let me tell you of the joys of picking your nose!

Do you know how much fun it is for me to entertain? I got to make stuffed mushrooms (with goat cheese, spinach, onion, bacon) as well as little ruebens on sticks (pastrami and lettuce wrapped around a bread stick and dipped in a kraut dip). I made salsa (easy easy easy and really flipping good!). We played a game. It was just fun.

The game of Quelf is silly. At least that was what the word scramble Linsel was working on told him. We laughed until we cried, again. Kev and I and our friends Shannon and Kiley have all played the game before. So we introduced it to Linsel, Amanda and Dugan. Seven of us got silly, made fools of ourselves, had things pinned to our clothing, did dances, had to snort like a pig anytime we laughed, had to stand up anytime anyone of us stood up, tried to motivate others to pick their noses... (and really, that's not all, but you'll just have to play to find out how it ends). Not a game for everyone, but everyone here last night...had a ball.

And now, I must go to work for three days before getting ready to head on my weekend to LA!!!!!!!! I can hardly wait to see my sister. We have manicures all ready set up. We will be going to the dog park with Oscar (whom I will get a virtual ton of pictures of because he's that damn cute). We will be going to yoga. We will eat. We will spend time together, just us girls. Sigh...

it's t-a-t-t-o-o right?

The air has that Fall time chill to it in the mornings. I wake up and I just want to snuggle further down in my bed, with my fat orange cat crawling across me trying desperately to nudge me into the world of the living. There is no use, he is heavy and my head...not meant to be a cat perch.

Everyone goes crazy, I'm up! Big dog, runs over and tries to eat my hand. I can't tell if she's just that excited or she's that hungry. I fed her last night so it can't be the latter. I think she's just that excited to see me? Wow, really?

The small cat (can you call a cat who is 11 lbs small...I mean, she's not huge by any means, especially when you compare her to lard ass) she sits and waits for the other two to do her bidding for her. She chirps next to her bowl as I enter the room. All sweet and demure. Yes, I just said my cat was being demure.

Now I've been up for about an hour, I've consumed much of my first latte of the day while chatting and shopping online with a friend. She's getting ready to move to Florida and needs a more professional wardrobe for interviews. So, we've both logged into Target.com and have been picking out fabulous new things. All for her! It's so much fun...while we chat on yahoo instant message.

I'm not sure what we are doing today or where we are going, other than I am meeting with Naomi, a tattoo artist whose work I've admired for a while now. I had hoped to run into her after she'd bought clogs from me...three years ago?!?! So on Friday when walking back to the store after the bank who should I see (and accost) NAOMI! It went something like this:

your name is naomi, right?

yes...

i've seen your work on shawna?

yes...

i've been wanting to run into you ever since you bought clogs from me three years ago because i have never been happy with my tattoo and i wanted to get your opinion.

okay, can i see it now?

(i show her my ankle)

let's go into your work so i can give you my number...i see a floral vine pattern in blacks and greys.

cool, i was kind of thinking vines as well.

So I called her while walking around the dog park with the Nose yesterday and have an appointment with her today. She said she'd work with me on the $$ aspect because I always feel like there are better things to spend my money on...HOWEVER my reasoning behind wanting to do something now is that I've never been proud of the ink I have on me. When someone says, "Cool tattoo" I never just say thanks. Instead I go on and on about how crappy it was done... I want to be proud. I want to enjoy the work that is done. If I tried to get it removed I'd have horrible scaring (or is it scarring...blogger spell check thinks it's one R, but it doesn't seem right) because of how deep the idiot did it. So, I'd rather cover it up with something from Naomi. I'll keep you all posted (I'm sure my folks are thrilled...).

first try

Someone should pay me to be a sleuth! Remember the post about looking for the former boyfriend from a gazillion years ago....Jeremy? FOUND HIM! First try.

I got an email today and everyone is fine, safe, sound. Their homes, not all so lucky. I'm just glad that they are all safe. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I actually found him after so long. I'm grateful that he wrote back!

