Playing Catch-Up.

I'm going to try to play catch-up with this post. I'm going to try to cram in all that happened in the last couple of weeks. That's going to be hard to do, since there has been a lot going on, and one of the most important things that has been going on deserves a post of its own. So okay, I've just decided that I'll leave that bit out and save it for later, but I've still got about a million things to blog about, so let's get going.

1. Our friend from our genealogical days, Chris Child, turned thirty earlier in the month. We went to his 30th birthday party. I don't know how we did this, but we managed to only take photos of Chris's back the whole night. Like this one (he's the one in the hat): We wanted to capture on film his necklace. It was this giant "gold" cross with a lot of fake diamonds in it. If it were real it would have weighed about 10 pounds, because it was huge. But it was fake, and it was so homeboy over-the-top that it was so worthy of a photo. Next time Chris turns 30 we'll take a picture of his face (and the chain).

We did manage to have our photo taken, though. It's a good one, and because Doug and I rarely a)have someone take a photo of us and b)take a good photo, I want to share it with you. I also want to share with you a photo of the birthday card that we almost got Chris but didn't. Chris is not really a cat person, so we didn't think he'd find this card as roll-on-the-floor funny as we did (we nearly got ourselves kicked out of CVS for making a scene, I think), but wow. Look at those heads! On those tiny human bodies - in suits! Speaking that business-speak! And look at the litter box! Maybe you had to be there to get the full impact, but this one had us busting a gut.

2. La Bayadère, however, was not a roll-on-the-floor-laughing kind of event. Doug and I were given a couple of tickets from our very good and frugal friends to see the Boston Ballet's performance of La Bayadère, which was very appropriate, given that I had just come back from India. The India in the ballet is nothing like the India I saw, though. This was exotic India with women dressed like "I Dream of Genie" and some men barely dressed at all. The India of stereotypes and fantastical history books. It was a good story, of love and betrayal and all of that, but I decided in this ballet that ballets are set up all wrong. This is the second ballet I've gone to in recent memory where I've slept through a good part of the second act and have felt that the third act is gratuitous. The dancing is always very good in the third act, but it seems tacked on, and has little to do with the actual plot or action of the story. I would put the third act of ballets where the second act is, and move the second act last. That way those of us who nap during these epic events can miss little of the plot and can wake up to an act with more meaning. I wouldn't change the ambiance of the theaters, though. The Boston Opera House, where the Boston Ballet now performs, is incredibly designed.

3. We have been doing a lot of housework. We raked up all of our leaves (over several weekends) and produced a massive amount of leaf bags, yet again. Here's one of this year's batches: And then we waterproofed our back steps. We were supposed to have done this a long time ago, back when the back steps were redone in June, but we never did. The waterproofing solution was made for application in temperatures between 50 and 90 degrees F, and we applied our weatherproofer on a 51 degree day. Hmmm. Maybe that's why the steps look like they do. And maybe that's why Doug's so sad. Because that white film that you see? It hasn't really gone away yet. It fades, but then if the weather is damp or humid or rainy the steps turn bright white again. And slick. Guess that means we successfully weatherproofed them, but it also means that we now have white-washed back steps. Don't let our mason see that.

Wow. Okay. There's a lot more to write about. A lot. Like the changing of our phone/cable/internet service, our trip to Sturbridge Village, Doug's activism in the fight for men's health issues, our massive redecorating project, and, of course, the story of my employment. But all of that has to wait. I'm tired. And I am going to go cook dinner. Because it's 6pm and I'm hungry and Doug will be home soon and because I don't want to eat too late. Because I don't have to eat late tonight. Or tomorrow night. Or any night for the next week and a half. Because I'm on vacation (because of that employment thing I should tell you about). And when I'm on vacation I don't have to do anything that I don't want to do, and I don't want to blog anymore. My eyes hurt from staring at the computer screen. Man is it easy to get used to not using this thing! It's only been four days but already I feel a sense of freedom. A sense of disconnected-ness. I love it.