Damn you Bill

Right now Hurricane Bill is speeding his merry way along toward the Eastern Coast of the United States. At any other point in my life I would not worry one little bit about said Hurricane. But the issue with our "friend" Bill here is that he's heading to the Eastern Coast of the United States where I will be vacationing next week!

This is my first vacation, of more than a long weekend, in two and a half years. Holy hell that's a long time. And I couldn't be looking forward to it any more than I am. I am longing greatly for a week of lazy beach time.

I swear I will torture all Bill's for the rest of my life if this Hurricane steps one little intrusive swirly cloud into my vacation. Let's all aim our high powered fans toward the East Coast in order to veer Bill from his currently predicted destination, OK? OK.

What now?

Vacation hotel has confirmed. So that's set. Now I still need the two nights in Norfolk on each end but I'll probably get that done this weekend. I think I've picked the place so it's just a matter of gettin' er done. So I suppose that means I've got myself a vacation. Right at the moment it doesn't seem real. I can't quite put my head around the fact that I'm going to go on vacation and by myself for that matter.

I'm not sure how it will be. If over the course of the week I'll get sick of myself. Get too stuck in my head and not be able to get out. I don't want a solitary vacation. I do want to interact with other people. I'm not sure how I'll do that while in a place I don't know. The logistics of a solo vacation are alluding me. But then again perhaps I'm over thinking it. Got a few more weeks to figure it all out.

The work week is going agonizingly slowly. Boss guy is on vacation for two weeks starting next week and I'm sort of looking forward to it. Without him there I actually get to do my old job again but I'm so unmotivated that I could care less. I just don't care about what's going on there. *sigh*

I'm lacking things to say. Wishing I had more to say. Today on the bus I couldn't read my book. Couldn't focus on it. Hate it when my brain can't put itself together well enough. Train of thought not following.

So that'll be all for now. Later skaters.

Am I supposed to work here?

I've done a grand total (if I'm pushing it and rounding WAY up) an hours worth of work today. One little tiny hour. Since they got rid of the support department and made me it, my workload has become really cyclical. The nature of our software means that the beginning of the month and the beginning of fiscal periods are busy. The ends of the month before a holiday weekend, not so much.

So in the other million free hours I've had today I discovered that I might want to vacation to Hatteras, North Carolina. Ever been there? Me neither. I'm looking for a place on the ocean, that's a bit touristy with a small little town where I can relax and be a lump. Oh and yeah for a week. Oh and yeah by myself.

This will be the first time that I have ever gone on a vacation by myself. I'm kind of nervous and kind of thrilled by the idea of it. Perhaps after I get back I'll be revolted by the idea but you never know.

Initially I started out this quest for a vacation destination by trying to find a tour for single people. Not hard to find. But the more I read about them the more I realized that I didn't want to be around a group of strangers for a week going here, there and everywhere. I wanted to lay low. I wanted to do nothing at all. I wanted sun and water and surf and sand and a book or seven. That's it.

Not sure yet if it's going to be Hatteras but the Outer Bank is sounding right. Maybe further north around Kitty Hawk or Kill Devil Hill or Nags Head. Going to keep on researching and see which spot it will be.

Since I've been gone & Tally's FINAL CHEMO

So much has happened since my last post. Was it really a week and a half ago? Time has flown by.

First off grandpa is still hanging on. He's such a trooper. He started talking a bit on Friday, the 19th and talked to us all day long on Saturday. Most of it was not in the current time period but oh well. He started the day in the near time frame only going back about 25 or 30 years and thinking that he had to get to the firehouse for work. Then at one point he thought he was on the USS Boise which is where he spent all of his time in WWII. Then at the end of the day he was a slick teenager hitting on me and my cousin. Some quotes were amazingly funny. Like the one where he said to my Uncle's girlfriend that she had tied him up really well last night and that he was glad there weren't any fires. We all nearly peed ourselves laughing. Saturday was his best day. Sunday when we got to the hospital he was really agitated and asked for ice water and said yes to the question about pain medication. Little did we know that the ice water request would be the last intelligible words we would get from him. After getting his pain medicine he was out for the day. Everyone else left on Sunday and dad went to work on Monday so I went to the hospital by myself. I was not prepared for what I was about to witness.

