Christmas and Snow and Stuff

Christmas morning was spent opening presents, then heading on over to my parent's house. My little sister made our traditional breakfast of orange rolls, and I helped by cooking up the sausage. The snow outside was really deep! Luckily, it was still snowing and was not as icy as the previous days, so it was a bit easier to get around in. Above is a pic of my sister outside taking pictures of the snow (and taking a picture of me taking a picture of her taking a picture...)

I'm still a little sick, and am sad about the fact that we've had the most snow that I can remember in recent years, and I was too sick to go out in it and play. Both Chloe and I had colds, so we didn't go out much. We've been hanging around the house, we went shopping at Target (looking for a Cobalt Blue DS to trade for Chloe's pink one that Santa brought), and we've been playing video games. Below is Ray playing on the Wii on Christmas Day.

I bought a new video game for the Wii called Animal Crossing - City Folk. From the TV commercials, it looked pretty stupid, but some of my friends had been talking about it. It's actually really fun, and there's lots to do. One of the favorite things to do for Ray is go fishing, he's good at that, and he earns a lot of points. I like fishing too, but also decorating my home and shopping. One fun thing that we did was go "Time Travelling" by changing the date on the Wii. We went back to Thanksgiving Day and did the mini game that day and got some pretty hideously pink and purple furniture as a reward. LOL!

I have the week off, and have gotten as far as making a to-do list. I actually DID go grocery shopping today, so I think that counts for something. ;) But I want to spend the week doing some organizing around here, as well as having some down time with Chloe.

Snow and Ick

I was bored yesterday, did nothing much but nap and just lay on the couch because I was feeling so icky. I got a little bored at one point, and woke up the kitty by making noises with my iPhone application of LightSaber (makes realistic Lightsaber sounds). She was a little startled. So I took her picture - that's me laying on the couch, and BL sitting on Ray's computer chair.

Below is a shot of the snow yesterday afternoon. It snowed more during the rest of the day and overnight, so it's even deeper now.

Sunday

<- Qwest Field today; you can see the snow falling, and where they had to shovel the snow from the yard markers.


Well, I've been a bit under the weather the last few days. I thought I was doing better, so I went into work on Friday and went to the parties, but it definitely caught up with me today. I spent most of the day on the couch alternating coughing and sleeping, while Ray went with a friend of his to see the Seahawks game, as they wanted to see Brett Favre play. They got some excellent tickets from a long-time season ticket holder that wasn't going to make it to the game, due to the snow.

Ray said it was a great game, and said it was so weird to have it snowing the whole time. Above is a picture that he took from their seats. It was Mike Holmgren's last home game, they won, only the die-hard crazy people were there, and most everyone stood up the whole game (and some threw snowballs at the hapless Jets on their way to the locker room). Sounds like a fun game!

It was snowing too hard, and traffic was too bad to come home right away, so they stayed downtown for a bit to wait it out.

For me, I'm wishing that I would have stocked up on NyQuil when I had the chance. Ugh! I hate being sick.

Breakfast at the Georgian Room

We went to breakfast at the Georgian Room this morning. The Georgian Room is at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel (formerly the Four Seasons Hotel), which is about a block away from the hotel we stayed at. It's a gorgeous place, the people are really helpful, and the food was amazing.

I had some kind of vanilla waffles with glazed strawberries and whipped cream, and sausage. Mmmmmm...!

Ray had an omelette, a bagel, and their juice of the day - which was a kind of mango juice.

I felt a little silly taking pictures of our food, but I'm glad I did, because it was just so good! (and pretty!)

Friday - Parties

Ray and I went into work on Friday, even though it was still snowy and I have not been feeling well. My firm's Holiday Party was at noon, and Ray's was at 6. We had been planning on staying downtown overnight at the Vintage Park Hotel. We did the same thing last year, and it was a lot of fun.

There weren't a lot of people at work on Friday - the snow was pretty heavy on the Eastside and to the North and South, as well as being pretty slick downtown.

The picture above is of my Holiday Party at Benaroya Hall (which is across the street from my firm's building). Usually, it's so packed that it's difficult to move around, and there are long lines at the food tables. This year, there were a lot less people there. They had great food, catered by Wolfgang Puck. I ended up staying for about an hour or so hanging out with some of my friends, then going to the hotel to take a nice, long nap.

Ray's firm party was held at the Columbia Tower Club at the Columbia Center, on the 76th floor. His firm is a lot smaller, and had more of a family feeling. They had a catered dinner, open bar, contests, and dancing.

I've always heard stories of the women's bathrooms at the Columbia Tower Club - they were supposedly floor to ceiling glass windows with an awesome view of Seattle from each stall. Below is a picture from one of the stalls - not floor to ceiling, but definitely a great view! Each stall had their own sink. My pics of the stalls were quite popular with some of the men at the party - they had all heard of the famous toilets and wanted to see!

Ray bought a new kilt to wear to the party - below, I caught a pic of him is taking a picture for some of the girls in his office who were posing together.

