found one!

being a lighter shade of blond, it is hard to really see if/when i've got grey hair. well, this morning, i found my first...

i've always thought when it happens, it will come in rather white grey. it seems as though those thoughts may be true. it looks rather light, doesn't it?!?

honestly, i feel like celebrating! it's a lovely shade of grey.

can you see it? it even has a little bit of body to it! eep!!

quiet mornings

the house is getting going rather quietly this morning. a departure from yesterday. eli is with his mom in bed, getting fed. his dad is getting ready for yet another day at work. his uncle is sleeping still, while i am up making coffee and doing some light cleaning around here. today, i will remember to vacuum the house and wash the dog.

speaking of the dog...oscar has been my favorite dog for a long time, well favorite boy dog (sorry edgar). he is the reason i wanted a dog in the first place.

i remember the first time i met him my sister said, "he's a little wild and he will probably bark at you for quite a while, just ignore him." i walked in saying, "oscar oscar oscar" and he walked up, to me quietly, turned and barked at her. he and i have been friends ever since.

that was a long time ago. the old man is now eleven and a half(!) years old. i can hardly believe it when i watch him tear off through the backyard. but then, if we play too hard, the arthritus in the hips starts to act up and it's more evident. of course, the white mask doesn't make him look any more puppy like, but he still has faked people out.

he is a great dog with the baby. as soon as eli cries, oscar is up and by his side. he listens when we tell him no licking the baby. he moves out of the way when asked. he's just a great dog. i will miss him when we leave town tomorrow. i will miss all of them when we leave.

i miss them already...

smit-ten

yes, i am in love. he's my little bug. he had just been getting fussy after a lovely moment with his mom getting fed in their bed. she was hoping to nap, but alas...she ended up using the time to go through a box of table linens while he and i danced around the room to james brown.

at this point i asked my sister to get into my purse and pull out my camera to capture this shot. i'm glad i did.

he is such a snuggle bug!!! i love him ever so much. my little guy.

if i didn't love my life in portland so much i'd move here in a heartbeat. of course, i was hoping they would move up to where i live...but no such luck. ah well, such is life.

made it

i am sitting in the family room at my sister's house in los angeles. i arrived yesterday after a roughly 16 hour drive. i am thankful for chuck and gage and their willingness to make the trip with me. it was not too bad. i didn't ever feel like i wished it was over until we got into the city and i was driving. man, i can't imagine driving in that kind of traffic all the time.

can i just say, the drive was worth it?!?! i think you can get that from the photo, though.

i made my sister leave the house solo today, while david had to finish some things up at work. (actually, once i proposed that i stay home with the baby and allow her some time to herself, she ran to the store to pick up the last few things for the first dad's day dinner. i was the lucky chef) he was a little fussy in the beginning, but after a few burps and one spit up, he was sleeping soundly. then we had our first photo shoot. i love looking into that mirror and seeing myself holding him. he's everything i knew he would be.

it's been a lovely evening. watching my sister and her husband with their son is a truly wonderful site to behold. they are natural parents. and it was an honor to get to cook something that they both truly enjoyed (even though they had to eat in shifts...).

i can hardly believe i am an aunt. i love him more than i can express in words.

i smell like a dog

i'm sitting on the couch, watching some silly and stupid tv program. josie is resting quietly on the floor by my feet. all of a sudden, she jumps up with her nose held high in the air. she starts walking around the house this way. i think to myself that somebody must have gotten sick and as soon as i stand to investigate, i realize that i smell it as well.

i swear, i have the olfactory system of a dog.

friends are a'comin

we are having some friends over tonight for a little bbq. really, we originally were just having the friend who will be house/animal sitting while we are in los angeles (where lily, yes, we'll be meeting our new little nephew, eli) over to show him the ropes, but that turned into "hey, we should have other people over to eat too!"

only one couple couldn't make it due to prior engagements, but they were over last night.

