Merry Christmas!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday!!

Chris and I went to Chelsea to visit my parents on Saturday. Hannah and Josh had been there since Friday and were eager to get out and enjoy the snow before their return to Florida. Hannah, Josh and I tried to go sledding, but with temperatures in the upper 30s and low 40s the snow was far to sticky for quality sledding. We decided instead to build a snowman. Great plan! Well that is until we discovered that the base of the snowman was almost 4 feet tall and we were never going to be able to get more snow on top of it. So, we improvised and built Snoopy's head instead. It actually looked really cool, though I'm afraid no one took pictures of it.

Santa was very good this year, if a bit confused. Dad ended up getting two drill kits and I bought mom a book she already had, but over all there were no major catastrophies. The best gift by far was the one that Chris gave me. He saved up and bought me a remote car starter! It's not installed yet, but when it is - goodbye sub-zero car, hello toastiness!

No plans as yet for New Year's Eve.

I hope you had a very safe and happy holiday!

Later Days.

Olivia Jean Lacher-Starace

Below is the message we got from Jen today.

Dear Family & Friends, Well, it wasn't what we expected, but we are certainly VERY HAPPY to announce the birth of our daughter, Olivia Jean Lacher-Starace, who arrived on Tuesday, December 6, at 7:37 p.m. She weighed in at 7 lbs., 12 oz. and was 21 inches long. SHE'S A BEAUTY, if we do say so ourselves! (Check out the attached photos!)

You may recall that her original due date was today, Dec. 10. When I went in for my routine, weekly doctor's appointment on Tuesday afternoon, the doctor discovered that little Olivia, gymnast that she already is, had flipped into the breech position. Upon further review (a.k.a. an ultrasound), her position was confirmed and the sonographer measured only 3.7 cm of amniotic fluid (which is apparently not much) and she wasn't moving much. I don't know the degree to which the doctor downplayed his concerns, but he was both calm and matter-of-fact when he told me to leave the office, drive across the street and check myself into the hospital for a C-section that night!

Mike was at basketball practice, so I called him before following the doctor's orders. He seemed to take it pretty much in stride (although the other coach said he looked pretty tense) and he went home to gather what I had managed to pack in my hospital bag (not a lot) and met me in a labor-and-delivery room at Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford around 5:30. I won't lie; we were both pretty much in shock. No one gave us any reason to be concerned about the baby, but this was the LAST thing we expected!

Anyway, I was given a spinal anesthetic shortly after 7; then Mike joined me in the operating room and out came Olivia about 30 minutes later! (Meanwhile Mike's sister Michele, who was supposed to be my labor coach along with Mike, is screaming up the highway from Connecticut. She and Mike's mom, who lives in Old Orchard, Maine, arrived around 8 p.m.) Mike got to help cut the cord and bathe and weigh her and stayed with her in the post-partum room until I came up from recovery around 9 p.m.

So, she's pretty much PERFECT! She has brown hair with the most unique (according to everyone on the hospital staff) blond highlights and, for now, dark blue eyes. We stayed in the hospital for 3 nights. There was a blizzard here yesterday - we got a foot of snow - so Mike left the hospital around 3 p.m. to come home and shovel and snow blow; he came back to get us and we all arrived home about 9:30 p.m. The cats are doing their best to ignore her; although they clearly missed us (Mike stayed in the hospital all three days/nights). I am healing nicely with only minimal discomfort, thanks in large part to some lovely pain killers.

We've managed to get at least some sleep each of the past four nights; hopefully we'll work out a better routine in the coming days and weeks. My parents arrive next Wednesday afternoon and Mike will likely head back to school Thursday. We'll send more pictures soon - meanwhile, hope all your holiday preparations are going well and you are keeping warm. Love to you all, JEN.

Pictures and "Dude, I got a Dell!"

I promised Thanksgiving pictures and now I am delivering. You should check out the ones of Chris carving the turkey. Our turkey was 20 pounds, a bit smaller than in past years, but Hannah and Josh weren't able to come, so there were fewer people.

On a completely unrelated note, I am adding this entry on our BRAND NEW Dell computer. We are very happy with it (well, I am, Chris is working tonight so he hasn't seen it yet). I get a Dell discount as an EverBank employee and so we got a very nice system for a very nice price.

Later Days!

Olivia Starace Arrives

Jen and Mike are the proud parents of Olivia Starace born by C-section yesterday. She is 7 lb 12 oz with lots of dark hair and blond highlights.

Congratulations!

A belated Happy Thanksgiving

I know, I know, I've been a terrible poster lately, but HEY, I've been busy!

Chris and I held Thankgiving at our home for the first time this year. Mom and Dad arrived on Wednesday to help with the prep. This certainly made the whole process MUCH easier (did you know you need to make the stuffing the night before?) Eilleen arrived midmorning on Thursday and we were done eating and visiting by four and everyone went home. I was a little disappointed, but I understand the reasoning, the weather was kind of yucky. The pies are all gone, but Chris and I are still plugging through the turkey. There have been lots of turkey sandwiches lately. Chris actually carved the turkey, and I, of course, took lots of pictures. I'll post them here at some point.

In other news, recent staffing changes at work have required that I take on much greater responsibility. It's very exciting actually, I've been able to learn a lot and more importantly I know what I can handle (which is more than I thought). It's pretty stressful, but I think I'm handling it pretty well.

What else is going on? The weather has been odd. Last week we had a major snowstorm and yesterday it was 60 degrees. The rivers are incredibly high, makes for a most interesting commute as I watch the Winooski River creep ever higher.

Chris' knee is bothering him again, the terrible S word (surgery) is being bandied about by his various doctors and physical therapists. He's back on crutches...again. He is starting his weekly ESPN radio show this week, it launches Sunday.

