection and lots of "Hmmmms", I called Megan and told her what happened. She advised me to call the company's hot line to get some advice on how to fix it. Then she told me to take a picture of it with my cell phone and send it to her. She's a good friend.

After hanging up with the 1-800-hair-color-expert, Henry and I hit the road and headed to the grocery store where naturally, they didn't have the two different shades I needed in order to fix my hair. Initially I was a little sheepish about how I looked, but people didn't even bat an eye. Either they're used to people with funky hair around here, or gray looked totally natural on me. By the time we left, I was ready to start grabbing people and telling them that really, I'm not fifty yet, my hair's not supposed to look like this, it doesn't look right, right? I finally found what I needed at CVS and while McCain was giving his concession speech I was washing my hair, yet again. Four times in one day. I'm surprised my scalp didn't run screaming into the night while I was sleeping.

Today, the country has a new President-elect, and I am no longer blonde or gray, but instead a brunette with red undertones. The end.

Posted by Jenn at 03:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I am the proud owner of a brand-spanking new "I voted touch screen" sticker. I woke up early and got to the polls about fifteen minutes after they opened, and even then I waited ~25 minutes to get to the head of the line, which is certainly nothing compared to how long people in the big cities will be waiting today, but which was still impressive considering the small town I live in. Happily, my name was in the book so there was no problem there.

The Today show just did a super-condensed summary of what's gone on since right before the Primaries which proved beyond a doubt that it has been a spectacularly interesting race, especially when it's been boiled down to three minutes. It's possible I'll have the TV on speculative news casts all day, or at least until my brain leaks out my ears. Or maybe we'll go to the park instead.

Does anyone else get test-taking anxiety while they're waiting to vote?

Posted by Jenn at 08:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was just on votePA to check on my voter registration status and lo and behold I'm not in the system. Dave is, but I'm not. Chalk it up to yet another complication based on two different last names living under one roof (scandalous!) or maybe I'm no longer registered. Also, no one's been sending any political propaganda to me. Dave's received some, and a guy who lived here sometime before we moved in five years ago has gotten some, but my inbox is empty. Normally I wouldn't panic about this because I do have in my hot little hands a valid voter registration card plus all sorts of other id's, but, wow, I really want to get to the polling place and vote without having any complications arise.

I was thinking on the drive to pick up Henry this afternoon that this election year my penchant to get out and vote is now largely driven by a desire to gleefully not vote for certain people. Although that was also the case during the last presidential election, this time the urge is even more powerful, and I'm still trying to figure out why that is. More access to the strong personalities of the candidates thanks to the media? Too many viewings of SNL election specials? I remember watching coverage of the presidential race in 2006 and thinking we were in for a loooong two years. Tomorrow night I'm looking forward to camping out on the couch and watching the election results roll in into the wee hours of the morning.

Posted by Jenn at 01:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had a good time at the hafla last night. Although I could feel myself shaking throughout the first dance I did, Megan and Kim both said I looked cool as a cucumber. As an added bonus, I only stuck my foot in my mouth twice (that I can recall anyway), and that's pretty good; usually I'm way worse in social situations. There are pictures, and even a video, but I'm not sure if they'll ever see the light of day, although you never know. Speaking of cucumbers, those are all I'll be eating for a while. After spending yesterday evening prancing around in a half shirt, there's no denying I'm carrying around some extra baggage in the mid-section that needs to be lost, pronto. Or at least by the next hafla, whenever that is.

Meanwhile, Henry woke up in a mood today. I think the excitement of the weekend finally caught up with him. Dave and I tag-teamed playing with him all the way up until naptime, which got bumped up a bit after a melt-down over washing his hands. Once I tucked him in, he actually seemed relieved to be back in bed, not that he would ever in a million years admit it. Now if only someone would march me upstairs and tuck me into bed.

Posted by Jenn at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

...that is the question.

Right now I'm currently freaking about performing at a hafla this evening. I'll have moral support in the forms of Megan, Kim, and Gabriella, but probably Gabriella will be too busy freaking out as well since she's also performing. Maybe we can just lean on each other and sob a little bit. When I first signed up for belly dance class in August '07, I thought to myself "Well, at least there won't be any recitals," and now look at me. My jitters over performing are exactly why I'm doing it, to put myself out there in spite of my fears, but that doesn't make it any less scary. It just means that by 7PM, when the two dances I'm performing in are over, I will be both ecstatically happy that they're behind me, and very proud that I went through with it. It also means I'll be over by the buffet, stuffing my face since I'll no longer have to worry about throwing up.