I just happened to arrive at the same time his orthopedic surgeon did to perform a post-op check. Overnight grandpa had deteriorated and his sugar level had sky rocketed. Apparently the overnight nurse wrote in his chart the the insulin was refused at midnight. Let me tell you that grandpa most certainly was not in any position to refuse any medication. The day nurse and the surgeon went spinning into action saying that they needed to get the primary physician on the phone now and that maybe grandpa needed to go to ICU. It was a really overwhelming way to end my visit with grandpa.

He pulled through that craziness and has since been moved back to the care facility where he's been living for nearly a year. He's in his apartment there with round the clock care. No tubes, or wires or needles. Just grandpa. They have figured out how to manage his discomfort and he seems to be settled in for as long as he can hold out. I'm so glad that he's not in the hospital and around all of that insanity. He's home and peaceful. You can hear the calm in my dad's voice when he talks about grandpa now. Whereas before it was TENSION!!! I'm so glad that I got to see him one last time. It was well worth the emotional turmoil.

Came home late Monday night the 22nd. Britten brought Tally with her to pick me up at the airport. It was SO great to see my little puppy girl again and I was looking forward to a night's sleep in my bed and a calm week. On Tuesday during our evening walk Tally started limping but kept on moving and I didn't think much of it. I gave her paw a thorough once over when we got home and then went off to my hair appointment. When I got home she was limping even more and really freaking me out. I sat right down in the middle of the living room and kept asking her if she was really going to make us run to the ER. Really? Come on Tally. Just for mama can't you shake it off? No. Damn. In the car we went.

The ER Vet shares a space with her Cancer Vet so that made me feel really good. They were all very sweet with her and in the end the Vet thought she must have just sprained her elbow. We left with some anti-inflamatories and orders to rest for a week. Gave her one of the pills when we got home and another in the morning. During our morning walk you would have thought I'd made up Tuesday entirely. She was FINE! Nary a limp or hitch to be seen. So I figured she was just getting back at me for leaving her for the weekend.

Then comes the final Chemo appointment on Friday June 26th. What a great experience that was. The awesome Cancer Vet and I had a great conversation trying to determine the follow-up process and then proceeded to talk about my vacation plans. Then it was time for the actual Chemo treatment. I was up in front paying, as usual, and when Tally was done she did her normal full force run from the back of the office straight to me. This time though she was wearing a little red bandanna with the words "I'm a Cancer Survivor" on it. I nearly started crying. It was just about the most adorable and most inspiring thing that has happened since all of this cancer craziness first started.

Here's a picture of her in all her post-chemo bandanna clad glory!


The next day was my 25th oh wait my 35th birthday! Although with the way I tore it up you may have thought I was turning 25. Started the day by meeting Heather for breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe in South Lake Union. Jess had hoped to join us but she was hit full force with something evil that was causing her to lose all of her insides out both major orifices since 1AM that morning. So needless to say my very pregnant friend thought it best to stay home. Heather and I missed her dearly but forged on as best we could. Since neither of us are preggers we decided to have a bit of the bubbly, so mimosa's it was. Then we went to REI were I got some new sandal's, had a hilarious exchange with the REI shoe department employee and tried on some swimsuits. Wait scratch that last thing. Nope no swimsuits were tried on. Really it was just the shoe department. That's all. (See Heather I told you I wouldn't mention it ever again.)

