Trick or Treat!

Bill braved the traffic to Salem Ma (Halloween headquarters) to see the boys before they hit the streets begging for candy.  Malikai was a lion (here he is sans furry hood) and Wyatte was Spidey (obviously).   

(Bill here.  I've had some experience painting the kids faces on Halloween.  I'm guessing that the elaborate spidey-face will end in disaster when it comes time to wash it off.  I painted Bret and Joey's face one Halloween and lets just say the clean up ended in tears for all.  I probably shouldn't have used that can of spray paint.)

Meanwhile, Gramma Jen was holding down the fort on Atwood.  We had a record number of Treaters this year, probably due to power outages in the surrounding towns.  Laura and I built a fire in the yard and doled out candy.  Our favorite costume was a tiny little Amelia Earhart dressed in a bomber jacket and aviator hat with a wodden plane strapped over her shoulders that her dad made.  Didn't get a photo cause Bill still had the camera in Salem.

Alison, Loren and Jolie come by every year.  Jolie was enjoying Halloween much more than this photo indicates.  Pete, Denise and the boys also made their annual appearance.  Where was Ms Walth??? (That's right, Chi, I'm calling you out on the blog!)

By 8:00 the candy was gone and it felt like midnight.  Another successful Halloween.

It was a dark and stormy night...

Mother Nature played a trick on us last night - dumping snow on us two days before Halloween.  You'd think that sitting at home on a stormy night we would have found time to blog but instead we were lazy and left it to this morning.  Now the sun is shining and the slush is melting and the post about the storm doesn't seem so relevant.  Today we are crock potting a beef brisket.  Another exciting weekend!!

Pumpkin Love

 We had a big HR pumpkin carving event today.  Our team dominated with the very creative "pumpkin throwing up on another pumpkin".
Since I've been sick I channelled my illness into the scene you see here.

Peter and Ed in an intimate embrace.  Ed is leaving our company and has become very touchy on his farewell tour.  They make a wonderful couple, don't they?

This is such a "Jen" post

Denise and I went to a wine and cheese tasting at the Grand Trunk tonight.  Meanwhile, Bill was home sick - I just got home at 9:00 and he is already asleep.  I, on the other hand, had a great night!  We tasted seven different red wines with a nice emphasis on Pinot Noir and Malbec (two of my favorites - although the Tannat and Malbec selections were my favorite.  Cha ching - Jen bought all three) and they were paired with a variety of cheese, meats and pates along with bread and olives.   Outside it started to snow half way into the night.  Heaven!!   Our fellow tasters included Alfred Nichol and his lovely wife Gina.  Alfred is our honoree for the 2012 lit fest so it was a night of good food, good wine and good conversation.  What more could you ask for?

Chillin'

Bill is sick.  His one employee flew in from CA this week bringing a case of bronchitis into the office.  Now Bill is achy and run down.  It doesn't help that its only 14 degrees celsius in the house.  I don't even know for sure what that is in real temperature.  Our little weather station switched to celsius without checking with us first and now we can't switch it back.  Perhaps it is protesting the frigid Atwood air?  I'm trying to hold out until November but Mother Nature is taunting me tonight.

Find Joey in the picture

This is a tapestry we bought on our honeymoon in England.  I walk past it many times a day and rarely appreciate it.  I'm going to appreciate it.
We were strolling in the Cotswolds and popped into an antique shop.  The shop owner gave us a pitch about this tapestry and the history and age of it.  It was total bollocks, but said with an English accent, therefore it was totally believable.

Someday I'm going to fix the antique clock we had shipped home on the same trip.  It actually is a time clock which, considering the place I work got its name from being a leader in the automated time clock, is ironic.

We used to shop for antiques a lot.  Now that we are closer to being human antiques, the lure has waned.

Guest Post!

