Mid-November.....ALREADY??

Seriously....we're already halfway through November? UNACCEPTABLE!!!!

My how time flies.

Jim and I had a very busy weekend....but it was quite fun.
Friday night I ended up going to the show solo (that would be 'Reckless' @ SpeakEasy) because Jim got home from work and wasn't necessarily 'feeling it' - so I knew it would be much better to go alone, rather than force him to join me. You know how that is, right?? Right.
Anyway....the show was SOOOOO good. I had no idea what to expect and I was more than pleasantly surprised. I'm not going to go into detail about the story itself, but I will say that I enjoyed it VERY much. I laughed a LOT and cried as well. Granted, I cry at TV commercials, but there were some truly great moments in the play that had me welling up.
Visually, it was beautiful, fun, and festive and it was clear that the director (Scott Edmiston) was responsible for the show working so well. After seeing the show, I want to get a copy of the script so that I can appreciate his direction even more. I know that there is a lot of stuff that he put in there (transitions, etc...) that aren't included in the script - and all those things are what made the show work so well. If you're in the area, I highly suggest making the trip into Boston to see it.
Go here for the specifics. :-)

On Saturday I pretty much lounged around the house (the weather was gross and rainy) until I had to go to my softball meeting that evening. It was great to see my teammates and catch up with them. We were getting together in order to discuss the upcoming year and to introduce the new players that we're adding to our roster (we're definitely adding 4 new players, possibly 5) since we lost a few players at the end of this season. After the meeting we all grabbed some dinner and then we headed over to Fritz (Yay Fritz!!) for a few drinks. Jim and our friend Charles met us there as well so that was fun.

Sunday morning we slept in and while Jim drained, cleaned out, and re-filled the hot tub, I did some picking up around the house and once he was all set, we showered and headed out to go grocery shopping. We got home from shopping and then stopped be his mom's house to visit for a bit. We then went home, had some dinner and then tried to stay awake on the couch for the rest of the night. We were both SOOOO tired - but we managed to stay awake until 10pm, when we finally decided to hit the hay.

Tonight we're having Jim's parents over for dinner. Since Jim is making his sauce, meatballs and sausages - and it feeds about 20 people - we decided to have them over. I'm sure it'll be fun.
:-)

Have a great day.....10 more days until Thanksgiving!!!!

So, here we are again....

Yet another Friday the 13th!!!

I drove Jim's car to work today and I LOVED it!!! What a great car. I felt so 'fancy' driving down the highway in it.

After work I'm taking it to get an inspection sticker, which is why I have it today. Jim won't get out of work early enough and since I'm closer to home, I can scoot out of here a little early and get it taken care of.

Last night was VERY fun, as I knew it would be. We got to spend a little time with Melissa's ridiculously cute daughter before she was off to sleep. Her name is Ava, and she's turning FOUR on the 17th.....in NOVEMBER!!!!! (a direct quote from her)

Dinner was great, as was the time spent catching up with Melissa. She's currently pregnant and is due on mine and Scooter's birthday....February 11th! We'll see how that all works out...you know how babies are, they rarely show up on time. :-)

After a very yummy dinner, Jim and I carried in Melissa's new kitchen set (since she's pregnant, and her husband is nursing a sore elbow). While we carried int eh kitchen set, we were carrying out the crib, bit by bit. It was a very efficient, and quite a fair exchange. She was able to get the new kitchen set into her house, and we were able to get the crib into our house!

Once we got home and everything was out of the car, Scooter gave the crib a quick inspection to be sure it was 'OK', and then he pretty much ignored it. Since the nursery isn't quite ready (and by not quite ready I mean, not even remotely close to being ready) the crib is in four pieces sitting in our front closet. This morning I emailed the manufacturer, in hopes that they can send us the 'users manual' for the crib. I looked online and I can't seem to find any info. out there regarding this specific model, so hopefully they can send us something. If they can't, it's no big deal. It seems fairly simple to figure out, but I'm more curious than anything. I'm definitely one of those people who reads manuals from cover to cover in order to be sure I don't miss anything.

Unlike Jim, who has very little interest in manuals of any form.

I didn't take any pictures, because it's not put together yet, but once we have it assembled, there will be pictures. It's a beautiful crib though, and I can't wait to see it when it's all set up.

Tonight Jim and I are attending opening night of the Craig Lucas play 'Reckless' at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston. I have a few friends in the show, and I know NOTHING about the play - so I'm very excited to see it. I'm a big fan of Scott Edmiston's (he's the director) work, so I'm sure it'll be a great show. Be sure to check back on Monday morning for my 'review'.

This is their poster....which I really like.

Have a great weekend and be safe!!!

xoxo

Dinner and a crib.

I'm SOOO excited for tonight.

Jim and I are getting together with our friend Melissa for a LONG overdue dinner date. We've been trying for what feels like weeks (because it probably has been weeks) to find a date that 'worked' for all of us and it has finally arrived!!!

We're also picking up a crib while we're down there. A friend of hers was looking to get rid of a practically brand new crib and since we're in the market for a crib, we're taking it. Yikes.

I realize that it will go unused for a while, but when the time comes, we'll be ready.

Until then, Scooter can use it.

Kidding!

Of course, Jim and I were joking around the other day - while we were taking the last of the wallpaper down in the soon-to-be nursery - and contemplating what would happen if we changed our plan entirely.

Do you think a teenager would object to sleeping a night or two in a crib???

Stay tuned for pictures!!!!

And the final decision is.....

