Sometimes I get mad....
but I have always loved my Daddy
And my feet....
And my Dawg, Riley.. (R.I. P.)
Love to play with Bill's Volt Meter 
I love to pick out books to read in my lion chair
I like to run in the sprinkler in the summer...and get all wet
The trouble started even before he was born. This is actually Spencer in utero, flipping us the bird.
Here he is on the day he was born... a little crabby....
Pretty soon it was time to meet the dog.
We did our share of time in BABY JAIL....
humiliating outfits are just part of the gig..
I love helping Daddy build guitars. Most of our friends call this picture "MINI-BILL"HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY SPENCER DOODLE!!!!
Today my little Spencer is FOUR YEARS OLD!!!! I cannot find a lot of his baby pics on this computer, they were on the old one that exploded.... but my mother in law is emailing me some as a baby. SO I got the cutest youngest ones I could find.
LOOK HOW MUCH HE HAS GROWN!!!!!! You are CRAZY, Spencer, but we love you so so so so so so very very very very very MUCH!!!!!!!
Spencer as a tot in his seat in the EXPedition that later EXPloded. For some reason he drooled a lot then...
Spencer at Donut's Cowboy themed Birthday Party. There's gold in that there inflatable tub.... I LOVE the boots...
Spencer on his bike in front of the old house.
Spencer at the Residence Inn two days after the house exploded. He is walking our former enormous dog, Riley who has now gone to Uhm... uh... "live with the vet..." at least, that is the version I am sticking to.... but uhmm.... Riley is really NOT living at the Vet... or living at all anymore, unfortunately.
Tool Time.....Spencer meets Taylor Hicks at his rehearsal because Bill's friend and endorser Josh is in his band. "Keb Mo" is in the background, whoever that is...
Kooky Spencer.. He look like a Beatle here..hahah or one of The Monkees
Spencer recently. He is starting to look a lot like my brother. He has grown so much!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER!!!!!Images from my NEW favorite site, "STUFF ON MY DOG"
http://www.stuffonmymutt.com
I am sure that most of you out there, and you know who you are, think that I have a terribly sophisticated sense of humor.... In my dreams I think that you think that.....
Its just not true.
This is Trader Joe's Korma Sauce. I did not have a picture of the Masala kind...
House now has its entire roof. This was a funny one from a while back:
Dear Diary:
My 30-year-old son was getting married. Hooray! After celebrating her bachelorette party with friends, my son’s fiancée emerged from the bar/restaurant in Midtown and spotted a patrol car.
Full of enthusiasm and good cheer, my future daughter-in-law shouted, “I’m marrying a cop!”
A short siren sounded and one of New York’s finest announced over the speaker, “Don’t do it!”
1. There were supposed to be a lot more kids activities there and Spencer got pretty antsy...plus there were so many people there that I was so scared we were going to lose him in the crowd... It made me really for the first time ever want to get him one of those Harness type KID LEASH things.. But then I am sure he would find a way to gnaw or wiggle his way out of it...
2. There were some of the coolest all electric cars there and they were awesome and you can get one for like only 16K that is kind of like a little RAV 4 but who knows how safe they are etc. Still I thought they would be a LOT more money than that!!!
3. We did get to see a LOT of the products for greening up your house that we have researched int he past... some were good and some were bad.. Like Bill's beloved FAKE GRASS that he wants to get some much.... yes great for the earth but it really does LOOK FAKE too. Also it costs $10 A SQUARE FOOT!!!!! Yeah why not just have a lawn made of like Plutonium?
4. I have never seen more hybrid cars in one parking lot in my life, but that was kind of cool actually and I was jealous of all of them. BUT My Matrix DOES get 33 MPG so.....
5. Some of the stuff there was just kooky. One of the activities for kids was SALMON DISSECTION demonstration... EXCITING. Spencer was like EWWWW!!!!! and of course I was ready to barf at that one... They also had clothes made of HEMP, floors of cork, oxygenated water... all kinds of weird stuff - They had a thing with like how to do a Green Wedding... You should have seen the dress... it was pretty scary.. and I am not in love with the idea of a wind turbine powering up the band's amplifiers etc.