This is Joey, and it's my first guest post. I have successfully hacked onto Dad and Jen's blog and they have no idea that I am posting this tonight. I have been out here in Washington for four weeks. Things are going great. I am dominating my Calculus class (100% on my last quiz). I have been on a mission to find research for my English paper (emailing librarians, seeing tutors, and working with classmates). Friday night I got complements from a couple people that live on my floor for how clean my room was (Dad and Jen would have laughed at me if I told them this during the summer). I have been trying new foods occasionally (like today when I grabbed a slice of pizza and I still have no idea what was on it. It was kinda spicy and really good!) This weekend I went to Pikes Place with my classmates.

                                   
They are all pretty nice people, and I had a lot of fun walking around Seattle with them. The worst part of the weekend is when Stanford handed my Huskies football team a 65-21 beat down. Just goes to show you that the UW coaches need to do a better job scouting at the intramural flag football games. If they did that they would realize that their future star is right here just waiting for the chance to shine.

I miss everyone from home, and can't wait for Thanksgiving weekend when I get to come home. Until then, I will keep on kicking butt in my classes, and enjoying the college life.

Another weekend of debauchery

Well, it was another wild weekend for the book club in Maine.  We always try to be subdued and literary but usually all hell breaks loose around lunch time and we find ourselves drunk, disorderly and resisting arrest.  This year was no different.  The first picture was taken just before we met did jello shots, ripped off our clothes and started terrorizing old people with our foul language and wild gyrations thru the streets of Bridgton.

After we posted bail we thought we better keep to the condo.  The decadence continued with a cheese course.  We didn't stop at just the gouda.  We indulged in camembert, Abbeye de Beloque and a triple creme.  Whoa - stop the madness!!!

This shot was taken for the benefit of husbands and other family members.  See?  We really just sit around and read books the whole weekend....really!!

Bray's Pub

Year 4 of the book club retreat to Bridgton ME.  Every year we start the weekend at Bray's Pub.  This year was relatively tame - no one sitting near us asked to move their table and we are all still smiling at the end of the dinner.  We saved the book discussion for back at the condo....it's starting right now as I type.  Turns out NO ONE finished their book (we gave a choice of 3 different books focused on atheism).  I only got through 25% on my Kindle and decided to ditch it.  I don't need a whole book to convince me.

Who's Henpecked?

We escaped work at lunch for a well over due Sal's run.  We made fun of Greg much of this outing.  He has this strange catatonic stare that he breaks out at the oddest time.  In the middle of a conversation he will suddenly go slack jaw and his gaze is serial killer crazy.  He knows he does it and can't explain it.

After he told a story about how his wife gets disgusted with him for not doing the dishes we said we have to get the wives together for a dinner.  It will be great to see Greg get henpecked live.

Gotta go, my wife is yelling to me to paint her toes.

Time Travel Etiquette

I read an essay from one of my favorite essayists, Chuck Klosterman, tonight.  It was about the practical realities that make time travel impossible.  He mentions things like if you time traveled to say, the Victorian Age, and sneezed, then you stand a chance that you've just infected that entire population with a disease they have not built a resistance to.  He also talked about if you traveled and returned, it would be impossible to return to the same spot because the earth would have rotated while you were on your walkabout.

Since we just saw a Woody Allen movie that had a dusting of time travel as a theme, I'm putting Jen in Paris in the rain.  She probably should have changed out of her PJ's.  The French are not keen on this type of fashion faux pas.

jennifer and i had an excellent date night.  we hustled down to the local movie theatre after work and took in woody allen's midnight in paris.
i love going to the movies with jennie.  she laughs unabashed and always appears to be having the best time of everyone there.  after all the movies she's taken in over the years, she still seems to treat each like a gift.
tonight was extra special because old woody was there.  sleeper woodie.  everything you wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask woody.
and as woody movies go, midnight in paris is a two thumbs up from jen ebert and bill roeper.  go see it.

I have all my best ideas first thing in the morning.  I wake up bursting with things I need to do, solutions to problems, lists to remember.  Before my head is off the pillow I've had at least 3 brilliant thoughts.  Basically, 10 minutes into the day, I've peaked.  I might  as well go back to bed before I even get out of it.

