Update, slacker style

Hi Friends!

Here's the poop, in small bite size morsels... doesn't that sound appealing!  Ha!

• T has a new potential girlfriend!  Woo hoo!!!  You know how it is when you have ended a relationship but you still feel a little bit responsible for the ex's happiness or well-being.  It's such a relief when they hook up with someone else!  She still calls me virtually every morning so I am fully up to date on how it's going.  TMI?  Yep.

• I spent a week in Southern California with my two besties and, for part of the week, my daughter.  Love, love, love.  (I don't, however, love So Cal.  It is SO DIRTY!)  The weather was perfect, cool and cloudy almost all of the time.  We went to two botanical gardens and that was lovely, spent a day at the horse races where I came out ahead by $1.29 at the end of the day.  

• Spring is going like gang-busters here in the PNW.  The early bloomers are done but my towering mock orange has just broken out in a spectacular display.  Heavenly!

• My friend from New York is coming for a visit!!!  She hasn't been to the PNW before so I'll have lots to show her.  Super excited!  Again, perfect weather is in the forecast -- cool and cloudy with occasional rain.  That's what it's really like here, might as well get the true experience.

• A friend from high school has moved to my city and wow, is he busy!  He invites me out to places I've never even heard of despite living here for over a quarter century.  I've gone out with him a few times.  We are getting together next month with another guy from our high school days and I'll admit to being curious about how the two of them interact.  They were both closeted gays back then (well, weren't we all?) and now they are most definitely not.  We'll be waving the rainbow flag together.  

That's all I've got this morning.  I could ramble on but I'll spare you that.  Plus, I've got to get back to whipping the house into shape.  Cheers, m'dears!

Spring all over

Hello Women!  And anyone else reading along...

Wow, I am so bad at blogging!  It's a wonder I continue at all.  But, here I am, throwing out another message in a bottle.  I've got to keep being me, I guess.

Here's a fun thing: I'm going to Chicago to meet some friends, other women that I have met through reading their blogs.  Fun!  I'm really excited about it and looking forward to some new experiences.  I haven't been to Chicago before, I've only changed planes at O'Hare and that doesn't count. 

I'll offer a quick summary of the goings on around here.

• Rancher friend came for a visit.  We did a lot of shopping for ranch-related needs -- gear, mostly, and a lot of boots for various people.  I need to remind her to keep her receipts for taxes.
• The former partner had a bit of an episode with me.  I felt uneasy enough to have the locks changed.  
• T, the former partner, in an amazing turnaround, has subsequently gotten well over me.  She is on a couple of those singles web sites and actually enjoying herself.  She's not dating yet.  She is pretty firm on just finding a new group of friends.  It seems to be working!  
• I've had my two best pals and my daughter here for a 'gals birthday'.  Three of us have birthdays within a week of each other so April is a frequent visiting month.  This time it was my turn to host.
• I'm pretty certain that my friend, Sara, will be a good house/catsitter.  Fingers crossed.

So, that's the quick and dirty rundown.  One friend is still here.  We're getting ready to head over to Costco so I need to get my socks and shoes on.  

Cheers, friends!

Update from PDX

What do I have to say that is of interest?  Little, as usual.  But, a survey of events since last I posted reveals that I am overdue on communication.

So, how was the trip to Cali?  Good.

Lisa, my bestie from the first day of high school, the one who needs a kidney, the one we went to celebrate the birthdays with in April, is doing much, much better.  I was so relieved when I saw her!  She didn’t have her old energy – but, who among us does?  But, she was so much healthier than when we last saw her… quite the relief!  The dialysis is definitely working!

She still teaches at the really rough high school, and it is just so draining.  I worry about her all the time.   The kids are so bad.  The administration is so bad (but maybe a tiny bit better than last year).  Hell, southern California is bad.  It’s unhealthy, I believe.  It’s so dirty.  And so crowded.  So hot.  And so stressful. But, maybe that’s just me.  Anyway, I wish Lisa didn’t have to keep exhausting herself on a daily basis.

But, that’s my worry.  Let’s move on to other things.

This coming weekend I will be assisting in a Women’s Self Defense class at my martial art school.  A little background:  Besides being a black belt, I completed the training to instruct women’s and children’s self defense classes.  I worked at that in my limited spare time for a while.  But, then my mom got sick, and then she transitioned to another plane, and my energetic focus has been directed elsewhere since then.  One of my teammates is taking over the self defense program and asked me if I was interested in assisting once a month or so.  I pondered this a fair bit.  And, I decided that, yes, I was interested in going back to teach self defense.  The time is right…  sadly, the time is always right for teaching self defense.