All I Want For Christmas...

Ok, it's not all I want for Christmas...(lol), but it would be nice if BL would stop attacking the Christmas tree skirt this year! When we put up the tree, I carefully put the tree skirt under the tree and smoothed it all out, and have had to fix it quite a few times since then. I finally have given up. Maybe she's playing with the embroidered bird?

The pic above is from last year, when the tree skirt and BL evidently had some kind of truce. She would just sit on it, under the tree, like she was some kind of Very Special Christmas Gift.

Downtown Seattle on Saturday

Yesterday, we met up with some friends that were visiting from Portland. We had been planning on going to Leavenworth, but there was too much snow and ice to make it up there safely. We decided to go to the EMP (Experience Music Project) museum instead.

The pic above is one of the fabulous gingerbread houses at the Sheraton this year. Every year, they have a display of gingerbread houses for charity. This year's theme was "Superheroes", and the house above is full of ordinary heroes doing extraordinary things every day.

After looking at the gingerbread houses, we took the Monorail to the Seattle Center and went to the EMP. Even though it's been here in town for years, I've never actually been in it. Chloe and I really enjoyed the science fiction exhibit. It had many movie props that were really cool to see.

We went to the music part of the museum after that, and saw the exhibits on guitars and the "Northwest Passage" showing Northwest bands and trends. Ray and I decided that we were born too late - it looked like the kids from the '50's and '60's were having the most fun! Louie, Louie, anyone?

For lunch, we went to the Pike Place Market, and had a a really good lunch, can't remember the name of the place, though!

Well, gotta go...Survivor's starting!

Snow!

After having the "Storm Watch" for the last few days, we woke up to snow today. It wasn't very deep, but it was very icy. They said on the news that this is the coldest that it's been for almost 20 years. Ray and I went out to do a little shopping, and almost did not get back up to our place because it was so icy.

I think out of towners make fun of us because we can't handle the snow. What happens is that it snows, then thaws a bit, then turns into ice. The next day, if it's still cold, it's still ice. Add the many hills that are around this area, and you have a scary situation. It's just not possible to stop on a hill safely at a red light on the ice. I have a small car, so I really don't like driving in the snow and ice. Fortunately, we don't usually don't get a lot of it.

At least we have power! I'm hoping that the East Coasters without power get theirs on soon. I have a friend that lives in Massachusetts that has been without power for a few days now, and I'm hoping she's warm and is going to be powered up soon!

Haunted?

We've been having high winds and rain today. Right now, it's pretty windy and *loudly* windy outside. The lights have flickered a few times. After one of those times, the new Farm ornament (that I wrote about in my last post) "Moooooed" twice! It's not hooked up to any lights, the tree didn't move, or anything, so it was kind of strange.

When Ray came home, we told him about the strange moooing. Later, it gave a one-off moo again, out of the blue!

New Ornament

Ray and I got this new ornament for our tree this year. I love the Hallmark ornaments...I always thought I wouldn't like them because they were so commercial, but they have such cute little ornaments that actually mean something to me. I add to my stash every year from Hallmark.

This year, we saw this little Fisher Price Barn in the Hallmark ornaments WishBook. I used to play with one of these little barns when I was little, I don't remember where (I know my family didn't have one), but maybe my neighbors? Or someone we used to visit? I LOVED this little barn when I was small...it MOOOOOED when you opened the doors, and this little ornament does, too! I told Ray we had to have one, and he agreed wholeheartedly, because he used to have one, too. He even sent one to his folks, to say how happy he was with the memory of this toy.

What's so cool about this ornament is that it "MOOOOOs" when you open the doors. How cool is that?!

Robin Williams Show

Ray and I went to see Robin Williams last night at the Paramount with some friends, Germaine and Mike. We had pretty good seats, as Ray and Germaine bought the tickets as soon as they went on sale a few months ago. We all went out to dinner first at the Daily Grill and walked over to the Paramount afterwards. It was a great show - I laughed so much my face hurt. It was hilarious!

One funny bit was about his experiences in Seattle while he was here. He commented that he was sorry to hear the Sonics had left...and if we want to keep the Seahawks, all we need to do is paint a goal line around the city. They'd never cross it! OUCH!

Anyhoo - fun night with friends. Laughing is always a good choice.

Got the Tree up

Chloe and I put up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, but we didn't decorate it until this morning. We're getting better at putting together the tree, I think it only took us about 1/2 hour to get it up. Chloe sorts the branches, and I put them in the base. We totally booked this year!

We got the ornaments out of storage and Ray helped us put them up this morning. I really enjoy going through them and remembering when we got them and Christmases past. The finishing touch is always candy canes all over the tree.

Pretty!

Wii Fit

I've been feeling kind of tired lately; it's been dark outside a lot, and work's been busy. I thought I'd try getting a little bit more exercise, since I've been such a slug lately.