6. All the cool stuff we reallly wanted and needed to see we did find there, but honestly the stuff we were really interested in, EVERYONE ELSE was interested in too.. so like there was like literally a LINE to talk to the people at the solar water heater booth, and the solar tubes, and the skylights etc. The Toyota thing was ridiculous... they had this FUTURE OF HYBRID CARS thing but it came at the end and Spencer was climbing the walls by then...
7. Everyone was walking around with cool stuff they had obviously given away like totebags and seedlings and stuff, but we could never find any of that cool stuff. Bummer. I did get a couple Hippie Dippy bumper stickers...
8. Not many of the vendors were willing to talk about the prices of their stuff you know like well, HOW MUCH is a solar water heater?? Well Uhmm you know give us a call or sign up for the newsletter thingy .. blah blah
http://www.blueoceanevents.org/
There will be a lot of vendors there, telling about how to GREEN UP your life including your home. I know Bill is just so wanting to get that Green friendly FAKE GRASS for the new house We are going to research prices and stuff on things like Recycled denim insulation, solar water heaters etc. I guess we missed Ed Begley Jr BOO HISS... but oh well. There will be a lot of things for kids there too so hopefully Spencer will get reallllly tired out.
Those 250 tulip bulbs I planted in NOV 2006 are still blooming. Even when there is no house there... Tulips are my very favorite flower, and I THOUGHT I had bought a variety, but I got like 30 shades of pink ones. I did not realize I had bought that many pinks, and then of course when you plant them they are all bulbs ... so then, you know I mostly care about when they bloom. I like to stagger them. SO I planted them all and then in the spring when they came up there were a LOT I mean a LOT of pink ones...
Anyway they are blooming!
Today we were informed that if we are going to be in our rental Goat Farm after the end of June 2008 that we have to pay the rent ourselves after that day The only problem is that our house may not be finished until the end of the summer.
Which means that either we pay the $2K a month rent ourselves after that, in addition to our mortgage, OR we maybe get a tent and "rough it" in the back yard until the house is done. I am sure they would not mind moving those bulldozers and clearing a little spot for us. OR we could also move in to Spencer's little play house, OR the tool shed, both also in the back yard. There would be no running water, but there is a Port a Potty on the front lawn.
OR maybe we could rent like a FEMA trailer type thing and just park it in the driveway? That is also an idea. I think the tent idea is probably the best, because then we get to have campfires every night. Well, unless Code Enforcement drives by...
I have always wanted to spend the hot humid months of July and August in a mildewed insect filled tent. I guess those years as a Brownie and Girl Scout will not have gone to waste.
This just gets more and more fun every single day. I hate getting all mad about stuff and most days I try to pretend that I am not living with a goat, and that my life is NOT freaking upside down, and just get on with things. WHO DOES IT HELP TO BE ALL BITTER AND MAD AND PISSED OFF 24 HOURS ABOUT THESE STUPID LITTLE THINGS THAT HAPPEN??? However, some days it is harder than others to stay serene about this (now almost a) year of complete disruption that we did NOTHING to bring on ourselves. I am also sick of having to fight for every single little thing.
Today, in addition to doing stuff for the lawyers, I also worked on something I am writing. I also went grocery shopping and I signed Spencer up for summer Swimming lessons. He has been off of preschool for a week and he goes back Monday. I want so much to be the fun and patient mom, where we read books and play and go places and do stuff together, but instead when stupid stuff like this house thing happens I am already annoyed, and just have no patience and he gets on my nerves. I mean, he is FOUR - this is his JOB, but still - He does not listen half the time, Every two seconds he is taking his clothes off or doing stuff he is not supposed to and he is just loud loud loud and wired wired wired. And then he is also a normal little boy, and does goofy little boy stuff , like using 3/4 of a roll of TP in the bathroom, or begging us for strawberries over and over and over or just being wild.... We are losing it. I am trying to get lawyer stuff done, Bill is trying to finish instruments, and he is jumping all over us, making huge messes, just going insane. We need a babysitter. We need a vacation.
