Nursery Progress!

We found out about a neat little store about 15 minutes away that does all sorts of baby furniture and headed out there on Tuesday night-- we found the crib we'd been looking for and a changing table that would fit up the stairs! And, they were both on sale! Bonus!

Saturday at the crack of dawn, the delivery showed up (did I mention delivery was free... double bonus!) OH! And the lady at the store gave us a better price than what was posted on the items -- WOOHOO... did we luck out!!!

So Craig and the delivery guy hauled the crib box and the changing table upstairs and into the nursery. Then began the exciting day for the AMEX.... it had a heck of a workout yesterday. On top of the furniture, we needed a mattress for the crib (BabiesRus employees are useless by the way in helping to choose a mattress-- "umm... they have different numbers of coils" -- No crap lady, we are literate and thats on the sign, but can you tell us WHY they have different numbers and what that means and what some of the other features are that makes one mattress $60 and others $200?!?!?) So finally we picked a mattress (3 people walking through with their kiddos said they had that one and had liked it-- considered that reccomendation enough and went with it). After the mattress, we hit Michaels for some craft paint and baskets, then a carpet store where we lucked into a remnant of really nice plush carpet to plop down in the kiddos rooms, and then to Lowe's for some light-blocking/thermal curtains to cut down on drafts from the ancient windows in the house and some curtain rods to get all that hung-- and some wood and a closet bar to put in the closet in the Nursery. So it was quite the shopping day.

We got home and got to work on getting Tadpole's room all cleaned out and Craig's tools back to the garage and such. But we did have to hold on to a couple of the tools to assemble the crib. The store would have assembled it onsite for us for $15.... but it was WAY more fun for me to have Craig do it! So here are some pictures of the assembly process. All told it took us about an hour and half-- but that was with breaks to get the cat out of the way and to convince Murphy that laying on all those little screws was not helpful.

Starting out ripping open the box... Hope all those little pieces are in there!

Jesse in charge of Tiki guarding

Tiki insisting on inspecting ALL the instructions prior to assembly... that's the only reason Craig's looking at them... he swears, it was the cats fault.Some call them baby jails. here the nearly assembled crib is a husband jail. TADA! All finshed, no blood shed, few curses uttered and a sturdy new place for the kiddo to sleep!

And a picture of the changing table thing-- Craig spotted these baskets, which are just the right color and fit in there perfectly! Hooray for a little bit of storage in there!

Sunday morning, Craig got the second rod in the closet and all the curtains were finished too!

So once construction was done, it was on to decorating! Kim and Leah came over to help me paint some frogs and dragonflies on the wall. This design is copied off the bedding I got (yes, FOREVER ago) and then we used an overhead to project it on the wall. I have NO drawing skills, even tracing pushes my artistic limits... but I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

Over the crib, a whole frog pond scene.

Above the changing table, a few scattered dragonflies...And on the other large wall, some water plants and dragonflies.

Not too bad for an afternoon's work! (and you can see the curtains here -- yes, I need to iron them yet!)

To Ligonier to retrieve the animals

Murph and Tiki spent Thanksgiving at my parents-- and on the trip to retrieve them, we got to visit with my brother and his fiancee-- I only got one picture, but here it is!

Ok.. and a few gratuitous shots of the dog being well... the dog. He is utterly convinced that it is his duty to carry around HUGE branches... and then try and bring them in the house. Silly pup.

He is completely confused as to why he can't get inside, but nothing will convince him to just put DOWN the stick.

Halloween and Trick or Treat

We had a boatload of little monsters come by for Trick or Treat-- which for some demented reason, our county did a WEEK before Halloween--- but anyway--- we were MOBBED with kids-- went through over 300 pieces of candy at 1 to a kid! People come to our street from neighboring counties to get more candy (lots of participating houses, all close together)

Plus Craig did this outstanding pumpkin of a Murphy head.

Kim, Ange, and Matt came over to help dole out candy and we snacked the evening away and giggled at cute costumes.

Alex came over and helped hand out candy til it was dark enough for him to trick or treat and then he took Craig and Kim trick or treating. He was pretty funny all covered in black on the porch-- the cauldron of candy at his feet--- he would sit very still for the little ones, but older kids... he'd scare the crap out of them. MANY were surprised that it was a real person in there when he tapped their candy grubbing hands with that sword.

