Monday, December 21

561 is a lot

This coming week will be pretty interesting. I don't have to watch G or K since they have family in town and/ or don't have to work. Plus, Devin has to work for 7 days straight. This will be our first Christmas that we won't physically be together. Fortunately he'll just be down the street.

All the free time this week will come in handy. Our internet is up and running*.... finally. I've spent the last two hours agonizing over updating my Itunes. Not only did my computer save every music file ever but it also decided it needed to duplicate them all into my newly installed Itunes. Now that it's fixed I can import the 10 cd's we've purchased since moving to our neck of the woods. (Certain people should keep an eye out for new cd's coming their way... you know who you are.)

Additionally- at the end of this week our home will begin to house a flurry of relatives: parents, in-laws, and a BFF. Which means that I have to clean up the house and reorganize everything that I've been slacking on. For some reason, however, the crazy person inside of me decided that this is the PERFECT time to paint our bedroom.... plum. Which requires multiple applications. I'm only at application #1. Only three more to go.

It occured to me- probably when painting- that family would be here Christmas day. Which means that we must eat Christmas dinner. And since I'm hosting Christmas that means I'll be in charge of Christmas dinner. Anyone who knows me can testify that my type of cooking requires 1.) Milk and cereal, 2.) A take out menu or 3.) Screwing up recipes. Did I mention that whatever I make will have to feed 7 people? Going out to eat is out of the question. I'm assuming that since restuarants, or anything else for that matter, are not open on Sunday's or after 7pm that they'll probably not be open for Christmas.

... Alright I got nothing else to say.

Check back tomorrow for pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.

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* Because our internet is working it was finally able to install automatic updates. All 561 of them.

Monday, December 14

So Fast

I can finally confirm that we have internet! However, I'm posting from good old Missouri tonight. Our connection is good but my laptop, unfortunately, is not. Since I scratched my hardrive earlier this year it's been making my life miserable attempting to get it back to square one. Looks like it should be fixed this week.

Why Missouri? I've been in town for a few days visiting my grandparents. Being the responsible, loving grandchild that I am I try to to make it out to see them once every couple of years. I get to enjoy dinner at 3:30pm (2:30pm WA time), help them remember things, play with their 5 (!) animals, and enjoy grandparent-doting. They, in return, get to visit with me, introduce me as "the grandaughter from California," and ask when great-grandchilden are arriving. (You know, the ones I ordered.)

The three things I am soaking up:

1. Sleeping in: I realized how much I missed causually waking up at 8am. The two families I nanny for keep me rising early.

2. Fireplaces: It's been years since I've been in the presence of a real fireplace that uses, like, real wood and, like, produces real ashes.

3. Electric blankets: note to Wifey- must. get. one. These lovelies have been around forever and why I don't have one on my bed is something I've been pondering these last few days.

Being at my grandparent's house is a fun time but this visit is a little strange for me. There are pictures on the wall of me when I was 5 years old, 12 years old, etc. Memories of different vacations we've taken that seem like just yesterday. Furniture that belongs to generations before me litter the house. Grandparents now on 6 medications and forget if they ate breakfast that morning. Now more pictures of great- grandchildren and recent weddings fill their livingroom.

As I sit here and drink my tap-filled Fiji water I can't help but wonder how the time went by so fast. Five minutes ago I was 4 years old, in Ventura, swatting my grandparent's dog, Alex*, with a newspaper and eating Cheerios with honey with my grandpa as he insisted that I call him by his first name. (He didn't want to be called grandpa) Now I'm Missouri, 23 years old, missing my husband and dog, watching my grandpa's memory fade and wondering how easy it'll be to visit my brother if, or when, he moves out of state.

Crazy. Just crazy.



And for the record... Missouri is still Missouri.

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*Alex was my height and huge when I was little. He'd get right in my face unless I smacked his nose with a rolled up newspaper. One look room him and I was crying.

Wednesday, December 2

Aggravation

I was going to do a post from the comforts of my living room today.

Someone got the internet installation date wrong.

I won't say who.







Ps: it wasn't me.

Tuesday, November 24

Last Thursday night I came down with a sore throat. The next day it turned into a bad, bad, bad sinus infection. I called up my doctor, had a chat, and got a prescription. (A few prescriptions, in fact.) Then the day after that (Saturday) my mom came to town, and I still had a bad, bad, bad sinus infection. Our little town welcomed my mom's visit with a bad, bad, bad wind storm. We lost power until Sunday afternoon. Meanwhile- my bad, bad, bad sinus infection was still living. Mama and I did lots of shopping, lots of eating, and lots of visiting. And my bad, bad, bad sinus infection shuffled along, too.

Mama started her journey back home about an hour ago. She left with some new clothes and a new jacket. She left a Christmas present with me and gave orders to not open it. But, she didn't want to leave with my bad, bad, bad sinus infection.

I can't imagine why....?

Tuesday, November 17

Mess

A week or two ago our neck of the woods had a pretty bad storm. Most of you may recall a text or two from me exclaiming that I was driving and getting hit by waves.

Wait... "hit" is an understatement. I think "pelted" or "drenched" are more accurate words.

Then yesterday's storm came along. It started out with some pretty big wind gusts and light rain. Then around dinner time the winds were up to 75 mph. D and I sat on the couch and watched our dual-pane windows bow inward from the pressure.

After 4-5 flickers of lights on, lights off the power gave up. Fortunately we had purchased a propane lantern, just a day ago, for such an occasion. We threw in some candles and badda-bing! We had light.

We were lucky that the power was back on by 10pm. (Considering
we were planning on it coming back in a few days like in the past... so we've been told.) A few of our neighbors couldn't make it back to their houses since at least 3 HUGE trees tumbled down across the road.

This morning I ventured outside to see the damage.





(Our neighbor's tree took a dive.)



In other mess news...

I turned this:



Into this:

You're jealous of our sweet brown carpet, aren't you?

Friday, November 13

August to Today


D's graduation day





Same graduation day- different hat.





The Jersey Shore





Our last Disney trip for awhile.





The exciting drive to Washington.





Somewhere in southern Oregon




The Astoria bridge in Oregon. We have to cross this bad boy to do any type of shopping. Or socialization.





"W" Beach that's just around the corner. It's about a ten minute walk from our front door.





A sign that's frequently seen around our area.





Sunset





View from the 'A' Jetty. This is the CG's secret surf spot. But you have watch out for the mast of a sunken boat. This is a 15 minute walk from our front door.





Bogey's favorite beach. He's still afraid of the baby waves.





Bogey paws





River about 45 minutes away from us.





We love to fish with friends. Bogey loves to play with Gunner.





We also love to fish by ourselves.










Spotting elks is always exciting.





Gunner (6 mos) and Bogey (16 mos) get cuddly.




View on top of a huge mountain.




Not the best idea to go to the top of a mountain to watch waves when there are 60-knot winds. I literally could not move from the force of the wind. The rain stung our faces SO bad, and soaked us our skin.



Picture of our backyard. It hailed most of this morning. (Hence the white spots)



Thursday, November 12

Well Hello

Yes, I still exist.

No, I still don't have internet.

Yes, it's been raining... a lot.

No, I won't be home for Thanksgiving.

Yes, I will post LOTS of new pictures on Friday.

So you better look.