Travels

Norman and I will be heading north on thursday for a long weekend with family.  Norman's cousin Marilyn's daughter is getting married in Massachusetts on saturday.  We will stay with good friends, Peter and Terry Armour during the wedding weekend (they live close by), then Sunday morning head into Manhattan to see Mary and Jenna.  Can't wait to see Mary's new apartment (I will take my camera!)  And, it's hard to imagine that next year at this time, Jenna will be who knows where!

We don't take vacations to exotic places anymore, but the places we go are definitely the best.  In a couple of weeks, we are off to Ohio to see Grace!

Chaos at Dilbeck Cottage

Construction Up-Date

We are having a lot of work done on the house as we prepare for the impending visit of the Grand Parental Units (GPUs).

It was all arraigned to begin on the Monday after the Double Q (Mike will go into detail about the Double Q in his own post). We had purchased a French door for the kitchen, a Franklin Stove, and all of the tile for the porch. I talked to the contractor “we are all ready to go” he assured me… Oh Boy!

Monday I went home for lunch to find a workman on my Juliet Balcony, which is on the front of the house. He was taking the trim off the existing door. “Whatcha doin” I asked – “I’m installing the new door” he replied casually. “It doesn’t go there” I said – “You sure” he replied – “Pretty sure” I said.

We got the door all straightened out. Not only was he installing it in the wrong place – turns out it was the wrong door too. I must say that my confidence was somewhat weakened by the situation. We have used this team before and been really pleased with them. My confidence returned as I went on and inspected the other work – it’s going to be so totally cool.

Rick will post before and after pictures latter. Prepare to be amazed and please plan a visit soon!

PS, Wally is currently looking for a new, quieter home with less terrifying visitors. Henry couldn’t be happier with all the commotion and goings on. Wally thinks Henry should be a little more realistic about the risk these loud blundering behemoth present. Henry thinks Wally is a scaredy dog, and that Wally is quite possibly confused as to his canine orientation, possibly a little light in the toenails (wink, wink, nod, nod – if you know what I mean).

Palin

Did you see that interview Sarah Palin had with Katie Couric? This woman needs to remain in Alaska and protect our country from the flying Putin's.

I'm Alive!!!

Hey Everyone... Sorry for the MIA-ness lately but I am alive and I guess to reintroduce myself, I'll start out by doing this quiz...

TWO NICKNAMES I HAVE BEEN CALLED: Mare Bear, Legs (everyone knows Mary Sunshine)

TWO THINGS I'D LIKE TO LEARN: Geography, Sports Trivia (for crosswords)

TWO FOODS I LOVE: Annies Mac&Cheese, Taco Salad

TWO FOODS I HATE: Okra, mushy tomatoes

TWO FAVORITE BOOKS: The Power of One, Time Traveler's Wife

TWO THINGS THAT SCARE ME: Scary noises at night, planes

TWO OF MY SECRET TALENTS: knitting, making fortune tellers

TWO THINGS I WISH I DID BETTER: Frisbee, making play lists

TWO PET PEEVES: people who put little stuffed animals on their back dashboards of their cars
and arrange them so that they are hugging or some BS like that, people who talk with their cell phones on speaker... No one wants to hear your conversation. Oh and everything and one on the subway

TWO THINGS IN THE ROOM WITH ME NOW: a Brushware computer key cleaner/post it holder, 3 purses that I haven't brought home from work yet.

TWO PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO TAKE THIS QUIZ NEXT: Jenna and Gracie??

College

Hi everyone!

So the college process stinks! I was enjoying it at the beginning;  looking at schools, going on interviews and reading Fiske the Best Colleges in the Country. But times have changed and now I am working on my personal essay, activity essay, supplements and Common App. I am applying to five schools EA (early action) and one school ED (early decision) and don't forget seven schools regular decision. My deadline is November 1st for early action and early decision, which seems so soon! I am sure you all remember this process so please any type of encouragement would be great. Also, does anyone want to take a look at my personal essay and make some corrections, I know one of you do. 

Happy (belated) birthday to Alison Grinter!

In case you didn't know, on Sept. 23, Alison celebrated her 30th birthday. Though she retains the dewy glow of youth, it's now accompanied by the kind of serious gravitas that comes with being a Real Live Adult.

Cease trusting her immediately.

Poor Twinkie!

Anyone who has ever visited the Richter household probably knows how Twinkie will try to escape his life as a domesticated cat the second a door is opened. He succeeded so many times that Justin and I finally gave up...and let him enjoy some time in the wild outdoors. Unfortunately, this led to a pretty rough summer for poor little Twinkie - during which he experienced several run-ins with a mean and puffy stray who gave our little boy a permanently notched ear and, most recently, a nasty bite at the base of his tail.

The tail bite got infected, and Twinkie spent a day at the vet getting his tailbone area shaved and flushed. He returned home drugged up and sporting a humiliating plastic cone. To add insult to injury, Twinkie gets disoriented when he has gear on his head, and can only walk backwards. We discovered this last Christmas when we put him in an elf costume (see attached video) and unfortunately the same holds true for his medical cone!