Of course, I turn to my old friend the Wii Fit. With going back to work, it's been hard to get motivated to get any Wii Fit time in. I hadn't done a "body test" for 44 days (according to the Wii Fit balance board). It first asked me if I'd seen Ray lately, and how was his posture? I said his posture was great. Not getting a rise out of me, it next said "Good to see you again...Chloe!" Awww...Boardie, you old kidder, you!

It was nice to see that I'd actually lost 3 pounds in those 44 days (though it was probably all muscle!)

Post-Thanksgiving; Pre-Christmas

We've been busy today. We took our tree and Christmas decorations out of storage, and will set up the tree tonight or tomorrow. I am looking forward to all the Christmas decorating, now that Thanksgiving is past.

We put up a Decor Elements phrase on our wall in the living room. It says "Life is Good" in a cool font. That was not very difficult, but since we have a textured wall, it was just a little tricky. Still, it looks nice and went on fairly easily. SU! now sells these phrases, so I had to get one to try out, and am pretty pleased.

We also cooked another turkey that we bought on the way home from my parent's house on Thanksgiving. We had stopped at the grocery store to see if they had any more of the fresh turkeys, since we wanted to cook another after Thanksgiving. Safeway had a bunch, but the one we took home turned out to be frozen inside. We spent some time thawing it in cold water this morning.

Yesterday, we spent some time at my sister's place, and afterwards, Ray and I did a little shopping while Chloe helped Lisa level up on Mario Kart. Ray and I picked up a roasting pan to try out, as well as a few other things. (Not much was on sale!)

So today, we roasted the now-thawed turkey using the new roaster pan with a lid. Ray's carving it now, and he says it's way better than just putting it in the oven in a disposable roasting pan. He keeps going on and on about how good it is, and it *is* way juicier than the one we cooked on Thanksgiving day!

We also took down two of the prints that I had in the living room, they'd been up on the wall since I moved in (in 2000). We decided to go ahead and try to do a "picture wall", and had bought a few frames yesterday to put up. Now we just need to get the pictures printed, and the wall planned and put up. Looks kind of bare right now! My sister and her roomie have a gorgeous picture wall, and it motivated me into doing ours.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is having a great day today! I have a lot to be thankful for this year.

We're going over to my parent's house in a bit to make breakfast for them. Yum! Orange rolls! I'm hoping they'll turn out as good as when my Mom or my sister Lisa make them. When we get back, we'll start the turkey for a late lunch.

One more day until Thanksgiving weekend!

Yay - one more day until a 4-day weekend! I'm looking forward to sleeping in, orange biscuits, turkey and mashed potatoes, spending some more time with my family, and having some time to do some stamping and scrapping.

We're looking for license plate #123. Yesterday, we saw 119, 120, and 121, plus Ray's car is 122, so we saw 4 in one day!

Been playing with my new iPhone, an early Christmas gift from Ray (thanks, Honey!) It has some really cool applications that you can download for it. One of them is called "Grocery IQ" - it's a grocery list where you can save "favorites" (things you buy often), and make a list from them and whatever else you need. You can store the items as favorites, keep a history of purchases, even send a list via email to another person! We went grocery shopping tonight using it. We had our list in the phone and was able to check them off. When we checked off every item, it came up with a note that said we got everything, and would we like to delete the list?

Another fun application is called "Shazam" - where you can hear a song playing, have your phone record a few seconds of the song (just hold up your phone to the speaker), and it will tell you what song you're listening to. You can then add that song to your iTunes list if you want to buy it. Pretty nifty!

I can also download the Facebook application and keep up with friends on my phone, as well as post pics and updates. I'm told I can update my blog from it, too, so we'll see about that.

Whoever would have thought that you could do all these things with a phone?

All A's!

Chloe got all A's on her report card this quarter! Whoo-hoo! Good job, chiclet!

Meal Planning

A couple of people have asked about the meal planning I mentioned, so I thought I'd explain what we do. I'm sure many many people do this, and I don't know why it took me so long to figure it out!

Before we started planning our meals, I would have a vague idea of what meals we could have during the week. Ray and I would usually decide what to have for dinner on the bus ride home from work. Then we'd have to stop off at the grocery store to get last minute stuff to make dinner, or we'd just go out to dinner.

The last minute grocery store stops usually meant that we'd buy extra stuff that we didn't need just because it *thought* we would use it. We tried shopping once a week, but ended up wasting food because we didn't really have a plan on what to use.

So...it wasn't working. We were spending too much money on groceries and eating out, and I was stressing too much during the week on that immortal question "What's for dinner tonight?"

We decided that we'd take a few minutes each week (it usually ends up to be about 20 minutes) planning on what we want for dinner each day Mon-Sun. Then we check our freezer and cupboards to see what we need to put on the grocery list each week. We keep a list on the fridge as well, so we can note things during the week that we need.

We also started going to Costco every 6 weeks or so to stock up on hamburger, which we package up into meal-size freezer bags to freeze. We also get frozen chicken breasts, frozen Atlantic salmon, and lasagna from Costco.