Posted by Jenn at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yesterday one of the two teachers at Henry's school had to stay home with her sick kid, so in an effort to keep things running smoothly she called me yesterday morning to ask if I'd be willing to be an extra set of hands and eyes. I agreed, then went cold with fear because: kids! Gah! Dave hadn't yet left for work so when I told him the news he was all "OMG!", a sure sign he's spending way too much time on Facebook and not enough time wearing his Strawberry Tart costume. So yesterday I spent four and a half hours hanging out at Henry's preschool.

I'm pretty sure fate was somehow involved in clearing a path that resulted in my having to be there because yesterday was apple-picking day. We all walked down to the orchard and picked apples which we later cut up and used to make applesauce. The kids were over the moon about picking apples and quickly filled two large crates. All of this reminded me of something that happened last Fall, and although I feel like I've already written about this, I can't find the post so I'll risk repeating myself:

Last year I overheard a conversation between three teenaged girls who happened to walk by our house in the midst of apple season, which meant our sidewalk was littered with fallen apples. All three of them stopped and stared at the ground. Then they freaked out, shrieking "EEEWWWWW!" and "What are those?!?" They noticed me sweeping our front stoop so they asked me what they were and after shaking off my complete and utter speechlessness, I said "Apples." Then they noticed the apple tree and got all excited. Talk about having a complete disconnect over where the food you eat comes from.

I'm pleased to say that not one of the kids at Henry's preschool will ever be stunned by the sight of a tree with actual bona fide apples growing on it. They might, however, become overwhelmed with the desire to make applesauce.

Posted by Jenn at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The nice thing about having a cold is it's a nice reprieve from the raging allergy symptoms I'd been experiencing.

My friend Mel is making all sorts of pear preserves that are making me hungry. Meanwhile, I just had Spaghettio's for lunch. I'd rather be making my way to the bottom of a jar of homemade preserves than scraping the bottom of a tin can. Alas.

We went to Target yesterday to kill some time before Henry's bedtime. They were in full Halloween swing, with only a little bit of Christmas encroaching on the spookiness. They have a line this season that features a skull and crossbone motif. It took all of my willpower not to buy one (or two) (or six) of everything. Actually, it took a little willpower and Dave standing behind me, glaring, and say "No. No. No. No. NO!" He can be terrifying when he starts working his eyebrows. Meanwhile, Henry left the store with a big plush pumpkin, pumpkin and Frankenstein bath mitts, and Halloween gel window clings. Because if I can't have fun Halloween stuff, my kid sure can.

Posted by Jenn at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I have a cold and I didn't get much sleep last night, therefore I'm crabby and irritable and apparently redundant. I'm experiencing a deep-seated need for comfort food in the form of Spaghettios, but that requires me to corral the kid into the car, chaperone him through a grocery store, then somehow make it back alive, all the while juggling a bad attitude and the ever-present box of Kleenex. It's not looking good.

Meanwhile, because all I want to do is sit, I've decided to sit myself over some long overdue thank you cards that have needed to be written (Do all of those tenses add up to correct?) since Henry's birthday last month. I've been experiencing major guilt over not having had a chance to get them done, so the sight of a neat little pile of stuffed envelopes that are ready to be distributed will make me feel a lot better.

Posted by Jenn at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While driving home this morning after dropping Henry off at preschool, I turned on the radio and there was a guy reading almost verbatim the article that Mel linked to in her comment on yesterdays post about how to get kids to eat a more varied diet. Now I'm trying to figure out if the universe is trying to tell me something. Ironically, before I even saw the article, I had Henry help me make the stew we had for dinner last night. He cleaned carrots, picked out potatoes, and poured barley. Then, approximately one hour later, he vehemently spurned it all. To be perfectly honest though, after it was all finished and sitting in a bowl on my placemat at the dinner table, for whatever reason I looked at it and didn't really want it anymore either. I ate it all though, because I'm a good little girl.

