Blog — "Finn"

This is probably supposed to be difficult. You know, writing about your life in 250 words. Mine's not so bad. My life hasn't been grand or fabulous. It hasn't always been easy-going either. But it has been a pretty awesome life.

I grew up in small-town Goshen, Indiana with my mom, dad, and sister. After years of the same school system, with the same people, and a city I didn't really like, I decided to apply to Syracuse University. If I got in, I'd attend. If I didn't, I'd work for a year and reassess. I got in.

I spent four years attending the university and one year living and working in a coffee shop in Syracuse. Four plus one is five. That last year? Andrew's fifth year of architecture school. I had met Andrew during our sophomore year. After he graduated, we found jobs. I entered a teacher residency program in Baltimore City-- what else was I supposed to do with an English major? I became a teacher and he got a job at a firm downtown. Two years later we got Lilah, our chocolate lab. Three years later, we bought a house. Three and half years later we got engaged. Four years later we got Finn, our orange tabby. And six years later? Well, that story will be soon to come....

And it will be amazing. I promise.

I know you all love teasers.

Now, was that my life story in 250 words? Yes, I think so. ;)



P.S. In case you wanted to know, this was Day 1 of Jenni's Blog Every Day in May.

Sundays are for drinking coffee, watching football, doing laundry, and taking rides in laundry baskets.

Yup, just another typical Sunday in our Baltimore row house.

P.S. Please excuse Andrew's Browns shirt. It is sad sight indeed.

It is Saturday morning, and we all need some light reading. The head is foggy because you haven't yet had a full cup of coffee and you might still be stuffed from eating too much Indian food the night before (but it was sooooooo good!). Oh wait, that's my life I am telling you about. Either way, this is a story about a cat and his love affair with a toy. Meet Finn (if you haven't already).
Say hello to Finn's toy. (Ignore the dog hair on the floor. It's the latest home decor craze, didn't you know? And nearly impossible to get rid of.)
That doesn't look like a toy, you say? Well clearly you haven't had a cat before if that doesn't look like a toy. That, my friends, is a mangled plastic spout from a half and half container. It was ripped out of the container by Lilah, our resident chocolate lab, about six months ago. And from that moment on, it has been Finn's favorite toy.

Finn spent three months obsessing over this toy. It was by his side at all times. He would even cuddle with it while he would sleep.

He would carry the toy in his mouth around the house everywhere he went. He could not leave this toy out of his sight. Sometimes, he would lose the toy under the pantry or bedroom door and he would wait patiently by the door until we would open it for him so he could retrieve his beloved toy.

Then the tragic happened. After three months of his love affair with this toy, the toy suddenly vanished, nowhere to be found. We checked the pantry and the bedroom closets-- the usual culprits. For over a week, every time we would go near the pantry or bedroom closets, Finn would sit anxiously by the door awaiting the retrieval of his toy to no avail.  Finally, he gave up and two months later he found a new toy-- a red ring from an apple cider jug. This toy became a mediocre replacement for a few days until he gave up on it. We even tried to give him a new half and half container spout, but he didn't want it.

Five days ago, a miracle happened. Finn's favorite toy emerged from inside the box of garbage bags sitting in the pantry. How it got into the box in the first place is a mystery. However, the only thing that matters to Finn is that he has his toy back. He's back to his old obsessive ways-- pushing the toy under the pantry door, waiting for you to open the pantry door, and then swiping around the corner to retrieve his toy.
He carries it in his mouth, drops it next to Andrew's shoes, and stalks it from a distance before pouncing and going in for the kill.

And when he's not playing with his toy, he keeps an eye on it to make sure it is still there.
 And that, dear readers, is the story of Finn's love affair with a plastic spout from a half and half container. (I think our cat might need some psychiatric help.) The end.

Just two quick things for a Saturday morning read while you're being lazy in your yoga pants and drinking a coffee (at least that's what I'm doing).

One. I've probably asked this question before, but how in the world does Finn find this to be his favorite and most comfortable sleeping position? I am pretty sure that if I attempted such gymnastics I would need to head to the nearest chiropractor to get my back adjusted.
Thinking that he would eventually get tired of it, I come back 20 minutes later to find him in the same position. Only this time, he has such a contented look on his face. Weird cat.


Two. This amazingly awesome video is courtesy of a college friend of ours that had emailed me the link this week. I cannot take any credit for finding it, but it seemed completely necessary to share it. I present to you a history of rock and roll in 100 guitar riffs.

Whaaaaat? That's what I was thinking. Then I thought that clearly my guitar skills have been lacking lately as I might be able to remember how to play only seven of those. Good thing I have an entire wall full of these on which I can practice.


Clearly I've been putting them to good use lately.

Happy weekend my friends!

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I'm glad to say that despite it being Monday, I'm still on Spring Break! I know, some of you probably would rather be in the same boat as me seeing how Mondays can be rough. However, it was a rough week last week. Without going out of town for break, and with a deadline looming over Andrew's head at work, I didn't get to do too many spring break like things. Most nights he got home around 9pm leaving us with only a few short hours to spend together.

I tried to make the most of it anyway, knowing that this weekend would probably be more fun than the week. We spent the afternoon at the greenhouse on Saturday.

I made these delicious marble squares. You can head over to Yellow Bird, Yellow Beard, where Janee has been so kind to let me share this very recipe! :)



Saturday night, we enjoyed a fire pit on our back patio.


Sunday, we decorated Easter eggs, something that both of us hadn't done in ages!


And Lilah was happy to have both of us around.


While Finn remained his weird self, being content taking a nap in the dish drainer.


How was your weekend? How did you spend your Easter Sunday?