Hannah is coming home for Christmas! They are still cleaning up from Wilma, but most things have returned to some sense of normalcy, they even have horse show coming up.

That seems to be all that springs to mind.

Later Days.

Long time...no posts

Sorry it's been so long. I've been really busy.

I have just returned from a trip to our office on Long Island. No offense to anyone from Long Island, but I was very happy to be back in Vermont. The trip was very worthwhile and educational. I feel like a giant sponge soaking up lots of information.

In an exciting turn of events, Chris and I are going to be hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year. It should be great fun! I love planning things like this. The major downside is that I have to spend the next few weekends cleaning the house from top to bottom, which is okay, it needs it.

Hannah got power back last week, much earlier than expected. She was grateful for a hot shower! She is still spending a lot of time cleaning up after Wilma. There isn't any major damage, but there are twigs and pine needles in all of the fields that need to be cleaned up.

I'm sure there is a lot of stuff I haven't included in this brief posting, but time is at a premium, so short and sweet it will have to be.

Later Days!

Hannah and Wilma

We have heard from Hannah! Thank goodness!!! She is fine. She doesn't have power and likely won't until November 15th!! I only spoke to her briefly, but she has quite a tale to tell.

I got a lovely Halloween card from my knitting secret pal. As a special note to her...I'll post pictures of Tasha when it's done. The pieces are all made, but I haven't seamed it together yet, turns out I'm terrible at seaming and I'm having some major trouble with it.

Happy Halloween!

What and interesting weekend

Well, Hannah and Wilma are currently getting to know each other really well. A bit too well for my own personal taste. According to The Weather Channel, Wilma is going right over the top of Hannah's house as I type this. I have to admit I'm a little freaked out. It's stronger than she was hoping it was going to be. Please keep her (and Josh and Joan) in your thoughts. I'll be sure to let you know when I hear from her.

There has been an interesting development at work, not involving me directly, but certainly indirectly. My job is secure, but things above me are changing a little...and it's making me a little nervous, purely from a personnel perspective, not an employment perspective.

In the meantime, I got some pictures from Mary this morning.

Jane and Lucy








Now you see her...











Now you don't!











The family Maiocco.








Guess that's it for now...

Later days.

You take a very nice photo Mr. DeLay

Is it just me, or do you consider it odd that Tom DeLay's booking picture looks better than a posed picture? Who smiles in a booking photo!!

(Sorry Uncle Dick)

Hurricane Wilma and Hannah

This just in from Hannah:

Well all, I am writing a mass email to let you all know about Ms. Wilma. Joan, Josh and I were scheduled to leave tomorrow for a big driving clinic and we were going to take two horses and come back on Sunday. Well know its looking like that wont happen. We are not 100% sure of what we are doing, but we are staying here. Not leaving at the moment. Wilma, depending on the course she takes in the next day hopefully will drop to a cat 2 or 3 by the time she makes land on the west coast of Florida. She is a tight storm with a small eye, so by the time she reaches the other side of Florida, we are hoping she will be a cat 1 or lower. We have already started stocking up on water. Some windows are going to be boarded up tomorrow. I have to id the horses halters tomorrow with zip lock bags, because when the storm hits I have to turn them out. It is saver for them outside where they are not trapped. The course now has the storm coming right over the top of us, this will change probably before this weekend. Wilma is suppose to make landfall late Saturday night. I am sure we will lose power. With luck we won't have much structural damage.

Anyway I wanted to give you all a shout to let you know. Josh and I just came back on Monday from taking the big truck to PA with some carriages to an Auction and know we are dealing with this. On a slightly humorous note, Josh got the truck stuck turning it around because the ground was too soft. We managed to get it unstuck and then today he backed it all the way out our driveway, turned it around and backed it all the way back in, so it was pointed out, if we need to leave. Mind you our driveway is not straight and has several small bends and too large curves and is close to 1000 feet long.

Hannah

All I have to say is YIKES!

Home from the Left Coast

Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. Okay, so there weren't any reports, but I have a excuse for not writing in a while. I have been in San Francisco. I was there attending a conference, the San Francisco Money Show. It is not nearly as interesting as it sounds, but it was educational. I went as a marketing rep for EverBank and learned a lot about the company and finacial planning in general. I came away from it both horrible depressed at my/our current financial situation (just poorly managed, no real problems) and a new found desire to do something about it. I have moved money out of the poorly performing savings account we had into a new one with 4% interest and will soon open a new interest checking account. These are all good first steps on what I hope will be a five year journey to a more properly managed financial picture. I wish somewhere out there there was a company that I could just hand everything over too, tell them what I want and they would do it all (including paying all my bills), but I haven't found anything for a small household like ours.

On to the much more fun part of the trip...I got to spend some time with the Munson/Maioccos and the Collazos while I was there. Mandi, Felix and I went to the The Dead Fish and had more crab than I have ever eaten in my life and man was it delicious! I spent most of Sunday hanging in Lafayette with Mary, Sarah, Matt, Jane and Lucy. Well, Lucy didn't so much "hang" as she did scream, but that's what you do when you're 8 months old, so it's okay. I brought Jane a dress-up wedding dress, she is so cute in it you could almost die! Apparently she spent most of Monday in it according to Sarah (who even got to wear the veil). People look at me funny when I say I went to spend time with my in-laws by myself, voluntarily, but hey, I have pretty cool in-laws.

All of my flights were uneventful, some minor turbulence, but I was sleeping for most of it. I can't believe that Halloween and Thanksgiving are right around the corner!

Later Days.

Happy Monday

Hmm, not sure what exactly is happy about it, perhaps Adequate Monday would be a better headline.