It was tough getting out of bed this morning. The air is pretty crisp now when we get up, and the fact that it was foggy and gray made me feel foggy and gray. The thing to do on a day like this is to crank up the old oven and make some granola. My friend Kim clued me in to this recipe for cranberry/almond granola on epicurious. I haven't ever tried to make it, but I was at her house when she made it and the whole place smelled heavenly. So not only will it smell amazing around here for a while, but there's going to be some major snacking going on very soon.

Posted by Jenn at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Yes, I'm still going a little bento crazy over here, hence more photos of boring food stored in cute containers. These would probably be a lot more interesting if my kid was a slightly less picky eater, but they'll only get better as he gets older and his tastes expand. I'm sounding pretty optimistic, aren't I? I can't lay into him too much about it though because eating an apple with the skin on it still gives me the heebie-jeebies, not to mention the fact that I can't even look at a green bean without feeling woozy.

Anyway, here's a shot of what Henry brought to school for lunch yesterday:

That would be tofu with a little soy sauce on it, cut up grapes, butterfly shaped crackers, and cheese that I cut with a little gingerbread man cookie cutter I dug up from the deep dark depths of one of our kitchen cabinets. Henry ate all the tofu, left behind one cracker and one piece of cheese, and spurned most of the grapes, although I do think he ate a few of them, unless he traded them for something better, which I doubt, because "trading" comes a little too close to "sharing".

Time went screaming by yesterday morning, despite my attempts at time management, and I found myself running so late I didn't have a chance to eat my breakfast. Since I was heading over to a friend's house after dropping Henry off at school, I tossed some food into a Hello Kitty bento my parents bought for me in Allston. Mine consisted of scrambled egg, grapes, and the cheese bits that were leftover from cutting out the gingerbread men for Henry's lunch.

One quick side note about scrambled eggs: when I make them, I sprinkle a healthy amount of Penzey's Garden Salad seasoning after pouring the eggs in the pan to cook. It's a mix of chive, cheese, and poppy seeds, and it makes for killer scrambled eggs. Even Henry likes them. Most of the time.

Posted by Jenn at 02:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It took me eight hours to finally decide that maybe I should change out of my pajamas.

It took me eight and a half to get around to brushing my teeth.

It's been a really good day.

Posted by Jenn at 05:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you haven't yet seen "Lars and the Real Girl" don't read any further because I'm going to give away the ending while destroying the last vestiges of my pride AT THE EXACT SAME TIME!

I cried at the end of the movie when the sex doll "died". Cried. Like a baby. Poor Bianca! Then I called Megan to see if she had cried too, because I was that embarrassed about the whole thing. She said she had, so that made me feel better.

You know what else makes me feel better? Announcing to the three people who read this that Megan cried at the end of the movie when the sex doll "died".

Posted by Jenn at 08:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In the past, I haven't paid much attention to the Olympics, but every night I've found myself glued to the television, rooting for the men's swimming team. Not just the USA team, sometimes the italian team too. I should also note that my most vocal rooting occurs after the race during the slow motion recaps. Dave, because he's a very generous husband (who happens to really enjoy the women's gymnastics, particularly the floor routines), has started coming to get me whenever the men's swimming starts. He's the best.

Posted by Jenn at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

My dad's allergic to Flash. Or dust. Or Pennsylvania. Since he's coming to visit next week (and he's bringing my mom! What a guy!), it was time to hire someone to come and deep clean our rug and couch. Since we had our heating ducts suctioned clean this past Winter or Spring or whenever it was, I've been looking forward to having the rug and couch done too because hooray for clean and (mostly, hopefully) allergen free! It was hard waiting until just before my parents were due to arrive, especially since the last two months I've gotten sniffly while crashing out on the couch, but I somehow persevered. The guy doing the cleaning showed me the water after he finished the couch and it was *so* dirty. It made me giddy watching it all wash down the drain. So hopefully this'll help and my dad won't be extra-sniffly. See how much I love him?

I stumbled across a cake disaster website last week which my friend Mel happened to forward to me today which was enough of a reason for me to feel like posting it here. It's called cake wrecks. They're all...interesting. However, they're cake, so I'd still eat them. Except for the bound foot cake. That one was gross.

Through an entry on that site I found The "Blog" of "unnecessary" Quotation Marks which has some very funny stuff on it.

