The Power Trio Dorks

These are my work buddies, Peter and Greg. A few years ago we started inviting people to McDonald's from our work to get to know them. We'd conduct what basically amounted to a guerrilla interview. We'd share something inappropriate about ourselves and they would have to reciprocate. We had fun with it and didn't push too hard, but you had to impress us or never get invited back. Somehow word spread and people wanted in. It became a status symbol to be invited to our interrogations. The only change we made was to trade McDonald's in for Sal's. (We had little friends at McDonald's who took care of us but after Adrien had a heart attack and didn't recognize us when she came back it became too sad)

Over the years we've had fellow employees tell us about their lesbian fantasies, about burning down a dorm room by accident and one guy shared a creepy story about him and his high school buddies feeling up a teen girl in a car. He wasn't invited back. We've had our bosses and VP's ask in. We had one chick try to pit us against each other. It wasn't until the ride home before we realized what she was doing. She also never received a return invite.

It's a pathetic little ritual that basically is equivalent to being king of the dorks, but when your job is to fire people it's something to look forward to.

Hello Dolly

I ate dinner over Mom's tonight. We watched Diane Sawyer and her newscast, followed by Chronicle and a bad ABC sitcom. Television for the over 70's crowd. We played Scrabble while watching to complete the old person night.

But what's not old; what's new and hip, are the Michelle and Barack dolls! Mom has always collected dolls but I thought she stopped after realizing she has no space to display them. No! Not true! Always room for the Obamas.

I walked that fine line of complimenting them, while not complimenting TOO much. The fear was that they'd end up under my name in Mom's will.

It's nice to be nice to the nice

Our neighbor Cheryl, who we don't get to talk to all that much, snuck onto our porch and dropped off this bouquet of flowers. I don't think there is anything that rivals random, unexpected acts of goodness. We're so used to watching reality television with a cynical eye. Even when we see shows like extreme home makeover it will make us teary eyed, but we know we're being manipulated.

Having someone do something good on you, for the sake of being good, it's just shouldn't be taken for granted.

A Good Smelly Candle

As soon as the cold weather hits my thoughts turn to foliage, flannel sheets, Charlie Brown Christmas, and the smell of apples and spice. I bought an autumnal candle a few weeks ago and was disappointed beyond appropriateness. Luckily I found a line at Tendercrop Farms that really stinks up the place - in a good way.

You should also notice that I'm already bundling up in my own home. Tonight I ate dinner under a wool blanket in a wool sweater and my beloved Australian pashmina scarf. I even contemplated heating up my old friend, Bucky, while I read on the couch waiting for Bill to get home. If you do not have a Bucky, this is the must purchase of the season: http://www.bucky.com/catalog/spa_and_gift/HotWaterBottle.html

I think I've really turned people (and by "people" I think I only mean Whitney) on to 2 products - the neti pot ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neti_pot) and Bucky. If either company need me for an infomercial I am available and convincing.

Happle Birthday, Jen

Jen K turned 21 and we went to Brooksbury Farm to pick apples.

Bret and the boys looked good in their flannel.

Newburyport Documentary Film Festival Weekend

Stacey, Laura and I indulged in the Nbpt Doc Film Fest today despite the "beautiful" 80 degree sunny day (if you like that sort of thing). Stacey and I started last night with Orgasm, Inc and began our day (after breakfast at Mad Martha's) with Toyland. Then Laura joined us for the over-hyped Loving Lamposts.

Lunch was Thai food on the roof deck of the Tannery overlooking the Merrimac.

After the movies we needed a caffeine infusion - iced coffee and iced tea at the Plum Island Coffee Roasters (a first for Stacey!) On a side note, I decided today that the white All Stars were one of my best NYC purchases.

We ended the day with dinner at Glenn's Cool Bar. The boys got giddy rehashing Daves of Thunder and Jen told stories about her job "socializing the ice maker".


Everyone likes a candid shot: reminiscent of the old self timer shots of the 90's, Jen does a dive into Dave & Stacey's lap. Dave's face really says it all.

Bill and I were sad to see Stacey and Dave go. Hopefully America's Favorite Houseguests will be back soon!

he looks like a nice kid.......

But Joey is Il Dominatore, The Dominator.

Ipswich's football team lost to Newburyport, but Joey BFL team (band football league) won thanks to Joey's stellar play.

eat, pray, love .... minus the pray

America's favorite house guests arrived tonight for a sleep over. We watched some HGTV while we ate, got a gelato and came home to catch The Situation getting it on.

I'd rather be kicking a hornet's nest...

It's after 10:00 on a school night and I'm sleepy and I want to read about Salander and Blomkvist...now I know how Dicken's felt when his next installment was in demand. Our blog is like Little Dorrit - everyone wants to know what happens next! (Well, next I'm logging out and reading about 3.5 sentences and falling asleep with the book in my hands....zzzz......)


PS This book looks different because its the UK version purchased at Heathrow - its only in hardcover here in the US.