Below is a sample week's menus:

Monday: Fajitas
Tuesday: Pork Chops, pasta
Wednesday: Salmon w/rosemary, green beans
Thursday: Pizza (Survivor nights are always pizza!)
Friday: Spaghetti
Saturday: Soup and home-baked bread
Sunday: Pot Roast

It's been really helpful, and I believe it's saved us around $200-$300/month in groceries and eating out, just by planning.

Long Live Rock

Last night, we went to a show called "Long Live Rock" at the Renton Civic Theater. The show had five performers (including a girl that I work with), plus an awesome backup band, performing tribute rock songs like a mini-concert. They had songs by Heart, Pink Floyd, Pat Benatar, Jim Morrison, Led Zeppelin, and others. It was amazing!

The pic above is of my co-worker, Jami, as Ann Wilson, and the guitarist.

I didn't go to any rock concerts when I was growing up, and Ray went to many. Now Chloe has been to Weird Al, and now this tribute concert. She seemed to enjoy it, even though she said she only recognized seven songs!

Bread

I dug out the bread machine today, I don't think I've used it in the last 6 years or so. During our weekly meal planning last week, I mentioned to Ray that I'd like to try using it again, so he got me a couple of mixes to use.

Ray is fascinated with the machine...he currently has a flashlight and is looking into the top window on the machine, watching the thing work. He got Chloe into it, and they took turns looking into the little window.

I honestly don't know how it's going to turn out. I misplaced the operating manual, but I used to use it *all* the time the first few years I had it, so I'm hoping I remember correctly. It was really cool to set it on the timer while I was at work, and come home to fresh bread. The loaves always came out a little funny, due to the tall shape, but they were so good fresh with butter.

Lately, I've been using a bread recipe (from scratch, not in the bread machine) from a new cookbook "America's Best Recipes". It has a "sandwich bread" recipe that is really easy, and finishes in 2 hours. That's some good bread. It slices nicely, has a firm texture, and you can use it for sandwiches. I made it quite a few times when I was on my sabbatical, and always think I'm going to bake up some when I get home from work, but have not done so yet.

I haven't made any quick breads lately, but I used to like to make pumpkin and banana bread. When my parents gave me huge zucchinis from their garden, I'd make zucchini bread too. I think I got out of making bread so much because I was trying to lose weight/maintain weight loss. But is it really worth it? I mean...seriously! Fresh bread!

Veteran's Day

I want to thank all of the Veterans for their service. I appreciate them! I wish there were no wars...but I'm thankful that there are people out there ready to serve their country and to protect us.

Today, Chloe and Ray had the day off, and I was able to take the day off too. We went to the new Regal theater in The Landing in Renton to see Madagascar 2. Very nice theater (and I know my theaters! LOL), it had these really great auditoriums where you really couldn't have a bad seat. The seats were nice and plush and springy, with plenty of leg room and good sightlines. The theater was new and fresh, with nice, helpful workers ready to go the extra mile.

Tonight, I'm making spaghetti. It's smelling pretty good right now! Chloe is helping by stirring it periodically.

License plate number we're looking for: 113.

Quiet Sunday

It's been a quiet Sunday today...Chloe is with her Dad this weekend, and Ray had to run over to work this afternoon. I've been doing some stamping, laundry, and cleaning.

This morning, we went to the grocery store to pick up a couple of items we needed to make dinner, and then stopped at Starbucks. The Starbucks nearest to us has a Clover press, which makes a great cup of coffee. I usually like mild, flavored coffees, but this machine takes their dark roast beans and makes them very smooth, with various "notes". Some people like the Clover-brewed coffee plain, but I prefer it with a little cream. It was a nice indulgence on this cloudy, cold morning.

I do love these kind of quiet days where I can really just regroup for the coming week.

It's Friday!

It's been a tough few weeks at work, I'm pretty tired when I get home. I've been drafted for a new project (which will probably last about a year and a half), which involves research and two-hour twice-weekly meetings, so I'm trying to make sure everything is covered in my regular workload while working on this new project.

Besides Obama being elected (my eighth-cousin through the Dunham-Singletary connection), not much else has been as exciting in my life this week!

This weekend is my sister's housewarming party, so that should be fun. And I've been "talking" to my relatives on Facebook, which has been nice. And Ray is making dinner tonight, which is awesome. mmmmm...fajitas!

Yes We Can!

I've never been so excited for a President as I am tonight for President-Elect Barack Obama. I am basically a Republican, but found I could not support John McCain and his running mate.

I am surprised, humbled, and very happy that we have elected Barack Obama, who is the first African-American President. His acceptance speech moved me, and made me glad I voted the way I did. I feel like he is for US, the nation, not just for special interests, is interested in making America the nation it should be, with all our help. It's not one man's work, it's all of us.

John McCain's concession speech was also very moving. I thought it was gracious, and think that if he had run the campaign as the person that he is, with a better running mate (and didn't own 12 houses and have a fembot wife), he would have had my vote, and maybe would have won.

