The baby

When he is laying in my lap watching tv he is so cute. When we wake up to discover he has chewed through jeremy's ipod earphone headset cordn not so much.
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star wars in concert

most of you probably had no idea that i am a massive star wars geek. there. i admitted it. jeremy and i exited the church at our wedding to the star wars main title. i have watched all of the movies probably a million times. seeing harrison ford on the red carpet at the oscars a couple years ago was one of the highlights of my life. having said all of that, i had the second highlight of star wars geek life last thursday. the royal philharmonic concert orchestra is touring the world. they play select songs from all six films set to movie clips and sound effects. anthony daniels (c3po) is there (IN PERSON!) and narrates. they had lots of costumes from the shows in the lobby.

from the first notes of the fox fanfare to the augmented major seventh to the death march, i had goosebumps. me and thousands of SUPER nerdy people were all on the edge of our seats. jeremy was just laughing at how serious we all were taking it.

let me also say one thing. i know that i am kinda dorky when it comes to star wars, but i was wearing jeans and t-shirt. i only point this out because of the number of grown-up people there in costume. there were kids in costume too but they are cute and not dorky. after about fifth grade, dressing as a star wars character any day but october 31 is weird. the concert was amazing, and it was so cool to see the props and the movie clips with the live orchestra. they also had some of the original sheet music that john williams had done bu hand. there were pencil marks and erasures all over it. too cool for words!

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12th vs 14th

i didn't experience any particularly bad luck (or good luck for that matter) on friday the 13th, but the 12th and 14th were rather exceptional.


good things that hapened on the 12th:
the doorbell rang twice, once with a free book for me and once with new clothes for jeremy
i found my awesome purplish pink sweatpants that i bought at a j. crew warehouse sale in college that have been in my parents' attic for four years while we were in california and which i forgot i owned but practically havent taken off since i refound them
i made a really weird soup with cinnamon, apples, and lots of veggies and chicken that turned out really really good (and super mdf!)
jeremy got his first paycheck from citizen's bank
it was sunny outside so i got to use the clothesline instead of the dryer (it really doesnt take much to make me happy!)

bad things that happened on the 14th:
i got the idiot teller at the bank who doesnt know how to make change
the ticket machine broke and i was on my hands and knees for a half hour fixing it
we dropped a box of filed tickets and had to refile them all
there were two shows of cats on the same day which meant LOTS of people showed up at the wrong time and blamed me
it was raining so even though i used an umbrella the hems of my pants were soaked every time i had to go outside
k-state lost and we got to watch every agonizing minute on tv

today is going to be another good day though. we both have the day off, its after noon and i'm still in my pajamas, jeremy is going to the shooting range, theres a baby cat perched on my shoulder (he just hangs out there like a pirate's parrot), and i'm happy.

Unhappy Halloween

Jeremy's pumpkin started growing a face tattoo shortly after we set it outside. Mine slowly deflated like a sad balloon the day after the party. It was fun to carve them, but I was sad they didn't make it very long!
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second new hampshire visitor

jeff was in town for his annual hunting trip. the trip ended sunday morning and his flight was monday morning, so we were able to sepnd sunday afternoon and evening with him.

he arrived at our apartment shortly before i got home from work, so after he washed days of hunting dirt off and i changed out of my sweater and into something lighter-weight (it was WARM on sunday!) we headed to 900 degrees neopolitan pizzeria for dinner. they were having live music, so we got dinner and a show. it was fun.

we came home and played cards. jeff had mentioned 99 as a game he played with all the guys while hunting. i remember playing it with my aunt norma and other family at my nana's dining room table once a long time ago, so i knew the game. jeremy caught on quickly (it isnt super complicated) and we played several rounds. i won the first two and jeff won the third. by then we were all exhausted and he and jeremy had to get up at 4:30am to get to the airport so we all headed to bed.

it was a short visit, but still really nice to see him!

CATS

i know i've been talking about cats, CATS and kittens for a while. this will be my last post mentioning them for a while. but a couple things are worth mentioning.

first, we went and saw CATS at the palace on saturday night with mark and lanelle. it was so nice that mark and lanelle finally got to meet jeremy, and to see them again. the show was amazing. the cast was amazing and a few of them were espcially superb. the two cats, rumpleteazer and mungo jerrie, sang one of my favorite songs. rumpy is definitele well named. although he doesnt look like these twin cats, their personalities fit him to a tee. they are trouble-makers and super playful and like to rip up paper and get intot things that they shouldnt. definitely sounds like my rumpy! after the show we went to ignite for dinner and to spend more time with them. so fun.

our cats are getting along better than ever. they chase each other around and play tag. rumpy is great at playing fetch, and whenever cricket has had enough of him, so goes and sleeps on the guest bed where he never thinks to look for her. he will come running when i yell "jellicle cats come to the jellicle ball!" and cricket usually moseys along behind him at her own pace. they crack me up. now, every night when we watch tv, i have a cat in my lap, jeremy has one in his, and we are all four so happy!

