It's "Weak Post Monday"

"Yea, though I walk through the 'Valley of the Shadow of Death'. I shall fear no evil. For it is I, that is the evilest bastard in the valley. My gun and my bayonet, they comfort me. I fear no one, I let them fear me. My fighting spirit runneth over!"

"Lighten up, Barry. We're just looking for spare change in Jen's rug."

OSCAR NIGHT!

Kelly Osborne "Jennifer's 'New England Glam' makes a smashing statement"

Giuliana Rancic - "Interesting plaid combination for Bill....."

Joan Rivers - "I wouldn't say Bill invented tacky, but he's responsible for it's current popularity. He looks like a %$ing putz. And I was going to rip Jennifer to shreds about this abomination until I heard she had to cover up hickeys that Russell Brand gave her"

Jen made the controversial move of inviting her Boston marriage partner Laura

Bill at the after party hanging with Amy Adams, Penelope Cruz and Sean Penn.

Bill and Sean Penn ended up fighting later in the evening. Penn stuck a shrimp fork in Bill's neck, but Bill won the battle with the rolled up magazine trick he picked up from the Bourne Identity.

Kate Winslet had a dream come true when she got to present her idol, Jennifer, with the Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Paul Blart - Mall Cop II".

Lunch with my Cougar

We had a few pints at lunch in Harvard Square today.

We had a lovely day.

I love this picture of Jennie. Every now and again I'm reminded how attractive she is.

I really think she looks better than ever. Not just saying that so she'll overlook the fact that I'm not handy around the house and have a mess beside my bed.

Jen loves Woody

Guess which of the Oscar nominated movies we watched tonight?

We welcomed home Laura and Jim after their being away for almost three months by watching Toy Story 3 on pizza night. We started talking about our most favorite toys growing up. Jen of her lifetime attachment to Petey. I talked about playing baseball with a full team of stuffed animals. Joey has Junior Joey, the brown bear you see in the photo.

And Laura told a cold story of how she basically abandoned her stuffed dog somewhere. Her callousness was shocking. She tried to backtrack on the story when it was obvious she made a social faux pas, but it was too late.

We reluctantly allowed her to hold a monkey for the group photo.

Dog Treats

I came home late this afternoon from having my hair snipped at (I really can't say "cut" since she barely took anything off...it was more of a shaping while some layers grow out) to find this little surprise in our front grass. What is wrong with people?!?!!

Meanwhile I have 3 other random comments:

1. I know we should have cut that ornamental grass before the snow ever fell but once we got snowed in there was no way to do it. Of course now its flattened by snow and looks ridiculous...and has poop on it!!

2. Look how light it is out at 5pm - can spring be far away now??

3. For those who remember my little faux pas of not recognizing my temporary neighbor as she washed my hair last time, I can proudly say that I did recognize her and greeted her accordingly.

Museum of Bill

Jennie and Bill tour the Museum of Bill. Here is the tile wall created by famous artist Chuck Close.

Other highlights in the Museum of Bill include the trophy room designed by David Hockney. The main (and only) trophy in this collection is Bill's fifth grade table top hockey tournament prize.

The Women Bill Has Dated Wing is still in planning. It was originally conceived as a four story, one hundred thousand square foot glass tower. After the architectural team found out Bill has only dated two women in his life they changed the design.

James Bond, light weight

Jen watched English movies with the girls so I watched Casino Royale again.

It brought me back to the days we made the film. Daniel Craig and I enjoyed filming in Montenegro. After a long day of on the set we'd gamble for real and drink dry martini's. We both hated them but got caught up in Bond-like moment.

We over did it when we rented an Aston Martin. It was all fun and games until he threw up his stuffed cabbage and Niksicko beer all over the interior. I can't tell you how many nights I had to drag his drunk ass into his hotel room.

What...the curtains?

We hung our new Anthropologie curtains in the upstairs hallway this weekend. I have visions of Prince Joey standing in front of them as I tell him, "One day all this can be yours...." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3YiPC91QUk

Bill here.... Jen quickly dismissed my great idea of taking a picture of us with fake eyes....