Phew! I've been so worried about the outcome of this race, now, hopefully, I can sleep well.

Twisted Flicks

We went to Twisted Flicks tonight, the show was "Horror Express", starring Peter Cushman and Telly Savalas. The movie was pretty lame, by itself, and kind of gory, but the new added dialog was pretty funny.

The improv group tonight was really on their game, it was a great show. What they do, is remove the soundtrack and make up their own, using audience suggestions. They used one of Ray's suggestions this time, as the opening line "Those aren't pillows!"

Tonight was a packed audience, they told us at 10 minutes to showtime that there were about 100 people still trying to get in, and would we please move so there were open seats together. It's always nice with a huge audience! I guess last night, on Halloween, they had very low attendance (they joked it was 8).

Tonight's show was also attended by a birthday party, and the birthday girl, Amber, was part of the show. Her name was used to name the freaking-out puppy that the Countess owned.

It was also pouring rain when we got to the theater - didn't expect it to be such heavy rain tonight!

Ah, the old toilet-papering-houses trick...

My sister and toilet papered houses tonight...on Facebook, that is...

School Concert

It was the first school concert of the year tonight. They had all three grades, with choir, orchestra, and band for each grade. The orchestra has improved a LOT this year, all of the grades. It was really amazing.

The orchestra did a fun piece called "Remote Control", where they had a sound effect representing a remote control, where the orchestra would change tempo and piece. They did quite a few little bits of songs, and even had singing and screaming! It was pretty funny.

The band teacher played the saxophone on one of the choir's songs, that was pretty cool.

Chloe is in band, and we were *just* able to see a little bit of her during the concert. It was cool to hear the pieces this time, since I was able to hear her practice them last month when I was home. All in all, a pretty good concert.

We got home in time to watch the very last part of Survivor, hopefully they'll have it OnDemand tomorrow night so we can see the whole thing.

Joined Facebook

I joined Facebook last night, I'd heard a lot about it and thought that I don't need another place to go online, lol. Then I heard they have games, and a lot of people on the boards I'm on have been talking about it...so I took the plunge. I see a lot of people on there that I know!

Already this morning, I got a treat from my Aunt Maggie (thanks!). So I threw a gummy bear at her. hee hee

Car Trouble

<-Dead Car Getting a Lift

Ray and I carpooled today, and on our way home from picking up Chloe, having dinner, and running some errands, his car just stopped working. Right on our way up a hill. A nice man helped push the car into the parking lot of City Hall (which was right nearby).

I called AAA, and they said it would be about an hour for a tow truck to come and pick up the car (it was actually about an hour and a half). Luckily, one of the AAA guys heard the call on the radio and came by and tried to help us fix it. He eventually figured out it was the timing belt, so he couldn't help us get going (he seemed genuinely disappointed, too). But he was nice enough to take Ray up the hill to our place and have him get my car so we could all get back home after they towed his car.

I have to say that Chloe was a real trooper - she didn't complain once, and was in fact very upbeat and positive. And I just have to say how grateful I am that I had AAA coverage, that people were very kind and helpful, and we all made it home safely.

Now to figure out how the logistics on fixing the car and carpooling until the car is fixed...

Too Much Something

I saw this in the kitchen at work one morning last week and thought..."either someone has too much pride in their job, or too much time on their hands..."

Either way, it gave me a little laugh. :)

License Plate Game: 100

Well, we reached 100 in the license plate game. Last year, we met some people that had started finding license plates, in order, counting to 999 (they were currently at 152).

We all decided that would be a fun game to do. And now, a year later, we saw 100. Now we're on 101.

Rules are that you need to start with 000, then 001, etc, in order. If you see a plate that has a bunch of numbers in a row (like trucks), the last 3 numbers need to be the ones you need. Ray and Chloe see the most of them. When Chloe was in Hawaii, she saw about 5 in a row for us.

When Ray's parents were in town, his Dad helped us out and found a couple of plates for us. Now he's started doing his own countdown.

It's weird how it works sometimes. Sometimes you're looking for, say, 067. You'll see 068, 069, and 070 in a row, but they don't count. You need to find 067 first, then find them again.

More Political Humor

When reading through some blogs tonight, I found this picture, which led to this thread on fark. I'm still reading through the entries...

Target...and Weird Al...

My first full week back to work, and I had 3 large reports to work on, so I was pretty busy and pretty tired. Plus I had a head cold, so I wasn't feeling the best. I left a little early on Friday because Chloe had no school, and she and I stopped off at Target on our way home from my parent's house. I like the little Halloween guy they have in their ads.

But they also had Christmas stuff out already! Yikes!




In other news...Weird Al Yankovic has announced that he's going to be releasing songs as they are recorded, instead of waiting to release an album. The first one to be released this way is "Whatever You Like", based on T.I.'s song of the same name. I really enjoy Weird Al's songs, and have seen him in concert twice, thanks to Ray.

Love the lyrics in this one!