He told me if I wanted their email addresses or the addresses of where they are all staying to reply. I replied. I also told him that I'd love to stay in contact, if it wouldn't freak out his wife (I assumed that he got married simply by the email address). I hope he wants to email. It'd be fun to stay in touch. I called and told Kev that he'd sent me an email and he was happy to hear that his family was safe.

I love Kevin. He's such an amazing and supportive husband to me and my wild hairs! :)

it's linktastic!

It's a weird thing, the internet. A little more than a year ago, I had no idea that a woman named Reagan in Ohio would become my friend. Had I not read the blog of one Dooce (mentioned to me by my friend Kerri) I'd have not found Jen in KC. Without finding her hilarious words Bekah would not be in my life. And I have no remembrance of how I found Mir. I just think it's an amazing thing that the internet helped me find these women, their words, their friendship (note, I am not friends, per se, with Mir or Dooce, but do read their blogs faithfully. I do, however, consider Jen and Bek friends...and Reagan, she's got no blog, she's just from some crazy ass dog group I had joined a long time ago.)

I thank these ladies for their words and stories. They all keep me in stitches on a regular basis.

(i think it is HILARIOUS that blogger's dictionary doesn't understand the word blog and always tries to get me to change it when i spell check)

a test of random.

The summer after my freshman year at college my sister and I both were living back at Mom and Dad's. We had such a great summer that year. We were silly, staying up, making goofy videos for random people (no, not those types of videos you perv!), and when we couldn't fall asleep in our respective rooms I'd go into her room, climb into the other twin bed and we would play word association. We even video taped ourselves playing word association for the random person who was the recipient of the said goofy video (yeah, and you are thinking, lucky friend). I think we'd both laugh hysterically (and be horribly embarrassed) if that video were shown to us now (not sure if my friend still has it...I should ask him).

So, here we go. I am going to list words. You are going to write what these words make you think of first. Please, keep it clean...although if the first thing that comes to mind is dirty, then you are a sick person and stop playing this instant! :) LOL Just kidding.

The list will be words that I think of with each word I list so the 1st will be random, each after will be what the word prior makes come to mind. Are you ready?

burp
josie
squeak
mouse
house
paint
done

coolest dork in school

Man, I feel like I'm the coolest girl in school. There's this blog, the writer is this really pretty girl named Mir, and I adore it (heck I adore her, and her kids make me happy too!)! It makes me laugh everyday. I sometimes will comment, but mainly I read her words and giggle and think, "man, she really should speak to someone in the publishing world because she's got IT." Anyway, back to why I feel the coolest...

Today I posted a comment (prior to any real amount of caffeine and it ended up not really making any sense AND it posted something like three thousand times, okay three) MIR WROTE ME BACK! I could hardly believe it. I went to my bulk folder, I guess yahoo thought she was spam (fixed that immediately, not like I think she and I will become the best of friends and email each other on a daily basis, but still...). I saw there was something from her! Read it and realized I am an idiot. Must make sure I have consumed my entire latte before posting any comments ANYWHERE!!! I emailed her back. I'm such a dork.

nothing interesting unless you are family... :)

Mmmmm, Monday! We got up and out of the house by 9 this morning. It was nice and cool for our hike today. Not too many people out either. The air was crisp and inviting. With each breath we would smell the world around us and wonder how it is people can treat it as though it is disposable. We would take a breath, crisp, cool. Walk a bit further along the trail, leaves, fall. Josie was in heaven and very well behaved. She came back each time we called her back and was just good. I can't believe how much I love that dog. She's been pretty zonked all day since we came back.

