Harrington Saturday

The Brunos and Harringtons spent most of the day Saturday together, the first time we'd gotten together since Halloween. Andy and Angie just recently moved from their apartment into a house, so it was exciting to go and check out the new place. It's really nice inside!

First off we got the tour. The house still has that nice, fresh paint smell that always makes a place feel so new. Lots of hardwood floors, a guest bedroom, and a full-on basement are just some of the nice features. Joe really liked the new fridge, which has a little shelf you can access through a mini door on the front. Cool!

Xander was beside himself to get to play with Josh...and Josh's cool toys! We didn't see much of the boys while we were there (8 hours!) because they stayed in Josh's room unless it was time for food. They played, watched TV and got in trouble for jumping around on the bed. Predictably, Xander cried his heart out when it was time to leave - and it was almost 10pm by that time!

Angie and I played a game of Scrabble while Joe and Andy did a little running around town. I won, but not by much. It was a tough game! We wouldn't let the men folk come back unless they stopped at Dunkin Donuts for some donuts and hot cocoa (wow, they have good hot cocoa there!).

We watched the new Star Trek movie together, which we'd all seen already but love enough to keep rewatching, and some Comedy Central stuff. It was a really fun day! But long...I was dragging by the time we got home and Joe was worse since he'd worked the night before.

I do wish we could get together a bit more often. Xander and Josh seem to have such a good time playing together, and they're interested in a lot of the same kind of things - superheroes, Star Wars, wrestling, SpongeBob. Still, I guess it makes these visits more fun when it's not a regular thing.

Family Game Night - HP Style

It has been a good long while since the Brunos and the Steigmeiers got together for Family Game Night, and we made that happen this past Friday. Krissy made some awesome chicken and dumplings for dinner, and then we busted out Harry Potter Clue.

This was such a fun game to play! We did two rounds of it and laughed all the while. Eli won the first game, and no-one won the second because everyone who guessed was wrong. I was the last one standing, though, if that counts for anything!

For the second game we invited Carlyn to join us, which was possibly a mistake. By the time we'd finished the first game we were getting awfully silly and there were some inappropriate comments flying around the table. Yikes!

We left around 10pm, because Joe was feeling very much under the weather on Friday. We'd have probably called it a night about then anyway, because only Carlyn and Xander were still awake, and Xander was getting cranky.

It was such a fun time, I hope we have another game night soon!

The Trouble With Pictures

My life somtimes seems to be controlled by pictures. I'm forever taking them, and scrapbooking them. I have untold photo albums. I have boxes, ziploc bags and random drawers full of photos. It's a nightmare.

I was reminded of my love-hate relationship with pictures just this week. I want to scrap my grandparents' 40th wedding anniversary from back in '88. I knew I had a bunch of pictures, it was just a matter of finding them. Some were in my photo box, in the '80s bag. Others were inexplicably in the '91-'00 bag. A few others I tracked down in various other locations, and yet I knew I was still missing some pictures, including this one:

Seriously, I was losing sleep over this. My frustration knew no bounds. And where did I finally find the missing pictures? Tucked into a photo album with other random '80s pictures that I'd totally forgotten about. Grr.


Now that the matter of the anniversary party has been settled, I'm faced with another. A stack of pictures from 1987 that feature my brother, my mother and I in a park-like setting that has no name. Mom can't remember, nothing was jotted down. Come on! I tried Googling a park with a Buddah in it, like in this picture, but to no avail.


Still I slog on. I'll have to put in another call to my grandparents, who have been teasing me with their old pictures. They were going to bring them for me to have (albums, people, whole albums!) the last time they came to NY, but there wasn't room in the car. Say what?? And they keep telling me they'll go through them and send me some when they get a chance. Hello! Retirees! Nothing but time! Sigh.


And hey, if you have any pictures I might like, feel free to send them. I'll add them to one of my many piles or CDs or albums!

Family Flashback: Norma

Eli is out of town, so this seems the perfect time to have a laugh at his expense. (These are the times I love being a big sister!)

Those of you who know my brother probably think of him as a strapping outdoorsman, father of four, and church-goer. What you may not know is that he once used to like to wear women's clothes (okay, okay....girl's clothes) and call himself Norma.

There was one trip to Aunt Margie's that involved lots of dressing up. Heather and I would write these little plays and give Eli one-word speaking parts in them. For the occasion, he put on some of Heather's clothes (including the shoes) and a wig that Aunt Marge happened to have around the house. Voila! Norma was born.

Eli doesn't like to talk about Norma these days. Too bad!! When Iwas at Aunt Margie's this past week I took the opportunity to scan in some pictures. And of course I had to bring back Norma with me. My favorite memory of Norma is the the three of us sitting around Heather's little table, having a tea party. Eli had his legs crossed and everything. Too funny!

Thanks for the great memory, Eli!