In Loving Memory

We've been meaning to blog again for quite some time, figuring that, in particular, it would be a good way for us to document some of Baby Lias' shenanigans for those of you who are not close by.  Alas, we do not make our triumphant return to the blogosphere with news of Baby Lias' arrival or an adorable first photo.

Anticipatory artist rendering of Baby Lias...
but with less hair than expected

Instead, we are back to say our goodbyes and share some memories of our beloved cat, Pig.

I first met Pig in 2007 when I went to go look at a litter of stray kittens that had been rescued along with their mother and were free to a good home (I've never been one to say no to a free animal...).  When I arrived to inspect the kittens, there were already two families there to decide which kitten they wanted to take home.  As I sat back and waited to take my turn, their wiggly-hipped mother sidled up to me and started rubbing up against my legs and purring.  I don't think I ever did get around to holding those kittens...and I don't know that I really chose Pig, I think that she chose me and I decided to go along for the ride.

Since that day, Pig and I have lived together in 5 houses and 2 states.  We've welcomed 3 other cats, a husband, and a dog into our lives.  Well, Pig welcomed some more than others...  For instance, she was not initially keen on Tolliver when he was kitten, though I can't imagine why.

Oh yeah, that's probably why.

I'll never forget when Tolliver was still a kitten and I came upon what looked like Pig and Tolliver snuggling. Upon closer look, Pig was begrudgingly grooming Tolliver and growling the whole time.

In the end, no matter how obnoxious he was, Pig still could not resist the maternal instinct to love and groom him.

No matter how obnoxious he was, Pig still couldn't resist the instinct to love and groom him

She was a seriously weird cat with a very distinctive walk. She loved chicken and bacon, finding the sunny spot on the floor, and cozying up next to a good heating vent.  Perhaps most of all, she loved her people.  Pig was not effusively loving with everyone; but she never missed an opportunity to curl up with me and Nicholas.  She kept purring for attention right up through her very last night with me.  I'm really sad that she will not have the opportunity to get to know Baby Lias; I know that she really would have hated him or her.

I don't know what else to say other than that she will be truly missed and never forgotten.

Now, for the love of God, will someone PLEASE get me more clean tissues and a kitten! 

You Are My Heroine. And By Heroine I Mean Lady Hero...I Don't Want to Inject You and Listen to Jazz

Well, it seems we have some catching up to do...Just to try something a little different, I think we'll start with today and work our way backwards so you can find out about all of the glorious things that have been going on in our lives.

Nicholas recently found out that he passed the first part of his dental boards. This milestone in his dental school education brings him one step closer to this

 

And it brings me one step closer to this

Once we've paid off our hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, of course...

In the meantime I've been raking in the big bucks (HA!) working as a therapist for adolescents with diagnoses of chemical dependence.  My first day official day of work was January 7th and the experience thus far breaks down as follows:

What I think I do

What my patients think I do

Ah, just thinking of the Ken Kesey classic makes me nostalgic for the days when you could still lobotomize unruly patients. 

Before that, we were back in Philadelphia babysitting for Becky's son, Jake, celebrating the holidays and Chloe's 3rd birthday.  Chloe made a beautiful birthday girl.

She loved all of her presents

Cousin Jake was wildly unimpressed

Before that, we were back in Cleveland, where we always have so much fun and do so many fun things.

Footage Not Found

Actually, my dad came to visit us and we celebrated his birthday and Christmas.  On Christmas Eve, Nicholas' mother and grandmother came out here and celebrated with us as well.

Karen and Gram

Dad over-selling his "Oh my gosh, I love this tie!" face

Nicholas and I were a little short on cash because we're both students and we already own most of the cats in Cleveland, so this year we just re-gifted with each other

Everyone was polite enough to at least pretend they liked their gifts and I food-poisoned absolutely no one, so we're gonna call it a win.

Let's see now, before that our yard played host to another sickly raccoon--apparently it's becoming an annual thing--who had clearly mistaken death's doorstep for our doorstep.

The ex-raccoon

Mercifully, after having been here for a year and a half, we knew how to deal with the problem...Cleveland-Style

Nicholas with his patented prod-n-scoop manuever

Proof that we have finally become white trash

In his final resting place on our tree lawn

And as far as everyone knows that raccoon was not, I repeat NOT what I actually made the roast out of when I hosted Christmas Eve.