Did I tell you about my niece moving to Portland?  Well, she did, and she is absolutely delightful.  She is smart, funny, quirky, studious, sweet, sincere.  She is a great kid!  She’s living at my dad’s house, which is great for both of them.  They are keeping an eye on each other.  Lol.  I’m trying to find the balance between helping out when and where I am needed and not interfering!  Hahahahhaha….  Actually, I’ve been pretty good at not overwhelming her.  Which makes me wonder if I should be in touch more…

One of the cats needed a trip to the vet and a ridiculous vet bill. Of course, it was the best kitty.  Couldn’t be the jerk who pees in the house, no, it had to be the most loving and affectionate of the cats.  The one for whom we are willing to spend beyond our budget.  Sigh.

We had a massive storm last weekend, but it wasn’t nearly as traumatic as the prognosticators thought it would be.  Glad of that!  Still, I did have water in my basement and there are branches down everywhere.  If it’s headed your way, it’s a wet one.

Well, I guess that’s all for now.  I hope things are humming along on a good track for the rest of you!

Nothing much

Hey, You Gals!

I’ve been telling myself for weeks to assemble some thoughts and words for a blog post.  A few times I even thought ‘that might be of interest’ but, whatever those thoughts were, they’re gone now.  So, I’m taking a few minutes to tell you that I don’t have anything to tell you.

What else?

Spring is here in all her glory.  Spring in the PNW is ridiculously lush.  Walking though petal-storms all the time, streets turned pink, pollen blowing in yellow clouds… you get the idea.  Seriously though? If you ever come to Portland, Spring is absolutely gorgeous.

Today the lilac opened.  :-)

But, I’m not gloating!  Really!  Some of you are getting snow, actual snow (that you didn’t get in the Winter!), when you should be getting flowers.  It’s sad when that happens.  What frequently happens here is that the cherry trees all burst into bloom when a storm front arrives.  Yes, the gutters are pink for a couple of days, but the trees are beaten down and the whole thing is just a soggy mess.  We’ve had a mixed bag of late, but we had nearly a week of sunshine, so I’m not complaining about the rain today.

More?

T is finally selling her house.  It was on the market when we first met, but the time wasn’t right.  She has been renting it to her brother for several years but he can’t afford the amount of the mortgage payment, so T has had to pay every month to make up the difference.  She’s tired of that, and his kids are now out of the 3 bedroom house, so it’s time for him to downsize.  She has spent the last month working on it on the weekends – painting the inside (every room), adding a half bath, replacing blinds, clearing out the garage – and then took last week off work to paint the exterior.  It was forecast to be sunny and dry for 5 days so she had to go for it!  I took off Friday and also spent all day Saturday painting.  Wow, am I out of shape!  I could feel all of that ladder work!

Garden?

Garlic.  Planted late last summer.  Thriving.  But, that’s all I’ve got.  Oh, and herbs.  But that’s all.  Haven’t even weeded yet.  Bad gardener!

Summer plans?

Trailer camping with our friends.  Fun!  Ft Stevens State Park – We haven’t camped there before.  It’s beside the Pacific, at the mouth of the mighty Columbia.  Putting along in the vintage truck and trailer combo, it’ll only take a couple of hours, at most, to get there.  Maybe an hour and a half.  Close.  I hope I get some smoked tuna!!!  OH. MY. GOOD. FOOT!!!  So delish!  We’ve got good seafood on our coast.  Have I ever mentioned the Willapa Bay oysters?  So.Good.

Ok, clearly, I am rambling now.  Time to get back to the spreadsheets.

Cheers, m’dears…

Ketchup

Here’s a little catch up post:

• ·         The Seahawks won the Super Bowl!  But, you knew that already…  still, we’re happy!  My hair color is slowly washing out.  Still quite colorful, though!
• 
  
• ·         Remember the old dog we were fostering?  Angus?  He got adopted!  Amazingly, there were three different families that were interested in him and we had to let him go.  He is now living downtown in one of the swankiest neighborhoods in Portland.  He has a middle-aged dog buddy and two happy humans to keep him company.  We haven’t taken on another foster yet, but we will.
• 
  
• ·         I have filled the open support staff position (again) in my office and I am sending up a prayer that it is for the last time.   We’ll see.  Once she gets up to speed, I will be transferring some of my workload to her and scaling back on my hours.  I am so excited at the prospect of working less!
• 
  
• ·         A friend from childhood is coming to Portland on a college scouting trip with her son.  She asked if they could stay.  When we were talking about it, I thought the plan was for them to come on Friday and leave on Saturday.  So, I said yes.  Then she sent me her itinerary.  They are coming Thursday and leaving Monday.  Who does that?!  We haven’t seen each other for many, many years; I’ve never met her son; we have other plans…  yikes!  T is fuming, of course.  I mean, it’s a holiday weekend!  We had planned to sleep in!  We’ll see how this plays out.  There’s little chance that they will get a second invitation. (Am I being too grouchy? Not sure.)
• 
  