We ran errands after we got cleaned up and spoke with Mamasita in Texas (it was her birthday today). We went to Best Buy because Kev thought they were having some blow out sale on their video games (he was sad when they said they weren't). We then went to lunch at Old Chicago and shared a sandwich and both ordered side salads. We went to Pier 1 and got some really nice orange napkins, a really cool trivet and some tea lights for a lantern we have in the bathroom. Afterwards we headed to CostCo where we picked up a great pork tenderloin that was marinated in onion and garlic. Chuck came over and we watched a tv show we had dvr'd (yeah, the poor mans version of tivo). It's been a lovely day all around. I'm just sad that it is now 9 at night and work will be resurfacing its head tomorrow. Although we are having our friend Jenn over for dinner (sadly Dugan, her husband, is working and can't join us).

Speaking of that, better go find a recipe to make for dinner tomorrow night...has to involve green beans since we bought some at CostCo (yeah, that means we got a ton!!!)

success, kind of

Jill had much success yesterday. I, on the other hand, didn't have as much luck. I mean, I found another sports bra and I did find one bra that is amazing, but that was it. My mom suggested a website to find more, now that I know my true and current size. I'm a bit freaked out because the band size has gone down to an unprecedented 34! I won't tell you the rest though...

We are up and ready to go hiking a couple hours earlier than usual today. I am anxious to get going....so is Josie (if you can imagine).

(Kev just informed me that Gumby-the Nintendog- had fleas!!!)

with a giggle, a guffaw and a whole lot of gin

Tomorrow Jill and I will set out to do the one thing we women hate more than...well, I can't compare it to birth since I've never given birth. I can't really say hate more than life because life is really good these days...let's just say...

it. ain't. fun.

To shop for bras. Now, men will have no idea exactly how painful (not in the literal sense mind you guys, but emotionally, although sometimes I suppose it can be painful literally) this chore can truly be. I'm sure guys think, "Hell, they got sizes, you know your size...easy." No, not easy.

I've tried on bras that *ahem* certain areas weren't being filled out and in my mind I couldn't understand why (and you should have heard the fits of laughter Jill and I had THAT day!). I've tried on bras that are "my size" only to have myself spilling out from over the top. I've tried on bras that made me wept because they in fact fit like they should...and cost about the same amount as a compact car. The most I've ever spent on a single undergarment, brace yourselves, is $52.00. This was many years ago when we first moved here and I thought to myself, "self, you now live where the air is green, the trails are plentiful, and the out of doors beckons during the sunny days. You must get a...SPORTS BRA!!!" So I did. I got one that held the girls in place when I jumped (which is NO SMALL FEAT). I wore the damn thing maybe a half dozen times over the past 4.5 years. Just recently I pulled it back out and actually started giving it the life it was born to live. And man now I can say, best $52 I've spent!

Tomorrow, we head out on this most annoying of tasks yet again. Now that I'm all sporty I think I'd like to get another sports bra. For the sake that the one I have is great, but I'd like to have a couple so when we hike on Monday I don't have to race to get it washed by Wednesday for yoga. But it's not only the sports bra I seek. Since losing close to 25 lbs I've realized that the bras I have in my drawer are a bit tired, for lack of a better term. They're stretched out from the years *YEARS* of doing their job of defying gravity. Did you know that a woman's breast can weigh...oh hell, like I know the actual weight. But they can be heavy and elastic and spandex have a life span. And my bras are past their prime!

So wish us luck on this journey (I won't even tell you the demons Jill faces during these shopping excursions) know that we will be laughing heartily (perhaps because of the lemon drops we will most likely consume) and bras will be bought!!!

where's the poop?

Okay, so my friend Shannon and I have been trying to go out on walks with Josie on Thursday nights. The first time was a few weeks ago (and then life reared its head and got in the way). We went tonight FINALLY!

Josie is a pretty quick pooper. Normally we start our hikes and walks and BOOM she poops. Tonight was no different. I picked it up (in the baggie) and set it to the side of the trail we would be going back down. While walking up the trail Shannon and I were discussing where to leave the poop in order to see it on our way back down. A gentleman was walking down the trail as we were having the discussion. We assured him we'd pick up the baggie on the way down and he thanked us saying, "not everyone picks up the poop."

