ZEKs LITE

E starts a book club

I'm cheering for E, who got bored with his quiet evenings and decided to do something about it.

He did something that for me would have been scary.  He called up neighbors he didn't know and hadn't met, but had heard about, and invited them to join a book club.

So the foods were put out.  Things from Trader Joe's heated up, chips and dips, and an attempted tart (mine).  The house was cleaned only minimally.  He didn't want to set the bar too high -- make it easy. 
Make it fun.

He waited patiently in the living room for his guests to arrive.

And they came!  He has gathered about eight people, half of whom are men, and all of whom are in walking distance.  The first book... I don't have the title yet.  It's a biography of Keith Richards.  It's gonna be a rockin' book club.

Shmentor

My hubby has started a blog.  That makes all three of us now.  Z has She Came from Planet Z, I have this weirdly-named blog, and E now has The Shmentor.  But I'm not supposed to capitalize it.

He drew this picture of himself for his banner.  It says it all. 

Our man at Cambridge

Two weeks ago E went to Cambridge, England.  That's when there was a looming government shut-down and we didn't know if he'd have to come home halfway through.  Thankfully, he got to stay.

Usually E doesn't take a lot of pictures when he travels, but this time he filled up the camera.  It took a long time to get through them all.  Here are just a few choice photos of his very fun work trip.

E toured many exciting things in both Cambridge and London, and the pictures are lovely.  I think there are a disproportionate number of pictures of candy, cakes and biscuits!

My Valentine has stitches

Another day with E at home, recovering with his bruised belly.  He's learning to take it easy and not push too far.  Also he's not ready to wear pants with a firm waistband.

Yesterday there was some cookie decorating, but the camera did not emerge in time.  Today there will be some more.

Surgery sock

E had his hernia surgery today.  He's home, it went well, and we hope it stays that way.

It gave me a reason to work on the mate to the Gallbladder Surgery Sock.  I got about three inches knit while waiting for him to be fixed and recovered.

The lovely bag here is from Marsbarn.  She's the best. 

E gets crafty - Pinewood Derby Day

Last week E entered a pinewood derby at his office.  He sculpted his block of wood with a neighbor's band saw, painted it, and the rest was legos and bits from Z's dollhouse collection. 

The little car performed honorably.  The Kraken is a team logo of sorts.

The Washington Post Hunt

They were there!  They solved many of the challenging puzzles, and they dodged the thunderstorms. 

Schleptomanicas have found a clue--the man with the red umbrella and Dodgers shirt.

Here's E in front of a large piece of the puzzle.  It's a number.  Can you see it? 

Dave Barry, an inventor of this grand event, appeared on stage competing with a giant dancing pizza.

Some other teams and their fun shirts:

Stories, snacks and stitches

Nearly each evening E reads aloud to us from Harry Potter.  Last night we heard the first chapter of the climactic 7th book. 

E is a fun reader, performing all the character voices.  If there's too much Hagrid or Dumbledore, his throat gets a little raw.  Too much Voldemort and we all deveop sinister nasal tones.  Fleur Delacour is especially fun.

Here's the routine: Watch a rerun of Seinfeld, then The Office, then read a chapter.  In between I am asked to make a snack. 

It occurs to us that we don't need much in the way of entertainment.  Stories, crafts, snacks, and folks to share them with; that'll do.

During the reading and shows, I knit.  Lately I've knit prayer shawls, but really they are Potter shawls; the praying will have to be done done by someone else later.

I'm on my second shawl of the year (the red one, from gifted chenille).  The first one was blue and wavy. 

The shawls are blessed and given to folks who are undergoing illness, loss, or any situation that calls for a gesture of support. 

It's scary...

...when one's laptop would rather be some hacker's zombie than a home computer.  

Ours suffered being age 6, having no antivirus software, and me spilling a glass of water on the keyboard.

Or, as E says, him catching me spilling it.

Here was the myth we believed: email is virus checked by Google, we have two firewalls, and NEVER has a virus ever been found by any of the eight different varieties of antivirus software we've used over the 17 years we've lived with computers. 

But guess what?  AVG found a few trojan horses this week, and they were nasty.  They did some damage.

SO... E got to do what he's been longing to do--cross fingers on the upcoming house sale and build his dream machine.

I'm making friends with the monitor.

Uncanny

Some people in this house like to draw pictures of me.  It's half affection, half therapy.

Z drew this cartoon, this drawing of me knitting, and thankfully this nice picture of me.  Then there are all those cartoons she drew of scary mothers who supposedly aren't me, but I'm an English major and I know about fairy tales: evil stepmothers are really mothers.

I'm not sure whether this counts as a nice picture.  E drew it a few years ago and recently put it in a little frame.  Z and E laugh and laugh every time they look at it.  He calls it an uncanny resemblance.

A place for his stuff

E took this photo so he could put a picture of me on his desk in his new office.  He actually gets his own desk, instead of one shared by 24 hour rotating shift employees.  That means he gets to personalize it.

Thanks, H, for the really cool shirt.  I'm gonna look so hip next to the coffee cup Z painted.

A Metro Monday

The commute will be icy and snowy, so E will take the metro.  But he's happy because guess where he's going?  To his new DAY JOB! 

E has moved into being a full time analyst and no longer will need to do night shift.  Sure, there may be a little overtime now and again, but there will be weekends, and daylight, and work he enjoys even more than the enjoyable work he's been doing.  Hooray!

Need more cute

Conversation with E, recently.

E:  "I need more cute."

me:  "Cute...what?"

E:  "I need more cuteness in my life.  I need to get some cute stuff."

Apparently Federal employment is a little too serious.  Sometimes one needs a coffee mug with a monkey clinging to it, or Japanese stationery to take notes on--the kind where all the little rolled-up foods have happy faces.

These are difficult times; it's easy to understand why we need cuteness.

Joyless Sullen Brown Brick

Here's a contribution from E.

Joyless, Sullen Brown Brick  is the title given to the "SoyJoy" bar, reviewed in the "Supertaster" section of Chowhound.com.  Supertaster reviews new snack foods.  They say, "What's new? What's great? What's weird? Our columnist samples offerings from supermarket aisles and fast-food menus."

Other fun headings in the Supertaster category are:

Cheez-Its Still Doin’ It for Me

What Shame Looks Like

Bagel Felony

Marshmallow Blob Training Centers

Another Secretly High-Calorie Salad