That's all the news from over here.

Posted by Jenn at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After experiencing the bi-monthly angst that always accompanies paying our bills (this month being extra-angsty because of car insurance and municipal bills), I once again made a vow to cease and desist with the spending of money on things we don't need.

Then I went ahead and purchased the soundtrack for the original Broadway production of Sweeney Todd. I could make an argument that I absolutely needed to buy this album, but it would be a weak one and you all would be shaking your heads and feeling a little embarrassed for me. You probably do that anyway, so why add fuel to the fire.

Fine. Since I'm making confessions, I may as well also confess that I bought "Balls of Fury" while at Target today. Terry Crews' pecs deserve an Oscar nomination for their work in that movie. What oh what will Dave and I do tonight to pass the time?

Posted by Jenn at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Henry and I are fast approaching the end of our week-long vacation. On Thursday, after his nap and while on the way to the bathroom, Henry suddenly stopped and asked "Where's Daddy?" It took him five days but he did eventually realize there was a gaping hole in his life that could only be filled by the presence of his Daddy.

We've been extremely busy, riding lots of trains, doing some toy shopping, running up to Salem, and riding more trains. Today I left Henry in the hands of his Grandparents so I could head off to do some shopping on my own. I bought some clothes, a book (the first book I've ever purchased based purely on the author's good looks), a chai latte, and a Hawaiian crêpe. I thoroughly enjoyed leisurely browsing through stores that I had noticed on previous trips but knew I couldn't fully appreciate with a toddler in tow.

We're heading back to the wilds of central Pennsylvania on Monday. Tomorrow we're going to try and squeeze in as much fun as can possibly be had on the last day of a vacation.

Dave, your days as a bachelor are almost up, so get in all the Doom you can, because we're coming home...

Posted by Jenn at 09:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Today I clogged Megan's Mom's toilet. Then I died of embarrassment. It's too bad I can never come here again because it's really, really nice.

Tomorrow Henry and I are getting dumped on the doorstep of dropped off at my parents' house. I waited until this evening to tell Henry we would be seeing them on this trip. He's now extra super duper incredibly excited. I think Leo's Grandpa Bill will be equally excited to see him go because this evening every three minutes Henry would drop what he was doing to go up to Grandpa Bill and say "Hey, hey! Whatcha doin' Bill? Hey! Whatcha doin'?" and he wouldn't stop until he would get an answer. I finally had to ban him from the room Bill was in but that didn't stop him from following him down the hall and into his bedroom.

I'm starting to get the distinct impression we're not fun guests to have in your house.

Also, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese crackers = Heaven in a box.

Posted by Jenn at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Megan and I are taking the kids and getting out of dodge for the week. We're heading up to New Hampshire for a few days and then Henry and I will go down to Boston on Tuesday to spend the rest of the week eating all of my parents' food and hopefully spending all of their money. I'm just kidding! About the spending all of their money part, that is. No, wait, I'm kidding about eating all of their food. No, wait, I'm not kidding about anything at all.

Henry's looking forward to stopping at his Great-Grandma Ethel's house on the way to NH tomorrow because she has not only a piano, but also an organ. It doesn't even matter that the organ doesn't work, it's just as awesome anyway because it has two whole rows of keys, plus a ton of pedals and levers. She also has a stream with lots of rocks and she always has cake ready for his consumption. We're going to have to pry his fingers from her doorjamb in order to get him to leave.

Henry's also looking forward to riding lots of escalators with his Grammy and Grandpa. In fact, on Thursday when we asked him what he did that day, he said "Rode the escalators with Grammy and Grandpa!" Poor confused kid. And yet, that's how much of an impression riding the escalators made.

Anyway, I don't know how much posting I'll be doing while I'm gone, not that I've been doing much at all anyway, but I will be taking lots of pictures with my brand-spanking new awesome camera, so there should be lots to see when I get back.

Posted by Jenn at 03:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Way back in 2002 I ordered a pillow kit from Arts and Crafts Period Textiles. If I wasn't able to have an Arts and Crafts bungalow complete with ridiculously expensive Stickley pieces and an inglenook, I was at least going to have a pillow. I didn't know how to embroider but a good friend of my mom's did, so after a spending a very informative afternoon with her, I was on my way. A few weeks before we moved from Salem to Pennsylvania, I was up late one night madly embroidering away so my pillow would be done in time for a lesson in blocking fabric (I also learned how to make a killer guacamole because my mom's friend also happens to be an amazing cook), and when I left her house that day, all I had left to do was let the fabric dry, buy a pillow form, and sew that baby together.

