Day 304 - October 31

We bought this dining room table today ... it's coming on Friday.  We hit a sale PLUS we got to use our awesome Groupon from a few weeks ago so we got a fantastic deal.  I think it's a fancy kitchen table, but if it goes in our dining room then it shall be a dining room table, right? :)

Day 303 - October 30

I had a thousand and one coupons for couscous this week - but I accidently bought some of these whole grain blends instead.  (They were still free, so no big deal ... but the couscous cooks in 5 minutes and this takes a half hour.)  Hopefully it's still decent.  We're both going to parties tonight though, so we won't be eating it today!

Day 302 - October 29

My room is over decorated right now.  The skeletons are a book project that the 5th grade teachers did, and the instruments are a 3rd grade science project. 

The hanging bodies are a little creepy, especially since it's Halloween time :)

Day 301 - October 28

My costume for tomorrow night's school trick or treat night.  It's yellow pajamas with the spots to turn me into Chester - our school's favorite cat for 2 years running.  I found some hemming tape so I didn't have to sew. :)

Day 300 - October 27

We read this for book club this month.  It's about the woman & family behind the famous "HeLa" cells.  Her cancer cells were unusual in that they were easy to keep alive in the lab.  Decades later, HeLa cells have been used in all kinds of science - from the Polio vaccine to space flight.  It was really interesting.

Day 299 - October 26

I read this book on vacation this weekend & really enjoyed it.  It's a novel about a girl who is kidnapped in college and held captive for almost 10 years.  It's one of those books that you feel weird saying you enjoyed - but it was good. 

Day 298 - October 25

We did it! This morning we headed over to bunker hill and walked the last piece of the freedom trail. We also grabbed lunch at Regina pizzeria because the line was down the block on Saturday which led us to believe that it'd be tasty. It was good but my 3 sons is better. :) Now we're waiting for our flight...

Day 297 - October 24

Lots of sports this weekend! Today we took the Fenway park tour and then hunted down a place with Sunday ticket to watch the ravens game. We finished off the evening with one of my college friends at dinner!

Day 296 - October 23

We walked many many miles today. First we took the T to harvard and walked to the river where the head of the Charles was happening. we walked about 2/3 of the course which took awhile and the walked to the prudential building so we could visit the 50th floor observatory. My feet are so so tired! Tonight we headed the north end for dinner and a bruins game. Doesn't matter the sport- that ny vs Boston animosity runs deep! It made for a fun game. :)

Day 295 - October 22

Before leaving, we both picked a splurge item for vacation. He picked bruins/rangers tix for tomorrow and I googled and found a dessert restaurant named finale. Best part? It's actually in our city block!

After dinner we headed over to scope it out. They're having an October special for national dessert month-buy a sampler platter, get the molten cake free.

We got it all down but really could have used a third person for that lava cake!!!

Starting at 12 o'clock:
Mini Boston cream pie-had dark chocolate shell on top which usually I don't like, but it was tasty.
Brownie sundae-the brownie was thin and super fudgy. Excellent.
Creme brûlée-eh. I have never understood the appeal of this dessert. It was probably good for people who like it...
Whoopie pies-one for each of us! Brownie outside with whipped cream inside. Yum.
Strawberry shortcake-wow!! I liked that the cake had a little crispness to it instead of the usual bland spongecake. I would get a regular size order of this if we ever went back.
Some kind of fancy cake/mousse thing-it was ok, but it was sitting in some kind of apricot goo that I didn't like, so that took it down a notch for me.
Sorbet-just your average raspberry sorbet
Apple cranberry pie- it was ok but I don't particularly love apple pie to begin with.
In the middle-cheesecake-it was fine, more whipped than common cheesecake.

With our sampler platter, we got the free molten cake. It was excellent, but the platter was more than enough for 2 people, so it was hard to get it down! Mike had the ice cream because they used real espresso.

Also done today: Sam Adams brewery tour and urban hike of the freedom trail(backwards so that we ended at the hotel) except for the ship and bunker hill that we'll hit later...

Day 294 - October 21

6:58 am.  Waiting for carpool.  It's dark.  Soon the time will fall back and it'll be light in the morning but dark in the evening...

Day 293 - October 20

Somewhere between breakfast and lunch today, I started feeling gross.  I was worried because of our weekend plans ... I didn't want to get sick on vacation like happened when we went to New Orleans!

If I hadn't been going away on Friday, I would probably have waited an extra day before seeking out a doctor, but I wanted to nip it in the bud. 

The doctor ticked me off to no end - she turned her ears off as soon as she heard the word fibromyalgia.  I hate when doctors do that!  She decided I have a sinus infection, which was actually a good answer because I was worried that it might be strep due to the horrible instant onset sore throat and the fact that tons of kids at school have it. :) 

So now I have meds to get rid of infection and help me to fly pain free. Woohoo!

Day 292 - October 19

Moose seems to know it is me when the garage door opens on my way home.  (I'm the only one with a car in the garage, so I guess he's figured it out.)

Every day when I walk in the door these days, he runs and sits next to his ribbon toy and scratching pad.  (As you can see, they are currently located in the dining room that has nothing else in it but a desk & piano.  What does that make it? The conservatory? The office? The study? The ballroom?)

I don't know who made this ribbon toy - but I must say it was worth every penny.  The first toy I got him was a mouse or something at the end of an elastic cord.  He cared nothing about the toy, but attacked the cord.