Then home for a bit for some Tally time and then off to Mani's and Pedi's. This time it was Molly, Ali, Amy and Jessica. There was more champagne, cookies, fruit and a lot of laughs. Back home for Tally's evening constitutional and then on to dinner. Our group grew to 12 at dinner. Amy had made reservations at La Carta de Oxaca and man was it amazing. Margarita's, amazing Mexican food, little puzzles, stickers, and a lot of laughing. For dessert we headed over to Cupcake Royale where the entire store sang "Happy Birthday to me!" I reveled in every moment of my day and enjoyed it ALL!! Thank you to Brooke, Cliff, Brent, Amy (mama), Peter, Dave Peck, James and girlies for so much fun! What a day. Even the hangover on Sunday couldn't diminish my smile.

Sunday was my first book club meeting and that went great too. I had a lot of fun talking about the two books, "The Alienist" and "Judas Child". I felt smart, funny and interesting. Yeah me!

So I have to say if this is 35, I'll take it.

Off to Texas. Off to say goodbye

Last weekend my grandpa (dad's dad) fell, breaking his elbow and hip. In order to fix the hip they had to completely sedate him, something they didn't want to do. Since then things have not improved at all. He developed pneumonia, began to have trouble swallowing, and wasn't able to speak.

Turns out he had a serious stroke as well.

He has left instructions that he does not want any heroic measures including a feeding tube which would be the next step. Hospice has been called.

Grandpa hasn't been happy ever since grandma died. He just hasn't seen the point of being around with Betty not by his side. He doesn't seem to be fighting to stay around so we are all preparing for him to go.

So I'm heading to Texas to say goodbye to my last grandparent. I don't know how to do it.

New job = no blogging on work hours; and etc.

The new job has left me with no time (except right this very moment) to blog during work hours. So that's where I went. Surprise that I actually have to work at new job rather than sit and do nothing like I was able to do at old job.

New job is going well. Only a few days in so it could all change but for now I'm having a good time. Starting to feel my way around and through all of the "processes" that I am supposed to be helping to sort out and streamline. Let me tell you it's going to take a whole lot of brain power on my part to determine the Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) around here. It is convoluted to say the very least. Even those people who have been here a while have no idea of what should happen when and what triggers what. It is a mess. I love sorting out messes.

Now for a non-job update. This weekend was a nice long one for me. Job was closed on Friday the 4th and I took an unpaid day off on Monday the 7th. Four days off did me some good. I had a pretty good 4th. Went to a pot-new where everyone has to bring something new that they've wanted to try making. There was a TON of good food. I had been dying for some sweet potato fries for a while and thought I would try making them myself. It was a shock but they actually turned out really good. Soggy but still oh so tasty. They got very favorable reviews from other party goers and were quickly finished off. I now have two official hits for potlucks: black bean and corn salsa (thanks to Liz for that recipe) and baked sweet potato fries. I'm nearly a gourmet cook.

As a general rule I am not a fan of the 4th of July. It's the normal people setting off fireworks all over the place that gets to me. I feel as though I am one split second away from getting blown to bits and it's almost more than I can handle. So I spent Saturday recovering from my trauma (no there wasn't any REAL trauma but my head thought there was) and nearly slept the day away. Tally was very sleepy as well so we were two bumps most of the day. Very nice. That evening I started to scrub my shower surround in preparation for sealing it. My shower surround is slate as is the floor and I'm nearly certain it was never sealed after its installation and before I bought the place.

So that brings me to Sunday where I actually sealed the slate and nearly died. If it weren't for Amy showing up and waking me from my slumber Tally and I may have succumbed to the fumes. Not really but apparently my house was uber-stinky and I didn't even realize it. Fast forward to Sunday night where I try to fall asleep with a raging headache most likely from all of the nearly dead brain cells trying to regenerate themselves. Ugh.

Monday was paint, patio set and plant buying day. Molly and I agreed very easily on the patio set and the plants. We even got the plants in the ground last night as well. I swear that I will get some pictures soon. Probably once the patio set is put together cause then it will look all pretty and stuff.

Today I am back into the swing of things at work or something like that. I'm also feeling very very very abnormally large. So tonight I am hoping to get up the courage to take Tally roller blading for the first time. Wish me luck.

I have missed you dear blog and I do apologize for my absence. I will pay more attention to you I pinkie swear.

