American Thanksgiving

We spent the holiday doing projects around the house :) Thanks to the hard work of my parents and sister the kitchen and living room are looking MUCH better. We also did some other projects too, more pictures on that another time. But here are the amazing before and after pics.

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

Living Room Before

Living Room After

High School Reunion

I got harassed into attending, despite having hated high school (at least the part at good ol'AA). My apprehension proved unnecessary, to my surprise I had a very agreeable time. Much to the credit of the friends that roped me into going (Heidi & Corey, the first with giving me a guilt trip that SHE was coming from France just for this, the later has been hounding me for over a year to attend) and also to the friends that I had not expected to see (too many to list). It also ment limited amounts of sleep (as you will be able to tell from the pictures that follow), having left for Michigan Friday after work and returning to NY Sunday, and when you've travelled that far for a weekend, who wants to waste it on sleep? One of the big traditions of Alumni weekend is the alumni vs. school flag football games. The alumni guys won, the alumni women, well...we were slaughtered. But we had fun, through the cold drizzle, my mom even stayed for the whole game!

My Parents

Aren't we cute?

Me, Dad, Erika

I could not get a pre-game serious face, Erika kept making me laugh.

Pre-Game Team Picture

Pre-Game Prayer

Danielle, Erika, Me, Heidi

Remembrance Day

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.
- John McCrae

Pluie de crottes sur Toulouse

Pluie de crottes sur Toulouse
Uploaded by tolosato

This is too funny! The French love their dogs, unfortunatly they don't usually pick up after them and it is becoming a big problem in some of the larger cities.

Here's the Transcript and Translation.

Chaque jour 5 tonnes de déjections canines s’abattent sur Toulouse. Arrêtons le déluge.
Demandez vos sacs jetables au Capitole et dans le Mairie de quartier.
Toulouse plus propre, à nous tous de le décider.

Every day 5 tons of dog excrement fall on Toulouse. Let’s stop the flood.
Ask for your disposable bags at the city hall and in your town hall.
A cleaner Toulouse, it’s up to us to decide.

Hemp & Pot

I hate pot, not just for the typical it's an illegal drug and I meet with families who's kids are using and screwing up their life or at times the parent is using and screwing up every bodies life.
I specifically hate the smell of it. A few people know that I am sensitive to the scent and will make fun of me when we are out and about and I start gagging uncontrollably or make cross-eyed faces as we pass someone on the street. I even smelled it in a close friends apartment once and started questioning her, after thinking about it she remembered someone had given her some rope soap, that she had been using as a closet air freshener, sure enough that was it.
Today I met with a new family and someone must have used the extra strength hemp shampoo. I was nauseous by the time the 1 hour session was up. Luckily I had a two hour meeting after that, and then went out to lunch with co-workers. I came back 3 HOURS LATER, and my office still smelled. So I pulled out my emergency lavender air freshener (typically used post session for adolescent boys who haven't heard of Degree or Old Spice yet) and opened the window. With half an hour of airing out it was mostly dispersed.

Snow

The past two weeks "they" keep saying that it's going to snow. "They" even said 1-3 inches twice, all it did was rain. I was so excited one night, it was coming down hard, I even made celebratory phone calls, but by the time I got home it was raining. And now it is supposed to rain the rest of the week. I hate rain, I want snow.

Haunted House

I came home Halloween night to a dark, empty house, I unlocked the door, stepped into the mudroom, felt around for the light switch, and heard the water pump running. It continued to run as I hung up my keys, and then I noticed that it sounded funny, like it was sucking air, not water. I have no idea how it works, I couldn't find any on/off buttons, so I unplugged it and plugged it back in, hoping that it would reset itself, it didn't work, so I unplugged it and made my way upstairs. I turned the front light on outside so trick or treaters would know I was home. I noticed that the stove light was flashing, the power must have gone out...again. Then I heard voices, Hurray the first trick or treaters were here! But no one came up the steps, and there was no car in the driveway and I could see no one outside. So I listened closer, it was coming from the bedroom, for a moment my heart skipped a beat, but I quickly realized when the music started that it was just Andrews clock radio. "It must have turned on in the power surge, I've never noticed it do that before". I made my way to the bedroom, thinking, "this is what happens in horror movies, people come home to dark houses, there's a clue (running pump), then they get lured somewhere, and their logic shuts off, and as they reach for the clock radio someone reaches from under the bed, and slits their Achilles tendon so they can't run away". I hit the off button with one hand, clutching my cell phone in the other.