The cutest kid of the night was 2-3ish... he was dressed as a lion-- he crawled on all 4 up the stairs to the porch and roared. He earned extra candy. Later in the evening, his Mom came by and asked if Craig was a Mad Scientist (he was) because her son had asked-- turned out he was a pediatric cancer patient and wondered if the folks who mix up his chemo are funny looking like Craig!! So, I said an extra prayer for that kiddo and was amazed that he could be so sick and still be a "normal" kid.

On a lighter note--- Murphy and Tiki took part in Halloween this year--- Tiki somewhat unwillingly, but she is a cat, so what can you expect!?

Murph's ready for his letter from Hogwarts! (and flying lessons)Tiki, well.... she thinks she's supposed to be making up the potions, not be an ingredient! But meanwhile she will exercise her mind control skills on you--- so watch out!

Vampire Kitty!!!

Craig managed to cut his foot open last night-- and after a quick consult with my mom we decided it was not an ER worthy injury. So today though, he FINALLY has a check-up appt and they will check on his toe and at the least give him his VERY VERY overdue tetanus shot. Why are guys such wimps when it comes to dr visits??--- I swear, if it weren't for the injury, he'd still not be going for the shot.


I will say the injury itself I missed, I was inside when he got home-- and opened the door cursing. I walked over and he is dripping blood all over the floor. I got him a paper towel to try and sop up the mess and so we could see just what damage he had done. Meanwhile, Tiki wanders over and decides to explore her vampire side by licking at a drop of blood on the floor. Craig then freaked out-- I mean hollering like a mad man at the cat. She tore off quite confused to hide for a little while. When I came in from the kitchen with more paper towels-- I asked what they heck that had been about. His answer "I didn't want her getting a taste for blood" Ah yes dear, the cat is going to go dracula on you at night... silly boy.

Craig then dripped his way up the stairs and we got his foot cleaned up, antiseptic-ed and bandaged. Wings were slightly delayed due to the hijinx-- but all in all things are fine. He's got a half-dozen bandaids wrapped around his toe-- the duct tape ones-- those are seriously the best thinsg ever-- but since the box I had did not contain the "man's big toe" size -- I've got a bundle of them stuck all over to keep it on. We'll see what the doc says when he goes in.

Lesson learned-- time to get a real first aid kit-- and more bandaids.

A few quick notes

1) We're heading to my parents out in the boonies of western PA for the weekend. Murphy will be run ragged up and down the hill and generally be as happy as a dog can be-- plus he'll get spoiled rotten by my grammam and her never ending peanut-butter bone supply-- he likes visits to my parents. We are taking the weener along--which should be interesting. Tiki is staying here with Kim to check on her... she will also be spoiled rotten.

2) The new car is still behaving wonderfully-- and we are heading out there to show it off!

3) Monday will be a great day cause the weener is GOING HOME!! Jane and Roy are back from Ireland this weekend and will be retreiving her on Monday... YAY!!! That's good for the weener to be back on her normal life and good for me cause there will be no more poo piles or dog fights during the night while I try and sleep.

4) Fourth of July means a day off work! And we have free hersheypark tickets that expire on the 4th--- so we may take an extra day off to do that next week too... should make for a very quick work week.

5) The new microscope is super-duper, and I can work it better than my boss, and he was THRILLED with the results I took yesterday and showed him this morning... so making me look good at work is always a nice bonus-- I think he's convinced to start writing this paper so I can get it out!!!!! (and FINALLY have a first author paper)

This week so far.

Monday brought a picnic at Shelley and Erin's-- yay! I made pierogie bake *yum*-- not fancy, but so tasty-- with a stick of butter how could it not be! We had lots of grilled food, got to swim (that was a great treat on a hot day) and I played croquet. Over all a very nice day.