• ·         I’ve been enjoying the Olympics – despite Bob Costas’ eye issues.  But, just like every other time, I take issue with the broadcasting decisions.  Why do we only get to see the pretty people, or the sure winners, or just the Americans?  And, for crying out loud, why is NBC running infomercials on Saturday instead of showing non-stop games?!  Gah!!!  If only I were in charge of the broadcast!  We would see it ALL!
• 
  
• ·         The snow.  Ok, I hesitate to add this to the list since all of you live in places that get real winter weather and have been bludgeoned by it this winter.  BUT.  We had a snow storm in Portland that shut the city down.  It was crazy.  Kind of fun since it happens so seldom, but also kind of pathetic and aggravating.  The snow was followed by an ice storm just to add to the transportation woes, but we are all back at work now and the snow has melted.  At least throughout the metro area.  Hopefully we got lots in the mountains and it will last.  We don’t want to follow California into a drought.   I did get my cross country skis out and went around the block.  That was fun.  Then I went inside and watched the Olympians cross country skiing.  Nice juxtaposition, I though.  :-)

I think that’s it for now.  I’m trying to keep track of stuff and actually post the occasional update. 

Cheers, m’dears!

December Update

Hello, Friends!

Well, I did it.  I completed NaNoWriMo!  It was a struggle, of course, to get 50,000 cohesive words written in 30 days, but it was fun.  Some days were amazing!  Some days the characters took over and told their stories and I was just the fingers on the keyboard.  Some days… not so much.  The story is one I started telling my daughter when she was little.  It’s about a brave girl who sees that something is wrong in the world and sets out to fix it.  Some of the characters are clearly family members of ours (including me and Zoe), but most of it is purely imagination.  I haven’t actually finished the story, however, because 50,000 words were not enough.  Well, it may end up being about that length after editing, but the story itself isn’t finished yet.  I will continue working on this project though because it was interesting, fun, and (mostly) a pleasure to write.

During the last week of the month, I came down with a wretched cold.  A cold so bad that I had to miss work, which I rarely do.  It is still lingering with a yucky head full of snot and a deep, phlegmy cough.  Gross.  We had to push our Thanksgiving dinner back a day because I was just too tired to prepare anything.  Zoe and Rob came down and it was great to have the help in the kitchen (Zoe, not Rob, obvs).  We had seven people for dinner.  My dad and the local (crazy) brother came and my brother brought a friend.  Which was a surprise!  My dad called about 15 minutes before they came over to let me know.  Hey, thanks for the heads up!  It was fine, of course, but I did have to set an extra place and rearrange some of the dishes and linens.  I have six matching plates but I didn’t want her to feel like she was crashing the party so I mixed them all up.  Oh, the trials and tribulations, right?  Ha!

Besides me coming down with the cold, T picked up a stomach bug from her mother.  The day before Thanksgiving, her mom had to go to the hospital for rehydration, and thankfully T was not quite that bad.  But, on Friday, T was up all night puking and was weak and shaky the next day.  Naturally, I was afraid that it was food poisoning, but no one else got sick so I’m pretty sure it was the bug that her mom had and not my cooking.

While I was sick, I was too tired to even read your blogs.  I’m sorry!  I have been catching up little by little and hope to add my two cents by the end of the week.

That winter holiday is fast approaching.  You know, the Solstice.  The return of the light.  And the other quasi-religious one that superseded it.  We haven’t done any decorating yet, but the niece is coming over this weekend and I think we’ll get some lights strung up outside and maybe even put up a tree.  It could happen!  Can you believe that it’s December already?!?!  Wow.   

I will add one more thing, which is work related.  Did I mention that we had hired an awesome gal to fill that open position?  Well, three weeks into the job she gave her notice.  Said it just wasn’t the right fit for her.  Sigh.  So, I’m back to interviewing applicants.  The only ray of sunshine on that front is that the gal who left the job a year ago to go back to school is between programs right now and called to ask if we needed any help.  YAY!  We were able to hire her back as a temp and that has taken a lot of pressure off the rest of the staff, myself included.  Super thankful for that, o blessed Universe!

Ok, I guess that’s all the updating I’ve got for the moment.  Thanks for reading!  Have a lovely day, all of you lovely people… 

Affectionately yours,

e

Quick Update

Hello!

I'm writing from the wilds of snowy Des Moines!  OK, it's not too wild...  but it is definitely snowy.
My Pop and I drove out to help the Kid get ready for the move to Seattle.  We have been doing all sorts of home repair tasks and enjoying our favorite daughter/granddaughter's company.  Good times!  Good, good times.

I have much and more to say, but no time to say it.  I'll give you a summary when I return to pdx.

Love to all!
e