Not much in the goings on this past weekend. I took Friday off and spent the day with Mom. We played games and solved the problems of the world. She beat me in Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble, though the Scrabble game was very close, she only one by 3 points. Trivial Pursuit was also very close, I just couldn't get to the center before she did.

Chris brought home (free) Smoked Salmon pizza from one of his remotes this weekend. He loved it, I was not really sold on it, but it was free, so I can't really complain that much. He has been hard at work on the Colchester beat covering the looming Colchester teacher strike. They officially went on strike this morning.

I'm headed to the left coast on Thursday. I'm hoping to be able to spend some time with friends and family if time allows.

I have finished the pieces to the Tasha (see side panel) bag my Secret Pal enabled me to make. They are currently blocking/drying and should be assembled shortly. In the meantime, not being one to have idle hands, I have started a sweater. I know, I know, I've always said I shouldn't make sweaters because I doubt I'd finish them, but given my recent success at socks (yes, I made TWO!) I thought I'd give it a try.

Happy Thanksgiving to our Neighbors in the Great White North! Which reminds me I should jot a note to Mad and John.

Later Days!

Python: 1 Alligator: 1 in Overtime

Check out this news piece from the Everglades. Python vs. Alligator! I'm SO very glad I don't live in Florida. Hannah I just don't know how you deal with the creatures down there.

My nieces

Jane sleeping, be very quiet....


















Mary originally called this one "Lucy with drool." Strangely accurate.

















One day Lucy will hate Jane for this picture, for no apparent reason. Hannah hates me for really random pictures of when we were this age.













Oh my gosh! She's swallowed her bottom lip! Okay, but she's still cute.

A pain in the

SHOULDER! I seem to have developed a recurrence of tendonitis in my shoulder. Grr! I'm fine first thing in the morning, but as the day progresses it just gets more and more painful. Chris has ordered me to rest it this weekend. I'll try, but I'm not very good at doing nothing.

Just under two weeks until I go to San Francisco! Look out Jane, Aunt Alex is coming to town (and she's bringing presents). Ahh, I'm the gift bringing relative...well, at least that means I'll be her favorite (course I already am, right Jane?) :-)

Kaleidoscope is having thier annual tent sale tomorrow. I might go...depends on if I can drag Chris or not.

Oww, my shoulder HURTS! Okay, I'll stop whining now.

Later Days!

Cousins or Sisters

Are they cousins or sisters? Answer: Cousins. Hannah and Kathleen in Florida.

Happy Birthday

I completely forgot that Josh's birthday was Sunday...

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Josh!
Happy birthday to you!

I'm sorry I forgot!!!!!!!!

Pain and suffering

Chris went in to the doctor for his permanence evaluation for his wrist injury yesterday. No word yet on how that went, though considering that is his now MUCH more likely to develop Carpal Tunnel, we are hoping that we get something out of it. Speaking of injuries, I am fending off another attack of tendonitis in my right arm. That has put a serious curb on knitting and weight lifting - two things I am NOT happy about giving up!

No new news on Dad. There likely won't be any news, as this is just a new reality. It's not actively life threatening, which is a positive, but it isn't going to get any better either.

I took yesterday off to decompress, which felt really nice. It was such a gorgeous day that I took a walk to the library. I picked up the new Johnny Damon book for Chris and a Baseball Card value book. I'm hoping he'll start working on thinning them out just a bit. I suggested keeping the ones worth keeping (read worth more than $1) and getting rid of the rest of them. I wouldn't mind having the worthwhile ones around, but all of them...no way!

It is a VERY blustery day here today. Thank goodness for battery backup alarm clocks as the power was out when I woke up this morning. Ever showered in the dark, worried that the water pressure and the hot water would give out? No? Well, try it sometime...it's a blast! The power came back on about 10 minutes after I got out of the shower.

Later Days.

Gift from my Secret Pal and sad news

I'm part of a secret pal program, and received my first package today!! I'm so excited. She (is that a safe assumption?) sent me Reese's (yummy) needles and all the yarn needed to make the Tasha bag I've been drooling over. She also sent bath stuff and a beautiful bookmark!

I got a message from Mom today. Dad has officially been diagnosed with Emphysema and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Not that any of us are all that surprised about this, it's still a blow. I will pass more on when I know more, but in the meantime we are dealing with this latest hiccup as best as can be expected.

Later Days

I'm 36.19% nerd!

Okay, I have to admit that I thought it would be a lot higher, but it's a short test. Check it out here. I'm the proud child of a trekker (thanks Mom!) and have to admit I used to watch Star Trek: TNG and Enterprise. I never really was hard core into Star Trek: DS9 (though kudos to you if you have any idea what I'm talking about).

Anyway, that's your random burst of verbiage for the day!

Later Days.

Random Monday Morning Rambles

In the vein of completely random things that run through ones head on a chilly Monday morning...

I think I might start a new recipe page. I tried a new veggie stew last night (tomatoes, Zuchini, kidney beans and hominy) that was okay, not something I would eat on a regular basis, but it wasn't terrible. I've never been a big fan of tomatoes so when Chris saw me put two cans in a pot he new something different was happening. I also made apple crisp yesterday...that was yummy. I need to get hold of my Mom's recipe, that one is really yummy.

Chris worked most of the weekend, so I had some time to myself. Boring, but I can't complain too much. Overall it was a very uneventful weekend, which is kind of nice actually.

Later Days.

The countdown is on

Less than a month until Chris' cousin Stephanie leaves for Japan. She is getting really excited, but stressed beyond all belief all at the same time.

Also of note...Aunt Jean is coming to cat sit while Steph is away. That means my best knitting buddy is back in town. I'm hoping to be able to have a few sessions with her while she is here, but she will also be spending a lot of time with Jen and Mike in Maine, preparing for Olivia's arrival, as it should be, especially considering that Olivia will be the first grandchild for the Lacher family.