"You like Top Ramen, need Top Ramen
Got a cupboard full of 'em, I’ll keep 'em coming
You want it, I got it, go get it, just heat it
Dump the flavor packet on it and eat it "

Sunday

Well, my first week back to work was fine. I'll have a really busy schedule next week, as I have some major reports due, along with getting the month started again.

My new office is located on a very quiet floor, as there are a few empty offices around me. A very large Roy Lichenstein is located out in the hallway from my office. Across the hallway, through the elevator lobby, there are automatic doors that *fling* open when you press the "open" button (hee, I think this is very cool still).

I'm on a different bank of elevators than I used to be, so that's been something to get used to. I'm also on the different side of the building, so I almost always get turned around when getting off the elevators.

Carrie did a great job while I was out, so there's not a lot held over from the previous month, just the usual stuff that has to be followed up on. She was sweet and filled my little fridge with Diet Coke, all ready for me.

I think the thing I hate the most about going to work (besides not being home when Chloe gets home from school) is the commuting. I like my job, I have a good boss and nice people to work with, but the getting to the bus, waiting for the bus, getting on the bus, walking in the rain to the building, etc. gets real old. It would be nice if we could work from home sometimes.

Anyhoo - today, I'm planning on playing with some new stamps and stuff I got the other day and haven't used yet. A roast is in the crockpot (trying out a new recipe), and I got some laundry going. The Amazing Race is on tonight, too! Looking forward to that!

Last Day of my Sabbatical

Got on the Wii Fit, it asked if I had seen Ray lately...yes, the little scale guy talks to you (or at least he talks to me!). He asked if I had noticed any changes in Ray...I said no. So he said "Oh...change is always so much more exciting, don't you think?" and then accused me of not paying enough attention to Ray. Sheesh!

And I'll need to step up on the Wii Fit because my Mom brought back some amazing lemon meringue pie ice cream from the Dairygold factory in Sunnyside. She gave us some from her recent trip back there and we had it for dessert tonight. Mmmmm...thanks, Mom!

Anyhoo...today is my last day of my sabbatical. I spent the day lounging around, eating bon bons and watching soaps (not really!) Ok, maybe there was a little lounging around.

I'll definitely miss all the time I have spent with Chloe - it's been great being around much more. Our trip around the country in July was great - I miss getting up and going someplace I've never been each day. I have a lot of great memories from the trip.

I think the kitties have been happy to have me home all day, too. BL sleeps most of the day, but when she's up, she's trying to annoy me into playing with her. She bats at things and runs *vrooooom*!

That said, I am a little excited to get back to work. A lot has changed for me there. I have a new supervisor, I was moved to a new office in my absence, my bus schedule has been changed, and I don't know how much of my job has changed. And I miss downtown Seattle. I miss having lunch with Ray on Spicy Chicken day. I miss the fishy smell of the waterfront during my walks on break with Carrie. I miss my friends at work and on the bus.

But today, tonight, I'm enjoying being home, making dinner, and having this awesome ice cream!

Weekend

Last night we went to see Twisted Flicks. It's something we like to do every month, as it's a monthly show on the last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night of the month.

Jet City Improv takes an old B-movie, removes the sound, and improvs their own music and dialogue from suggestions from the audience. It's usually hilarious, and this week was no exception. They used the movie "Bride of the Monster", an Ed Wood production starring Bela Lugosi. Makes Ray want to see the movie "Ed Wood" again, as this was one of the movies they talked about making in that movie. Especially funny was when they showed the monster squid, and they had to just kind of move around like it was fighting with them. The improv comedians named the squid "Angie" after one of the birthday-girls in attendance last night.

(They did say that when they try to work someone's name into a show, that person usually shows up as someone who's dead, an animal...or a dead animal.)

Tonight is The Amazing Race, and we're getting ready to watch that. I haven't studied up on this season's teams, but I'm interested in seeing the geek team's strategy (watch, they're the first to go!)

Just a little political humor...

Two pics from Punditkitchen.com that I enjoyed.

I work downtown in the WaMu Tower, and am wondering how the whole buyout is going to affect some of my bus buddies.

And I also like the below pic. I'm normally a Republican, but wow...I have serious reservations about McCain and his "I -can-see-Russia-from-my-house!" running mate... I was also impressed about how knowledgeable Obama was in the debates. I'm looking forward to the VP one!

Nickelsville - Ray's pictures

Pictures by Ray from yesterday's trip to Nickelsville...you can click on the pictures to make them a bit bigger.



This last one was taken after the police made the sweep, made arrests, and put up barriers to city property:

Survivor, Nickelsville, and Trombones

Last night was Survivor, and I really enjoyed it. I was in my happy place when it came on and I heard that familiar opening music. I found out that it was a 2-hour show because it originally was scheduled to start last week, so they had to put two shows together. Which was fine by me - it was nice to get to know the players better. I agreed with both of the bootings last night. Michelle really never did try to get along with her "loser" tribe, and Gillian was a weak link when they're trying to win challenges.

