Saturday, November 30, 2002

Not a lot of talking, but some new pics to share. First off, is this a cute baby or what? Liliana is wearing her new strawberry cap, and seems to like it.



And is this a cute birthday boy, or what? Since the big day was Wednesday the 27th, my family celebrated Ryan's birthday with cake after stuffing our faces for Thanksgiving.



And last, is this a cute cat or what? Serena's favorite new nap spot is on top of the armoire in our bedroom. Keep in mind that the armoire is over 6 feet tall, and she climbs up by using the wood beams inside the doors as rungs on a ladder. Then she either jumps from the top to the floor, or (most impressive) walks out to the very end of the open door and does a controlled fall/leap onto the end of the bed (about 4 feet away). Such a little acrobat, though you wouldn't know it from this pose!



That's it for now. We're off to the aquarium store today, so Ryan can take advantage of the $50 in new fishies that I promised him via a homemade birthday gift certificate. Maybe we'll have some pics of them later.

Thursday, November 28, 2002

This Thanksgiving morning, I'm thankful to have gotten a good night's sleep! I'm also thankful that we've got more unpacked than still packed, and that Ryan had a happy birthday. And that our kitties are getting along.

As I wrote that last bit, Serena jumped from the top of my monitor to the top of my bookcase, which is in a new (apparently more exciting) configuration here in the new apartment. She's been spending a lot of time climbing on the furniture. She particularly likes to be up on the top of the armoire, which is over 6 feet tall. Once she gets up high, she usually puts her front paws on the walls or moldings, looking for a way to get higher. I swear, the cat would climb across the ceiling if she could. Now she's back on the monitor, stalking Cleo. I think it's mostly play, but you never know when things could get out of hand!

We're headed out to my parents' house in a few hours. Ah, another thing to be thankful for - the ability to drive our car out there rather than cram in with a million people on the Long Island Railroad. After dinner we'll go to Leanne's parents' house, although she won't be there. Pastry chefs sometimes get stuck working on Thanksgiving. I'll be back out there tomorrow to see Leanne and her sister Tracy, so I can give Tracy the strawberry cap I made for her baby, Liliana.

The rest of the weekend I plan to lay low and finish unpacking and settling in here. We're doing quite well, but still have some stuff to sort out. Mostly kitchen stuff and my office stuff, since I have been working and haven't had time to do it. Once we settle more, I'm sure I'll blog more regularly. In the meantime, happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Monday, November 25, 2002

FInding it harder to blog these days for a bunch of reasons. First, I'm so
busy unpacking at home that I can barely find time to get to the computer.
And some days the computer is blocked by boxes! Working on that one.

Second, for some reason Netscape 4.76 is the only browser installed on this
ancient iMac at my new job, and blogger pro is not compatible with it. I
haven't completely sussed out whether it's OK (i.e. if there are any weird
IT policies about software installation) for me to install Exploder, but I
think I'll probably do it anyway soon. Right now, I'm going to try the
"email to post" option offered by blogger pro. Hope it goes OK. If not,
blame any formatting oddities on that, not me!

Things are percolating along at home, though we are still screwed on the
telephone front. Next day they can even attempt to install a line is
Tuesday, 12/3. And that is contingent on either being able to get into the
next-door-neighbors' apartment or finding an alternate route. I'm not
optimistic right now. At least our landlord is being (for her) sympathetic,
and agreed to cover the installation charges, which are going to be $213 for
two jacks in the apartment. Yeesh. At least we don't have to pay for the
outside wiring!

I knitted a bit on the subway this morning. I thought I was rather clever,
standing in the doorway of the moving train, bracing my back against the
door while I knit away on a strawberry cap, yarn tucked away in my shoulder
bag. I did consider that if the train stopped short I'd stab myself (or
someone else) in the chest with my size 6 addi turbo circulars, but I
decided the probability was small enough not to warrant further
consideration.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, if only to have four days out of the
office, three of which I can use to finish unpacking and getting the
apartment in order. Before Thanksgiving comes Ryan's birthday (Nov. 27th),
which I'm also looking forward to. I got him a...yeah right, I'm going to
post it on my blog for him to see! How stupid do I look?! He does
know that I've invited a bunch of his friends to join us for Korean BBQ
Wednesday night. Should be fun since no one has to work the next day.