I know no one got hurt, and we still have a house where a lot of people are losing theirs, and no one is sick, and Spencer is healthy and we have much to be grateful for, and we have it better than a lot of other people.. I am not forgetting that, BUT OUR HOUSE WAS DESTROYED, our lives were interrupted, we have been through a whole lot of crap no one should have to go through, we have to use expensive lawyers to fight for every single thing to be corrected just so we can be whole again, and I know that we will recover from this and we will go one with our lives and the drama will end eventually but I will NEVER EVER be the same after this. ALL this crap and seriously? These are not even REAL problems, and I KNOW that and I get to feel guilty for being pissed off about them on top of everything else.
Look! As you can see we have a nice naked house here
Hopefully we will not have to keep that Port A Potty after it is built.
Awwwww. This is my brother, located somewhere in the Midwest. I am sure that he is going to get mad for me putting up this picture.I COULD NOT RESIST!!!! THIS LITTLE BABY IS SOOOO CUTE. Fear not, my brother, NOBODY reads this. Seriously. I think even most of the lurkers have hit the road. I really mostly write this for my own amusement. That is why so many posts about talking dogs and dressed up cats. 
This is such a blog.. Its called
STUFF ON MY CAT
http://www.stuffonmycat.com/
It is a blog from a guy who just simply puts stuff on his cat.
Hilarious.
WHY didn't I think of this?
But then, I do not have a cat.
OK so Last week I started watching the Ken Burns thing on Lewis and Clark, not realizing, as I should have that it was not a mere two hours long and that there was a PART TWO. I finally found the part two and taped that too and got to watch the exciting conclusion. Turns out, they make it to the coast AND all the way back.. Sorry if I ruined the ending for you. BUT the journey - WOW. They went through a LOT of crazy stuff. They ran out of food and had to eat a couple of horses even. They almost froze to death, and Lewis I guess was like depressed like every single day. They once got lost and a trip that should have taken 4 days ended up taking 53 days. They were really incredible brave. I was disappointed in finding out that Clark was pretty racist, but then that was common in 1806. Also disturbed to learn that all this time I have been pronouncing the name of their female Native American companion wrong:
Its not
SACK UH JA WEE AH
it is
SUH COGG A WAY UH
WHO KNEW?
Anyway Poor Lewis ended up killing himself, and Clark, who was then put in charge of like Indian Affairs for the New West was always frustrated that he could not do more to help them.. THis is the abridged version...
ANYWAY. They both felt like failures in the end, and I mean if you have ever been to Oregon you know that if a guy in a Saab with a GPS can get lost and never come back how easy could it have been for a bunch of guys with horses and Elk pelts and no socks??
The Ken Burns thing on the Corps of Discovery is great and so is this one book I read about it once called UNDAUNTED COURAGE I think was written by Stephen Ambrose who was in the documentary. I read it so long ago, I had forgotten so much. and then I went to look for my copy but remembered that it was one of the many books I had that flew out the roof when the house exploded.
SO anyway. The point is, I love PBS.
Here are sites with more INFO
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/
http://www.lewis-clark.org/
AND THIS PLACE IS ten miles from CANBY!!!
http://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/joomlaeotic/
and now that I live here in OR I am gonna head over to Oregon City which is like ten miles away and take a look at that L & C museum thing they have there.
Anyway.
Our House will probably end up looking almost exactly like THIS:
I know us. WE are BORING.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/05/AR2007040501976.html
Every year the staff of the Washington Post have a diorama contest where the requirement is the use of PEEPS
Look at the slide show on this year's entries... I think the winner was the King TutPeep.... My favorite in the slide show has to be either the SAY ANYTHING peeps or DATELINE one
Hilarious.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/villebois_rental/
STILL for rent. It is easiest to see the 68 photos if you do the slideshow. GAWD It give me the creeps just looking at them. I hated just about every minute living there.
