Should we name new kitty Jax or Fivel?

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Guest Post by the Average Joe

i was 176 pounds when i moved to dc. now i'm down to 148!



The Legwarmers

Some of you may remember that I went to see a fun 80's cover band last year with my friends. 


Joe was talked into going with some of his friends a few weeks ago. I opted out, but had fun helping with the outfit. P.S. look how skinny he is!!



OBX

We had a great Cramer family reunion in Duck this summer. Joe's parents rented a house just a few minutes' walk from the beach and right next door to a rec. center. In attendance? 13 adults and 13 kids! We ate nightly as a group (with a different family assigned to cooking each night,) but spent the days leisurely reading, making trips to the beach, playing tennis and croquet, hitting the pool and hot tub, and just enjoying each others' company. We really lucked out with the weather; the next week, houses were evacuated before the hurricane! 

It was a wonderful trip. Many thanks to Lew and Barb!


























Where were you...

...when the earthquake hit?

I was in new-teacher training with 20+ other people. We all looked around for about 5 seconds, then I started to get under my desk while everyone else ran out of the classroom into the hallway. I remember earthquake drills: you get under your desk and cover the back of your neck. But nobody else did that, so I doubted myself and ran after them. Then we all went outside and started texting and updating Facebook statuses (obviously). Joe was at work (the basement level of his building,) and readily admits that he ran out without concern for the well-being of anyone else. Quote: "I will never need a reminder to put my oxygen mask on before assisting someone else."

We were both released early, and luckily made it home without getting stuck in any crazy traffic. I *get* that it wasn't a huge earthquake and we there was not a ton of damage, but what a lot of people don't respect is that this area is not used to earthquakes...or flood-producing rain.

The rain last week was incredible. The worst of it came on a Thursday, and my 35 minute commute turned into an hour and 45 minutes. It was awful. The actual rain reminded me of a big Oregon storm, but the roads and drivers were not used it...it was ugly. Some of my friends were stuck at work; one is a teacher, and her students kept getting sent back on buses because they couldn't navigate the flooded neighborhoods or the students' parents couldn't get home from work.

FPCS schools were closed the next day from the rain, and no one was complaining...a 3-day school week? Yes! We'll probably regret using up that "snow" day when we're working well into June, but whatever.

Turtle Power

It was fun to have Dave living out here again this summer! 4 of the 6 Cramer siblings were within 45 minutes of each other, and we had lots of fun. One night Dave brought a few people over from the Barlow Center and we hosted a TMNT party. I had lots of fun setting up and baking pizzas non-stop while the crew watched the original Turtles movie.

The non-meat ingredients for 8 homemade pizzas

Turtle eyemask-making station

Turtles can play Rock Band, too.

The whole gang

Drinking Mutagen (or Jelly Bean green apple soda from TJ MAXX)

More Mutagen

Kind of tired by the end of the night...and Joe's eyemask kind of left some residue on his forehead.

Two of a Kind

Joe and I went to the wedding of his law school friend a few weeks ago. We knew the reception was going to have a theme, but thought the execution was REALLY fun!! Congrats Jason and Amy!










Did someone say CAT SHOW?

Joe has been telling me how awesome cats shows were for as long as I can remember. For anyone who forgot, I did not grow up with any pets, and was not particularly fond of them. Then we found the kitty in the parking lot while we lived in Orem, (Mittens!) and I knew I would forever love kitty cats. For the record, I think dogs are pretty awesome too...I'm just more of a cat person :)

Anyway, we went to a cat show last week, and I kind of wanted to just take every cat home with me. It was really neat to see all the different breeds; some of them are so pretty (and ugly!) The cat owners were all so nice...willing to talk with you about anything cat-related :) It was tons of fun.

Look! It's another Lucky and DeeDee!

This cat was an ambassador; he got carted around on a little flat-bed, but would sometimes walk around, too. 

This cat could not be bothered to actually come downstairs to eat.

Somebody loves this face...

A Bombay like Lucks!

This one seemed so regal.

RAWR!

Best in Show. I can't imagine dealing with all that hair!!