Veggies!

 

 

 

 

Lars with pretzels. He actually ate one! For those of you that don't know Lars, it is very rare for him to take anything by mouth-besides bumpy blanket!
There are some great farmers markets around Harvard Square and I took advantage of them Friday. While I worked on dinner Lars explored the goods. He really enjoyed the leaf parts of the carrots. It was incredible to watch his examine and discover them with his hands. I have found that I often now will close my eyes to feel things. It's a totally different experience.

Apple Picking...sort of

 

 

 

 

About a week ago (I think) Lisa, Lars, Joa, and I went apple picking. It was a beautiful fall day in New England. We arrived at the orchard to find out that we were a few minutes past the time that you were allowed to pick. Oh well, we had fun anyway.
1. Joa with a scary looking branch
2. Lars discovering an apple tree
3. Let me at 'em!
4. What a classic site


Watch Lars' blog for pictures that Lisa took. She managed to get one of me falling as I ran down the hill pushing Lars in the stroller.

A broken record...

I feel like I have said this a million times, but here I go. I am having problems with my car....AGAIN. Only 2 weeks ago did it refuse to start after every possible intervention and ended up getting a new timing belt at $330. Then there was the month or 2 before that with the new radiator. Then a year ago with the new transmistion. Sigh, I am getting a little sick of this and VERY POOR. I need my car to get to work and it's hard to get there when it doesn't start.
Since I am going to a conference this weekend in Connecticut I am forced to rent a car. Just what I wanted to do-spend more money! I am getting it fairly cheap since it is a weekend. I have a friend that lives close to the conference, so I am spending Friday night with her and escaping paying for a hotel. Whew! Thank you Alden!
I am looking forward to the conference. It is at Yale University and the topic is pain management through music therapy. What is extra cool is that the panel of presenters are doctors AND music therapists. Wow! We can work together! There is a really famous music therapist going to be there and I have read lots of her stuff. I'm pretty excited to meet her-yes, I'm a dork.
Anyway, that's what's going on with me.

While I am enjoying the conference my friend/Lars' mom will be taking her LMHC licensing exam. So........ GOOD LUCK LISA!

Finally...

The link here is a for a song that is pretty controversial. I stumbled upon it and have been sharing it with everyone I know. Why it is just now going up on my blog I'm not sure! Check it out. I think that it is really well done. If you are a huge Bush fan you might not like it much. Truth hurts. And if you are a Bush fan, what are you doing on my blog!(no, I don't discriminate against my readers)

Click to view:

Pink-Dear Mr. President

Go Sox!

It isn't possible to live in Boston and not be a Red Sox fan. Now that we are in the playoffs it's even more fun to watch. Tonight is our 2nd game against the Indians. Sorry Ohio, I don't want to risk getting evicted from my city. Go Sox!

More Fair

 

 

 

Here are the rest of the fair pictures.
1. Michelle as bunny
2. A super cute llama
3. Another view from the fairgrounds

Fair

 

 

 

 

About 2 weeks ago Ed and I headed up to Maine to go to a fair. We saw lots of animals and ate way too much yummy food.
1. This is the background behind the fair grounds.
2. What's with the spotted pig?
3. Ok, I am only in the picture to show the massiveness of this cow. I didn't know they came in this size!
4. How cute is this little lady! She thanked me for being a vegetarian.

The Great Pumpkin!

 

 

 

 

Last week Joa and I took on another baking adventure. This time it was to bake a pumpkin cake. Pumpkin appearance, but yellow cake. It turned out pretty well. The recipe is from kraft.com

Coming Soon!

This past weekend included a trip to Portland Maine to cheer on Lisa J. in her 1st 1/2 marathon! It was great! The rest of the day was Joa and me exploring the city. Pictures will be coming soon. One of the pictures will be of a 1700 lb. moose made entirely of chocolate. Now how could you not come back to see that?!

Happy Wednesday!

Abbott

Abbott, my cat since third grade will be put to rest tomorrow. He has lived quite a life since coming home with us from the humane society. I have so many great memories of him. My favorites would have to be the times that he could get on top of the kitchen cabinets and scare the crap out of the cleaning lady. He was pretty spunky. Unfortunately in his later years he developed diabetes that kept getting worse. It is now to the point that it isn't fair for us to keep him going. This is for the best, but still very hard. These are the last pictures I got of him. They aren't the best, but they are still him. He loved the shower. Anytime it was on he would sit in front of it and wait for you to get out. Then he would jump in and lick up all the water. He was one crazy dude.

wonderful words

I heard this song the other night and it really has stayed with me. Its words are powerful to me and renewed me in a way that I didn't realize I needed. Here's a portion of the lyrics:
"You can pour your soul out singing a song that you believe in that tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang. Sing it anyway."

Check it out on you tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsk5G2Loz-k&mode=related&search=

Proud new owner

Yesterday was our Passages conference at Lesley. It went really well, but those of us planning it are sort of glad that it's done! At the end of the day there was a drawing for a video ipod nano and I won!!!! I was totally shocked and wicked excited! You can check it out at apple.com

Time to Vote

 

 

Just in case you have nothing better to do I am taking a vote. I am stuck in my decision to cut my hair or let it keep growing. What are your opinions? Short hair is from summer '06. The other picture is hair now. Wow, this might just be my saddest post yet. sorry folks.

more fun times

Not appearing in photos quite yet is my monday with Lars. After a good PT appt. we played his beautiful piano for around an hour and a half. Singing, laughter, music...what a sweet time together. I got fairly adventurous and decided that I was going to let Lars paint with pudding. He made two beautiful masterpieces. His current medium is jello brand chocolate and computer paper. Good thing it was bath night. Mommy came home to find him completely covered in choclate waiting for the tub to finish filling. I did manage to take some pictures with Mama's camera. When she passes them along I will be sure and put them up.
Thanks to Joa, Lars, and Lisa for my Uglyworm (pictured above). I love it!