Using our big words

Mom and I had a fun game of Scrabble tonight. If 3 and 4 letters words are your thing, our game would have had you spellbound.

Paint it black

said Bill and the Rolling Stones. But Jen and Laura over ruled me and went with Bartlett Pear.

Even when Laura's picture isn't in the blog she is still present.

Laura is the one who is painting our steps before we install a rug on them. She even helped pick out the rug design.

Sunday Morning Project

Our third floor closet was a blockade of luggage, drop cloths. paint cans and Christmas wrap. So this morning was like an episode of "Hoarders" - I burrowed into the depths and ended up with this beautiful organized walk in closet. Just in time for Christmas present storage. (and yes, I've started playing Charlie Brown Christmas - the greatest album ever recorded. What of it?)

Summer extended

We had a great day in Ogunquit. Lunch at Jackie's included steamers, lobster bisque and a lobster salad... plus a couple of afternoon beers. Perfect seats outside in the sun looking out on the Atlantic. Took in the art museum. We asked a couple local fisherman for directions to the museum and they told us to get in the back of their pickup and they'd drive us there. We love that. Jen let the thought of us being kidnapped and murdered go through her head only for a second.

I had a chat with a cute lesbian who had a bunch of tattoos while waiting for Jen. She was in a shop, I was having a cigar. Her friend, who wanted me to give her my hat, asked me if I was waiting for my wife or my husband. Sweater vest, silly hat, we were in Ogunquit.... fine, I get it.

Yom Kippur Fashionista

Laura started her day with a pre-temple fashion photo shoot in our front yard. Dressed in a dark gray jersey dress, gray tights, and black mid heel shoes, Laura is ready to atone her sins today with friends and family in Newton (with an optional light gray scarf).



Needless to say, Petey is angry that Laura just snagged three more coveted blog pics and is already plotting her next blog appearance.

Bed Sprints

Petey does her nightly sprints while Jen cheers her on.....

(another desperate picture night)

Happy Thursday

Bill and Petey having fun making funny faces together...

Have a Jazzy Birthday, Trudi!

Trudi turned 77 yesterday and celebrated with cataracts surgery. Ouch.

But that didn't stop her from enjoying her birthday dinner at 10 Center Street tonight with a nice little jazz band playing some standards like "It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing" and "The A Train".



Meanwhile, Joey made my night by telling me that he wrote a piece in his creative writing class about my burps. I offered to record a burp remix to play while he read the piece to the class but I guess they aren't quite that creative at Ipswich High.

stressful day at the office

Kronos took our department out to Kimball's where we hit golf balls, ate badly and rode the water bumper cars. I'm wiped. Work is so demanding.

old timey post

Petey was upset that Laura was catching up to her for most posts. Prepare for a Petey series....

Shopping with Sherpa

Continuing her bid for most blogged about, Laura (neighborhood decorator and rug expert) agreed to go with me to look for a much needed stair runner. Surprisingly, this was her first ever visit to Landri & Arcari in Salem.


We brought home 4 samples. And the winner is....stay tuned for the photo after installation to find out! (I'm not sure how long that will be so you will probably have to keep reading for weeks and weeks.)

Happy Birthday Stacey!

Having your birthday on September 11th must be a mixed bag...on one hand, everyone associates it with death and terrorism, on the other, people probably rarely forget the date.

Newburyport created this flag display on the mall today so we had a little picnic nearby and appreciated the beautiful day. We hope Stacey had a good one! xox

Big hitter, the Lama

The boy is a natural (except for the drive that went over the giant screen and hit a shed)

Franzenfreude

Vicki, Skye, and I went to see Jonathan Franzen - center of the latest lit kerfuffle regarding the NYTimes gender biased book reviews. Jonathan was twitchy, somewhat uncomfortable in his own skin (he fell off the little stage stool at the podium more than once) and struggled to answer the big concept questions ("do you have hope for humanity?") that came his way after the 25 minute reading. He even requested no photos. Luckily I was able to take this shot at the signing in the church basement without a flash with the camera peeking out of my coach bag.


Of course, Vicki and Skye do NOT have a no photos policy so I got several shots of them during the looooooong line to the signing table.


When I finally got reached Jonathan I said, "Could you write - To Jennifer, thanks for that wonderful night in the Poconos"? It clearly threw him and after several long seconds he responded with "I can't think fast enough to respond. How about this?" and wrote 'With Thanks'. Of course, we will always have the Poconos.

New wheels for Bret-man

Bret and the boys tooling around in their "new" 1997 Subaru Outback.

The night is a blur

Despite the auto focus we got a strange effect on this shot....I actually like it but I'm not sure it did justice to Stacey's new doo!! We continue to struggle to find the best meeting place coming from Littleton, Burlington and Boston but The Parson's Table in Winchester was a hit. I'd recap the night but what happens at the Parson's Table, stays at the Parson's Table.