And for the next five years that's still all I had to do. Two weeks ago I bought a pillow form and a zipper. A week ago I realized that although I put a zipper in my cart the week before, it never actually made it onto my receipt or into my bag, so I went back and really did buy a zipper. This afternoon I sat down and put the thing together:

I'm really happy with the results.

I'm not going to tell you how after I put in the zipper I went ahead and sewed the rest of the square shut because, hey, there's a zipper there. It wasn't until I cut the thread that I realized it probably would have been a good idea to unzip the zipper before sewing the rest of the pillow square shut. After some finagling I managed to get it open, but I felt incredibly silly the whole time I was messing with it. But, again, I'm not going to tell you about that.

Posted by Jenn at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We're finally getting a new camera. I'm extremely excited for two reasons: 1. Instead of buying a cheap digital camera to get by with, we went ahead and purchased another Panasonic Lumix. We're getting a slightly lower end model than the one I so thoughtfully destroyed by launching it off of our kitchen counter onto the floor last Fall, but I will love and adore it no less. Guess what else? It's pink! Which is the second reason why I'm so excited. Dave was not thrilled by the prospect of a pink camera, but eventually decided that since I'm the one who uses it the most, it wouldn't affect his manliness much one way or the other, however, I will not be surprised if he strains and flexes his muscles if he ever has to use it. We compromised over the pinkness by getting a relatively unattractive black camera bag in which to keep it safe from harm.

Since it wasn't in stock at the store, we ended up purchasing it online. I'm counting the seconds until its arrival.

Posted by Jenn at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I woke up last night around 3AM in the throes of a major allergy attack. At 3:30AM I was wandering around the pharmacy section of Walmart, searching for Claritin. There were a few other shoppers in the store with me who were doing some grocery shopping. On the one hand, grocery shopping at Walmart at that hour of the morning seemed strange. On the other hand, I bet it's nice not having to dodge fifty other people and their carts just to get to the cheese.

This morning I woke up completely exhausted. The thing about being that tired and cranky at the start of the day is that twelve hours later, you're no worse off. So I'm feeling at the end pretty much like I felt at the beginning. Does that make it a good day?

Posted by Jenn at 08:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To celebrate Henry's general success with the potty he and I went to JoAnn Fabrics today to buy patterns and fabrics to make some new clothes! For me!

What? Potty training's been rough on me too!

When Henry found out I was getting Leo a pillow and making him a pillowcase just like the one I made him, he decided he was in dire need of a new pillowcase as well. This is the fabric he picked out. The boy is very secure in his masculinity.

Meanwhile, on Friday night we took Henry to his very first professional fireworks display. He was warned repeatedly and by many different people that the fireworks, although very cool, would also be very loud. He was fine until Megan brought it up, then he just looked really nervous, which either proves he'd heard it enough times to believe it, or he doesn't listen at all to anything either Dave or I say. I don't think he was disappointed after all of the buildup. When we came home he pulled out a book that has a drawing of fireworks and after staring at it for ten minutes pointed out all of the colors he'd seen earlier that evening, the most popular being green.

He's been talking about them nonstop ever since.

Posted by Jenn at 09:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...but since Megan's getting punchy, I guess I should go ahead and update.

The weekend in Boston was amazing, fun, and exhausting. We're all still recovering from it, trying to catch up on sleep. At one point on Sunday, while attending Riverfest, Henry decided to just lay down on Memorial Drive and think about catching a little shut-eye. Yes, that's how good the weekend was.