If she would have helped me my fake eyes would have been straighter and not so deranged looking.

Uh oh, I think she's angry...

This is our view from the floor of a pub in Portsmouth. We attended our second Winters Tale, a storytelling night out. Once again we were too late to land the coveted seats and had to sit on the steps while people bumped us and had gas in our face.

Tonight's theme was "Lost and Found". The storytellers wrapped their tales around that theme (some more loosely than others). Jen was angry when one of the dude's got up and basically said he did no prep work and proceeded to ramble on about his band. I like how this guys lack of preparation pissed off Jennie. She's nothing if not a rule follower. "Come on! It was disrespectful to all those who prepared!"

You know how you learn things about your partner only after you've lived with them? I never would have predicted that Jennie is such a rule follower. I get a kick out of watching her in the security line at the airport. She resorts to 7 year old Jen and waits for instructions on how to behave.

This post is like the rambling dude we listened to tonight.... no theme, no structure. Jennie will be angry

Illness has us in its grippe

For the past couple of days I've had a bit of the flu. I've been sleeping downstairs so not to disturb Jennie while I hack and wheeze and blow my nose a hundred times.

I've passed the baton. Jennie is coughing like a coal miner. She's blaming me, but I think our symptoms are totally different. I never had that garbage disposal chest cough.

This is my "sorry you're sick but don't blame me" look.

I'm walkin' on sunshine...wo oh....

My first power walk of 2011. We had a taste of spring today but winter will be back tomorrow. Christin and I met at our usual rendezvous - the Screening Room - and did our 4 mile loop with Dewey in tow. Between snow piles, puddles and ice it was more like an obstacle course but it felt great to be outside.

Unfortunately when I got back I had to go straight back to work to finish up before the long weekend. I didn't even stop to take off my geeky neon don't-run-me-over-vest that Bill got me for Christmas.

And now....pizza night!

Ladies Man

Diane and I went to dinner with Sue, her mom Dottie, and son Joey tonight. Diane was king of the kids introducing Joey to arm wrestling and iphone games. Sue clearly keeps Joey on a more intellectual agenda at home since he knew all the state capitals and could read a map of Harvard Square at the age of 5. He was one happy kid.

Great to see Sue and Dottie after too many years. We sat at the same booth at the Border where I was served a giant screw in my burrito many years ago and the scene of my star sighting (Mary Stuart Masterson...she used to be somebody).

I'll take Supercomputers for $1000, Alex...

It was a huge turnout at work tonight for the Jeopardy championship - Man vs Machine. After betting bizarre dollar amounts ($367?) and making some strange guesses (who knew Toronto was a US city?) machine ultimately kicked human ass.

Frankly I thought we would have minimal turn out and that people would take off after the pizza ran out. I underestimated the power of "blue" washing. Even I let out a cheer when Watson brought it home with "Who is Bram Stoker" to win with a two day total of $77K.

One of my roles at the event was to hand out the jeopardy bingo cards....WITH A PEN. People were literally dazzled when I handed it to them. On a normal work day it would take an act of God to get your hands on an actual office supply. If you want a pen you go to Staples and buy one. Yessir, it was a big night at the office tonight.

Bigger than the game

It was a great night at the last Ipswich High School home game of the year.
It was Senior Night and that usually means that all the seniors start the game. However, our coach didn't realize that and was not going to start all of them.
My son pulled the coach aside and said that wasn't right and he would give up his starting position for his friend Derek who rarely plays. We heard about it when one of the other seniors Dads told us how proud we should be of Joey for what he did. Derek's mother was in tears after hearing about it. We couldn't be prouder of the young man he's become.


The coach, give him credit, realized he messed up, apologized and started 5 seniors. And they rewarded him by playing the best quarter of the year. The crowd was pumped and the kids played with more passion that we've seen all year. Coach ultimately reverted back to old habits and played the usual starting 5 who ended up turning our lead into a 12 point loss.