Tuesday was back to work-- then Roy brought up the poo machine winnie and returned murph to us. The cat is terrified and has spent the last 2 days hiding in a cardboard box in a room closed off with a baby gate-- poor thing. shes's miserable. Winnie has poo'd in the house 2x so far and peed all over a rug--- luckily, she was confined outside of bedrooms and the large oriental rugs, so it was only on a throw rug and could be washed-- still--- she is not on my good list right now. She better straighten up and behave-- and quickly. She's getting walked as much as we can with work schedules--- she's going to have to adapt and quick-- or I will be a very very very unhappy girl.

Wednesday brought my summer internship kid to the lab. His name is Will. He just finished his sophomore year at Temple and will be working with me this summer (til early August) so we'll see how that all goes. Then it was wings night-- this week I tried wings from scratch-- some deep fried then coated with a franks hot sauce/butter/steak sauce blend and some baked in a honey-soy-citrus glaze I made up-- both turned out pretty well I must say! We played Wii! I may be addicted-- its a video game that doesn't make you play like a video game-- if the character on the screen sword fights, you move the controller like a sword-- tennis, like a tennis racket, hula hoop... well.. you put it on your hips and hula away. it is very very very amusing-- and thankfully, much simpler than the traditional style games-- very little time to learn--and great to play in a group! All in all a fun evening.

Today-- well, the report on today will have to wait til its over... but so far so good.

Keeping busy til Craig gets home...

Tiki is a funny cat-- I mean, how often do you see a kitten pant. Thank Kim for the spiffy Cat toy/fishing rod thingy! I now have one VERY VERY VERY tired kitten!


And one more view--- She's just too cute not to share.

The Weekend

We were out in Jersey for the weekend at Craig's parents-- I went shopping, wandered Wegmans (I love that place) and baked a cake. Craig dug out old fence posts and replaced them in concrete, rewired a lamp post, and replaced a toilet-- so guess who had a more relaxing weekend?! (Ok, so I did help with the toilet)
Wegman's is sooooo cool, I wish there were one closer. We keep hearing promises, but they never materialize. They have EVERYTHING. I got the yummy aged primadonna cheese we got hooked on while dating and taking trips to the reading terminal market (another wonderful place for food), the cotija cheese I need to make Craig the chilaquiles he got addicted to for breakfast in Puerto Vallarta, green Thai curry paste, lemongrass, mirin, rose and orange blossom waters, and these super tiny red skin and white potatoes-- they are going to be yummy. Oh! And the very best thing--- Digestive cookies! I love those things, my madre in Spain had them out almost every morning at breakfast-- sooooo good. And I can never find them anywhere-- and they had them, both the plain ones and the chocolate covered ones. YAY!!!!

On Sunday evening we grilled dinner in... I took care of the baked potatoes (somehow everyone thinks mine are really good-- I don't do anything much special to them-- I just put some olive oil, salt and pepper on the outside-- though this time I used "Crazy Jane's Mixed up Salt" and then bake them for a while)-- made some bacon for them, sauteed up some mushrooms and then made a little foil packet of smushed garlic and olive oil and threw that on the grill while Roy cooked the steaks-- the garlic turned out very yummy that way. I also made that coconut cake that I make all too often now and filled it with some whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Yum... a good dinner-- but it made for us getting a late start to get home.

We left Murph there to get him a vet visit and groomed (he was starting to stink!) and Jane and Roy will bring him back next Monday or Tuesday. Tiki really misses her buddy... she just wanders looking for him. Oh well, is she in for a shock when he gets back-- winnie's coming with him to stay for a month--- poor kitten won't know what hit her!

That's it for the weekend. Not too big. Yesterday was Bachelor Season Finale-- I had correctly predicted the winner-- so that was super exciting and we had a nice girl's night watching the finale.
Today its back to work-- gotta get some data--- want to graduate before I am 50.

Bring on the Thin Mints! But not for Tiki and Murphy

No trans-fats in thin mints anymore!
Gobble down those Girl Scout cookies.... they no longer contain any trans-fats. Plus they are delicious! (mmm... thin mints-- I keep them in the freezer all the time-- yum)
You can read a little more here.

But-- keep them to yourself, your cat won't appreciate them anyway.