happy halloween!

halloween weekend was also opening weekend of CATS at the palace. so not only did we get a new cat at home, i've been living cats all day at work. we've been wearing the ears with our cats shirts during the week, but with it being halloween and i all, i got into the cat spirit a little more for the saturday performance. one of the girls in the show is also a box office employee, so she did super basic cat makeup for me. all the kids and old people who came on saturday night really got a kick out of it.what's the fun of working in a theatre if you can't dress up once in a while right? i brought home a playbill (i love that wokring at the theatre means my name is in all the playbills) and we went through the character names in order to find a name for our new baby.

we decided on rumpleteazer. although the character in the show is a girl, its not really a feminine name. we have been calling him rumpy or rumplesneezer. he caught a minor cold during those two awful days he had to be at the shelter. jeremy still calls him "cat" or "blackie" but is slowly making the transition to rumpy.

he and cricket have been getting along famously and he sleeps by my feet every night. we love him.

we had no trick-or-treaters either on halloween or on the sunday before which was the designated trick or treat time for manchester (thats the stupidest thing i ever heard of) and that kinda bummed me out. but since i was working during primo t-o-t hours, i guess im glad i didnt miss any cute kids. and we didnt buy candy so oh well.

what did you do for halloween?

national cat day

yesterday was (apparently) national cat day. jeremy celebrated by caving on the kitten issue and taking me to the shelter to adopt one of our foster babies! we brought him home last night and he readjusted in a snap! cricket was happy to have him back. he was her favorite of the litter. they have been chasing each other around all day. he slept curled around the legs all night last night, and sat in my lap this morning while we watched tv, just like well-behaved cats are supposed to.

the one we picked was the black and white kitten. i thought he was a she the whole time he was living with us, but they figured out at the shelter that he was a boy. i guess they found where it was stamped on the bottom.

we havent figured out a name for him. cricket didnt have a name for aboutthe first two weeks because we (i) wanted the perfect one. jeremy has been calling the new baby blackie or gato negro but i dont like either of those. i suggested snowball, but that was mostly a joke. i also kinda like kramer. i really want a name that has a "k" sound to match cricket and our last name.

anyone have any ideas?

last day with the kittens

well, i had to take the kittens and scarlet back to the shelter today. thankfully lauren wanted one, so she went with me. jeremy was at the palace building the CATS set (he has two jobs now, but still hasnt started at the bank). i needed the moral support. they were crying and scared and i didnt want to give them up, but that's the nature of fostering i guess.

thankfully at least one kitten has a great new home. lauren and kevin have one maine coon cat ad today adopted sookie, the calico kitten from the litter. jeremy never caved on letting me have a second cat, so for now cricket is an only child. but seriously, look at him.

he's the cat whisperer. and he like to pretend he only tolerates cricket. liar!

hopefully in a few months we will foster again. i need some time to get over my loss! i get to see sookie in her new home tomorrow though and i am happy about that. she is such a sweetie. apparently lucee, her new cat sister, is scared of her. thats because sookie had to learn how to stick up for herself at our house. her brother and sister played rough!

the shelter is such a sad place. they said kittens get adopted quickly and i sure hope thats true because there are so many animals in cages there! they are doing the best they can but it is still sad. i almost came home with a rabbit for jeremy but didnt. she looked a lot liked babe did though (minus satan's eyes).

two more days

just when cricket is really warming up to the babies, it is time to take them back to the shelter. sookie (in this picture with cricket) is going to my old boss's house. lauren is going to love her and take care of her. i'm still holding onto hope that jeremy will cave in and let me keep the black and white kitten, but it is highly unlikely. either way, most of the cats in our house will be leaving on monday.

the manchester animal shelter is overrun with cats right now and it is really sad. they are a no-kill shelter, which is great, but some of the kitties have been there for years. they even have kittens that aren't being adopted there. kittens are really hard to find in a shelter so you know there must be a cat saturation in manchester (catsuration?). it breaks my heart to think of any of these babies in a cage for weeks, months, or even years.

so this was supposed to be a cute picture and a witty post, but it is turning into kind of a downer. if you are looking for a pet, check your local shelter before paying a breeder. or, make a donation of time or money to your shelter. it really helps all these poor babies.

and like bob barker always said, spay and neuter your animals!

