neatly tied up

Boy, the past few days have been tumultuous for me.  But, I feel that at least a few of the issues have been neatly tied up and I can now stop worrying about them.  

 

I'm leaving it all behind for a trip to Winter Park with my family and wonderful husband.  Last year I wasn't able to ski because I had sprained an ankle a few weeks prior, so I've been having these very real images of getting hurt on the slopes again.  I think last year was the first time I had ever been injured skiing, and I've been skiing for probably about 25 years.  I'm not sure the exact age I started skiing, but I know that the pictures of me sure look young.  I look like a mini stay-puf marshmallow.  I was a hot-dogger on the slopes when I was little.  I liked going fast.  I'm not quite as bold anymore, but I still enjoy a little speed, as long as there is plenty of control with it. 

 

 I'm going to help David learn to ski better on this trip.  He has been skiing multiple times before, but wants to learn more so he feels more comfortable on the slopes.  He has asked me to give him some lessons, and I'm happy to do it, but I've already put out the disclaimer that things may not go well.  Sometimes teaching your spouse or partner is not the smartest thing to do.  But he insists that he won't have any problem with me giving him direction and advice.  So I'll do my best to teach and We'll see how it goes. 

 

I'll be back on sunday evening.  I do apologize for the sparse postings.  I've had alot on my plate, and since most of it is  bad stuff, I just didn't want to broadcast it to the country.

quick hello then another absence

I've been so swamped at work that I haven't even been able to think about what I want to write on the blog.  I work late and then take things home with me to read.  and I haven't really wanted to think about other things that are on my mind--because I was afraid I might write about some of them.

 

My good friend Jen is leaving seattle at the end of the month for a rockin' job in D.C. with the Feds.  Since I'll be on the ski trip when she leaves, we needed to make sure we got some quality time in...thus....the two of us are going to Orcas Island for the weekend!  I can't wait.  We're staying in a cabin near the water, and have use of the kayak, a hot tub, there are nearby hiking trails, and we might even go horseback riding.  It should be fun.   I leave tomorrow afternoon and won't be back until sunday, so I'll be out of touch for a few days.

 

 

weekend o' fun

I'm really looking forward to the weekend.  Carolyn and Steve are here and will be staying with us tonight and tomorrow night.  I just hope Maggie doesn't become too annoying to them.  We'll be having fun, whatever the activity.  Having guests in town is always fun because you get to do things you don't normally do.  It is good to break out of habits sometimes. 

 

Gotta go--need to do more work before I leave.

 

 

ridiculous

My paper to the ASEE (American Society for Engineering  Education) conference got its final acceptance yesterday.  Now I just have to pay for the privilege of having the paper published in the proceedings and pay for the privilege of going to the conference to present it.   The proceedings fee isn't too bad at $75, but I am shocked at the registration fee.  I know I went last year and I now remember it being quite expensive last year as well, but I guess I had put it out of my mind until I was reminded just now.  Just to register for the conference you have to pay $407 .  They don't provide meals or anything for that amount.  I find it amazing.  Other conferences I've been to don't have nearly the fee as ASEE.  I wonder if it is an engineering thing? 

 

rough saturday

For the past week or so, there has been a leak somewhere underground near the entrance to our condo building. Water just streamed down toward the door and went off into the gutter. It would be leaking and then it would stop for awhile and then it would leak again. The city came out to figure out what was wrong, and it took them about 5 days to decide what was the problem. Each day I would come home and see a different color of spray paint on the blacktop with arrows and descriptions.

Well, saturday morning as I took maggie out for a long morning walk/run, there was a gaggle of workers (probably about 8 workers happy to be getting overtime) near the leaking area. One asked me "Are you planning on going out at all today?"

I said "um, yeah, Why?"

He said, "Well, we are going to dig a hole in the middle of the entrance to your condo parking lot, and so if you want to use your car at all today, you should move it to the street right now."

I said, "okay"

Then, I had one of those silent conversations with myself... Why are we just finding out about this now? Shouldn't someone have given us advance notice?

I took maggie back up to the condo and The president of the board called and asked me to go around and knock on doors (wake people up-as it was around 8:30 am), and tell them that if they want to use their cars they better move them now. Let's just say that some residents were none too happy about this development. It is tough being the bearer of bad news.

The certainly did dig a hole in our driveway...it has a diameter the size of a small bicycle. I'm not good with estimating the # of feet, so i won't even go there. Suffice to say it was a big hole! That is, it IS a big hole. They covered it with a big plate so that people didn't fall into it, and I assume they resumed work on it today. We still haven't returned the car to the parking lot--I'm afraid we'll get stuck in there and won't be able to get the car out. Of course, we park it in a different place on the street each time, so the last time I went to go get the car, I had to walk around a bit to find it--I'm not used to remembering where I park it at home.

this is not a sign

I repeat, this is not a sign.

