Home is where...

...the cats and husband are.

I had a rough day at work today. A day that reminded me, harshly, that going to work on the weekend wouldn't kill me, would probably help me show true dedication to my career/ clients, and would certainly help me get my desk cleared off. A day where everyone else seemed to be moving at the speed of molasses, whereas I had to be in 3 different places at once. I lost my keys; snapped at interns; and unleashed the sailor-mouth in front of my boss' new assistant (I didn't know she was in the next room!). Top it off with the insane sinus pressure I've been battling all weekend and by 10 am I was pretty much ready to throw in the towel.

And my husband, forward thinker that he is, was home today. Jim and Joe came in for the first of their 6 (I think) Steelers home games and in preparation for the craziness Bri took today off weeks ago. So we won the game and the guys didn't get in until 2ish. And I was the only one awake at 7am.

When I leave work I'm the human equivalent of a rain cloud. I grow in irritation on the ride home (non-Pittsburghers should know better than to attempt the West End "Circle" at rush hour...feel the wrath of my puny little car horn, out-of-towner in the wrong lane!). But when I finally get in the door and see the whole family outside (the cats are in harnesses, but that's another story) chasing birds (Buca & Indy) and weather-proofing the cellar door (Bri), rain cloud Lauren melts away. The cats acted excited to see me (at least that's how I interpreted Indy's bolt for the door). I got a well deserved kiss from my hard-working husband and suddenly all was right with the world.

Zombieland

Lauren and I had a nice Saturday. We saw Zombieland with two of our friends. Now, it should be noted that Lauren has had at least two nightmares about zombies this week. I, on the other hand, have had a very aggravating and stressful past two days at work -- which tends to make for a fairly punchy and restless Brian on the weekend.

Zombieland was quite a good movie. It was not your usual serious/dramatic/horror movie. There was a lot of comedy and action. It's thoroughly entertaining and we BOTH highly recommend it. Lauren even wants to own it!

However, Lauren is also a bit freaked out. She has asked me repeatedly throughout this evening not to pretend to be a zombie. She has threatened me with hospitalization should I try to scare her or act like a zombie. I was also asked to go upstairs with her -- I'm sure as the zombie-protector -- because we all know I look like I'd be good in a fight against a normal person, let alone a zombie!

Anyhow, this not-pretending-to-be-a-zombie thing is getting harder and harder with each request. Not to mention when she asked me whether or not zombies existed. Needless to say, I'm going to burst if I don't get this all out, so this is for everyone out there, so:

"Brian, do zombies exist?"
No Lauren they don't exist, certainly not in our closet.
No Lauren they don't exist, certainly not in the basement.
No Lauren they don't exist, certainly not in the attic.
No Lauren they don't exist, and they certainly don't blend in with the crowd until you least expect---AAAAAAH!

So here I sit, laughing to myself and unable to explain why, and fighting the urge to give her the slightest step from Thriller...and I can't! Ah, the sacrifices we make for the ones we love...

...and she's the one who LIKES halloween....

Dirty banana cookies, potting soil and baseball

I love weekends. Especially this one. The weather hasn't been too great all summer, but the cool breezes and overcast skies made it a good day to get some stuff done in the yard. We have a pretty big, fairly flat back yard for living in Pittsburgh and big plans on doing fun stuff to it. When we moved in there was a concrete patio, a wooden deck and a raised platform with a swingset on it. We've added some hanging lanterns and a small garden. We tore down the swingset (much to our 5 year old neighbor Maggie's dismay) and used the corners of the platform for some herbs from Mom Melfa. The goal is to put in a veggie garden, a pond and a pergola where the swingset used to be. It's slow going.

Step one: clearing out my makeshift herb garden to make way for the pergola. The herbs (rue, chives, lavender and something unidentifiable, but nice-smelling) have been there for 2 years, enough time to, in the case of my rue plant, develop a root system close to that of a small tree. They are also pretty weather-beaten from a recent storm and leaning precariously to the right. So I dug them all up. We had to dig a 2 foot hole just to uproot the ruta. All of them now have new homes in pots scattered across the patio which looks a lot neater. Hopefully everything survived the move.

Step two: pergola. Eventually.

Tonight we're going to the Pirates Game with DP and Elaine. As with all Melftanzarite/Petragallo outings, this one will involve hanging out at their place, drinking miccrobrews and live music. O.A.R. is playing after the game, which is the main draw for going. (College memories are flooding back...) It should be a good time.