We walked for a little and turned around earlier than we would have liked because the park closed its gates at 8 and it was starting to get dark. So, we're traveling down the pathway and I call out "we need to keep an eye open for the poop!" Shannon was sure it was further down the trail, towards the end/beginning. I thought it'd be anytime soon...I even walked back up the trail a bit to make sure I didn't miss it. I asked a complete stranger (who probably think I'm completely strange) if they'd seen my baggie of dog poop. He said he hadn't, but that he hadn't been looking for it...

"WHERE IS THE POOP?"

"DO YOU SEE IT?"

"I DON'T SEE IT!"

"DID THAT MAN PICK UP THE POOP?!?!" (remember him, the one from the beginning of the walk whom we swore we'd pick up the poop to!?)

We never found the poop. I can only assume the man picked up the baggie and took care of it for us. Interesting thing is, this is the SECOND time it's happened on our walks!

So, what would prompt a complete stranger to pick up a baggie of dog poop? I am appreciative, but at the same time would rather have people leave my dogs poop alone so I don't have to second guess my sanity and poop spotting abilities.

almost forgot...

Question:

If a company offered you the free service of something like cleaning your shoes. When you get the shoes back from this perk would you complain that they "look horrible!" and make a big fuss? I didn't see the shoes when they first arrived before being sent to our extremely talented Mr. Lee, but they are light mauve nubuck and I can tell you now, they sure as shit aren't going to come back looking brand new (which I did tell her...after I said, "I really didn't see what they looked like when you dropped them off so I wouldn't know if they look any better.").

yelling? really?

Wow. I'm sitting here in the quiet of my store (okay, really bad radio is on) and all of a sudden I hear a woman yelling (can't hear her words, just the fact that she's not happy and the world needs to know). I look out at the parking lot in front of my store (really it's the street but at this time of night is a parking lot) and a woman in her maroon mini van is hanging out the driver's side window making wild gestures and yelling at the person ahead of her (who is also stopped by the same traffic light she and every other car on the street is). I didn't see what led to the yelling, but really? Yelling? Over something NOBODY has control over? Makes you think.

finally, my own thoughts on the topic at hand

During the wake of the hurricane I have done some thinking. I have realized that there are two people whom I have known who live in the areas hit most hard. I am now doing a search for the one person who knows them best, Jeremy Herrin.

Jeremy and I dated a million and a half years ago and I believe he's now married and living in Pensacola, Florida. His cousin Brad lived in New Orleans and his aunt Nancy (Brad's mom) lived in Hattiesburg, MS. I've done a search, found an address for Jeremy, but have come up empty in my searches for Brad and Nancy. I am holding out hope that the address I have found online actually is still valid and he gets back in contact with me with good news.

I read a post from my dear friend Amanda and the article she linked to from an October 2004 article in National Geographic. It was amazing to me.

When I think about all that has happened the one thought my brain keeps coming back to is that we humans never really think it's going to happen. Big storms that take out entire areas and communities. Eruptions that do the same. Etc. Yet, when they do, because they do, we are always surprised by these events. Scientists warn us that the potential for great destruction is there...but we don't do anything about it. We go through life with blinders on, not really wanting to admit that we are small beings in this place that is soooooo much larger than we are. We are quick to point fingers when the current administration is slow to respond (and yes, it annoyed the hell out of me that it took as long as it did to get these people the help they so desperately needed, it was abominable.). We are also quick to join together as one large community to help as best we can.

Let us remember that WE ARE SMALL and Mother Nature, sometimes has other things on her mind. We are not the end all be all, but a cog in this world. We can be the destruction of this planet OR we can help her thrive and continue on. Please, recycle. Use your cars less. Treat the earth as though she is precious, because psssst SHE IS!!!

i'm blue!

Your Blog Should Be Blue

Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere. You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant. From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

I visited one of my favorite bloggers (Plaza Jen) and figured I'd follow her to Scorpy's site to see what this quiz was all about...