To add to the night Bret brought Wyatte and Malikai, my Mom was there and our buddy Tres refereed.


I don't care what the scoreboard said, we won tonight.

Awkward Family Photos

We gave each other the gift of being nerds for Valentines Day.

xxxooo

What's Eddie Van Halen's brothers name?

The grand kids came over this afternoon leaving a tsunami in their wake.

The boys have a boy band vibe going with the hair in their face.

Or better yet, the boys have a Van Halen brother thing going... one plays legendary guitar, the other is in the background playing bass. What if Malikai played the guitar and Wyatte the bass. The chicks go for Malikai while Wyatte, who pulled the band together and writes all the music, gets seconds.

The jealousy will fester and a very public romantic triangle decimates the band, Yokoesque.

Get a haircut boys and avoid this pain....

Claymation people need HR support, too.

I am the HR Manager for the Davy and Goliath show. I am the reason at the end of each show everything turns out right. I correct injustices. In this episode we learn about racial insensitivity.

I thought she hated Mr. Haney?

Jennie hanging with Haney and the fez monkeys.

I'll have the fez and bacon

Joey enjoying a delicious bacon pizza with monkeys who wear fez and a koala.

Best seat in the house

I love that there is a movie theater only two blocks from my house and that it shows interesting independent movies like "Tiny Furniture". And I REALLY love their popcorn.

Christin and I met tonight and I knew she would balk at another "sitting next to me in the theater" shots for the blog so I took a picture of the theater with my seat picked out (see red coat) - the aisle of course because I always think I'm going to have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the movie even though I rarely do. I was the first to arrive tonight.

The theater is pretty no nonsense - seats, projector, screen. I usually see someone I know. Tonight a woman who lives on my street who bought some little glass bowls from me at a yard sale a few years ago was there. I was tempted to ask how my bowls were but I thought it might seem strange for me to check up on them. The guy who sells tickets and runs the projector is also the town piper. And by that I mean he wears a semi-medieval costume and plays a little flutey pipe on sunny days. Every town needs one.

Sci Fi NIght

Work work work and a hellish commute....none of which makes for good blog fodder. So when life is dull I escape to books and movies. Current selections are Catching Fire and Never Let Me Go.

What?? You haven't read the Hunger Games trilogy? Its the young adult equivalent of the Millenium Trilogy. The latest must-read of the zeitgeist. Three books of teen angst, love triangles and, of course, an annual death match put on by the Government.

I read Never Let Me Go and yet I'm still confused in the middle of watching it right now. It's rather bleak - the story of three clone children who are raised to be organ donors for humans. Strangely enough the three are in a car right now driving around the English country side...and yet running away doesn't seem to be on anyone's agenda. They just return back to their donor center like lambs to the slaughter. I'm all for organ donating but preferably after death.

I'm coachable

I'm delivering a training today in Chicago. While preparing with the VP of Sales I support we talked about how he coaches his team to dress appropriately at customers sites. So I asked him if he wanted me to spruce it up from my usual bohemian style.
He said "Nah, everyone knows that's how you dress...", he paused a beat, then said "welllllll.... you may want to dress up a bit more."

Hence the tie and suitjacket.

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

I promised that I would share three generations of family black and blue photos and here they are! (As you can see by the push pins - these are proudly displayed on the bulletin board in my room.)

First we have Nana who got up in the middle of the night to go to the loo and fell - face first - into a bureau. I just can't look at this photo without laughing at how happy she looks. Nana knew how to work it for the camera.

Next is Mom. This is a follow up to the photo that we have clipped to the end of a nail file. In the nail file photo there is just a trace of a black eye but here the eyes are in full bloom. Bill and I met up with Trudi and Mom in London at the end of our "honeymoon" but they didn't warn us that she had fallen. It took a while to convince me that they had not been brutally assaulted while they were traveling and that we did not need to get the police involved. It was a disturbing look to get used to over dinner at Pharmacy - a chic London hang out that was decorated like the inside of an upscale CVS. They probably thought she wandered in looking for an ice pack and decided to stay for a meal.