Friday was the day we overlapped with my Grandmother who was up visiting from the Deep South. The only one of us who seemed to have a desire to vocalize what he would most like to do was Henry, who declared he wanted to ride a train. So we took the T out to Aquarium to see the seals since no other destination jumped out and grabbed us, and upon ascending out of the train station, we saw the harbor cruise kiosk abuzz with activity. Turned out an inner harbor tour boat was going to set sail (or I should say "turn on the motor and go") in ten minutes. When I was in high school I used to love taking the harbor tours or taking the boat out to George's Island, so I've been waiting for a chance to be able to take Henry on one with me. You know, reclaiming lost youth and all of that. Henry had a fine time, although he didn't leave his Grandpa's lap for one second, especially not after the boat tooted its horn at the Charlestown Navy Yard halfway through the tour. When that happened, he pulled his hat over his face and really settled down into Grandpa's lap.

After the boat tour we checked out the seals, then met up with Dave and headed over to Faneuil Hall for some lunch. There was a "one-man band" set up outside, complete with a banjo, that everyone was enthralled enough with that I managed to run around and do a little shopping.

After stumbling home and getting a little rest in, my parents, my grandma, and myself stumbled back onto the train and headed over to the Regattabar to see the Puppini Sisters. It was one of the best shows I've seen. They were absolutely fantastic. Their act pays homage to the Andrews Sisters, so they sing a lot of their popular songs, like "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen", but they also do some original songs, as well as some pretty amazing covers, the most impressive of which (I thought) was "Crazy in Love". "Walk Like an Egypytian" was pretty darned good too. We all happily floated home on a cloud of rum and coke, gin and tonic, and lemonade. It was a fantastic evening.

And that was only Friday!

Posted by Jenn at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Spring seems to have come to an abrupt end. Now it's hot, humid, and hazy and I'm starting to be miserable. Summer is not my season. When it's cold you can at least bundle up, but when it's hot, there's a finite number of things you can do before resigning yourself to sitting in front of an air conditioner until September.

On the flip side, summer also happens to be watermelon season (with the bad comes the good?). When I was growing up in Louisiana it seemed like every couple of miles we'd drive past a pickup truck parked on the side of road that had a guy selling watermelons off the back. My mom and I used to sit on our front porch with big half-moons in our hands, making a big, sticky mess of things. It's a bit of a toss-up over which is better: watermelon that's been chilled in the fridge, or warm watermelon that's spent the morning basking in the sun on the back of a truck. If I can find some sun-warmed watermelons around here, I'll have to revisit that question with a taste test.

Posted by Jenn at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We got back into town yesterday afternoon. After doing a lot of extensive unpacking, both last night and today, I have come to the somewhat inescapable conclusion that I left my swimsuit in a cute little beach-house somewhere on the Outer Banks. I say "somewhat inescapable" because I still haven't unpacked Henry's box of toys, which is an unlikely location for a reasonable adult to shove a probably still damp swimsuit, however, you never know what you'll be driven to do in the throes of packing up your belongings at the end of a very relaxing week. I'm not too bummed out about leaving the suit behind because it was a little too big on me and so one of the bra cups had a tendency to ride on up and out which is not a great characteristic for an article of clothing to have. On the other hand, it did just occur to me that after a week spent eating food that was either: 1. BBQ'ed; 2. steamed and served with half a stick of melted butter; 3. fried into oblivion; or 4. not a vegetable, it would probably now fit me beautifully. Alas.

At least I have a box of chocolate fudge with walnuts in it to cheer me up.

Posted by Jenn at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sorry to have left both all of you hanging after that last post. My little melt-down couldn't have happened at a better time: the next day we got up to head to Dave's parents' house, and the day after that we carried on down the road to the beach, which is where we've been kicking around for the last few days. This is also where we'll be happily kicking around for a few more days. On Sunday night there was a tornado watch. The storm was vicious and scary and we did, at one point, end up in the basement for about half an hour. My theory is that the storm helped to concentrate a lot of our stress into one moment so that when it was over, we were all completely relaxed and therefore able to really enjoy the rest of the week.

Henry has been enjoying being here, except for that one traumatizing moment when the ocean came up on the beach and tried to eat him. He ran shrieking towards me and then would not let go of my hand until we came home. That was Monday morning. By Monday afternoon it was cold and rainy, and yesterday was just plain cold so we didn't get a chance to walk on the beach again until this morning. Henry was extremely reluctant to go out on the sand again, but we finally just picked him up and carried him out. He wasn't at all thrilled, but eventually we were able to put him on the ground, and soon after that he was off on his own in search of shells to put in his little yellow bucket. Perhaps by the end of the week he'll be up for dabbling his toes in the water.

