Rob's a Nerd too

But I'm not as nerdy as Rob- he got like an 83 or someting.

I'm a nerd!

Bepo

We have a fourth member of our family- our cat Bepo. Who, I must admit, I love, just not all of the time. For those of you who don't know, we live in the no-man's land between Greensboro and Pleasant Garden. This means we just belong to Guilford County, so we have well water and the like because we are not part of the city, despite the city being about a mile away. Because we don't have city water, the growth that has been occuring on the other side of the highway stops there (like we have some disease) and despite the fact that there is a full-blown shopping center right around the corner, our neck of the woods is still pretty country. Having grown up in the city, I was unprepared for some asapects of country life after getting married and moving into our lovely home. Everything was fine, and then after a few months of wedded bliss we got some company- very unwelcome company. With the change in temperature towards the cold side of things, some friendly field mice decided to take up residence in our house. And these friendly field mice were not very tidy and Jackie, being the neat freak she is, was not very happy. So Rob and Jackie conjured up the perfect solution: a cat! Not only would it be able to evict the mice, Jackie would be able to bestow her endless affection on something other than Rob. So off to the shelter we went and found the cutest little grey kitten you could imagine. And envisioning the great hunter he would someday become, he was christened Bepo Pelepo Benito, after Rob's butcher in Italy and the people butcher Benito Mussolini. It took a few weeks for Bepo to get the hang of his new duties, but once he did, life has never been the same. The first occasion Bepo butchered something, it was a field mouse. He was still a little kitten, and had a habit of wanting to play in the middle of the night. On this occasion, he was in my face in the middle of the night, and wouldn't let up. So I finally woke myself up enough to figure out what he wanted, only to realize there was a dead mouse on my arm. Bepo had done his job and was SO excited and me, being his favorite person, decided his first mouse would be a gift to me. Much to my regret, I was not very grateful, and Rob had to takecare of it and reward Bepo. And life since has been full of similar instances, like when he brought a lizard into the house, who ended up being still alive, and in the ensuing chase left his tail behind, and I found it a few days later cleaning up. My favorite stories, however, involve birds. The first time Bepo brought a bird inside, it was still alive. I have heard that pets that hunt are trying to teach us to hunt, so they start off bringing us dead animals, and then after awhile start bringing live animals so that we can finish them off ourselves and gradually get to the point where we can kill our own animals. So, I was in the bedroom folding laundry when Bepo comes prancing in, and ploops a bird down. I freak out, and the bird takes off, with Bepo chasing it, and they're everywhere and feathers are everywhere and I'm screaming and chasing them and then they finally leave the bedroom and I just shut the door after them so they would leave me alone. After the fact, I realized that was probably not the best idea as Bepo would probably kill the thing and I would find a bird carcass behind the couch or something. But to this day, all I ever found were some feathers. The other bird occasion happened this week. After an exhausting day at school and work, Rob, Max, and I arrive home and I settle on the couch to feed the screaming baby. Bepo also happened to come in with us, but in the bustle of getting everyone and eveything in the house we didn't pay any attention to him. Then Rob and I hear some rustling behing the curtain and realize there is a bird in the house. Rob then tries to get the thing to move towards the door, but it just flies around the ceiling. I'm helpless as I'm stuck underneath the bottomless pit, when the bird decides to land on the couch behind me. Then Bepo re-enters the room and spies the bird and lunges, and the chase begins right behind my head, with feathers flying. The bird is being chased by Bepo, Rob is chasing Bepo, and I'm screaming at both from my position on the couch and Max is oblivious to it all as he feasts. Finally, Rob is able to pin the cat and whisk the bird out the door and then life resumes normality. The killer himself.

Yay! Beautiful Weather!

There's nothing quite like walking out of the house without a jacket, being able to just lounge outside, or even choking on pollen. I'm not a winter person- I only tolerate it because it makes me appreciate warm weather. So now that our little cold spell has either taken a break or gone for good, I fell so energized! My project was due last Friday, so I'm in a little lull between that and our critique, and needless to say, between that and the beautiful weather I have a spring in my step. It's like wearing rose-colored glasses; everything seems ok when it's warm.

Movie

So I finally posted a video of Max.. this one's old- I made it about 3 weeks after he was born. But never fear, my semester's on the verge of being over and I can make some more!

Newborn Max

What a weekend!

Sometimes we have so much going on that my head spins, and this weekend was one of those times. Like I've mentioned before, my big semester-long project is due THIS Friday (I'm trying not to hyperventilate as I write this) so I've been consumed with that, but on top of it I had homework for my other classes and Rob volunteered me to paint a picture-taking thing that you stick your head through so it looks like you're a funny person or someplace else for the Russian booth at the International Fest at UNCG that happened Saturday. We were also hoping to make it to Michael Aagard's birthday party (I can't tell how much we wanted to go), but unfortunately, we didn't have time. So, with the thing for the Russian booth, I knew about it a couple of weeks before-hand, but towards the end of last week we were told it may not happen so Rob told me not to worry about it. I was very relieved to hear that, as I had a million other things to do, but we found out Friday afternoon that it was happening. Well, Friday I was at Bianca's working on our project, so Saturday morning we started it. Rob graciously put a couple of coats of Kilz on some cardboard for me, but that stuff took longer than we though to dry, so I had to rush and painted the thing in an hour and a half, then I used a blow-dryer to dry it and we packed up the car and flew to I-Fest to deposit it, and stayed there long enough for me to cut the hole and us to eat some Russian food and then we were off again, with Rob going to school to work on his project and me to my parent's so I could work on my stuff while my sister played with Max. And of course we stayed up way too late working, and so were the living dead at church. Following church, we were off to Bianca's so I could touch base with her and figure out what still has to be done, and then took Rob to school so he could finish his stuff and the I went to my parent's and crashed. We so can't wait until the semester is over so we can go back to our normal, relaxingnweekends, or at leat Sundays. And that's about it, beside working on homework. So now for the pictures to illustrate the events...




Here Max is showing off his awesome dirt-dyed hemp shirt.




























Rob and Max posing as the Cheburashka (a Russian character)- this is the thing I painted for I-Fest... Rob and Max as we're leaving I-Fest
































Max enjoying the fresh air- on the mower with his grandpa and chilling in the hammock...















And as promised, a couple of images from my project- these are of the roof-top apartment for important clients and VIP's, and the boardroom.

Oh, and just another note... We have a tooth! Max has finally gotten a tooth- it's on the bottom in the front (I don't know the names of teeth and I'm too lazy to look it up). Yet as exciting as it is, it's been miserable as our noramlly happy, easy-going baby is now fussy and cranky.