Back from CA with nothing more to give

I got back from a week long trip to California on Saturday afternoon. Since I gave that trip everything I had, I have nothing more for you. So go on, go away. So sorry.

Wait you're still here? OK then I'll give you a synopsis of the events of the week. I'd say highlights but that makes it sound all glamorous and glorious.

- Saturday, arrived in Sacramento on the afternoon of May 24th with mom and was greeted by dad and eldest sister. Proceeded to wait a ridiculous amount of time for our luggage. (Apparently two planes arriving at the same time was WAY too much for the ground crew.) Made our way to the rental car area to meet aunt, uncle and cousin. Uncle had locked their luggage into the trunk of the car he was told he was given keys to but wasn't and then we had to wait an hour while rental car people searched for keys to that car only to have a tow truck finally arrive to break into that car so we could then move the luggage to our actual car. While waiting we witnessed a 4 car pileup in the rental car lot. A driver couldn't find that break pedal but instead floored his rental into three others. Very dramatic. Finally loaded ourselves (me, mom, uncle, aunt, cousin) into rented Ford Taurus. I was back seat in the middle with the hump gal for the grueling two hour drive up to Magalia. Uncomfortable is best description for that seat. Dad and eldest sister are spending the night in Sacramento and driving up the next day (there was a hotel shortage in the area near grandpa's house for that night).

- Saturday evening prepared the house as well as we could for after Memorial gathering the next day.

- Sunday, the Memorial for which there was no actual plan of events and at the last minute my mom asked me to read the article she'd written about Grandpa as a sort of eulogy. Glad I had no time to fret about it and was able to get through it fairly well. Then the Memorial gathering which was nice.

- Monday, the day of the Big Record Boxing TM. Grandpa had a MASSIVE record collection of mostly big band era music. 15 of us spent most of the day boxing records/tapes/reel-to-reels from every nook and cranny of the house. The music was every where; attic, loft, garage, bed room, bathroom, every where! In total we were able to load 150+ boxes into the truck before we'd reached its load limit. There are about 15 perhaps 20 more still waiting in the garage for a later pick up. The records were donated to a historical survey that will sort through and catalog the collection keeping it all in Grandpa's name. We are thrilled that it gets to stay together and be a part of history.

- Tuesday morning we drove up to Bottle Hill to scatter some of Grandpa's ashes where some of Grandma's had been spread a few years ago. It's about a half hour up into the hills past Grandpa's house and way past where the road turns to red dirt. I got to carry Grandpa up the hill which was rather moving for me. I could almost picture him trodding along with me as I ascended. It felt nice to be that near him. Hope that doesn't sound too strange but I can't describe it properly. And because we are now going to be voted the most irreverent family on the planet we used a 1/4 cup measuring scoop to scatter the ashes. We couldn't figure out what else to use. After that most of the family was scheduled to head back to their respective homes leaving just 5 of us for the rest of the week (me, mom, eldest sister, aunt and uncle).

- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was spent cleaning and sorting through all of the remaining contents of the house. My mom and aunt also had a lot of errands to run to various banks and legal type places. By Thursday my allergies had started to turn into a energy draining cold and I spent much of the last two days hovering between awake and asleep and the Kleenex box.

- Saturday the journey home was smooth and uneventful. After getting picked up at the airport by Molly (Thank you Molly!!!) I immediately dropped my bags inside my house and went to pick up Tally from Amy's. I cannot tell you how great it was to see her again. I am fairly certain that she missed me nearly as much as I missed her. That evening she couldn't get enough attention from me and became my shadow.

And now back to real life. Still tired and suffering the lingering effects of the cold but blissfully happy to be back with my adorable little dog. And just so you can experience her adorableness for yourself and as a reward for slogging through the above here's the best picture anyone has yet to take of her. Photo credit to Amy the best dog sitter on the planet.

