Elizabeth & Brendan

*allusion to another post and intentional…

I was at work today and the first guest stepped foot into our new abode. Brendan’s dad has come up to help with some painting and will go down in the history books as the first house guest. Then I got a ride home from a work friend and she was the second house guest. But they both have given us a thumbs up on the house and the yard especially. My friend from work gave me an education about the trees in our yard. So that was good. Hopefully the thumbs up will continue as more people come on by.

I have always loved putting together furniture from IKEA.  I like how there is something usable to show after the time spent.  So last night Brendan and I were making plans for the night.  Someone had to start putting the furniture together and someone had to go get pizza, the dog and more boxes.  Easy choice, IKEA furniture right?  I was so wrong.

First was the chair. 

A pretty basic chair.  But it had these little screws on the underside of the seat that were killer.  I didn’t have a screw gun (never needed one before) and these little screws going into these little holes was causing a BIG pain.  It took all I had to screw them in (four of them).  By the time Brendan returned to the house, I was only about half way through.  He was surprised and I started to admit defeat.  He then put the second chair together.

Then there was the table. 

OMG.  It is still lying on the kitchen floor about 75% complete.  The culprit, non-word instructions and a tired Liz.  I had to redo the legs twice and then the table top.  This defeat is major because it involves both me and Brendan.  They have no holes to line the underframe up with the table top.  And that means no holes have been started so you have to totally do it from scratch.  And it is hard.  We only have about 7 of the 14 screws in right now and last night I gave up.  We just couldn’t finish. 

You win IKEA.  You win.

I am working from home this morning while Brendan packs up the car with the first load of boxes. Then at 11:30 we head over to the house for the final walk-through. After which we head right over to the Registry of Deeds and start signing away. The sellers needs this thing processed right away so they are free to buy their next house. I don’t really care but I am excited because that means we just have to pop over to Cambridge for all the signing.

We may start some painting this week (touch ups) and moving in most of the kitchen items and Eli’s new bed. Since we got new bedroom furniture, so did Eli. And his is monogrammed so that when other dogs come over, they know to stay off.

Also, this is the first time in my life (Brendan’s too, according to him) that I will have a new bedroom set. As the youngest of a million kids, I doubt my baby furniture was new, then I inherited my sister’s bedroom set (canopy bed so I couldn’t complain) and then as an adult it has been a mix of old and new, but never matching. It will be a big day when the furniture arrives.

I just got another abstract accepted!  This time at the the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine.  I am especially happy about this one as it is from research that I did personally in London, right before the wedding. 

I am trying to convince the client that I need to present the poster with her because that means a free trip to Barcelona.

I find it interesting that on this Friday (June 18), we were cleared to close on the house while one year ago on that Friday (June 19) I was told I have cancer (which I then met up with Kristen and JB and said “I have cancer.  So let’s get drunk.”  And thanks guys for taking the commend seriously and getting drunk.  The night ended in a dive bar with the entire bar singing along to Baby Got Back.)

To celebrate just how far we have come, Brendan and I cashed in a christmas gift and went to erbaluce for dinner.  (We both wanted what we got last time but branched out.  I got the steak and Brendan got the poached lobster)  And in talking, we both never thought that 1 year later we would have a dog, be buying a house and Brendan at a new job.  And while I am still technically “in treatment” and still finishing up the reconstruction, we are doing tremendously well.

And we have to thank you for all your support, cupcakes, well wishes, food, babysitting, prayers, etc.  We couldn’t have made it to this point without you.  And I am serious.

Just received this note:

Congratulations your loan is clear to close and has been final approved!

We have been taking Eli to the Dog Park the last few weeks and he loves it. I love it because then he is tired and we can go out for a long stretch of time without guilt.

Eli loves to run around with the dogs and is usually one of the fastest (no lie – I will get it on video). However, Eli prefers to be chased rather than doing the chasing. So if no one will chase him, he will half-heartedly chase another dog or go get attention from some owners. He can get intimidated at times (varies on dog size and aggressiveness) but he is doing better.

The other day, an owner was playing fetch with her dog. She would throw something, the dog would chase, and then Eli would chase the dog and the object. By the time the other dog got to the object, he was disinterested in the object and interested in Eli. Well after this happening at least 10 times, the owner got annoyed. I felt like she wanted to play fetch without disruption. Um, sorry. You are at a dog park. What do you expect? You want me to tell my dog not to play with your dog? How?

We also tend to go 8:30-9:00 and there are quite a few dogs there. Once we went around 11:00 and the crowd is so different. And the dogs are more aggressive (at least this day). We realized that we prefer the early crowd and not this young, fast, later one.

Aah, the politics of the dog park.

Click here and go to page 127 to read the abstract.

Because Kristen asked, here is more Eli. (disregard the mess that is our life, we are in the midst of packing)

Eli playing outside.

Eli watching Brendan leave.

Eli watching Brendan come home.