Let the holidays begin!

We had a nice night with Mom decorating our house for Christmas.  Maybe it's because I turned 50 this year but I made sure I appreciated the fact that Mom was over our house this year for the tree decorating.  It's been a while... 15 years maybe?

Meanwhile, Jen and I crushed any sentiment brought on by the moment by making jokes about my Mom being easy when she was young (she wasn't ... opposite, actually ... which was why it was even more fun)   She played along, which is always amusing to see sweet Trudie talking crude.  Ultimately I think the thing that Jen and I do well together is bring nice people down to our level. It's not a classic talent, not one that you can live off of.   If we were the types to have headstones when we die (we're not), it would probably say something like "Here lies Jen and Bill.  They brought out the worst in everyone."

And to emphasize the point later in the evening (after Mother was gone), Jen released a symphony of gloriously creative cuss words when our vacuum cleaner (The F*^&%ing Kirby) kept pooping out in the middle of the vacuuming.

I choose Jen over spider

Our Christmas tree sits poised, tightly snuggled in our back porch, ready to bring in the holiday season.  As pretty as it is, it's a pain in the ass to jockey around whenever I need tupperware.

My spider was back tonight.  I worry about him.  It's  getting cold.  If he wasn't the size of my head I'd try to sneak him in the house, maybe down in the basement.  Jen would divorce me.
Sorry my spider friend.

Jen is stranger to me every day

It's leaf pick-up day tomorrow.

I couldn't get this giant spider in focus.  He was on my chair when I went out for a cigar.  His body was the size of a quarter.

But really what I want to talk about is Ray Kroc.  I found out tonight that Jen had a picture of the McDonald's founder taped to the inside of her closet door growing up.  What a weird kid.

When I hung a poster it was Farrah Fawcett or the Cowboy cheerleaders (ok, I had a Michael Jackson poster. But that was from Thriller, when MJ was the coolest)

Meanwhile my wife has the founder of a fast food giant.

I wonder if she had the Fortune 500 CEO trading cards or an "Arthur Anderson - Great Moments in Auditing" lunchbox.

Do you even own a collared shirt, Joey?

 This is what Jennie and I look like at 3:30am.  We had to bring Joey to the airport so he can return to school.  It's been an emotional week with my trip to GA for Bret's graduation ceremony and then seeing Joey for the first time in a  couple of months.
Joey made the most of his four days here, making time for friends and family.  All of us wanted more Joey time.

Jen always has a pose ready.  Even at 5:00am.

I went against my usual stance against going out in public wearing sweats.  I've watched too many "What not to wear" shows and believe that you should always have put some thought into your outfit.
It was too early to contemplate an outfit, although I have to admit, once I got to the airport I regretted looking like a bum.  The wearing of the sweat suit is either done by the people in the lower socioeconomic bracket or in the extreme upper bracket.  The poor have few fashion options and rich want to rub it in that they can look like slobs but can buy and sell us.
The third group who constantly wear sweatsuits is my son.  He does not take after his father with regards to fashion.

Lunch with Joey

Joey looks a little sleepy at lunch today.  After a late night with his buddies he was rudely woken up by a deranged red head going out on the roof deck to watch where the squirrel was taking his nest-making twigs.  In my defense, I didn't know he was asleep in the guest bedroom while his friends were all packed like sardines in his room. 

I'm haunting Bill's beer.  

Bill likes to take angry pictures. Am I scary?  Do I look like someone you should NOT mess with? 

 Here's the shot you've all been waiting for...the father and son reunion.  Bill was so happy to have a week full of his boys.  

Welcome Home Joey!

Joey is home and he brought four other 18 year old boys with him.  Old favorites Keiran, Derek (aka D-Train) and Matthias are here with new club member Trevor (red hair).    So far my favorite overheard comment:  "I tried to pick up a lesbian."

While the boys watched Boondock Saints we went to a dinner party at Vickie and Dyke's house.

Two posts for one - holiday special

  Missed yesterday's post while I was traveling back from Atlanta.  Here it is.

My little rent a car attracted lot of attention this week.  It's a Fiat and I had people pop their head in my window asking me about it.  I want one.

Thanksgiving meal on Atwood.  I don't know that we've had Thanksgiving at home but a couple of times.  We always seem to be traveling.  With the boys and Mom all in different spots we had our own little celebration.

