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....