I think it makes sense.

the crazy extra long weekend that really wasn't any longer than usual...

Even though this weekend was no longer for me than normal (I have Sundays and Mondays off and in the world of retail you are OPEN Labor day anyway)...anyway, even though it wasn't any longer it felt longer and that is what is important. It's what you do with your weekend that makes it what it is.

I used to be content with sitting around on my couch and watching really bad tv while Kev was playing on the computer. NOT. ANY. MORE.

So a quick recap of our weekend.

Saturday: Got together with our new friends Jenn and Dugan. Kev picked me up from work and we ran into Wild Oats (which is right down the street from them a couple of blocks) to get wine and beer. There had been a discussion of bread, as in do we buy any. It was decided that since there was rice being served with dinner that no, bread was not needed. We jump back in the car (the store was on the way to their house, otherwise we would have parked at their house and walked over) and drove the two blocks to their house. This was the first time Kev was meeting Jenn and Dugan (I've known her for four years because I sell her shoes). I've met Dugan at the store before, but it's been a while since Jenn has dragged him in with her. The boys got along famously! They played their Nintendo DS machines together...I guess the things have some type of infared technology so they can interact with each other. One of Dugan's other friends came by and the three of them were playing together. Kev had a blast! I did too, Jenn and I get along so well and it's just fun to spend time with her. We didn't leave their house until 1:00 in the morning!!! Holy Hell!

Sunday: I got up with the wild hair to paint. Actually my plan had been to get the room ready to paint on Monday, but on the way home Saturday night (aka Sunday morning) Kev informed me that we had plans with other friends on Monday...m'kay. So, painting on Sunday is what it turned into. You've all seen the photos, and if not, scroll down a bit...it's the blue room with the beautiful cat sitting in it. Kev got up, came into the cave, turned on football and promptly fell asleep on the sofa until he had to get up to go to work.

Monday: We got up, cleaned the hell out of the house, had Brandon and Jessica over before heading to Dots for lunch. They'd never been and were glad we took them there. At one point Jess said, "This is why I love coming into the city to have lunch with you two, you always take us to new and interesting places." I LOVE DOTS! It's the type of place you can go and lose track of time in. With their velvet wallpaper and the paintings of the big eye dog and big eye cat...sigh. After lunch we came back to the house, chatted a bit before they took off for home. Kev and I decided that since Josie was about to jump out of her skin we'd take her on a bike ride/run. It was so sweet to watch Josie and Kev work together. He kept an eye on her and she on him. We listened to her and turned around to come home. She slept the entire rest of the day. I took a short nap and then woke to Kev watching Anchorman. OMG! I'm glad I got to see what I did!!! We ran to the store and got fixings for chicken burritos and just had a nice evening together.

Here we are Tuesday morning. Kev's still sleeping (lucky him, it's his day off) and I'm working on my latte....the bus will be here in about 40 minutes so I should really get off this machine and get my lunch going (wait, I made myself lunch last night....sweet!!!). Well, either way, I'm out!

it's a gift

Plaza Jen is not the only person to question my ability to paint an entire room and have it back together (I almost wrote normal...ha!) the same day. All I can say, really, is....it's a gift.

When we first moved to Portland FIVE years ago we unloaded the big Ryder truck and I immediately started putting things away and organizing. One week (or was it two?) later we had friends drive down from Seattle. Megan walked in and said, "It looks like you have lived here forever! Where are the boxes, we really expected boxes." I laughed because I really wouldn't have been comfortable had there actually been boxes still laying around.

I think that is what spurs me into getting things done quickly. I am uncomfortable when my life is surrounded by chaos (that is what clutter is to me) and so I have to rectify that. However, there are times when I get lulled into a sense of "does it really matter in the grand scheme of things if Kev's socks are still sitting on the coffee table?" and I allow myself glimpses into slobdome. I much prefer to have a clean house that is always picked up and ready for friends to drop by at any time, but I live in the real world and have three animals who drop fur like mad. I enjoy my life and picking up after them and Kev, not fun(although I must say that the hair laying around from our trio, doesn't bother me as much as the mail from the past week sitting, waiting to be recycled).