Posted by Jenn at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In a few weeks I'm going to be taking belly dancing twice a week. I'll be carrying on with the six-week sessions offered through our local recreation department, but I'll be adding a private lesson once a week with the same teacher and another student. No one has been more surprised than me by how much I've enjoyed taking the classes. Last August I convinced Megan and Phoebe to take them with me because the idea of belly dancing was so far out that there was no way I could do it alone, plus it's always fun getting out of the house to hang with the ladies. I thought it would be a one-time thing, but I just haven't been able to stop going. About a week ago I went back to that first youtube video I posted back when we signed up for that first session and watched it again. I was surprised that I could name some of the steps she was doing, and could even do them myself. Not as gracefully or self-assured, but I could definitely do them. So hopefully with private lessons my instructor (who's amazing, because if she wasn't so encouraging and fun, I probably *would* have pooped out after the first session) will be able to better whip me into shape.

Last week she told us the name of the song we'll be using for our choreography. There's a dancer on youtube who also uses it. Here it is if you're interested:

Posted by Jenn at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This evening Flash and I ventured into the cemetery for our daily walk, just as dusk was deepening. While I was channeling my inner Buffy, just in case, I caught a glimpse of the latest in grave decorations: solar powered crosses and Angels. Saying I "caught a glimpse" is putting it mildly; "nearly jumped out of my skin" definitely belongs in there somehwere. There's a general heightened awareness of all senses when you're in a cemetery at night, no matter how firmly your feet are planted outside of believing in the realm of ghosts and goblins, so seeing a soft glow amongst the gravestones doesn't increase one's sense of ease. Once I ventured close enough to figure out what exactly it was that was glowing in the distance, I thought it was a pretty interesting take on outdoor solar lighting, and although I can't speak for the intentions of the people who put them out there, they suit cemeteries perfectly.

Posted by Jenn at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Dave's in major grading mode. He's grading labs and exams and more labs and since we're going on vacation next week he's trying hard to get it all done by Friday. This means I've had to try to not lean on him as much as I usually do, like no running out of the house the second he comes home because if I have to watch another one of these video's on youtube my brain will instantaneously liquify. Besides, it's my personal opinion that since Dave created that particular monster, he can deal with it.

This weekend I made a conscientious effort to give Dave lots of time to get some grading done with no distractions. Saturday I took Henry over to Megan's house and we had some lunch and played in Leo's new sandbox (which also has a water table because Megan always has to be better than me). She has this really nice flower garden alongside her house in the backyard and since the kids were contained by a nice tall fence I was able to sit down and weed while they were playing which maybe doesn't sound like a good time but really actually was. I've been dying to go out and weed our flower beds but by the time Henry's down for a nap, it's time for me to be down for a nap so it doesn't ever get done. Also, since we don't have a fence around our front yard and since Henry sometimes gets it into his head that it's hilarious to run over and teeter on the edge of the sidewalk, presumably because it's funny when his mommy nearly passes out from terror, I haven't been able to do any serious weeding. Did I mention Henry also likes to rip the tops off of our tulips? Because they're just so pretty they must be destroyes?

Anyway, later in the day Dave decided to take Henry to Sears to see about getting a new battery for our weed whacker. Riding high from the morning of weeding at Megan's house, I hauled out the wheelbarrow and declared war on some dandelions and a couple of huge masses of little maples (maplettes?) that were making a go for tree-dom. I raked, pulled, heaved, shoveled, and mulched for two hours. It was glorious. For two hours I reveled in the dirt and the bugs and the sense of accomplishment which increased with every weed pulled. The thing about living in a college town (and near the high school to boot) is you're constantly thinking back to what you were like when you were younger and experiencing all of the things all of the kids around you are going through. Sometimes I laugh at how disappointed the me of 16 years ago would have been to find out that 16 years in the future I'd be happily grubbing around in the dirt and lecturing my kid about not pulling out the pretty tulips BECAUSE I PLANTED THEM AND THEY'RE MINE SO JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE. I MEAN REALLY, NOW!

I guess those things just sort of sneak up on you.

Posted by Jenn at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I can empty the dehumidifier while wearing finger cymbals.

I just keep getting cooler and cooler, man.

Posted by Jenn at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)