How lame are we?
I had some overdue library books that I wanted to get into the drop box by the time they open on Monday so since my family and I were all going crazy and getting on each other's nerves we decided to take a drive into Canby. We dropped the books off at the library night box, and then we decided to look at the progress on the house..
BUT since we were there we started talking about exterior paint colors, and since we had a camera and a car and not much to do, we decided that a good way to spend Easter was to drive around taking pictures of house paint colors we like and then compare them when we got home.
Wow this is what passes for entertainment in Canby... Not really Most people were with their extended families, but since my only extended family live in Michigan and Florida and Bills are all down in So Cal, and no one came up to visit us, and we did not really plan a huge dinner or anything, we decided to stalk other people.
SO we had our frozen Costco Casserole , broccoli and Fresh Strawberries for dessert dinner, and then headed out with the binoculars, night vision goggles and high speed photography and surveillance equipment.
A good time was had by all!!!! No seriously Bill is on a deadline to finish some instruments for a guy who is going out on tour, so he has a lot of work to do. Spencer and I watched the Tigger Movie and hung out, and Bill hung out a lot too. Amy was in the goat field for a long time today. That dog loves that goat.
SO here are our pictures.....
WHICH COLORS WOULD YOU PAINT MY HOUSE?? PLEASE VOTE!!!!
ONE: This is one of Bill's favorite's - it is very dark Brown. I am not fond of it... Also there is a house directly across the street from our new house that is painted like this as well - part of why I do not like it.
TWO This is one we both agree on that we like okay but I am not sure this color would get old very fast.. BUT the red door is good luck in Feng Shui so it has THAT going for it... 
FOUR: This is my VERY VERY VERY all time favorite, and there are NO red houses ANYWHERE around us BUT Bill says it would look like a barn.... but I still love it...
FIVE: Here is a final option that Bill hates and I like a lot Just do the house in this stucco. Ithink it looks nice, but Bill grew up in a stucco house in CA so maybe that is why he does not like it. THis house is right behind us...
Poor Spencer - We tickled him all morning, and goofed with him, and he ran around after the dog and we went to visit the new house etc and I guess we wore him out, because on the way to Costco: CRASH!!!! He was out and we knew he was in one of those moods where he is just NOT going to get up. The only thing do do at times like this is, put down Bill's coat, and throw him in a cart. You have to put the groceries in a separate cart. He slept on the way there, on the way in, alll through the store, on the way back out, and all the way home. He crashed in his bed and he is still as asleep now. What this means for us is, he is going to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow am. Usually in fact when this happens, he comes into our room at about 5 AM and starts jumping on both of us until one of us wakes up.
My brother just had his first baby Friday night... a girl they named AnaMaria. He was gushing into the phone about how she is so sweet and precious and beautiful and of course they are. I wanted so much to tell him to just wait until she is 3 and refuses to wear clothes, throws her socks out of the car window or puts your ipod in the freezer.... THEN call me and tell me how much fun you are having..... but I couldn't. He will find out soon enough.
Also it is time to pick out windows. We spent the afternoon with one of our attorneys Herb (Robin) Going over stuff. Joel (Batman) is still in Africa but he will be back in April. Its a quiet Good Friday around here. Yesterday we bought a 50 lb bag of this stuff called COBB that this lady at Curves who has a bunch of goats told me that our goat would love. We did not want to buy that much but it only comes in that size. Luckily Elmo DOES like it, and also 50 lbs of that stuff is like 8 dollars.
Amy the dog and Elmo the goat are reallly reallly good friends lately and I think it is going to be hard for Amy to leave the goat when it is time for us to move off the Goat Farm. NO WAY can we take the goat with us, as A it is not our goat and B you cannot have a goat in the city. I used to not like the goat, but I am gonna miss the little fella when we move back. Maybe we can come back and visit.
THIS is one of the funniest books I have ever READ...
