When i was between the ages of 8 and 12 i have a few very distinct memories of my grandmother's apartment. The first is that it always smelled like smoke---it had saturated into the furniture--even years later after it had been cleaned those sofas still smelled faintly sweet/smoky. i swore then and there--and held to it over the 14 years i smoked--that i would never be an indoor smoker. Now that its been 9 months since i quit, i'm endlessly grateful that nothing reeks. But the second thing i remember is that the second bedroom of the apartment housed a table upon which was ALWAYS a 3000 piece jigsaw puzzle. I started playing the lame ones online a month ago...and finally went to target to buy a couple last week. Of course, this led to the neurotic need to do nothing--no eating no homework no sleep--other than finish the damn puzzles. So, here's the first two:

1. Cows in Germany. No i don't know why the cows were in Germany. Its just what the box said. No i didn't make that up.

 

2. Croatia. i think. if not that then italy.

 

This weekend was also Ryan's birthday party---well attended and full of fried food. We laughed, we cried, we heard crazed fan stories, and we ate too much death by chocolate and this bomb cake:

 

But, the real joy was that Ryan's sister-in-law got him this gem---which some of you will recognize from the infomercials and some from my girl Layli's blog a few months back :) Yeah, in case you are confused, its a blankie with arms.