Later Days

Carter Kendrick Polson

This just in!!

Alex's cousins John and Kerry are proud to announce the arrival of Carter Kendrick Polson!!!!

Born on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 at 10:54pm at Williamsburg Hospital. He weighed in at 6lbs 11oz and is 19 inches long.

He is simply precious, very quiet and loves to snuggle. We are at this time having to keep him on a special blanket due to his elevated bilirubin counts and have to make trips to the hospital for blood work...but his doctor assures us that his levels will be in normal range in no time. Maddy thinks it's "really cool" to see her little brother light up like a little glow worm :-) She too had to go through all of this when she was born. She is also adjusting nicely to being a big sister and loves to kiss him on his head and tickle his feet!

Congratulations!!

Official update from Hannah

Hannah finally sent out an official note of her experiences in the recent hurricane. She was blessed that Katrina did not do much damage to her home in Florida, but now Ophelia is sitting of the east coast of Florida and may decide to do something.

Just thought I would let you all know that when Katrina hit Florida, we had some high winds and a lot of rain. The storm was nice to us and stayed south enough not to effect us much. We only lost one tree, a pine tree at that, there are plenty left. We got out all the batteries, flashlight, lanterns and etc. Made sure everything worked and then did not need it, which was good. Had plenty of water stored also. Quite glad it did not turn 45 minutes north. At least when it hit Florida it was small. We thought that we would lose power, but thankfully it only blinked a few times.

My cousin Kathleen was visiting and she got to experience some Hurricane Prep! It was fun having her visit, lots of gabbing and horsin' around......with actual horses.

Hannah

Later Days.

It's official!

The Champlain Valley has a new full-time radio personality. Chris has accepted a full-time position at WVAA 1390AM. He starts tomorrow, please join me in saying congratulations!

We had a very relaxing Labor Day. We spent some time volunteering for the Red Cross at the Champlain Valley Fair. We got a little sun burned, but it is all for a good cause. If you haven't done so yet, and are inclined to do so, donate money to the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army.

Later Days.

Reports from Florida

I spoke to Josh on Saturday. He said that Katrina was big and rainy and windy, just like a big storm up north, but that they faired pretty well. He said they lost a tree and that was about it. Now of course, Katrina is tearing through Louisiana, and our prayers and thoughts are with those people.

On the homefront, Chris and I went to the Champlain Valley Fair yesterday with our friend Kate. We ate lots of bad food and saw a lot of cool stuff. We didn't go on any rides though. They are just too expensive for what you get. Is that a sign of being an adult when you realize that the things you loved so much as a child just aren't worth the money as a grownup? Wow, that's kind of scary.

Anyway, that's about all I have to report right now...maybe more later depending on what Katrina does. The weather guys are saying that we might get something from this later in the week.

Later Days.

Katrina, Kathleen and Hannah

Well, Tropical Storm Katrina is moving in on Hannah. Lucky Kathleen just arrived yesterday, just in time for the arrival of Katrina. She is scheduled to stay through Sunday, and since it's not supposed to be a big storm, I'm sure she'll be out in time. She isn't due back in Ireland until September 7th, so she's in no real hurry.

I've been playing with the Breadmaker with limited success. I can't seem to get the water/flour/yeast balance correct. It's been fun trying, but I would like to get a loaf that actually comes out right. Trial and error is getting a little old.

Chris and I are planning to go to the Champlain Valley Fair this weekend. I won a free VIP parking pass, so we even get free parking!

Later Days!

Pictures of the car

I finally remembered to take pictures of my new car. Isn't she pretty!!

On a completely unrelated side note, it came to my attention this weekend that people actually read this blog...speak up people! Knowing that you're out there, I guess I'd better update more often.

The major event of this weekend was further use of the new breadmaker. The first loaf I made was terrible, it barely rose at all, and weighs a ton! The second loaf rose like crazy, but it was nothing but air. It was delightfully doughy though...mmm, bread dough, yummy!

I've joined Freecycle.org and gave Chris' old picnic basket to a good home on Saturday. That leaves us with just one picnic basket. I have people coming this week for the books, scanner and printer. I love this place! It's nice to be able to give the stuff that we don't need a home where it will be used.

I spent Saturday reorganizing the downstairs closet. I bought a broom/mop hanger and hung that up and I also bought a utility shelving unit and the closet finally looks a little more organized, though looks can be deceiving.

I had a minor panic attack this morning when I couldn't find the cat. I looked everywhere I could think of, and then I remembered I had been into the spare bedroom last night...so I looked there and Sophie was very happy to be freed from that room. I'll have to check it later to see if she did any damage. **fingers crossed**

Later Days

Jane and Lucy, but what is the car's name?

There are new pictures of Jane and Lucy. I send a great thanks to Mary for sending them along.

I picked up my new (to me anyway) car yesterday. I've decided that it is a girl car, but I haven't settled on a name...I kind of think Betty, but I have the feelingsomeone else has a car named Betty. I haven't taken pictures of it yet, but hope to soon.

As you may or may not know, Chris and I went to Fenway Park on Saturday. We watched a triumphant victory of the clan of the Red Sock over the clan of the White Sock. I am just reminder of the movie Black Arrow which was about red roses and white roses. Odd. Anyway, back to the point at hand. The game was briefly interrupted by a forty minute rain delay. The best part of the experience was seeing Curt Shilling pitch in relief, that was fabulous! Manny Ramirez was also fairly amusing as he spent almost as much time sitting in the Green Monster as playing on the field.

Here is the official story from mlb.com.

