Calling your To-Do Lists

This blog is collecting to-do lists for a book to be published in Fall 2007. The author is still looking for "lists from Republicans, conservatives, red state types, and born-agains." Apparently the grapevine he's created doesn't reach those demographics very easily. Do you happen to fit any of those categories? Submit your to-do list and you might get published!

I Won Four Pounds of Squash

OK, so a while back in women's Bible study they asked us the best thing we had ever won. I racked my brain and couldn't think of anything!! Well, next time remind me that I now have won 4 lbs. of free squash. How, you ask?

Last Sunday morning we trekked over to Harvard Square where there is a farmer's market that sets up Fridays and Sundays each week. They have various fruits, veggies, flowers, breads, herbs, etc....the usual suspects (plus a jam stand with a lady that has a thick Massachusetts accent - so thick that Michael took me to her stand and started asking her questions about the jams just so I could hear her talk...is that wrong?).

There was a HUGE yellow squash sitting by the cash register with a sign that read "Guess the Weight and Win an Equivalent Weight in Squash". Tempting, eh? You had to guess it to the tenth of a pound. The guy next to me guessed 6.5 pounds and was wrong. I picked it up and thought it weighed about the same as a half gallon of milk (and luckily I knew a gallon of milk weighs about 8 pounds). So I guessed 4.2 pounds. I also was wrong.

This week I came back and there was a sign that said "Last week's squash weighed 4.3 pounds," and the girl working the stand recognized me and said right off the bat, "You were really close last week!" I said, "yeah, was there a winner?" And then the good news. Apparently there was a winner right before closing time, but he didn't like squash and told them they could give it away to someone else. The girl decided on the spot that I should be the free squash recipient. How lucky can a girl get?!?! So now we have four pounds of zucchini.

Is this a marketable skill set?

Starting School...

Orientation started on Wednesday for Michael, and he got a rude awakening: two tests to divide the class into teaching sections for their summer program. Math and microeconomics are the main subjects of the next month of study, so if you love to talk math or econ, I'm sure Michael would love to hear from you. And if you don't, then he'd love it even more! He'll have class pretty much every day from 9am - 5pm and is expecting about 3 hours of homework each night. It will be a pretty intense month!

Michael's class is slightly over 200, about half from the U.S. and half elsewhere. Everyone got 20 seconds to introduce themselves (without referring to professional credentials) to the whole class on Thursday. Michael told the story of knocking Dan and Angie's picture into Dan's groom's cake at their wedding...kind of a 'most embarrassing moment' story. Another guy sang, repeat: sang, "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole to the class (as in, "we're unforgettable"). And his last name is Cole. Ugh. In my mind, he just created a most embarrassing moment! Avoid eye contact.

Michael has also learned that he is probably the most uninteresting of his classmates. Among his fellow classmates are the former Prime Minister of Tanzania (1995-2005), the principal dancer in the New York City Ballet, the Deputy Director General of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, 3 members of the Mexican Congress, a member of the Danish Parliament, a person from the CIA, an advisor to the Israeli Prime Minister, a member of Parliament from Thailand, an internal medicine physician, and the list goes on and on. I think it's clear now that I (Michael) definitely filled some "Wise County boy" quota Harvard had. :-)

Anna and I (Amy) also attended orientation on Friday for the family activities. Next week they have a 'paint your pottery' day and trip to the Aquarium planned for us. We're going to participate as much as we can, to get to know the other families. The ones we met on Friday were really nice people. We met a family from Nashville with 3 kids ages 3, 5, & 7.

Soon I'm going to blog about ego trips. But I'm too tired now.

Fashion Queen

Here's a video of Anna testing out Amy's high heels...



And another of Anna playing with Michael after dinner...



Enjoy!

We're in!

Anna and I arrived a week ago to a 'mostly' put together apartment, and somehow we have been working ever since to get this place in order! Here are some pics. Please pardon the picture quality; I shrunk the pictures to attach them to an email. And I know my head is cut off in the first picture!

We have also figured out that the playground is the place to meet people! Michael didn't meet a single person (aside from delivery men) the first week he was here alone; now we have met a few other families with small kids that live in the area. Thanks Anna! The people we have gotten to know the best are a Canadian family with a daughter named Simone. She is almost 6, and I think she likes playing with Anna because she can boss her around and Anna does whatever she says! But she's really sweet to her. Her daddy is in the same program as Michael, and he's the first we've met in his program. We'll meet more next week when orientation starts (there is orientation for families too!).

2 good reasons not to have a car

Alright, so the two biggest news events in Michael's life today related to our car. Well, almost.

1. The parking garage next to our building (where our car is parked) caught on fire. Michael found out when he heard sirens and looked out the window to see 18 fire engines outside. Isn't that a great feeling? Anyway, more than 35 cars were damaged - but not including ours. Here's the article.

2. Part of the Big Dig caved in and killed a woman today. So sad - she was a newlywed. It's on the part between our apartment and the airport. Also between our apartment and IKEA. Two places Michael has / will be traveling to a lot lately. Here's the article.

2 very good reasons to take public transportation!!

like IKEA?

...then you'll love our apartment! Saturday Michael made the largest IKEA purchase in our family's history. Thankfully he still had the U-Haul from his cross-country trip to carry his loot home! In case you're interested, here are some of my favorite items:
Anna's bed
fun rug for the den
Amy's desk
Michael's been working so hard unloading, loading, and unloading that little trailer. I bet he's glad he had to turn it in today so I couldn't send him on any more "runs"! If you've ever been to the IKEA retail store, I feel like we're trying to furnish a "living in 1000 sq. ft." model they do in the store.

Michael's trek took him across 11 states during his 3-day trip (Wed - Fri). He braved rain, I-40 construction delays, and the New Jersey turnpike along the way. Like he said on Wednesday night, "It's me and the big rigs out here." Except for the CB radio, of course.

Monday the rental furniture arrives, and Thursday Anna and I arrive. We are anxious to be there with Michael and get settled into our new "home"!