I was a bit sorry to see Gillian go. Her daughter posts on 2peas (a scrapbooking site), and Gillian even started posting there and was funny and nice, so I was kind of rooting for her.

The African scenery is gorgeous, which is always a bonus. Tribal council looks a little hokey, but they did a nice job overall with it and with the challenges so far. I'm really looking forward to next week! And Sunday is the first episode of this season of The Amazing Race! Survivor and TAR are my only must-see TV.

Today, Ray took a day off work and helped out at the homeless camp called "Nickelsville", which was put up in protest of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' handling of various homeless issues (meaning that he didn't do much handling at all). They were camped out in donated pink tents on city property until the police arrested a lot of them this afternoon.

I took Ray over to Nickelsville this morning after I dropped off Chloe at school, and he's about ready to come home now. As far as I understand, they were able to move some of them a short distance away to state property, so the city didn't have jurisdiction over them any longer and could not make them leave. Still, there were some arrests made.

As I was talking to Ray on the phone a bit ago, I could hear cheering, as a group (released on their own recognizance) came back from downtown. It seems the protest did some good, as the governor is willing to help and see if they can get a place for them to camp out/stay permanently.

And right now, Chloe is practicing her trombone. She practices 30 minutes a day, setting the timer and stopping exactly when it beeps (lol). When I'm at work, she practices at my parent's house after school. It's been so nice to be able to hear her practice while I'm on my sabbatical. It's also nice to help her with her homework, to just chill with her after school. I have 2 more days of this.

Thursday

Working on my quilt - got the squares all put together, need to cut the sashing and sew that on next. I think it looks a little plain (probably because the squares are so big), so I'm thinking of appliqueing some stars scattered across, or candy canes, or something.

I've been able to do 1-hour workouts on the Wii Fit the last few days. I love the boxing one - I unlocked the advanced boxing and got 4 stars (Calorie Incinerator) and a "Good workout" from the boxing guy today. I usually get "Nice job" from him. Love those little motivations!

Well, tonight is the first episode of this season's Survivor - I'm really looking forward to it! Chloe and I have been watching Survivor for the past 13 seasons. We also got Ray hooked on it. We make a night of it - pizza, a fire log in the fireplace, and lit candles. The first episode is supposed to be a 2-hour premiere this time. I think that's a good thing, since you get to know the players better.

Anacortes, WA

This weekend, Ray and I went to Anacortes, WA, to see the Blues Orbiters play at the Rockfish Grill.  We first saw this band a couple of weeks ago at the Redhook Brewery, and really enjoyed the show.  Since Anacortes is a couple of hours away, we decided to make a weekend of it.  The show was great!  There were a couple of other local performers attending the show (a guitarist and a singer), and they came up on stage and did a set with the band - they were awesome. Much fun and dancing ensued.

We were seated at the table closest to the stage. We told the hostess that since the table was so big, we wouldn't mind if they sat another party with us. Luckily, they seated us with this amazingly funny older gentleman Tom, and his sweet girlfriend, Isabella. They are from Seattle, were in town to get Tom's boat serviced, and decided to stay in town to have dinner and listen to some music.

Tom was all set on dancing that night, and Ray and I joined him and Isabella one song. Afterwards, Tom came up to me and said "Hey Janette, I didn't know your fella had on a skirt!" 

Blues Orbiters:

This morning, we took a tour around the old part of town.  We had a great breakfast at Mary Ann's Kitchen, did some antiquing, and visited the local quilt store and needlework store.  All over town, they have painted people - it looks like they are all residents, or former residents from different time periods. 

This was one of my favorites:

We went to the Causland Memorial Park, which was really very cool:

And then we went up to Mt. Erie (elevation 1273) to take a look at the view.  

And now we're home.  I bought some fabric squares at the Anacortes quilt shop to make a quilt, so Ray and I put up a flannel sheet so I could get the positioning right before sewing.  Of course, BL the crazy cat had to come by and knock half of them off the wall while I was in the other room.  I guess it's motivation to get them all sewed up fast!

Found Wallet

Well, some kind soul returned my mostly empty wallet to Safeway today, and I picked it up this afternoon.

My wallet was considerably lighter (no money at all in it).  They had taken out every card (ID, Costco, credit, debit, library, healthcare, AAA, Starbucks, etc.) and put them all back helter-skelter, so it was a little creepy getting it back, knowing that someone had gone through everything.

I already went to the DOL to get a new driver's license this morning, but hadn't replaced the other cards, so it's good to have them back in any case.  

In other news, dinner tonight is chicken mozzarella - one of the few things I can make without a recipe.  :)

Kilted!

I've had requests for a picture - Ray obliged by posing for me. He says the kilt has had its challenges, and he's not answering *the* question, but overall, the reception has been quite good.

The Bad and the Good

Today had a bit of good and bad... the worst thing that happened today was that I lost my wallet. I'm usually really careful with my things, but today I wasn't really paying attention and I could not, for the life of me, tell you how I lost it.