Kansas and Tornados

We didn't have much wind though tornado warnings kept things interesting!  And, despite heavy rains, nothing could dampen our fun on W 77th Street!  Norman and I had such a fabulous time with Anne, Justin, and the zoo. Anyone who has not visited KC has missed out on a fantastic treasure.  Among many fun activities, we visited The Collegiate  BBall Hall of Fame ("The Basketball Experience"), saw the Chief's home opener from primo UMB seats (3rd row back, 50 yard line), drank lots of good wine, enjoyed Justin's "tailgate experience" and admired recent improvements to the house - including a great painting Grace did for A&J that is now hanging above the new bar (Anne! Take a picture of the painting and post it!)

Black out in Oxford

As some of you may have heard, the midwest was all in shambles this weekend. Early Sunday morning, Oxford, OH started experiencing some very high winds of around 60 mph. This went on all day knocking down several trees and cutting out all power. Apparently we were not the only ones. 580,000 people in Cincinnati were without power along with much of Dayton and even Columbus. Apparently these were winds from the recent hurricane. Now it is Tuesday and the power just came back on this morning! It was quite the adventure these past few days as students have been scrounging for food, drink and cash. The only food place open in town for a while was a brick oven pizza joint that of course could only take cash! Monday the president actually cancelled school. The last time this happened was back in 1970 when students flushed toilets and ran showers at the same time to deplete the towns water supply in some kind of protest. Even though half of the town is still without power, the University's generator is up and running and classes were held today. Students without power were very unhappy with this decision and a huge stand in was held at President Hodge's house last night. (We later found out he was out of town). But anyway, I am happily sitting now in my lit house on my charged computer!

Fish Tacos

JoAnne and Ralph tried Justin's Fish Tacos (with store bought Tilapia) and they were delicious! If you haven't tried them, you should.

Kansas City Here We Come

Karen and I leave for KC this coming Thursday to spend a few days with Anne and Justin and their array of pets. We are going to a Chiefs game on Sunday and I will leave the rest of the scheduling up to our hosts.

The New Poll

Just take out the "cool lady" part.

Alison's Answers to the Quiz

TWO NICKNAMES I HAVE BEEN CALLED

1. Ace
2. Ali

TWO THINGS I'D LIKE TO LEARN

1. How to Pick a Lock
2. PHP

TWO FOODS I LOVE
1. Vegetarian Indian
2. Whole Foods Pizza

TWO FOODS I HATE
1. Steak
2. Peeps

TWO FAVORITE BOOKS:
1. Infinite Jest
2. The Corrections

TWO THINGS THAT SCARE ME:
1. Outer Space
2. Prison

TWO OF MY SECRET TALENTS (It's only a secret if you don't break it out at every party, Wesley)
1. Predicting who will win "fastest finger" on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
2. Talking small children into mischeif-making

TWO THINGS I WISH I DID BETTER:
1. Driving
2. Intimidating clients into paying their bills

TWO PET PEEVES
1. Quotation marks used for emphasis
2. "Supposably"

TWO THINGS IN THE ROOM WITH ME NOW
1. Henry (snoring)
2. Coffee

TWO PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO TAKE THE TEST NEXT:
1.Chris
2. Mary

SO???

Atlanta, where are you?  Have you all dropped off the face of the earth?  Do you not love us anymore?  And what about you, Oklahoma?

Wendy's Answers to the Quiz

TWO NICKNAMES I HAVE BEEN CALLED:
1. Agnes
2. Sweet Cheeks or Sugar Packet

TWO THINGS I'D LIKE TO LEARN:
1. All the secrets of the Universe
2. Kayaking

TWO FOODS I LOVE:
1. Really thin spaghetti with meat sauce
2. Italian bread with cold butter

TWO FOODS I HATE:
1. Liver
2. Sushi - and all other foods I haven’t tried yet but may really enjoy at some time in the future.

TWO FAVORITE BOOKS:
1. The Red Tent
2. All things Jane Austin

TWO THINGS THAT SCARE ME:
1. Eight More Years
2. Intolerance

TWO OF MY SECRET TALENTS:
1. Painting
2. Sewing

TWO THINGS I WISH I DID BETTER:
1. Gardening
2. Driving

TWO PET PEEVES:
1. Grocery Boys who follow you out to your car or demand to push the cart … RRRRRR makes me mad just thinking about it!
2. Those safety cones they put on the road to redirect traffic but are there for NOTHING – no construction – no holes in the road – no workmen – NOTHING!

TWO THINGS IN THE ROOM WITH ME NOW:
1. A Clock
2. Pencils

TWO PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO TAKE THE TEST NEXT:
1. Carol
2. Aunt Mary

Wes' Answers to The Quiz

TWO NICKNAMES I HAVE BEEN CALLED

1. Fred
2. Jimmy

TWO THINGS I'D LIKE TO LEARN

1. How to Jump Really high
2. How to play piano

TWO FOODS I LOVE
1. Grilled Salmon
2. Ham Loaf

TWO FOODS I HATE
1. Overcooked Tuna
2. Bad Mexican Food

TWO FAVORITE BOOKS:
1. Siddhartha
2. The Count of Monte Cristo

TWO THINGS THAT SCARE ME:
1. Houston Drivers
2. as of reading Mikes post: impending robot apocalypse

TWO OF MY SECRET TALENTS
1. Wine Pairings
2. Playing Guitar

TWO THINGS I WISH I DID BETTER:
1. Public Speaking
2. Play the Guitar

TWO PET PEEVES
1. Taking inventory at work
2. People parking in front of my house

TWO THINGS IN THE ROOM WITH ME NOW
1. Max
2. My next door neighbors dog

TWO PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO TAKE THE TEST NEXT:
1. Ali
2. Mary