BOSTON -- There's no better feeling in the world for a starting pitcher than having a red-hot offense behind you. Such was the case on Saturday night for Tim Wakefield, who shut down the White Sox hitters and let his batters do the rest in a 7-4 win at Fenway Park. Boston's sixth straight win allowed them to stay five games ahead of the second-place Yankees in the American League East.

Wakefield (12-9) captured sole possession of the team lead in wins by holding Chicago to seven hits and two runs over 6 2/3 innings. The victory ran his personal winning streak to four and the club's home winning tear to 13 straight, now 11 shy of the MLB mark set by the 1988 Red Sox.

The game was halted in the bottom of the sixth due to thunderstorms, lightning and heavy rains. The delay lasted just over 40 minutes.

Wakefield's only trouble came when he took the mound following the delay. He allowed back-to-back homers to Paul Konerko and Aaron Rowand to open the seventh before being relieved by Jeremi Gonzalez following a two-out double by Joe Crede.

For six innings, Wakefield, who with the victory matched his win total of a year ago, allowed just four hits and kept the White Sox off the board.

"I had it going on for the first six innings, and my rhythm and timing got off after the rain delay," he said. "I tried to stay loose and stay focused mentally within the rain delay. I made two bad pitches to Konerko and Rowand."

"He was so good, and then he went back out and didn't look tired to me or anything," Red Sox manager Terry Francona added. "He didn't look stiff, but a couple of balls rolled and they hit home runs."

The knuckleballer outdueled the Chicago right-hander, who entered the contest leading the AL in wins. But Jon Garland (16-6) couldn't collect his 17th victory on this night, as the Red Sox tagged him for nine hits and five runs over 5 1/3 innings. With a heat index of 98 at first pitch, Garland threw 75 pitches in three innings and reached the 90-pitch mark by the end of four.

"When you get good defense and great offense and you can hold a team like the White Sox down like that, it's going to give you some chances to win," said Wakefield.

Leading the offensive charge was Roberto Petagine, who belted his first Major League homer in nearly seven years and drove in a pair with two hits. His homer deep to the right-field grandstand seats opening the second against Garland gave Boston a 1-0 lead and marked his first homer in the Majors since his roundtripper for Cincinnati on September 27, 1998.

"After six years of playing in Japan, it's been a long time for me to hit on in the Major Leagues again," said the 34-year-old native of Caracas, Venezuela, who has driven in eight runs in his last four games. "I'm very happy to get it but, actually, we won, and that's more important to me."

Tony Graffanino doubled twice and joined Friday night's hero, David Ortiz, in collecting three hits. Both have had key roles in helping the Red Sox beat Kenny Rogers, Mark Buehrle and Garland in succession.

"I think we've been taking a good approach, making them throw a lot of pitches," Graffanino said. "When they make a mistake, we've been taking advantage of it and hitting the ball hard. Tonight, Garland had a lot of pitches early in that ballgame, and in that kind of heat and humidity, it looked like it wore him down a little bit and we took advantage."

The Red Sox strung together four straight hits to open the third against Garland to extend their lead to 3-0. Then, with one out, Doug Mirabelli was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Bill Mueller. The Sox third baseman lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Manny Ramirez with the third run of the inning and giving Boston a four-run cushion.

Mike Remlinger relieved Gonzalez with two outs in the eighth, but allowed a walk and a double. The lefty reliever has faced six batters in two outings and has failed to record an out.

Curt Schilling came on with two outs in the eighth in relief of the struggling Remlinger and recorded the game's final four outs.

Chicago's Jermaine Dye led off the ninth with a home run, but Schilling buckled down to close the door on the White Sox.

Mike Petraglia is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Later Days!

I'm Interchangeable

I've been reading my knitting forums and found this cute quiz. I think it is most appropriate, though I had to laugh since I just barely bought a set of interchangeable needles that I love.

You are interchangeable. Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every eventuality covered and every opportunity just has to be taken. Every fiber is wonderful, and every day is a new beginning. You are good at so many things, it's amazing, but you can easily lose your place and forget to show up. They have row counters for people like you!

What kind of knitting needles are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Later Days!

Mission Accomplished!

The Space Shuttle Discovery landed today after 14 days in space. Congratulations to the entire crew for reinvigorating the nation's interest in space and space exploration. I still wish I could have been an astronaut! Hannah took pictures of the launch that I hope to add at some point.

Another mission accomplished of an entirely different type...I have actually finished a knitting project! I know, Chris is shocked too. I have completed the Tri-Aran-Angle from knitty.com. I can't tell you how excited I am by that!

Those are the major stories of the day.

Later Days!

We have actual news!

The best new piece of news belongs to Chris. He has been hired, part-time as a reporter for WTWK 1070 AM. You can check him out at www.wtwk1070.com. His first official broadcast is Wednesday. I can't help but hear "Video killed the radio star" going around and around in my head. We are all very excited about this, both because it is an amazing opportunity that landed in his lap and because it will be some extra money that we can sock away for future (ho)use.

The other piece of news is mine. Frank has found me a car. It is a 2004 Ford Focus. It is cranberry red and has 7,000 miles on it. It will be the youngest car I have ever owned. To say that I am excited is the biggest understatement of the decade! I was even more excited when I found out it was rated a best pick by Consumer Reports for 2004 AND 2005. I'll post some pictures of my new baby when I pick her up, but in the meantime if you can come up with a name, I'm open for suggestions!

I was very saddened to learn of the death of Peter Jennings. It sounds silly, but I feel like my parents must have when Walter Kronkite died. Peter Jennings was always my go to news guy and it is odd to not have him around anymore. Dan Rather got me through the Challenger Explosion, but Peter Jennings got me through the fall of the Berlin Wall and the attacks of September 11. Good Morning America pointed out this morning that one leg of the Rather/Jennings/Brokaw triangle is gone. It's odd since the three of them all went off the air in the same year.