It was really strange: After I gassed up my car, I got into my car, put my debit card in my wallet, and my wallet into my purse. The next stop was Safeway, where Chloe and I got out and did about 5 minutes of shopping as we only needed a few things. When I went to pay, I couldn't find my wallet. Chloe and I retraced our steps, looked around outside (an envelope that had been in my purse was on the ground, so maybe my wallet fell out), looked under the seats in the car, and checked with customer service to see if anyone had turned in a wallet (they hadn't).

So...we went home, I called to cancel my debit and credit cards, and found my passport so I can get a new driver's license tomorrow. Anyhoo - what a pain to get new cards for everything!

Oh, there was some good stuff today, though. I made bread and a wonderful beef stew that we all really enjoyed. Also, Ray got a kilt (w00t!), and it looks great! I've always admired guys in kilts!

And one of my pets on neopets got zapped Robot today. It was a zap I was hoping for, and is kind of rare. Isn't she cute?

Puyallup Fair

Chloe, Ray and I went to the Puyallup Fair yesterday.  It was a chilly morning, and we got there very early before the gates even opened.  It warmed up really nicely, and by the time we left, it was very crowded.

I love going to the Puyallup Fair every year.  The first thing I do after I get in the gates is go directly to the Fisher Scone trailer and get scones.  The next thing I like to do is look at the animals, especially the cavies and bunnies.  Some years, due to Chloe's schedule, we miss the weekends with the cavies (guinea pigs), since they're not there the whole time, but this year we got there just in time for the Cavy Fit and Show.  

Another thing I love to do is look at the Hobby Hut and then go to the Pavilion to look at the Quilts, needlework, paintings, and photos.  After about 4 1/2 hours of walking around, eating Fair Food and looking at things, we were all about ready to go home.

Ray and Chloe on our way to the 4H barns:

Quilting display in the Pavilion:
This was from the 4H Cavy Fit and Show.  What a little cute guy!  I miss my little guinea pigs.

I also tried out my video recording feature on my camera, and got some videos of the cavies and rabbits.  I could have stayed there in the 4H barns for hours.  

I'm still alive!

Hey everyone (hi Mom!) - haven't blogged for awhile.  It seems I've either been too busy or too lazy, depending on the day.  A lot of the lazy August days...it would have been boring to blog because mostly it would be "woke up at 8 am, played on Wii Fit, had coffee, did dishes, took a nap, did some laundry, watched Judge Judy".  

On the other hand, there were a lot of fun things that we did.  Last month, my sister took Chloe and me to the Seattle Center where we saw a cool IMAX film, Ray and I toured the Red Hook Brewery with our friend Karen, we went to the Evergreen State Fair and saw Weird Al in concert (in the pouring rain!  Chloe's first concert!) Then Ray's parents were in town for a week and we saw them quite a bit, which was fun.  We went to a Mariner's game, did the brewery tour again with them, and had a BBQ at his Aunt's house.  So part of August was busy.  :)

Now Chloe is back in school, and I've been taking her and picking her up to the bus stop/school.  I really enjoy that!  It's so nice to get up, make her lunch, have her get breakfast at home, and take her to school and pick her up!  I wish I could do that every day, and I'm enjoying it while I can.

I've also been working on some scrapbook and card-making projects, and doing some embroidery.  I haven't done a lot of needlework lately, but I think I need to take it up again.  Now that I've started doing it again, I remember how much I like it.

I'm also looking forward to the next seasons of Survivor and The Amazing Race - both of which start this month - YAY!

Target

I've been taking Chloe to the school bus stop every day (she wants to take the bus to visit with her friends), but on Fridays, I take her directly to school.  Every Friday is "late start", which means school starts 90 minutes later.  The last two weeks I've been going to Target after dropping her off on Fridays, as it's on the way home and open.

Last week, there were a ton of employees there setting up the Halloween stuff (which explains why, when I usually go shopping for Halloween stuff in late October, there is nothing left!  LOL!)  Today, I wandered the aisles for a bit and looked at all of the cool stuff.  

Aren't these treat baskets cute?  I *so* want the Hello Kitty one, even though I don't know what in the world I would do with it!  

and this little kitty below is a flashlight!  How cool is that?  The head slides back a bit, the mouth opens up and there's a little light inside, so the kids can carry her by her tail and see in the dark.  How adorable!

We're Home

Well, we're home. We got back yesterday afternoon. The kitties were happy to see us - BL meowed at us for awhile, and Snooze hid for a bit, but they were happy in the end.

Coming into Washington, we wanted to stop in Sunnyside to try out the ice cream at the Dairygold Dairy Bar, but they had a fire alarm going off and were closed.

Over the I-90 pass, we were greeted with the beautiful rain and clouds. It was a welcome relief after being in record high 90's and 100's lately.

We returned the car today, and Ray goes back to work on Wednesday. So below, are a few of pics of the weather on I-90 as we came home:






Ah....beautiful rain!