Weekend Recap

I broke one of my New Year's Resolutions on Friday. Instead of going out for a Pokim night I stayed in and did seven million (4) loads of laundry. But it was a desperate situation, there was no underwear left to be had in my life. I still feel bad about it though. Choosing laundry over hanging out with lovely gals should never happen. So I should add a Resolution that I will not allow laundry, dishes, cleaning etc. to ever get so out of control that I have to choose it over anything else that I might be asked to do.

On Saturday I got to meet bro's new girlfriend. She was very cool and very brave. The three of us headed down to the Gig to celebrate grandpa's 90th birthday. There was a ton of family there, 13 of us altogether, unless I missed counting someone. Grandpa is still so with-it and active. I can only hope to be as mentally there as he is when I'm 50 let alone 90! We played all sorts of games and ate and laughed. I had a great time. We didn't get home until late Saturday night and I wasn't tired so I didn't go to bed until well after 1 am. That is very late for gal.

On Sunday I spent most of the day running errands, cleaning and teaching myself a little bit of oragami. When my niece was visiting a few weekends ago we stopped in Daiso at Westlake. I saw some packets of Oragami paper and couldn't resist buying it. During my errands on Sunday I stopped at Barnes and Noble to see if I could find a how to book.

So that's about that. Tonight it's back to the gym since I didn't go at all last week. Hope your weekend was what ever you wanted it to be.

Happy Holiday

I spent Christmas Eve "working". Job was open today but I was the only one here. I got a grand total of one phone call and let me count them up... 2 emails. So busy I could hardly stand it.

How did I spend my day? Doing nearly nothing. Ah bliss.

Tonight I will be picking up brother and we will be heading down to mom's. We'll be coming back up tomorrow evening at some point. Should be quite the full house down at mom's because grandpa is in town too.

So here's hoping you are having a glorious time with your family and friends this Christmas. I shall return again soon.

My Searching Sunday

The weather this weekend was amazing. I tried to take full advantage of it on Sunday by running around looking for furniture.

I started off by visiting Standy's Unfinished Furniture where I found two tall dressers and I'm hoping that one of them might be perfect for my bedroom. Then into Fremont were I dropped in Capers, Portage Bay Goods, the Fremont Antique Mall and Starbucks for a Chai. Then off to the Fremont Sunday Market where I looked for more furniture. After scouting all of the market I moved northwest toward Ballard stopping at HomeSite along the way.

Once I made it to Ballard I realized that they were having their own Farmers Market which made parking in Ballard a bit difficult for a Sunday. Of course parking in Ballard is always a challenge now that it is the new hip spot to shop in the city. I walked up and down Ballard Ave and stopped in at Space Oddity Vintage Furniture, the brand new Skarbos Furniture, Collective, Enlighten, Greener Lifestyles, and Ballard Home Comforts along the way.

At Ballard Home Comforts I found this ADORABLE little bag that jumped into my hand and just had to come home with me. I'm in love with it. I'm sure from the picture you can tell why.




Before heading back home I went to Lowes because I had to get paint swatches for the living room and bathroom. WARNING Paint Chip overload below. Living Room options are on the Left and Bathroom on the Right.

As you can see I'm thinking of a grey of some sort for the living room. In the bathroom I want to go with something a bit more calm than what I put in there and something that matches the slate more. So I'm thinking of a peach/orange. The picture doesn't do justice to how awful the current yellow looks. It's bright and obnoxious.

In the end I found a bag that I had to have and maybe a tall dresser for the bedroom. That doesn't help me decorate my living room now does it?

Oh so tired and puzzled

This weekend was Puzzle Hunt 11. Of course I had a great time but today I am painfully tired. I even went home and slept for 4 hours on Sunday morning. Several other members of my team didn't sleep at all so I really have no right at all to be moaning about how tired I am. But there you have it, I am MOANING! Compounding the issue is that my head is full up with all sorts of nasty snot.

I really do enjoy all of the puzzle solving so I wouldn't give it up just because of how I feel today. It's really invigorating to be working your brain like that for an entire weekend. This was my second time playing in a Puzzle Hunt. I've also done a couple of other events and beta tests of events. The format of Puzzle Hunt is so far my favorite.