Later Days!

Spiders and ministers

Where have you been?! You've been gone for ages!

Hey, don't yell at me! This is what happens when there really isn't anything all that exciting going on in your life. But, I'm back now.

This morning on my way to work I saw the most amazing thing. The sun was shining off the dew on spider webs. The cool part was that the spider webs were on the power lines, in between the wires. It was beautiful!

On a similarly inspiring, but less beautiful note, the church is moving forward to issuing calls to two interim pastors. As it turns out they are a married couple, and they are both simply amazing. The church is really blessed to have found them, I think they will be able to do a lot of good while they are at the church.

Hannah saw the shuttle launch on Tuesday. I was watching on NASA TV online, but missed the actual launch because I was in a meeting. She is going to be sending pictures soon. She said it was really cool and really loud. I am really jealous that she got to watch a shuttle launch! I've been watching/listening to NASA TV all week, and it's been fascinating to hear what is going on. I even got to see live video feed of the two crews (STS 114 and ISS Expedition 11) meeting each other. I've also been watching live feed of the inspection of the heat sheild.

I spoke to Mom last night, a tree fell in the backyard (and yes they heard it). Apparently one of the pine trees in the backyard, one of the ones holding the hammock, randomly fell down. Mom said there was nothing visible wrong with it, it just randomly fell down. Mom said it sounded like something fell in the kitchen. I would expect that a tree falling would make a large noise, but apparently not. The tree just barely missed the riding lawn mower, by inches. It took a few branches off the other pine trees, but over all didn't do that much damage.

There isn't anything really interesting happening this weekend. There is a VT Chapter FPC Alumni event at the Expos game on Saturday, but other than that I think we will be enjoying another calm and peaceful weekend.

Later Days

Nothing interesting to report

I know I haven't posted in a while, but that's mostly because there isn't anything really worth reporting going on.

Mom is in Massachusetts at a convention, and I'm sure is having a grand time. Dad called last night complaining he was bored. Poor guy! This is the first time Mom has been away from home for this long by herself, so this is new territory for them both.

Hannah went to Titusville, Florida to watch the shuttle launch that didn't happen. I haven't actually heard from her, so I don't know her thoughts on it not happening. I was watching NASA TV on www.nasa.gov and found out right away that they were scrubbing the launch, and I was thinking of poor Hannah. She went three hours out of her way to see a lot of nothing. I'm sure it was still pretty cool though. I'll let you know if I hear from her and get any juicy tidbits.

Later Days

Cindy and Dennis

While Dennis was pounding the Caribbean, Cindy was dumping the last of her rain on New England.

The Chelsea Flea Market was this past Saturday, but due to leftovers of Cindy, we chose not to go. It poured all day long and was generally miserable, so there really was no point in going to Chelsea as most of the vendors were likely packed up. I was disappointed, but it allowed us to get more things done around the house.

Sunday was the our Associate Pastor's last sermon. It was a sad yet happy occasion and Tim gave a very nice sermon about preparing for a journey. We had a little reception for him after church with cake and punch. The search committee is interviewing a possible replacement for him next week. The person seems quite nice and I'm sure will be a good fit for the church.

The Expos game was rained out on Saturday (shocking, right?) so they played a double header on Sunday. It was supposed to be two 7 inning games that turned into an eleven inning game and a seven inning game. The Expos were winning game one, until some sloppy pitching scored four runs. In the bottom on the eleven inning D Brown hit a walkoff homerun to end the game, and then 20 minutes later they did it all over again. The second game was won considerably more convincingly 3-0 in seven innings. The reported attendance for the game was 3,100, but I think only 500 were left for the end of it!

I have officially started going back to the gym and already feel better for it. I haven't started lifting again yet, but will probably start that tonight. The main reason I hadn't was that I had misplaced my lifting gloves, but I found them last night on the bedroom floor. I know, good place for them right?

It was so nice out last night that I went out and laid in the hammock reading my book for an hour or so, very relaxing. It was nice until the bugs came out, but that wasn't until almost nine o'clock. I am reading Patricia Cornwell's Blow Fly, a Kay Scarpetta novel I got from the library. So far it is okay. I have found with her book recently that she develops a pretty good story, but ties things up too quickly in the end. This one is just taking much too long to develop into anything interesting. I'm halfway through the book and only one person has died so far and Dr. Scarpetta doesn't know anything about it yet. It's odd. I was going to work more on my knitting project, but when it is hot like this, it just isn't comfortable to be holding an afghan in you lap while you knit it. Those kinds of projects are best reserved for winter.

I am growing trees in a pot on the deck. Trees, in a pot? You say??? Well, some maple seeds fell into my spider plants, and rather than toss them I decided to pot them. I never expected them to actually grow, but they did and with a vengence. I'm going to look into bonsaiing at least one of them. I may transplate the others into the back yard and post around them so they do not get mowed over. Everytime I go look at the trees they have grown at least an additional inch. I regret not taking a picture of them everyday, I could have had one heck of a flip book!

Well, I've killed an hour writing this one today and not even a single news article to be had. I don't have any news articles to share, but will point out that the new Harry Potter book comes out on Saturday! I have to wait and read it either from the library or from Kate, since I don't want to buy the hardback.

Later Days!

A sad day in London

Another terror attack in London, this time attacking the mass transit system. Somehow it feels very much like the "old days" of the IRA and the frequent bombs they planted all over the city.

This just goes to prove that terrorists never die, they just change causes. When will the countries of the world learn that it isn't an atrocity that they bomb our cities and it isn't a shock or a surprise. The real atrocity, shock and surprise comes from our inability to learn from the past. The policies of many of the major developed nations of the world are offensive, even to those living in those countries. When was the last time you heard some one say "I hate those Canadians" or "Let's just bomb Oslo." The United States and its cohorts really need to take a lesson from the more peaceful nations of the world. What are they doing right that we just can't seem to figure out?