It sounds quaint, but this picture makes it look a bit pathetic.  Watching Modern Family on the laptop while we eat off of this little green table does not a Norman Rockwell picture make.

Jennie looked cute... per usual.  We went out after dinner and took in the new Muppet movie.  We recommend it.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Boom chucka lucka lucka, boom chucka lucka lucka, BOOM

 Bret graduated today.  The service was cool, recognizing the past soldiers and welcoming the new.
Bret was in the front row most of the time so I watched my boy dominate his march. 
Bret and a couple of his "battle buddies".  Really nice kids.
 
I give Bret credit, he has refrained from calling me "Sir".  That was my one demand....
I'm "Sir" to no one.... I did show respect for the day by not wearing my pork-pie hat.

Keep my boy safe, Army.

I fit right in here...

Tomorrow Bret graduates from basic training.  Today I got to see him for the first time in 10 weeks.  We had an emotional reunion.
He looks and sounds fantastic.

Bret got a pass for the day and we took full advantage of it.  We began with a decadent burger at Hooters and ended with ice cream at McDonald's.

While Bret scrubs floors with a toothbrush...I golf

I'm in Columbia, Georgia to see Bret-man graduate from basic army training.  On the way I stopped and got in nine holes.  I thought this sand trap was interesting.  They left an old fireplace bullseye in the middle of it.

Just got a call from Bret.  He sounds great.  We talked for almost an hour....so much to catch up on.  I'm looking forward to hanging with him tomorrow and then watch the graduation ceremony on Tuesday.

It was not an equipment malfunction

 Jensel Adams took this fantastic picture of a plane pulling a "Marry me , Adrienne" banner.  The plane did everything but stop in front of her to allow her to take the picture.  You can see pieces of two letters in the top right corner.

We celebrated her pulitzer prize winning picture with a beer at Ceia Kitchen.  I had the best hamburger.  I highly recommend Ceia.  I don't highly recommend Jen's ability to take an action photo.

Night at the Museum

We had a few minutes of culture last night with Whitney and Aaron at the Museum of Fine Arts.  Bill's review after wandering through the exhibit was "I like the one where she isn't wearing any clothes."

My favorite display was actually a one room show called The Beauty of Duty - textiles of WWII Britain (doesn't that have my name written all over it?)  They had these fantastic scarves with war slogans about rubber drives and air raid etiquette.  There was a poster reminding people that "The Walls Have Ears" showing two old biddies having tea in front of wall paper that had Hitler's face in the pattern.  As if these two women were discussing government secrets instead of last night's episode of the Archers.  Loved it.

A colonoscopy down memory lane

Dinner with Noelle last night.  Many tears were shed in laughter as we reminisced about some forgotten gems:

• The time I caught my tea bag on my finger and accidentally flung it across the room leaving machine gun tracks of tea across Noelle and her living room.
• The time I had some sort of movie passes...they were in my hands as we drove to the theater and then - they weren't!!  20 minutes of searching finally revealed them down the back of the jacket I was wearing.  (How did they get there???) 
• The time that I was walking down a 10 foot wide hallway, completely empty except for Noelle at her desk and one potted plant which I somehow walked into.
• We didn't even bring up the time that Noelle was writing a love email to Tim when her boss Sesha walked by and distracted her - so she sent it to Sesha!

I'm not sure what got me started on the topic but we ended the night with a recap of my colonoscopy a few years ago. I knew I was in for a rough time when I saw the doctor in googles and head to toe plastic sheeting like he was going to sit in the front row of Blue Man Group.

Never a dull moment with Jen and Noelle!

Eat Your Heart Out, Hemingway

It's baby picture day tomorrow at Bill's office.  I guess everyone has to bring in a baby picture and then guess which dirty diaper clad infant is who (whom?).

I thought in honor of this event I would post one of my own childhood photos of the time I out-peddled the bulls at Pamploma.  I believe this later became the inspiration for the scene in Indiana Jones where Indy outruns the giant ball...except he wasn't on a tricycle...wearing flowered shorts...with his tongue hanging out.  But I think Harrison was channeling my bravado.

Bring back the sink series

Jen forgot to take a picture and took the camera so you're stuck with another picture of me outside in front of the fire pit.  I'm catching up with Brenda.