During the weekend you spend the majority of your time in a conference room at Microsoft but there are always puzzles that take a few team members out to various spots on campus as well. I think it's the home base (or HQ) with small excursions style that I like the most about this event. Every time I feel like I need a change of scenery to restart my head there is something that I can go out and accomplish. Something to get the blood flowing again. Some times pulling yourself away from a puzzle that you've been pouring over and distracting yourself with something else entirely is the best way to solve the first puzzle.

The other great thing about this event, at least with the team I've played with, is that everyone has their strengths but it is truly a collaboration. I can't even tell you how many puzzles were solved by having nearly every member of the group take a look at them and add their ideas. It seems like most of us saw nearly all of the puzzles at some point or other. I think there were about 60 or so puzzles which is a HUGE amount.

I know that our finish place was disappointing for the team but we were two people down all weekend and 3 people down all of Sunday. So I'd say we completely held our own and I'm very glad that I was able to be there again with them.

Thanks guys and gal for inviting me in again and making me welcome. I hope to be invited back again next time.

A "big D" recap

Just returned from a fantastic 5 days in Dallas. Left on the red-eye flight on Friday night (or is that Saturday morning?) and returned on Wednesday about dinner time.

I suppose I should clarify that I wasn't actually in Dallas because dad and Liz live Northeast of Dallas in a suburb called Fairview. It's a very quiet "town" with no actual town area to speak of. The closest thing to a town near by is McKinney which is very adorable. We spent a nice day there going to a billion tiny "antique" shops the last time I visited.

This time I wasn't the only one heading to their place, Uncle Wayne, Cousin Brandon and Grandpa were also there. I brought Molly with me so that she could meet dad and Liz and visa versa. Wayne and Brandon arrived Friday night and left on Sunday evening.

On Saturday Liz had gotten tickets for all seven of us to go to the Mesquite Championship Rodeo. Highlights: Mutton Bustin' and Barrel Racing. If you've never seen 4, 5, & 6 year olds trying to stay on a sheep then I suggest you get yourself to the next Mutton Bustin' event pardner. It is fantastic!! The kids seem to love it although I'm not so sure the sheep do. And of course the Barrel Racing is just plain amazing. The way those women are able to make their horses cut like that is pure skill.

If there had to be one drawback it would have to be my ridiculous allergies. I'm allergic to nearly every aspect of this type of event. First the dust. It's in an enclosed arena so the dust is a given. The horses/cattle/sheep. Not sure which one of these lovely animals is more aggressive on my nasal passages but holy hell. Then I'm sure there is a large amount of hay around as well. Hay, in case you didn't know, is a grass. This gal is allergic to grass. So the rodeo was a triple threat for me even though I tripled up on my allergy meds in preparation for it. I felt as though I had a hang over the next morning from the whole thing.

Was the rodeo worth it? Yes. Would I go again? Most likely not. I mean if I spent too much time around rodeo arenas I might fall in love with a cowboy and then go broke from the cost of trying to keep my allergies at bay. I will say a fun time was had by all, allergies or not, democrat bashing or not (more on that below).

Trip highlights:

• There was a point during the event when the rodeo clown attached to the loudspeaker started making jokes about Hillary Clinton and then one about Rosie O'Donnell, to the roaring approval of the crowd. I then turned to Molly and said "These are not my people." Her response "I could never live here."
• The Trampoline Game. A derivative of Slug-Bug without the hitting. It involves yelling out "TRAMPOLINE" when ever you spot one. Perhaps only fun in Dallas because there are a million and ten of them.
• Grandpa talking about his time on the USS Boise (CL-47) during WWII.
• Ping-Pong is so much FUN!
• Boston Cream Pie is actually Cake, according to the bakery people at Tom Thumb. Either way it's GOOD!

So yet again it was a fantastic trip with dad and Liz! Thank you both for your hospitality and friendship.