Immediately upon waking this morning I was thinking of two regrets from the night before - the feedbag full of kettle corn that I strapped on and consumed in record time and the fact that Bill and I spent the night in front of the TV watching absolutely nothing of value.

I should have mentioned that Bill is not exactly a morning person.  Usually my brilliance is ignored or at least unappreciated but this morning I managed to hold on to my thought until he looked reasonably ready to hear it (while watching his morning dose of Sports Center).  Lo and behold - when I came home from my festival planning meeting, there he was out in the yard with a fire!  (Ok, technically he also had his laptop and was watching a dvd, but he stopped watching when I arrived.)  I was able to make my dinner (leftovers from the crock pot) and sit out by the fire enjoying a beautiful fall night with a toasty fire, good conversation, and the atmospheric mournful howl of the dog Laura is babysitting in the back ground.   (It gave the whole night a very woodsy feel as if wolves were near by.)

Who knows what brilliance tomorrow morning will bring??

One Cooks - The Other Cleans

I've got a sweet gig going here.  There is an unwritten rule that if one of us cooks, the other cleans.  So I spent approximately 25 seconds throwing a chicken and some flavorful liquids (soy sauce, honey, olive oil etc) into the slow cooker and Bill winds up washing dishes 8 hours later.  Just one more reason to love that crock pot!

We visited Legless Sherman today (see blog post from August 13) in Essex as we went on a hunt for bookcases.  I seem to buy books faster than I can read them so we are in the market for more shelving.   I was sad to see that no one has bought Sherman since August. I think the fact that he sits in a box next to his own legs might be a little off putting to a prospective buyer.  Anyway, Sherman seemed happy to see us but we came home shelf-less.

I missed you, Di! Lets try again next year.

Today was the annual lit fest in Copley Square.    My favorite part of the day isn't even the events - it's the book shopping in the square at all the small publisher stalls.  Here is my stack during my tea break at the library.  At one stall they had people record a page of an Edgar Allen Poe short story that will become an audio book at the BPL.  I'm page 13 - the voice you hear right after Julia Alvarez (I would have been page 12 but I graciously gave up my spot so she could record and get to her reading - we are old pals from her time at the Nbpt festival a few years ago.)  I got nervous when I saw a set of head phones (what if some one with lice recorded before me?!) until I realized that the person from the booth wore those while I just spoke into a microphone.  OCD panic attack disaster averted.   Phew!  I brought home my bounty and all was still right in the world.

warhol painted us

 Home at last...

He didn't fall? INCONCEIVABLE!

These are seven people who work with me.  They all have one thing in common; they were brought here by Fletch.  Not only is he a software sales manager, a pilot and a part time cop, he's apparently some kind of sales rep magnet.  It is inconceivable that this wise-ass, negative guy gets smart people to leave a job and come work with him.  Totally inconceivable.

Fletch returns

Mike displays his expert gangsta pose at the Sales Kickoff party.  Despite the potential for being a career killer he threw caution to the wind and showed of his gang colors.

Mandatory picture of Bill with hot chick.

Just trying to fit in

Again, all work, no play on my Orlando trip.  Kristen, an Inside Sales Manager, just finished dancing on a table at the Greek restaurant.  I had to dance in the isle on the way to the bathroom with a belly dancer.  Someone got it on film, I'm told.  They all laugh when the HR guy is seen doing things that they deem "inappropriate".  They will all pay for that laughter.

Slave labor

Working like a son of a gun at our Sales Kickoff event here in Orlando.  There is no rest for the HR guy.

Tonight should be a big event for our blog as I will see Mike Fletcher and promised to take his picture.  He's hoping to rival Laura in number of times a non-family members' picture is posted.

NOT Bill's Birthday Party

We tested out the new fire pit last night with a party that was not a birthday party for Bill.  Despite it not being his birthday party, some little treats (catering to vises old and new) arrived with his name on them. 

Discussions ranged from Java programming to poop - - a typical evening on Atwood.