Jen and I realize that it's a good thing that we don't charge for this blog.  It's been shit lately.

Happy and peppy...

It took four tries to get a shot mid air.  I'm not jumping for any particular reason but I'm generally a happy person so I'd say this is in character.

I'm watching my new favorite show, Brotherhood, a Showtime series for a couple years ago with lots of swearing, drugs, nudity, and blood splattering homicide.  Definitely NSFC (Not Suitable For Christin).  

Random tidbit - the trailer for The Hunger Games is out!  Trying to keep expectations reasonable but the trailer looks so good!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/11/new-hunger-games-trailer-showing-the-goods.html

Played by a shark

We had poker night in Marlborough.  It took me two hours from Newburyport to get there, so I arrived angry.  I was ready to take my friends money and laugh at them while I did it.
Needless to say I was not laughing at them at any point.  Host Dan won it all, taking $40 from Dave, Tony and I each.

Here is a picture of Dave when he actually had some chips.  Before I blinked Dan had all our chips.  I cannot tell if Dan is a tremendous sandbagger, who is really a shark or he's damn lucky.  He had a hand to play every time.  "I haven't played poker in 20 years.... now what are the rules again...?".  We fell for it hook, line and sinker.

Autumnal Saturday

Raking leaves, lying around in leaves, posing with leaves stuck to your sweater...nothing says "Fall" like leaves.

Tonight is poker night with the boys for Bill and movie night with the girls for Jen.

Pick a Little Talk a Little

Dinner with Stacey & Di in Arlington on a rainy Thursday night.   We had a good night of gossip and judging others - if only people would do what WE tell them to do their lives would be so much easier.  Anyone looking for tough love, no bullshit advice, just let us know.

Week Day Morning

When I work from home I always go to the front door and wave good bye to Bill as he heads off to the office.  I like to pretend that I'm a trophy wife staying at home to watch soaps and do yoga while he brings home the bacon. (mmm...bacon....)  In reality, I've already logged on and taken 2 calls with my boss before he even hits the road.  

 This picture would probably be more quaint if it didn't have the dumpster behind it!  I didn't even notice it until I was about to post this.  It's been there long enough to become part of the landscape.  I desperately want to throw some of out own junk into it, (strategically buried under the neighbor's scraps) but Bill thinks that is bad form.  He only seems to break the law when it suits him - ask him where we got our hostas.  

Bag Lady

I made Jennie pose for tonights blog with a bag on her head.

I went to my favorite reference site, Urban Dictionary, to get some ideas on what to write about this handsome picture.

Here are a few I liked, but have nothing to do with the picture:
* Bag o' Dicks
The sub-skill that one shows in sports: "He is playing like a Bag o' Dicks." 
* Bag le Douche
someone who is being more than your average douchebag. calling them the french version of the word implies that they are not only a douchebag but they are also french, making the insult far worse.
* Bag Dew
the sweat on one's ball sack

People are weird....

Alert Fletch - Joey is in this post....

,,,on the phone.  

Big night for the off spring - Bill got a letter from Bret and spent a long time on the phone with Joey.  Meanwhile, I took a spin into Harvard Square after work for a little shopping.  It was supposed to be for an author event (Joan Didion) but I literally couldn't find the end of the line to get in because it was so long.   Did I want to spend my night in a hard church pew squeezed in with a thousand other people straining to hear her read from her latest book OR would I rather indulge a little retail relaxation at Anthropology?  Two new sweater dresses later I had my answer.

A Rubber Chicken and Spitball Birthday

We celebrated October Birthdays at Mother Entwistle's house.  I got a game in which you throw little rubber chickens into a target.  Mother got a container full of little round paper spit balls.  Of the 100 balls we ended up finding 91 of them after a spirited battle.  Nothing celebrates a birthday like getting a fat lip from a gum ball sized spitball.

I brought mother a horrific Fiery Ginger soda drink.  We all had a sip.  None of us enjoyed it.

Lilly found a pair of her underwear under a table while we were looking for stray spit balls.  She was forced to wear them on her head.

At dinner Mother Entwistle admitted having a celebrity crush on Jake Gyllenhaal which will lead to Jen yelling out "Daddy" every time  she watches Brokeback Mountain or, more disturbingly, City Slickers (Jake plays Billy Crystal's son)