Another trip to Davis Famland

This past Friday found Lars and me enjoying more time at Davis Farmland. It was really nice and there weren't many people there. This meant no waiting for the pony ride that Lars loves. However, he didn't seem to enjoy it like usual.
1.big smiles
2.goat attack!
3.Michelle thought it would be fun to put animal feed on me while I was lying in the grass. She was right! I laughed so hard as the baby goats walked over top of me to find it all.
4.Michelle's favorite creature at farmland
5.Finally, someone else that appreciates bumpy blanket as much as I do!

Oh you silly allergies

obviously the girl in the picture isn't me. However, she shows how I have been this week. My allergies are in full force and making me somewhat miserable. Constant running nose, head stuffed and feeling like it might explode, difficulty sleeping, etc. Kind of makes it challenging to work 30 hours a week and do work for three classes.
I stopped at Cambridge Naturals to search for a homeopathic allergy medicine. They gave me some samples to try and nothing has really helped. The benadryl that I resorted to last night didn't do much either.
Does anyone have anything that works for them? I am getting close to trying anything!

PMC Photo

This is actually on the PMC web page. This picture was taken by one of their photographers as Ed got off the ferry after the 2 day ride.

Why Oh Why?

In visiting one of my favorite recipe sites (allrecipies.com) I found a startling fact. There are 6 recipes for cooking squirrel. People! We live in a society! Another reason to be a vegetarian. I do not want to meet the people that are doing this.

For the love of shoes

 

 

If you know me, you know that I sort of have a thing for shoes. Ok, maybe that is an understatement. I just love them. I also love a great deal. What can I say. So last night at Marshalls my skills were put to the test. The shoes that you see in the pictures (I couldn't decide which picture to post, so you get to see both) were on the clearance shelf and the very last pair. No tag, no price, nothing. Being the great shopper that I am, I know that these shoes have been marked at $10 for months and at various locations. The workers had no idea what they were getting into. They told me that they would sell them to me for $18. This began a battle. The short story is that I eventually pursuaded them to give them to me for $10. Sucess! I am quite proud.

Happy New Year!

Shana Tovah to my Jewish friends! (that includes those that are all, part, or 6/8 Jewish)

super great wednesday

Today was such a wonderful day! It was my first day back to Mercy Centre. I will be there for a few hours wednesdays and running one group. It was awesome to get to see the kids again and they were pretty excited to see me.
After that I am on Lars patrol. Today I took him for his hair cut. He looks even more handsome than he did before-if you can believe that. While we were out I sucessfully gave him meds and started a feed from scratch-all by myself! I was quite proud that I managed to do it. The rest of our evening involved a bath-a favorite activity of Lars- and actually eating 3 pretzles. This is an accomplishment for someone who rarly takes in any food by mouth.
I managed to come home and finish all the reading that needed done by tomorrow. Whew!
My eyes are quite heavy and tomorrow is busy. Therapy appointment, library, watching Maya for 4ish hours, then 2 1/2 hours of developmental psychotherapy class.

Yogurt and Bikes!

I was strolling through Whole Foods today and came upon a wonderful discovery. Wallaby organic yogurt is on sale this week for 66 cents! I almost jumped for joy right there in the dairy aisle! If you live around the Boston area, now is a super time to stock up. Their usual retail is 89 cents.
Tomorrow morning very early will mark my first ride with Ed and the North Shore Cyclopaths. I will let everyone know how it goes. These people are real cyclists, we'll see if I make it!

1st day and apartment updates

Today was my first class! It went well and the teacher seems nice, it's just going to swamp me with work. I guess that's what I am paying for. Plus she has 2 degrees from Harvard, she must know something. The picture is of me before leaving for class. =)

My apartment is far from settled, but I figured I would update with pictures. sorry some are sideways, something won't work right. just imagine or turn your head. I can't get over how much space is in here! I have room for a couch! It will be nice to be able to have people over and room for them to walk.

A Sad Farewell...

Some of you may know that today was the end of an era. Boston's famous Filene's Basement in downtown crossing closed its doors. They will be remodeling for 2 years. This place is a great one to go and get super bargains. I will miss it dearly. My favorite was the extra markdowns. There were signs hanging with dates that showed which things were an extra percent off based on how long they had been in the store. In order to pay my respects, I have a song.

ODE TO FILENE'S (to the tune of Home on the Range)
Ode, Ode to Filene's
Where the shopping and deals were supreme
Guess corduroys for ten bucks
and for the bath rubber ducks
You could never go wrong at Filene's.

See you in 2009!

A Free Snack!

If you don't love Kashi snacks and cereal (or you're like me and just LOVE free stuff) check this out! They are giving away a free snack, and you get to choose it. Click the link and select your free snack and then wait by the mail box. Enjoy!

Fun Times

Yesterday was such a great day that I thought I would share it. I spent most of the day with Lars. We spent a few hours at Davis Farmland. We took a hayride, saw some baby goats there were only 2 days old, and Lars got to take his beloved pony ride.
Last night Ed and I went to Richardson's. We played a round of 18 hole miniature golf and then enjoyed some amazing ice cream. What a day!
Today I am going to IKEA with some friends from school. We love IKEA!