The second toy I bought was just a ribbon on a stick - but the ribbon lasted 2 days.

For many years, I just put a new ribbon from the crafting zone on the old plastic stick because the ribbon had a 2 day shelf life before it was chewed into uselessness.

But this toy I saw in a store and had to try out.  Greatest cat investment ever.  Instead of a ribbon, it's a double thick sewed fleece strip.  Moves like a ribbon, but withstands the fangs of the feline.  It's lasted for more than 6 months already!

Day 291 - October 18

The leaves are juuuuuuuuuuust starting to change color.  I think in about a week, it'll be really pretty in our back yard! 

Please remind me of that in 2 weeks, when we're raking. :)

Day 290 - October 17

I have spent most of the weekend on the couch.  Yesterday I caught up with my DVR for awhile, but today Mike is watching lots and lots of football.  Since I am so exhausted, I'm happy to just sit here and let it be on!

Day 289 - October 16

Check it out - a blank day on the calendar.  It's the only completely blank day in October!

Day 288 - October 15

Taken by my boss, but it's OF me, so that counts - right?  I got to introduce the guest author, Melanie Watt, at our conference today.  We had a great morning!

It took me just under 2 hours to drive to the conference on Wednesday night after school....today, thanks to a multitude of accidents on the beltway and 95, it took over 3 hours to get home.  Well, ok, to get to Duclaw so Mike could enjoy the firkin of the week, but it's in my town so that counts. :) 

The conference was fun, but boy am I ready to RELAX!

Day 287 - October 14

Today & tomorrow are our annual library conference.  We have been dealing with some major kinks, but most of them are out of our control and so we're trying to deal the best we can.  Very, very, frustrating, though!

Highlights today were getting to go out to dinner with friends and having a hotel room to chill in all by my lonesome.  Boy am I exhausted...

Day 286 - October 13

They are here!!!!!! :)

Of course they're not actually doing anything yet - but they sure are pretty.

Day 285 - October 12

They're here!  Boxes and boxes of new computers! They're so pretty! The tech people were running around like crazy trying to get them all ready to go .... this is just a small portion of all the boxes that showed up today.  Whee!!!!

Day 284 - October 11

These are my computers.  They have 2003 county serial numbers, which probably means they were purchased in the late summer or early fall of 2002.  Happy 8 year old birthday, computers!  I hope you enjoyed your day, because today was the last day we will spend together.  I hope you enjoy your new lives in the junk heap!! :)

Day 283 - October 10

This morning, dark and early, Mike & his friend drove up to the fields of PA to participate in the Warrior Dash.  It was a 5k with obstacles such as crawling in the mud under barbed wire, scrambling over mud hills, and wading through a log filled river.

Tons of fun, right? :)  I didn't get to go watch because I had a lot going on today ... but they had a lot of fun.  And got REALLY muddy. 

Day 282 - October 9

Our friends got married today and had a super cool party favor.  One more to add to the collection! :)

Day 281 - October 8

The few books that are left at the end of the book fair must feel so dejected!!!!  I had the whole thing cleaned up and packed in 5 minutes thanks to my 2 mom volunteers and 25 second graders who thought it was a game. :)  Adios, book fair ... see you next year.

Day 280 - October 7

I love this book.  I don't really bake much, and even if I did I doubt I could pull many of these off - but this sequel to Hello Cupcake has some adorable designs.  My favorite is the chinese food take out.  They cut up orange starburst to be the little carrots, and they used a cut green Tootsie Roll, some icing, and some sprinkles to create broccoli.  Genius!

Day 279 - October 6

These are this month's giveaway for the Duclaw beer release.  They're pretty cool this month.  (Sorry for the napkin styling ... I needed something to make the designs show up! 

Both of us are stuffed up today, and we realized half way through dinner that it was silly to make our eating out day be a day that neither of us can taste anything.  So I just imagined that I really enjoyed my sandwich. :) 

(Although I am stuffy - I am not as tasteless as I was in New Orleans.  That was the only time in my life I can remember it being completely 100% gone.  So far gone that I ate mashed sweet potatoes. There are few foods in life I dislike more than sweet potatoes (they're on par with green vegetables) and I ate every bite because I was hungry and couldn't taste a THING.  So no, not that stuffy!)

Day 278 - October 5

At 7:30 this morning, this is what the book shelves looked like.  Full.  Pretty. Colorful.  11.5 hours later .... well.............. not so much.  It's amazing how many books a school full of children can go through!!!

Day 277 - October 4

The book fair has arrived.  My world looks like this right now, and will continue to look like this for the next week...

Day 276 - October 3

We have several mums in the front flower bed.  Most of them are growing in the generic globe shape - but this one is breaking apart like it has tectonic plates.  The rain from last week really made the sections pull apart even further than they were, and the bush is getting rather ugly...

Day 275 - October 2

Today was the marching portion of my high school band reunion.  We spent a couple hours re-learning how to play our instruments and responding to drums and whistles.  It's amazing how quickly it all comes back.  What amazes me even more is that even though my more recent marching years were in college and done in a different style, it's the high school style and commands that stuck in the deep parts of my brain.

Day 274 - October 1

Tonight was our high school marching band reunion.  300 people milling around - most of them were band people, but a few folks were dragged there by their spouse. :)  The party was fun - but tomorrow's the real test to see what we remember! :)