I recently saw a very interesting program on CBC. the fifth estate ran a program entitled "Sticks and Stones" about the media bias in the US. It was a very fair presentation of what is happening in the American media from a Canadian perspective. The CBC will even let you watch it online!

Anyway, I'll get off my political soapbox (if only Grandpa could see me now!)

Later Days

Happy Fourth of July

Chris and I spent a delightfully boring weekend at home. I had the day off on Friday so I went to Burlington and had lunch with my friend Kate. It was nice to catch up on life. The other big event of the day was finally getting off my lazy bum and joining the gym - Racquets Edge. Since I started my new job I had to cancel my membership at the YMCA. A real bummer, but I just couldn't get to the Y after work and if I'm going to have any hope of going I have to be able to legitimately get there.

Saturday Stephanie (Chris' cousin) began her epic journey to South Dakota. She, Al and Theo (the cats) all piled into a car and were gone early Saturday morning. 25 hours in a car with the cats...sounds like loads of fun.

Chris and I went to play minature golf on Saturday...he beat me. I put in a very poor showing.

That was the extent of the excitement of our long weekend, but we both enjoyed ourselves. We rested and recharged for the coming week.

Later Days.

Proposal Made to Seize Souter's Property

I don't know how man of you actually follow the Supreme Court or read up on the decisions that they reach, but this on is just too funny.

The court, in its infinite wisdom, decided that it was okay for municipalities to seize private property if the seizing would benefit the economics of the community. David Souter voted with the majority in this decision. Read the article to find out what happened next.

This decision got me thinking though, wouldn't the seizing of that horrid house down the hill from my parents benefit the community. We could tear it down and create a park or a nature preserve, anything would be better than what is there now!

In an update from yesterday...I investigated the tree that Chris claimed was struck by lightning, but I highly doubt it was. Firstly, it's still standing and in mostly one piece. It does have a black scar on in and it has a minor split, but I want to say that those were there before the storm. We still do not have telephone service. Chris has been having fun yelling at Verizon and is planning to report their lack of service to the Public Service Board. By law they are required to have someone out to the house to fix the problem within 24 hours. Verizon actually told Chris that this was a "guideline" and the worst that could happen would be they would get fined. Oh, is that all! They are supposed to be out this morning to fix the line. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I won't hold my breath.

On a related note...the cable company did come within 24 hours to fix our cable problem. The technician who opened up the routing box on the house was shocked to see all of the lines fried and black (apparently they are supposed to be silver). He said that something definitely hit something somewhere and was surprised that there wasn't more damage.

It is finally cooling off, and I'm off of work tomorrow. Hurray for the four day weekend! Have a happy fourth!

Later Days.

I'm moving to Canada

I would really like to move to Canada where people have adequate health insurance, a good standard of living, and people are able to live their lives without interference from the government. There is a reason why Americans abroad pretend to be Canadian. I have to practice my "aayy" and then maybe I'll pass as a person from Toronto, aayy.

CRASHBANG *blink* nothing

With temps in the plus 90s for the past week, we have been hoping for a nice big thunderstorm. Well, we got one!!! Last night, our house was struck by lightning, or at least I think it was. Turns out it was a tree in our yard. I'll take a picture tonight. It was about 10:30 and I had just gotten off the phone with Hannah. There had been some lightning and some rumbling thunder, but nothing too worrisome when... CRASHBANG *blink* nothing. Imagine staring at the sun and having two guns go off next too your head in the space of about a half a millisecond and then total silence and blackness and you'd come close to what we had last night. The cable is out and surprisingly the phones are completely gone! Not the phones themselves, the phone line. We have no dial tone, no nothing. Needless to say, the pets got a little freaked out, Simon almost had a birdy coronary. Sophie handled it pretty well actually. I'll be interested to take a look around the property tonight to see if there is any evidence.

I'm in a computer training for most of the day today, so the news article of the day may have to wait.


UPDATE: It also blew out the Ethernet Card on our computer!
Later Days!

Wal-Mart Heir John Walton Dies in Crash

Okay, this demanded a snappy retort. Please, please, please, someone tell me he bought the plane at Wal-Mart!

Jack the Ripper and the heat

There are a few new theories about Jack the Ripper. I have always been fascinated by the story of Jack the Ripper. I have no idea why, as it is a fairly gruesome thing to be fascinated with, but I've always been a bit odd. This theory posits that Jack the Ripper was a merchant seaman and is detailed in the new book Jack The Ripper: The 21st Century Investigation. I discovered, quite accidently, that there are 194 titles available at Amazon.com that cover Jack the Ripper, that's scary.

I hate small talk about the weather, but I think that the current streak merits some talk, small or otherwise. We had to dig out the air conditioner last night. It's only the second night this summer, but we didn't use it at all last year. They are predicting another 90+ day today with temps in the mid 70s over night. I predict that there will be much more AC tonight.

It's still early in the day so nothing worth reporting has happened yet, I'll let you know if anything changes.

Later Days!

New Job and lots of other changes

As many people know, I have left the world of academic publishing and entered the world of internet banking. While both industries are thrilling in their own right, I have to admit that I miss the publishing world.