And finally we have little Jen - fresh off the pavement when I fell from the top bar of the jungle gym in elementary school. One broken nose and a concussion later I can still remember how minutes before the accident I yelled to my friend Kathy to watch me do a penny drop. I thought she would be jealous. Instead I was told that my blood ruined her jacket. It also ruined the concrete with a sickly blood stain. I like to think that I've saved lives by prompting the change over to wood chips throughout the Needham playgrounds shortly after my accident.

(In the 1970's did they really think concrete under the jungle gym was a good idea?? We were sending man into space, for cryin' out loud, you'd think they would have figured this one out as well...)

Renaissance Man - Part Deux

Bill flaunts his multiple facets again today. He conquered electricity by installing our new sconce on the 3rd floor. This was one of several purchases yesterday as part of our "Support Newburyport" campaign. Newburyport Lighting Co., Chameleon, and Harbor Frames all benefited from our loose purse strings.

Bill leaves tomorrow for Chicago where he will deliver the training he created this week. He's been obsessed with putting the finishing touches on his program and also on his wardrobe. Here he is ironing his pants on our mini board. I never iron anything. I think I've used the iron a total of 4 times since we moved here 6 years ago.

Check out this action shot!! (I also just realized he is probably the only man in the US watching the Super Bowl and ironing pants.)

Happy Birthday, Lisa

I don't know why Steve and Jen are doing the crane.

Drink up, Lisa.... we're married to freaks.

Jen is a Tiger

Take that Jen! She hates when I wear white after Labor Day, she being a slave to "rules".

But look at Trudi. She looks great in white!

If you check the score the Ipswich Tigers were getting crushed by Newburyport (no conflict here. We always root for Ipswich when we play Newburyport).

Jennie was so frustrated she grabbed Joey's extra jersey and took the court.

Here she is setting a pick in her Uggs.

PS: For the record Trudi is wearing winter white - Jen

Black Eyed Susan

We are tired tonight. It's been a long week of snow and boring blog posts. Bill flies to Chicago next week to deliver a huge training so he is working over time (the earphones on his head are currently playing the voice of an Indian man talking about leadership). To spice up the photo I've got my mother's head clipped to a nail file. We are desperate.

For those of you who don't know - her black eye was the result of a a fall on the train to London after our wedding. The eye was just the beginning - eventually her whole face was black. She looked like she was putting on a minstrel show. Mental note for future blog posts - picture of 3 generations of Entwistle/MacDonald women with black eyes. We've got some doozies!

Here is Susan before and after. (How was this ever actually a thing?)

STOP THE MADNESS!!

It was a struggle to open the back door this afternoon since it opens out and there was a foot of snow in front of it. Once I did - here is the view. We will soon be living in an igloo.

Ben was back today to snow blow our driveway. I went outside and just said "I love you" and handed him money. I noticed under his hood that he has rasta hair which kind of grossed me out and only slightly tainted my love (Bret once told me that they discovered new strains of lice in Bob Marley's dreadlocks after he died. Do you think that could possibly be true? Could Bret have just told me that knowing that I would dwell on it...forever?!!)

Rule Breakers

It will come as no surprise to our readership that there are unwritten rules in this house. Gets who sets them? Guess who lives to break them?

Rule #23 - No Eating in Bed. Now just to be clear, this rule is broken daily. Every day Bill gets his cereal in eats in bed. Then Joey comes over and takes all his meals in bed as though he is an invalid. At the end of a Joey weekend there are piles of plates, glasses, coke cans to be excavated from his room.

So tonight we made a chicken pot pie (from Tendercrop - for some reason these pies never brown on top so I have to put it under the broiler...end result - burnt chicken pot pie) and we wanted to eat it while watching the next episode of An Idiot Abroad. This means....breaking rule #23!!!

The monkey taunted me by chanting "we're setting a precedent" over and over....