Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Grandma Updates and More Babies

My Grandma fell the other night and unfortunately broke her femur. She shattered it in several places and is having surgery tonight to put in a plate and screws. We are all hoping she'll be able to walk again when she's healed. I'll keep everyone posted.

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J and S welcomed their 1st baby yesterday! (: A little girl. E and I can't wait to see pictures. She was a few days later than her due due and I know her mom and dad were anxious for her arrival. They are bloggers now too so we are looking forward to their baby updates on their blog about little E.

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E and I got to see our little nephew J for the first time this weekend. He is so cute with his little baby fingers and toes so perfectly shaped. E and I both had a chance to hold him. We also got to see his big brother, M, who is talking up a storm at 2.5 years old. He's got a great disposition and personality. He likes to take things apart and see how they work (blenders, coffee makers, ect).

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We got to stock up on pantry staples at Whole Foods this weekend. Oh how I love to go there but always painful to see what I'm missing in our current city. Having used to live walking distance from one in Virginia, it's tough being so far away from one. We stocked up on various types of flours, some good olive oils, vinegars, capers, thai cooking pastes of various kinds, chips (chocolate corn chips --- good, not too sweet), and crackers. Alas we couldn't buy and keep fresh the very thing I really miss -- cheese. I love cheese, especially the kinds of exotic ones Whole Foods has. Just going the section brought back lots of great memories from when E and I used to walk over and grab some good cheese, some meat, and a little bread and head out for a picnic up on The Mall in D.C. or out at some park in VA. Alas, I don't think we'll ever be big enough to have a Whole Foods here, at least in my lifetime...

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Now that winter is here and we've been in the house since August, we have a few projects that we want to try and tackle before the spring (or at least start planning them). One is the kitchen counters. The tile has got to go. Tough to clean and difficult to work on (have you ever tried rolling out pastry or cookies on tile -- not fun). We may just end up going and getting ideas, but we really want a change. I also hope to sand down the long sofa table in the living room/dining room and re-stain a darker shade of reddish-brown. I will likely try and tackle this as spring rolls around. Most of the de-cluttering and organizing is behind us (except for the cluttered and pesky office closet -- we're still working on it) and we're looking to dive a little deeper into home improvement this coming year.

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E and I have almost filled up our DVR this fall. We've been so busy we haven't had a chance to watch too much tube. Mostly things on the History Channel (E has a program he recorded on V-day he's yet to watch), movie channels (I've got "The Wind the Shakes the Barley" and "Cold Comfort Farm" just waiting to be watched), and the ever perennial "Law and Order" franchises. However, we (OK just me -- E watches when he's in there but doesn't follow it like I do) watch a few reality shows -- namely "Top Chef." I get to deconstruct the show with fellow "Top Chef" watchers NM and V.

Monday, November 10, 2008

New Baby - not ours! (:

S and K welcomed a new baby today - their 2nd! Little J was born at 8am this morning about 1 week early. We're heading down to visit next weekend and can't wait to see him. We hope for photos soon.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Happy Halloween!



Just a quick note...We celebrated out first Halloween in our new house. We were supposed to carve pumpkins with our friends H and M last weekend, but I wasn't feeling up to venturing out. So alas our pumpkin sat uncarved until Friday afternoon. E decided he wanted to carve it -- with a Frankenstein face no less. He did a great job!





We didn't get as many kids coming to the house as we expected and ended up with about 4 extra bags of candy. I'm going to try and remember to take them to work tomorrow. Oscar decided the excitement was a bit too much for him and hid in the corner...


We ate dinner with some friends to celebrate their recent engagement on Saturday and had dinner with another couple on Sunday...Back to getting into the swing of things again. This cold really knocked the life out of me for awhile. It's nice to be back to getting out of the house again!

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