Sour grapes, you say? No, not really. I'm just bored out of my mind. I have very little to do that is of any real consequence. I have been demoted from the world of the people with four walls and a door, to the land of Dilbert. That is not my real issue though. I was "promised" one thing and feel like I've gotten something completely different. FALSE ADVERTISING! Well that is certainly a funny statement coming from an advertiser. I'm doing conferences, I wanted to do marketing. If marketing means punching numbers into excel spreadsheets all day, then count me out! But to view it from a much more fair angle, I haven't even been employed here for a full month yet (that's Friday). I should wait until I've settled in to make any major life changing decisions...again. Changing jobs and marital status all in one month is an awful lot to do to one's psyche. I even lost a family member in May when my Uncle Bill Ripley passed away. I covered three of the four most stressful things anyone can do - Change Jobs, Get Married, Death in the Family and Move. I think that perhaps have a child should also be on that list, but I'll leave it with those four.

On to more mundane things, I turned 29 a few weeks ago. I'm going to be 30 next year. That is scary! That means I will have to start acting like an adult at some stage. 30! Wow that's over half way to middle age, almost half way to retirement (presuming I retire at 65). Chris is 35, so I guess I can hold on the fact that he will always be older than me. That makes me feel a little better. Anyway, the real story of the birthday weekend was poor Kathleen. My cousin Kathleen came to spend some time at Mom and Dad's and work on the farm that Dad works on to complete some requirements for vet school. We were going to get together on her last weekend in town. I was at work, bored, as usual, when I receive a panicked phone call from Aunt Joanne, who immediately passed me off to a very distraught Uncle Gerry. I was informed that Kathleen had been in a accident on her way to meet Mom in Barre. I had a good idea where, once I knew she was in South Barre and convinced Uncle Gerry that I would leave work immediately and head to Barre to meet Mom and go to where Kathleen was. She had called him from the paramedic's cell phone to fill them in on what had happened. Well, I got to Barre to meet Mom and there was Kathleen, in perfect condition (minus some rattled nerves) with Mom trying to cover up her passenger side window which had been completely shattered when she was T-boned by a large Chevy truck. Thankfully all was well and she rode with me to Colchester and called her dad on my cell phone and convinced the crew in North Carolina that she really was fine and that the car, though drivable, was going to need some work. We all went to see Star Wars Ep. 3 (isn't Darth Vader HOT!) and she had some chocolate and all was well. On Tuesday she drove back to Delaware in her dented car without further incident, more things happened when she got there, but I'll let her tell you those if she so chooses.

There is lots more going in the lives of people in Vermont, but that's going to have to be that for now.

Later Days!

We're married!

Thank you to all who came to Vermont to help us celebrate.

We have returned from Jamaica well rested and just a little bit browner, or red in Chris' case.

Here are pictures of the wedding weekend

The wedding pictures can be found here, the password is love.

we'll have more later.

April showers bring May flowers

Apparently we escaped the traditional huge snowstorm that surrounds Hannah's birthday. I can honestly say I'm not the least bit upset by that. We are getting huge amounts of rain though, to the tune of over an inch in some places. I went into the basement yesterday to retrieve my summer tires and was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to swim to get them. The rain hasn't been as bad here in Colchester as it has been in other places.

I'm just back from my last conference before the wedding. I was in DC last week. Thankfully the one day I had free to be a tourist was the nicest day of the week. I arrived on Wednesday at 8am, so checked my bags at the hotel and went out wandering. The new WWII monument is...interesting. I had never seen it before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I think it will be nicer once the construction around the Washington Monument (again) is finished. I went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I have just finished Dan Brown's Deception Point which deals with meteors and the like so it was even more interesting to see actual meteorites up close. They are amazing. They are solid iron on the inside, it looks like it came right out of an iron foundry.

I hope your spring rain brings many spring flowers.

Happy birthday Hannah!

Today is Hannah's 27th birthday. Let's join in signing...

Happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday dear Hannah,
happy birthday to you!!

The other big news of the day is that I didn't wear gloves today. I know that sounds a bit odd, but it means that it was warm enough that I didn't need them.

We met with Steve Garvey (the primary minister) this morning and we are meeting with Kathy Eddy tomorrow morning. This is the ceremony planning week, and so far things are going well.

That's it for now.

Have a good one!

Spring is coming!

Okay, so the calendar claims that Sunday is the first day of spring, we shall see. To be fair, however, the temperatures have climbed a lot recently. It was in the high 30s yesterday and I heard that it is supposed to be in the 40s this weekend. This is just in time for the sugaring season to start. Speaking of sugaring...I am on a private mission to get Chris to have some "sugar on snow." Can you believe he's never had it? This weekend is the Vermont Maple Sugar Open House and many sugarhouses offer sugar on snow and other maple goodies, unfortunately none of the sugarhouses are near us.

Back to the weather for a minute, it was warm enough and light enough when I got home from work last night to take my first Spring run. It was great! The cold air was a little rough on the asthmatic lungs and I'm still a little bit froggy, but it was worth it.

Guess that's it for now...catch you later.

So, if you are a regular visitor to our blog page, you've by now noticed that change. This is a much easier way to update the page, and I thought I'd take advantage of it. No, it doesn't mean I'll get any better at updating it.

I took yesterday off to visit the florist. I have officially chosen flowers. I never knew that a simple thing like flowers could cause so much stress! What is up with that? Since I was out and about anyway I mailed the invitations. Let the RSVPs start pouring in!

Next week we are meeting with both ministers, and Chris has more doctors appointments. If you were unaware he has torn a ligament in his wrist. He did this two months ago and he isn't fixed yet. He is currently scheduled to have surgery in April. Supposedly he will be out of a cast in time for our wedding, but we are still unsure about that. Keep your fingers crossed. I really do hope he is better soon, he is in pain 24 hours a day and I just feel terrible as there is nothing I can do to help.

I am currently working on posting my pictures of my recent trip to Hawaii. I've been so swamped since I got back that I simply haven't had time. I have to say that it was one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. I would say to anyone considering going...stay away from Honolulu. It is simply to commercial. I didn't get to go off the island of Oahu, but I've heard that other islands are much more panoramic.