Bill went to bed saying it was the perfect level of birthday celebration for a man who doesn't like to be the center of attention (which is why he married me - to distract everyone!) 

Hi, Bret

We got our first word from Bret in bootcamp.  He texted a quick note that said he only had five seconds on the phone and sent his love.  Of course we've been dying to hear from him so were ecstatic with our little note.

Miss our Bret-man.
Stay safe, Tiger

Feeling Nostalgic (code for no new photos)

 Posting the picture of our wedding last night made me go back and look at all the old photos.  Since I'm home alone tonight with Bill in California, I thought I would post some classic moments.  I want to point this photo out to Andy - this is Sinclair.  For a brief time I thought he would be our new daddy.  That's Mom talking on the phone to his daughter from the pub.  I think if his phone could dial internationally they were going to call you next.  Later in the trip, Mom was force feeding Lisa wine.

Touching the cherub bum was almost a sport at the Witchery.  Check out my form.  I was one of the top cherub bum touchers!  (10 years later Bill and I had dinner right underneath that bum. I gave it a little touch for old time's sake)

And who could forget the quest for fluffernutter?  The next best thing was whipped cream.  I'm surprised that one of us didn't go into the flutternutter exporting business - we would make a killing in the UK.  I've sort of forgotten why we were compelled to spray it down Sue's sweater?

 I've also forgotten why we all had to kiss the fish head.  But I'm glad we did.

 I love how our "official" wedding photos are all old-timey looking.  Doesn't this look like some sort of reunion in the 1950's?  Of course, this is only a photo proof because Bill and I never actually got around to ordering our wedding photos so we just rubbed the inked copyright off these.

The best moment of the whole trip was Irene playing the acordion at breakfast after a wee bit o' scotch.  Best trip ever. 

50 is nifty!

Bill is on the other side of the country for his birthday.  I can't post a 'today' picture of him so I'm cheating.

This is one of my favorites - he's hot, he's chic, he's got the moves.  

I married him for his moves.  And I'd do it all over again.  

Happy Birthday, Honey!  xoxox

I'm here in California after having a few beers with my work mates.  Miss my Jennie.

This blog is one of her best ideas, btw.  Even when I'm not with her, I go online, click on our link and feel immediately better.

(OK, the alcohol has made me even more sentimental than I already am)

Happy Birthday to me.

That is one nutty hospital!*

The NPPS gathered tonight to start a new BBC series - London Hospital.  We were expecting Luke and Laura with pre WWII cockney accents.  Instead we got an opening scene of a man who slit his own throat, complete with lots of blood. Anyone who knows the NPPS knows that one member (the one who brought her George Foreman grill and delicious steak tips from Butcherellis)  cannot watch violence, gore, sex, or violent gory sex.  We quickly reverted to a more cerebral offering from the BBC - the latest adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.  This was especially good for one of the other members of the NPPS (the one who is holding the dvd cover) because she has a not-so-secret crush on Benedict Cumberbatch.  

*Anyone recognize the movie quote in the blog title??

Our new room mate

While we were in New Orleans, we found a new friend.  This is our voo doo doll named Tittie.  She didn't come with this name but, really, how could she be named anything else?  She lives in Bill's bathroom along with our other friends Scary Monkey and Shower Monkey. 

Mom - Shower Monkey is that chimp statue you gave me for my birthday.  Its usually a doorstop but when Wyatte and Malikai come over they like to shower with it.  Hmmm...hopefully W&M won't ask what this new girl's name is.

Hey, it's good to be back home again ....

 Unfortunately, I leave for L.A. in the morning.  From LA to L.A.
I would make a terrible Sales Rep for many reasons.  Besides the fact that I couldn't sell pitchers to the RedSox .... or defensive backs to the Patriots ....  I would hate to travel every week.

Oops, she did it a again

Flying home from New Orleans after our great vacation.  The person in the seat behind me kept kicking my seat.  Turned out it was Louisiana native Britney Spears.
Stop kicking my seat, Britney.