After painting a room though, things will be put back quickly. Things will be cleaned. The room will never NEVER look like that again! :)

blue!

I decided to go for it. You can see that Chloe looks amazing in the new room. It actually looks a bit more teal than it really is in person in the photo. I LOVE IT! Kev's not seen it since I've finished. I decided to hang the new faux wood blinds too. I just couldn't make myself hang up the old, slightly ratty sheers again. I really am pretty proud of myself for just doing it today. I realize that I sometimes work better if I don't have a preconceived plan. Well, I have had to load and reload each photo a thousand times, or pert near. So, I'm out! Where's my beer?!?

my fingers, are prunes

We'd gone to Cost Co some weeks ago (we go just about every week, but that's neither here nor there) and purchased a very cool bathroom faucet. When we bought the house a couple of years ago the couple who owned it previously had done some very nice renovations to the bathroom, but we have never really been all that enamored with the faucet. While perusing the aisles of Cost Co we stumbled across this really cool, modern, brushed nickel faucet. We figured since the box said "easy to install" it would be. Well, I never got the chance to really see because the old one, NOT easy to uninstall. I lacked the proper tools to get the hot and cold levers (whatever you call the things that when you turn the water comes on) out. So, imagine if you will, me sitting on the floor with various parts strewn about from the faucet, fighting with a calico cat who is determined to drink the water that I'd collected in a pan as it dripped out of the hoses, while trying not to scream bloody murder because I lack the space to really get in there and DO. I've gotten about 85% of the thing taken apart when I realize I can go no further. GRRRR. So I back track and put the damn thing back together with the old fixtures. In the grand scheme of things, we (read I) have decided to leave the old fixture because we're only going to be here maybe another 3 years and since we've lived with it for the last 2 years I'm confident we can make it through the next 3 with a fixture that leaves me feeling a bit "meh".

Now I am sitting here, pondering how I'm going to get a certain someone enthused about getting off the couch and helping me prepare the bedroom for paint...I'm thinking it's not going to happen since that certain someone is asleep.

joy

yeah...

what he said...

my parents

Every one of my friends who have met my folks tell me how lucky I am. I am beginning to wonder if they think I don't know that... :)

When I was a kid and did something stupid (of course something all kids did) instead of coming down hard on me and spanking me (which was the thing to do in the 70's and early 80's) my dad would look at me with the look of disappointment on his face and simply say, "consider yourself yelled at." Man, nothing was worse for me than to see that look and hear those words. They hit harder than any switch, belt, open hand... And I would think, "man, Dad is disappointed in me...this sucks."

They worked in tandem. Perfectly with each other. Neither one undermining the others authority over my sister and myself. If Mom said no to something Dad was right in line. It got to the point where I didn't need to even go bug the other once that answer was given because I knew it would be the same. Looking back to the kid I was, it was hard. Looking at the person I have become, I understand.

I've always felt a kind of kinship with my Dad. Maybe it is the fact that his birthday is the day before mine, so we got to share that special time. Maybe it is that we are sooooo much alike (which growing up I didn't see but now am blinded by the fact that I truly am, My. Father's. Daughter.). Mom always used to get embarrassed when the three of us would go shopping. I can remember going to the mall and being bored, but at the same time intrigued by being silly and not really caring what other people around me thought. Mom has since gotten in on the act with us, although sadly we don't live close enough to be able to put on the show together all that often.

I am thankful to the two of them for allowing me the opportunity to become who I am today. Their influences played a huge part.

If you are looking for something else to read, go read my father's words. He is an amazing person, always upbeat, always supportive. He has recently decided to share his ideas and thoughts with the world. He has his blog, aptly titled Things I Have Stumbled Across Along the Way. If you choose to, read his words...