On another note: I made the most amazing cookies this week. Bri and I have been calling them Dirty Banana Cookies. They are well-worth turning the stove on in August, so I'll share. Enjoy!

Dirty Banana Cookies

1/2 cup mashed rip banana (I think I used a little ore an it it turned out ok)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups flour
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add egg; beat well.

Combine flour, oats, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture to banana mixture in bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop batter by heaping tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets covered in PAM. Bake at 350 for 18 minutes or until golden. Cool on pans 2 minutes. Remove cookies and cool completely on wire racks.

This is supposed to yield 2 dozen cookies, but my heaping tablespoons only yielded about 17 cookies. They were ginormous and yummy.

HELLOOOO SUBARU!

Throughout last week, over the weekend, and into this week, I began research into a car that was -- absolutely obsessive. I poured over websites and articles, often reading each more than once. Of course, I printed out and rehashed them all with Lauren -- the lucky lady that she is. I went over:

• Pros & cons of leasing
• Pros & cons of buying
• How to negotiate a lease
• How to negotiate a purchase
• Confessions of a Car Salesman
• Confessions of an Auto Finance Manager
• Loan Calculators
• True Market Value vs. MSRP vs. Invoice
• Lease Calculators
• New vs. Used vs. Lease
• Comparisons
• Consumer Reports
• Edmunds
• Motor Trend
• Reviews
• Ratings
• Trims
• Specs

And finally, TEST DRIVES! (I almost lost my internet allowance for this one!) Anyway, we test drove the Hyundai Santa Fe on Monday and the Subaru Forester on Tuesday. We drove the Forester home that night! That's right, folks, we're the proud new lessors of a 2010 Subaru Forester 2.5x Premium! Despite our excitement, we've only actually driven it home from the dealership.

On Wednesday, I threw my neck out...there was no driving for me. On Thursday, Lauren was sick and stayed home from work. I took the Accent in because my neck was still very sore and stiff. So that awesome new vehicle has been parked in front of the house just begging to be driven. I'm sure we'll get there soon. In the meantime...it looks great and I can't wait to drive it again!

RIP Accord

Nine years, 130,000 miles and LOTS of moving me and all my stuff around over the years finally took its toll on Brian's car. It was acting up last Wednesday. Diagnosis: a bad ignition coil. We picked it up from the shop on Thursday and had to take it back that same night because the problems had gotten worse (how the repair people failed to notice this is beyond me). By Friday we were told that the alternator and transmission were also shot. So now we have a choice: pay a ton to fix it or dive head first into the foreign world of car shopping.

Car shopping is SCARY! And slightly depressing since we hadn't really anticipated having to buy a new car in the near future. Luckily, we still have my Accent. And luckily Brian's mom is off for the summer, Brian's grandpop rarely drives now, and my parents are coming out soon to fly to New Mexico, so there are plenty of borrowable vehicles to go around if we need one. (Watch out though, we may trade yours in for something fabulous!) And super-luckily, Brian and I can still carpool to work, so we're in pretty good shape. Hopefully our ability to wait out a good deal will make us indispensible to car salespeople and we'll get something good within our price range. Or we'll win the lottery and after a long stint traveling the world we'll buy everyone new BMWs and call it a day. Whichever.

Oh yeah...Blogs need...writing

So it's occurred to me that we haven't posted anything since our mouse. Yet so much has happened! Lauren and I were in a movie...I've advanced in my lawn-care techniques...there's been some excitement on our street...and...the cats remain slightly special.

I'll be updating in much more detail shortly, but for now, we're finishing up with The Wire. We've been using Netflix to go back and watch the series in its entirety. Let me just say: Best Series Ever. Certainly most realistic cop/law show since...Cops? If you've never heard of Omar Little...you need to rent some of these episodes!

PS: I caught one mouse in a trap. Another died in an old tennis shoe of mine that I had been using to mow the lawn -- yeah, I found him when I put my foot in the shoe.

There's a mouse in our house!

There's a mouse in our house!

There I was, writing a motion
When all of a sudden - there arose a commotion!
I jumped off the couch and dove to the floor!
Where alas I was staring at a creature standing on legs of four!
It had teenie eyes and really big ears.
Such a scared little thing I'd not seen in years.
My kittens lay not ten feet away,
Yet neither seemed interested in stalking this prey.
Now traps are strewn both far and wide.
I don't think there's a corner in which this mouse can hide.
I hope I can catch him before he meets my spouse.

There's a mouse in our house!!