kev is such a good sport about stopping and getting groceries on his way home. he works near a haggens market and quite honestly, the produce there is much better quality than the two stores near us. plus, i still don't have a car so it makes it easier on me if he goes and does it on his way home.

speaking of the car, we're still waiting to sign on our re-fi. there were so many people trying to take advantage of the lower rates that the banks are swamped. our broker has the locked in date past the time when we are gone, so we can sign when we get home (unless she emails us and tells us that we can sign this week). i'm not too worried. so i'll drive the subie down (i adore it, vicki!!)

all i have left to do today before everyone gets here is move the furniture back downstairs (when we rock band, we move things around to make space) and finish cleaning up the kitchen.

oh, and sneeze...a lot...blasted allergies.

i took photos of the garden yesterday, but kev took the camera to work and i didn't get them loaded to my computer before he had to leave. i promise to share when i get the camera back!!

clean

there is nothing more satisfying than sitting down in a freshly cleaned house. we took the subaru to the dealership today to get the power outlet installed. it'd had a defunct lighter when we bought it used a few years ago and up until this point we hadn't needed the power for anything. however, with my driving trip coming up in just over a week, kev thought it'd be a good idea to get it taken care of so i can charge my cell phone. while there the battery died. honestly, can't think of a better place for it to up and die than a place where they sell batteries. they said it looked like the original battery, which means it was seven years old. pretty old for a car battery.

we got home, ate a little breakfast and decided to go ahead and clean the house in anticipation for a couple of friends who are coming over this evening. i am a big fan of getting the cleaning taken care of early in the day so that the rest of my day off can be spent relaxing. perhaps i need to make a facebook fan group for that? it seems like there are fan groups for all kinds of things there.

i'm really looking forward to the drive to los angeles with our friend chuck. it was a surprise that he was able to go with me down (and both of us coming back). i simply suggested that prior to him finding a job he might want to go visit his sister who lives there. he talked to her and the dates worked well. this made many in my family happy, knowing i would not be driving alone. kev will be joining me there, but he flies down a few days later because he can't take too many days off work.

so now what? perhaps i can cajole kevin into some rock band? it's a bit too rainy for yard work...

the circus is in town

i looked outside yesterday morning and saw that the circus had arrived.

when we first bought the house this bush was not blooming. we had no idea what was in store for us the following spring.

it is the coolest flowering bush we've ever seen. still have no idea what kind it is. we will be taking a clipping to the local nursery to see what they say.

we've been getting rain these past couple of days. i love free water!! :)

the woman i call friend

last week jill asked me when *we were going to paint our upstairs bathroom. she suggested we do it on a monday or tuesday soon, because currently she's only working wed-fri and isn't sure when that might change.

i told her we'd do it next week. today was the day. galveston gray from benjamin moore. we are in love with it! the cabinetry will be going white in the very near future, for which she has also offered her services.

jill is one of my closest friends. with each other we know that all we have to do is ask and we're there. for whatever project either of us have to do. even if that project is simply sitting on the back patio with a gin and tonic.

*we= the two of us, not me and kevin...who hasn't even seen it yet as i write this. i think the photo turned out pretty okay considering i took it with my phone!!

they're starting to bloom!

this is one of my favorite flowering shrubs on our property. when all of them bloom it's wild. no worries, though, i will share when they do!

it was a lovely day today. work was productive and went by quickly. i got to meet up with a friend i've not seen in probably over a year and a half. otherwise known as TOO LONG!! amanda, it was great to see you again and we'll do it again real soon!

tomorrow jill is coming over to help paint the upstairs bathroom. tonight i was supposed to start taping off parts, but honestly, i lost steam. instead i sat downstairs for a while watching dvr'd what not to wear while knitting. i've started cleaning up the kitchen, but again...the steam is not there.

i'm happy to say i have the next two days off. i do have to do a little bit of work tomorrow (just fielding a call from an employee who was sick today, has called off for tomorrow, and possibly will be calling off for wednesday as well) but it won't take long.