It turns out cats are not able to taste sweets.
"Whether as a result of this dietary choice or the cause of it, all cats—lions, tigers and British longhairs, oh my—lack 247 base pairs of the amino acids that make up the DNA of the Tas1r2 gene. As a result, it does not code for the proper protein, it does not merit the name gene (only pseudogene), and it does not permit cats to taste sweets. "They don't taste sweet the way we do," says Joe Brand, biochemist and associate director at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. "They're lucky. Cats really have bad teeth as it is.""


And no thin mints for the Murph-inator either... Even though he would love them-- this article gives me a good excuse not to share!

" Dogs and humans have similar tastes. Like us, they seek out sweets and have no problem indulging. But unlike humans, our canine companions experience dangerous effects from eating chocolate—it can poison them and in some cases is lethal. The hazard, however, is probably overblown, says Tim Hackett, a veterinarian at Colorado State University. Chocolate's danger to dogs depends on its quantity and quality. Large dogs can usually handle a small amount of chocolate whereas the same helping could cause problems for ... his pint-size kin. "



And based on this morning, house flies must not be sweet-- tiki spent the night chasing a big fly around the house "hunting". She finally had it this morning as a light snack-- it was pretty darn funny watching her--- one of these days I need to video her on the hunt!

Weekend Updates

Yes, I was bad. I didn't post for a whole weekend, and then I took last night off as well... so here it is, a quick rundown of the weekend!


Craig and I drove out to my parent's house in Ligonier on Friday night-- after a quick stop at Walmart to buy a fishing license from Derek-- the semi-breasted, nail painted, ear pierced, beared sporting goods clerk-- odd. Still not sure if Derek was a he or a she or somewhere in between. Best not to wonder I think. So then we are off to western PA with the dog and the cat. The cat does not like her carrier. AT ALL. She cries pitifully the whole time she is in there and claws desperately to get out. So after a little while I felt awful and we rolled the windows up and let her out of the carrier... turns out she is also terrified of the car trips. I should have guessed based on her reaction to the outdoors here, but the car was a lot for her. So she sat in my lap for 3 hours til we got there. She rolled her self over on her back stretched out her legs (one of them ending up jammed under my chin) and pretty much was content as could be--- as long as I didn't dare move or talk too loudly... ah... good thing she's a cute kitten and we already love her... she's a little pain the butt sometimes! Murphy was his normal needy self... he thinks he should get to ride in the front with us... so he spends the time drooling heavily on my shoulder and inching himself into the front seat (like we won't notice 100 lbs of dog suddenly on my lap!)


Saturday morning, Craig and my Dad leave at the crack of dawn to go fishing. Its trout season, and I want some trout! Here are a couple pictures of some soggy fisherman, and their haul! (Craig got only one -- but it was the biggest one!) And I got to bring them all home frozen to enjoy later!




The boys went fishing again on Sunday-- and it was a much nicer day out, here's a couple pictures of that. Craig didn't hook any trout on Sunday, but he did catch a whole bunch of bass-- you can see the one in the picture below. The guys did end up with 6 fish on Sunday though... and I helped out by gutting them. Did you know trout have teeth?!?! And they are kinda sharp little buggers too. Oh well.. in the name of the fish dinner than I will have now-- gutting them was the least I could do.


Trout "Recipe" (ok, so its not a recipe per say, but it is a tasty simple way to make trout)
One trout-- Split into "fillets"
Dredge the trout in seasoned flour (flour with a little salt and pepper)
In a pan over medium heat, melt a little butter (~2 T)
Saute trout in butter on one side and then the other until cooked through and lightly browned on both sides
Add capers (a good palmful, drained) and toss to coat with butter and heat through.
Remove from heat, squeeze in fresh lemon juice to taste.
Eat. (see... tough directions on this step)

And now a couple of gratuitous shots of the dog being, well... the dog. We stop every time on our way home at the little mom and pop drive in I worked in through college to get some ice cream. Murphy loves ice cream and so we get him a vanilla toddler cone. The tough part is convincing him to eat the ice cream FIRST and then the cone. He always wants to take two huge bites and be done, but that inevitably leads to a mess of ice cream getting dumped on the ground. This time didn't go too badly, and I managed to get him to eat about 2/3 of the ice cream before he bit the cone in half!