I'm going to grow it. :-)

I know, I know - some of you aren't crazy about a 'bearded John', but have no fear. Nothing is forever.


Besides, you know how I am....it's probably going to end up annoying me sooner or later and I'll get rid of it. I'm just tired of shaving every day and I want a break.

Keep in mind, this could all change if I don't like the way it looks!! Each time I've grown one, it comes in a little bit greyer....so we shall see!!!!

Beards through the years:

What do YOU think???

I'm thinking about growing my beard again.....I know it's ultimately my decision, but what do you think I should do???

Beard?



Or no beard?

Turkey Attack!!!

Let me begin today's entry by saying that when I pulled into the parking lot this morning, there were TWENTY wild turkeys walking through the parking lot.

TWENTY!!!! They are not small birds....wow.

There were 19 females, that looked like this:

And there was one male, who looked like this:

He seemed to be keeping everyone in line.

Incidentally, I did a lil' research and it seems that a large group of turkeys is known as a 'rafter'. I had no idea. Although there are definitely plenty of places on the internets that they're referred to as a 'flock' - I much prefer 'rafter'.

As I pulled in, they all stopped moving and started at me. I got out of my car and they were all still standing there.....staring. I felt a bit like Tippi Hendren, but with turkeys. It was very eerie.

Once they realized I was harmless, they went along their merry way and I went into the office.

Anyway...that was an interesting way to begin my work week.

So, the weekend was fun-filled and FULL of activities.....I'll try to keep it brief.

Friday night Jim and I went to dinner and a movie. We had a GREAT dinner and a not-so-great movie. We went to see 'The Fourth Kind'. While it was quite interesting and had a few moments that made me jump, it was kind of a let down. I'm still not sure if it's real or if I was 'had'. They supposedly use a lot of actual footage and actual voice recordings....but I'm not sure if it's just a ploy to get us to believe.....I'll have to do more research to get the full story.

What it did do was remind me why I never go to the movies. I hate sitting in a theatre full of inconsiderate, clueless, rude, people. Nothing outrageous happened, but there were people walking in and out of the theatre the entire time, talking, making comments, etc....it was really irritating and distracting.

On Saturday we went car shopping for Jim. He paid off his car a while ago and has been wanting/needing a new car so we went out to take care of that. He ended up getting a 2009 Horizon Blue, Mini Cooper Clubman. It's SUCH a cool car and he got a really good deal on it. We were a bit skeptical about how much room it had, but honestly, I sat in the back seat during the test drive and there was PLENTY of room back there. The Clubman is different than the regular Mini Cooper in that it has a half-door on one side, which allows for easier access to the back seat, and it also has a small-ish area for storage in the back (a stroller will fit back there, no worries). It's apparently a very safe car, and has a really good maintenance plan, etc...etc...

He's picking it up tonight and is BEYOND excited.

This is what it looks like:

His is very similar to this one, but his roof isn't silver. His roof is the same color as the rest of the car, and he has roof rails, which make it look a lot less boxy, and more sporty....very nice.

Hooray for new cars!!!!

Saturday night we went over to one of my friend's house for dinner. she and I went to college together and hadn't seen one another since 1998 or so. It was great to see her, meet her husband and son, and have a YUMMY dinner. It wasn't a late night, which was good, since we had a bit of a drive home.

On Sunday we got up early, cleaned the house, cleaned out and winterized the screened in porch, did a bit of yard work, took down the rest of the wall paper in the soon-to-be-nursery and went grocery shopping.....all before 2 in the afternoon. :-)

It was kind of crazy, but AWESOME to have all that done.

Once that was finished, we relaxed for a bit, met Charles and the twins for dinner, went back to their house for dessert, came home, watched TV and PASSED OUT at 9:30.

And here I am!!!! :-)

I hope you all had great weekends too!!!!

P.S. - In honor of the Sesame Street's 40th Birthday, I give you one of my all-time favorite Muppets:

Prairie Dawn is amazing.

Just getting in....

Good (almost) afternoon everyone!!

I arrived at work a 'tad' later than usual today because I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor to go over my test results from a couple of weeks ago.

Thankfully, they found nothing seriously wrong with me.

He said that a couple of the biopsies that they took showed some signs of gastritis - which is an inflammation of the lining of the stomach. I was looking online for what causes it and found this: "The main acute causes are excessive alcohol consumption or prolonged use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (also known as NSAIDs) such as aspirin or ibuprofen."

Ummmm.....that's......interesting.

It must have been all that aspirin I took down in Rhode Island when I was playing softball.

Sure, that must be it. ;-)

Either way, my doctor said it was nothing to be concerned about, and they found no traces of the h. pylori bacteria anywhere, which is great news. That's the bacteria that's linked to acid reflux as well as a host of other stomach 'issues'.

He suggested that I continue taking Prilosec for the rest of the month and then I can stop taking it. I've been feeling fine (knock on wood) for the past few weeks, so it must have been a result of me acting like I was a 20 year old staying out late and drinking a bit more that I maybe should have been. :-)

He also took some blood so that he could check my cholesterol numbers and make sure everything was still OK in that department. Hopefully at this time next week I'll receive a clean bill of health and I can concentrate on shedding some pounds.

Speaking of, he was happy to hear that I'd joined a gym and was thrilled that I've already lost a few pounds since I was in there a few weeks ago.

Now I just have to avoid 'Pizza Night' tonight at the gym. HA!!!

Well, that's all I have for today. I hope you all have a great day and a fun-filled weekend!!!

Be sure to check out Jim's blog....there's a new entry out there today, featuring yet another totally goofy video of me.