October 18, 2009

What can you say about this week but, Brrrrrr. Like much of the nation, Connecticut decided to see if we could enjoy a little winter in October. The temperatures plummeted and certain parts of northern CT enjoyed their first snowfall of the season. Down here on the coast we got the precipitation as a cold rain. Made you want to bundle up and stay indoors. Still better than the temperatures and snowfall my brother and his family were experiencing in Wyoming. Yesterday and today we are enjoying more rainfall as a nor'easter hits us - yesterday with clouds and cool weather, today with the rain..

Big news this week was Joann entering her next decade - appropriate modesty and a desire to be able sleep peacefully at night prohibit me from describing which decade. But since I decided to insert a picture of the chocolate birthday cake I made for her - you can do the math. And yes, that is made from scratch, no chocolate cake mix or pre-made frosting. Jo enjoyed her day as she got flowers from several co-workers and we went out for Mexican food with friends, Sheri and Bruno. Then it was home to open her birthday gifts - a Coach bag to use as a briefcase was my main gift to her. In case you keeping husband points - one for going to a purse store and actually having to look around, second point for knowing she wanted a Coach bag for her briefcase (ok, she has been saying that for about a year), and third point for making her a birthday cake from scratch. That gets me up to about 5 points for the year - I always like to bloom late in the calendar year.

The other big excitement on Jo's birthday was the news that Pfizer was finally approved to acquire Wyeth. Or as Jo likes to say, Jeff Kindler (Pfizer CEO in case you don't faithfully track Pfizer) bought her a company for her birthday. This has meant a flurry of announcements, meetings, and coming in the next couple of weeks travel for both of us. Where we are going continues to fluctuate - New York, New Jersey, and overseas have all been discussed. You'll just have to wait to read it here on where we actually land up.

As I mentioned last week, Joann was at the University of Illinois last weekend for a football game and fun-filled memories. She had a great time, even though Illinois lost the game, and remarked on how much the campus has changed in the almost 30 years since we were there. But the chemistry building is still present and the main quad remains pretty much unchanged. I at least got some pizza to enjoy - Jo bought two Papa Del pizzas, froze them, and then carried them home in her luggage. Worked great and now we have two pizzas in the freezer - yeah!

I'll close there, going to do some baking/cooking today. I'm planning to make granola bars and a vegetable soup for dinner. We had a nice surprise when we went to harvest our carrot crop - we actually had some. So decided dinner tonight would be a soup using only the bounty of our garden (carrots, potatoes, and beans).