(it is still a cute picture!)

foooootball

steph and ryan came over on sunday to watch the patriots ruthlessly destroy the tennesse titans. the game stopped being fun to watch midway through the second quarter. i think the final score was around six million to zero. they brought charlie over (steph's westie) and oh boy! did the kittehs ever love that game! watching the babies hiss at the dog while he is jumping around in his carrier was mildly entertaining. cricekt spazzed out and clawed me, which was also very fun. so the five cats spent the night under the bed with the door closed and the four of us and charlie had some soup and chip and salsa and hung out.

right before they came over lauren brought kevin over to meet sookie and make sure they wanted to take her. they fell in love with her, which i knew they would. she is a sweetie. majorly a scaredy cat, but so sweet. she cuddled with cricket on the bed today for hours. it was adorable and heart melting.

tonight we tried to watch house, but the stupid baseball playoffs were still going - it was like the 30th inning of whatever game was on. yankees suck. so jeremy went to rite aid, and i did dishes. watching house would have been better.

blog action day

today, october 15, people with blogs all over the world are all writing about the same thing. this year's topic is climate change.

whether you agree with al gore and the global warming people or not, the fact of the matter is that the earth is our home, and we need to treat it nicer.

i'm not one to go all crunchy granola and tell people to start skipping deodorant and reusing grey water (although those ideas have merit in the proper setting). i'm talking about small things that you prolly wouldn't even notice you are doing that help out in the end.

take one minute shorter showers. you'll save money on your water bill and whatever you use to heat the water bill, you'll use thousands of gallons less water in a year.

when you get to a parking lot, just park and walk. those people that circle around waiting for a spot or idle for ten minutes waiting for the old lady to load her bags of cat food in the back of her station wagon are wasting time. they are sending carbon monoxide and other pollutants into the air and water. park in the back of the lot and walk. you'll get some fresh air and a little exercise, your car has less chance to get dinged up, you'll prolly even get into the store sooner than if you had tried to find a killer spot. (exceptions to this rule are made in my household if it is raining, especially if i have blow-dried my hair).

walk or bike more places. take the bus or subway. go down to one car per household. we have one car and it works. we walk to rite aid to get milk or whatever. i rode my bike to work when it was warmer. i also have taken the bus around. not as ghetto as it might seem, and, since the bus or subway runs anyways, you aren't adding any extra to traffic, etc.

stop using so much paper. do you really need that printed out? try using a real towel or real napkins instead of paper. more laundry, sure, but it is better for the environment. and sitting down to dinner with cloth napkins can sure dress up a lean cuisine!

there are lots of great resources on and offline to learn more about what you can do and how it matters. every week slate.com's green lantern posts an article about eco-friendly real-life questions like is beer or wine better for the environment? what's the most eco-friendly birth control method? and many more. i have several great green living books. there are green blogs by the thousands.

reduce, reuse, recycle. we all learned the adage in school. now it is time to figure out how to put it into practice in our real lives.

ARC review: hush, hush

hush, hush

becca fitzpatrick

out this week in hardcover

from the back:

A sacred oath, a fallen angel, a forbidden love.

Nora Grey is responsible and smart and not inclined to be reckless. Her first mistake was falling for Patch. Patch has a past thta could be called anything but harmless. The best thing he ever did was fall for Nora.

After getting paired with Patch in Biology, all Nora wants to do is stay away from him, but he always seems to be two steps ahead of her. She can feel his eyes on her even when he is nowhere around. She feels him nearby even when she is alone in her bedroom. And when her attraction can be denied no longer, she learns the secret about who Patch is and what led him to her. Despite all the questions she has about his past, in the end, there may be only one question they can ask each other: How far are you willing to fall?

my review:

the cover is gorgeous and intriguing. the first half of the book was completely riveting. things fell apart a little for me in the end, but i still enjoyed the story. it was nice to read a fantasy/sci-fi teen novel NOT about vampires for a change. there is still that forbidden love/i know he is bad news but i still want him anyways aspect.

simon and schuster is doing some really fun promotional stuff for this book. if you want to know more about it, get screensavers etc, check out teen.simonandschuster.com.

if you like the twilight style of books, you'll prolly enjoy this one. a little darker, with more danger elements, but comparable.

fall is coming!

and it is gonna be pretty!

there are so many lakes and ponds here, and almost all of them have parks around them with walking, biking, and cross country skiing trails. jeremy is excited to try cross country skiing, and i can't wait to hit the slopes again. but first, i need something to thicken my blood. today was in the 40s and i was freezing all day long. sad but true. matt (a guy at work) was wearing a hawaiian shirt and shorts. it made me cold just looking at him.

in general though, when the sun i sshining, the fall weather here is just gorgeous. i bought a couple more sweaters and a super awesome scarf and i'm ready. it will be weird to bust out my coats after years of not wearing them though!

family fotos

jeremy and i took a little tour around our fair city, getting some shots of fall leaves and having a fun day off together. this one is of us in front of the merrimack river. you can see part of the mill yard in the background. we live just on the other side of this river. we are in the parking lot of UNH manchester (like k-state salina).

we brought cricket out on her leash to try and get a complete family foto. she was mildly cooperative and liked to eat the weeds. she was scared of the c ars, even though 90% of her day is spent watching them from our window.