Before that we were home for Thanksgiving and celebrated Molly's 35th birthday by dressing up like Harry Potter characters and listening to Mom mispronounce Hermione.

And before that  I was in the Cleve writing this blog entry
Consider yourselves caught up.  AND fin.

Joe Biden is Better Than That

I repeat, Joe Biden is better than that --->

I know we haven't blogged in a while, but we were busy voting in Cuyahoga County, which I'm pretty sure makes us the most important people in the country.  Sadly, that also makes us residents of Cuyahoga County.

Since last we blogged, we've been busy with all kinds of autumn activities.  We went apple picking with our neighbors, carved pumpkins, and got dressed up for Halloween.  This year we went as Effie Trinket and Seneca Crane from the Hunger Games.

Seneca

Effie

Local Weirdos

The costumes were pretty well-received, though they did make us the silliest looking people to have passed through Ohio this Autumn.

...well, almost

I know, I know, that's probably enough cheap shots about this year's, shall we say, losers.  It's just that in our house we feel very strongly about certain rights.  For instance, how could we support an administration that wouldn't support this precious and super gay union:

Pretty sure Tolliver is the wife

And of course we had to protect Pig, Pog, and Pi's right to female reproductive surgeries.

Because who wants another one of these around?!?!

Let's see other than that, we've been very busy with school and internships.  Nicholas is flying through his second year of dental school and has progressed way past the stage when he is only allowed to create wax casts of teeth.  In October, for instance, Nicholas performed my annual prophy cleaning.  

The doctor at work

The "compliant" patient before she fell asleep in the chair

Wendy's eye view

And he only had slightly less facial hair than the last person to clean my teeth--I wonder how Mrs. Weston is these days--He was so kind, so gentle, so reminiscent of someone that I just can't seem to put my finger on it...

Oh, yeah

Meanwhile, I've been spending a lot of this semester working with adolescents who have diagnoses of substance dependence.  It's just the way they show it in the movies.

Of course, I'm practicing in Lake County, Ohio, so instead of Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie, and Leonardo DiCaprio it's much more like this

Well, that's it.  We hope that you're enjoying the splendor of autumn because I know we are.  We have loved taking in the beautiful scenery around Cleveland: the crisp air, the changing leaves, the local wildlife preparing for the cold winter months.  

Check out this wintering squirrel with his nuts

Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.

...It's coooooold out there everyday.

Would it help if I played Sonny and Cher in the background?

Well, I'm sure you're all wondering what we've been up to over the last few weeks.  Hmmmmm....Let's see, we went to the Dental School's picnic at Squire Valleevue and Valley Ridge Farms.  It was a lot like... Picnics and Mommunists (8/16/11).  Actually it was pretty much exactly like that.  Except there was a new crop of infants and instead of being mediocre at football, all of the men were mediocre at volleyball.  Oh, and instead of going out for custard afterwards, we went out for ice cream.

I went to go observe Nicholas working in the lab.

September 2011

September 2012

...and Nicholas continues to make fake teeth.

September 2011

September 2012

Okay, I will grant you that his technique has gotten a wee bit more sophisticated over the last year. 



I got a bad cold, and Nicholas made me matzoh ball soup.

Jew-y picture I used in 2011

Jew-y picture I'm using in 2012

All in all, I have to say that the start of this school year has felt a little...familiar.

Just in case we lost you on this one...

Of course, some things do change.  For instance, this time last year we were feeding a small stray tabby cat on the porch and talking about how, under no circumstances, were we going to take her in and end up with a fourth cat (Ha!)  Not only did we let Pog in, but we let Jon Fielding in as well.  Have we told you about Jon Fielding and his dirty dangler yet?

Not these.  We had these removed

Fielding's dangler is the one leg that he leaves dangling under him from wherever he has perched.

I guess it would have been too much to ask to get a "fixed one"...well, I guess if he'd been normal, someone wouldn't have just let him out to roam the streets of the Cleve.

Anyway, I'd better go, because if I don't do my reading...well, pretty much nobody notices.