 

Although some of you may want it to be a sign (mom, grandma?)...but I had a dream last night that I was pregnant.  I had the big belly and everything. 

 

I know it is not a sign because I was talking with some friends last night about having kids, deciding to have kids, waiting to have kids, psychologically screwing up your kids, and other such topics.  And I got an email from Mikie which made me think of pregnancy because she is more than half way through her own pregnancy.  So it was obviously in my mind when I went to bed which explains the pregnant dream.  I don't feel any more ready or willing to have children right now. (sorry to those of you who were hoping for a different response).  But, I'm just not getting any 'pangs' of the clock or any such thing.   

 

But boy did it feel funny in the dream.  I wonder if it would feel the same in real life?

 

pedestrian friendly

Seattle is a fairly pedestrian friendly city.  Usually if you step off the curb a car will stop for you.  When I walk maggie, I stop at a corner where there is a crosswalk painted across the street and wait for the cars to stop.  The first car doesn't always stop, but usually it doesn't take more than 5-10 cars before someone notices me and stops.  I don't even need to step off the curb to get them to stop. 

 

HOWEVER,

 

There are also streets where cars just assume they have the right of way.  They won't stop for you even if you are at a non-signalled intersection (which by state law, means that cars have to yield to pedestrians).  One such street is the one just east of our condo.  Many cars speed along with no concern for pedestrians who have been waiting to cross.  I've stood there trying to cross for more than 5 minutes sometimes.  Lucky us, though, because one block north of our condo, the city has installed a crosswalk signal.  It isn't fully operational yet, i.e. you can't push the button to make the light turn red, but it is a flashing yellow light with a crosswalk painted across the road.  I saw the most amazing thing today.  Even with just a flashing yellow light, 2 lanes of cars stopped for a pedestrian who wanted to cross at that intersection.  She hadn't even stepped into the street.  It was great!  I can only imagine how wonderful it will be when pedestrians can make the light turn red which will guarantee them safe passage across the street.  I'm very excited by this new light.  Can you tell?

Finally a new vacuum

We finally got a new vacuum last night.  I put it together after dinner and then was so excited to vacuum, I could hardly contain myself.  This one is a bagged model.  the last one we had was bagless but boy was it messy to empty.  You had to stick your hand in it to pull out the hair that had accumulated.  Didn't seem like it was very sanitary.  We may spend more money on bags, but I'm happy to do that, knowing that all the dirt is contained.

 

It worked well.  And the brushroll was so strong it just about pulled the vacuum along and felt sort of self-propelled.  I went to bed a content woman.  I'm going to do another pass at the carpet tonight.  Very exciting!

 

I won't say what age she is...

but today is Jodi's Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Jodi! I hope you had a great time in Mexico and I love you very much!

new home improvement push

As my mom said, "there's just something about the Spring". It makes you want to get things in order, complete projects you've been thinking of for awhile, and just do some STUFF...it is energizing.

Well, we are feeling the effects. We went to Ikea this saturday and the Home Depot and Lowes on sunday. I don't think we've been to the big box stores for at least a few months now.

We found the perfect cabinet door/drawer handles. We are going to replace the old ones with the new ones, and we are also talking about moving the cabinets up and replacing the wall cabinets with 42" ones that go to the ceiling. We did some pricing for that, and since our cabinets are pretty cheap as it is, it looks like it will only cost about $300. Then we can get a microwave for above the stove to free up some counter space, and then we can get a new dishwasher, and then a new sink and new countertop, and then....

You can see where this is going. One thing leads to another. We do have some money budgeted for home improvements, but certainly not enough to do all this stuff right away. I personally like the little changes that have big impact but are cheap. The cabinet pulls is one example of this. I'll post a picture when we get them all on. We'll move along as we can afford these things.

tgif

And I mean it. I need a break!

reading

Have you ever read a book and wanted to write down everything the book said? I just started reading a book and there are so many things in it that strike a cord with me that I might as well just copy the whole book. It isn't my book (I'm borrowing it), so I can't highlight or anything like that, but I'm seriously considering buying my own copy so I won't have to take such copious notes.

And I have to say, I'm happy to be reading a book, even if this is a "good for me" type of book. I've gotten out of my fiction habit. I don't think I'll be going to the next library book sale--I haven't gone through enough books to make room for the new ones.

As an FYI to seattleites-- this sunday is the Swedish pancake breakfast--David is counting down the hours...okay, maybe not the hours, but definitely the days.