Picnic, Habib the Tile Guy, Lights,

Bill and Amy the Dawg, at our picnic yesterday

Here are some highlights from the picnic on Sunday. It was pretty fun,. We met our friends Siri and Steve and their son Travis (aka "Donut") at the Maple Street Park in Canby. They brought Subway for their lunch but since we were running late I just made our lunches. I grabbed one of those all in one salad kits from Costco, some grilled chicken, a big bowl, some drinks, Yo Kids, and some fresh strawberries and blueberries. I mixed that salad when we got there and it was pretty fun. Spencer and Travis had a blast, we all did. It has a great playground plus at the other end of the field there was a soccer game going on. The kids played on the toys, Spencer can totally push himself on the swing now!!!

Then today at 12:30 he started his first day of GOLDFISH (level C) swimming class which will be every week day for the entire summer probably, with maybe a little time off to move out of the goat farm. Then, we headed to the Sploded house to meet Habib and his wife and Builder Nick to talk about tile. it was great to see Habib again, and he had some great ideas. And when we are ready for it he is going to totally make Spencer's bathroom into a turtle room.

The house is coming along. Nick says they are going to be painting like tomorrow, and then the cabinets are going in Friday and the garage door. Then we got some lunch and then headed over to this place to pick the light fixtures out. Turns out you have to make an appointment to do this, but we do now have the website with all the products to choose from, so we will go thru that and then be prepared for our appt Friday. I have heard that wrought iron fixtures are kind of on the way out and I would prefer brished nickel, but then that will go out too, like brass did and we will be stuck with it, so we may go with the wrought iron stuff. I will update the blog when we have made these earth shattering decisions.

Probably I will get this for the dining room. It is a chandelier made of Gummy Bears. Bill liked it, but he thinks we should spend the extra money for the one made of Pop Rocks and Jolly Ranchers.

This one will be for the kitchen, obviously. It is made of green teacups, beads and I think a small colander.

We need a BIG fixture for our two story entry, and it needs to make a certain statement. I am thinking this one will do the trick. The statement this one makes is: "We used to live with a goat, and we have been out of our house for so long we could barely locate it, even with a compass and a map."

This is for our Master bedroom. It is very romantic and made entirely of glue from a glue gun. While festive, I hope we will be able to hang it in a place where it will not block the mirrors on the ceiling, or detract from the red velvet walls I have planned.

Tomorrow I have an appointment in the AM in Beaverton and will also drop off some stuff to our attorney. Friday we meet with the Light Fixtures dude. Party On.

Trip to Trader Joe's,FedEx, Costco..Tote Bags, China, Tank Man, YoKids, Prius Envy

Spencer LOVES these tubes full of yogurt. Stoneyfield YoKids Squeezers, and we freeze them They are like an organic yogurt freeze pop.

Woman at left: Devil or Tote Designing Diva? You decide. Though, I gotta say, her friend's vest is a little kooky... reminds me of Sally O'Malley (a Molly Shannon Character on SNL, a dancer who brags that she is "FIFTY YEARS OLD.")

Bill and Spencer shopping in Trader Joe's this afternoon. What a pair. Spencer has his stoner hat on and Bill is wearing a shirt from a guitar string company.

Spencer wore his hat that makes him look like one of those skateboarding/snowboarding stoner type kids you see a lot of in the Pacific northwest mostly downtown or in REI. He looked so funny.

We went to Trader Joe's to get some more Sauce to make Indian food. That is the only place that sells it. We were right by there anyway, because Bill had a ship a dude's guitar from the Fed Ex in Lake Oswego.

Ok here is a nutty little story: back when Spencer was first learning to talk he would see things and just shout out the name of them. He got to know the Fed Ex and UPS truck well because they came to our house like every day for Bill's business. However he had a little trouble pronouncing them correctly at first. When he would see a UPS truck he would shout "LOOK! PS Truck PS Guy!!!!!" That was fine. the trouble came when he would see a Fed Ex truck on the road or just anywhere. He would point, and shout "Look Mommy!!!! FAT ASS! FAT ASS Guy!!!!!" Uh, I think you mean FED EX, right Spencer? "Yes Daddy! FAT ASS!"

"FatAss" Truck

We also needed stuff from Costco - groceries and more importantly, GAS! Costco usually has pretty good gas prices. They also have great prices on fruit I think stuff like blueberries and strawberries, both thinbgs that Spencer would just INHALE if he could. We have discovered a great salad kit they have there two of them actually One is called Parisian Blend orMix or something its like a kit with everything you need to make this great salad: lettuce, dried cranberries toasted almonds, some kind of cheese and this white balsamic vinaigrette. Its GREAT and WAY cheaper and better then the kind you can get at the regular grocery store. Then they also have this great broccoli slaw kit thing you can get to make a huge bowl of broccoli slaw. Not that fattening, has 5 g protein per serving, it is like cole slaw but make from broccoli instead of cabbage. it also has like these soybean nuts in it, dried cranberries the dressing and some other stuff.. it is awesome. And Bill was out of coffee - can't have that. I rarely drink coffee anymore... Bill makes it pretty strong, so that mostly I will take a few sips from his ginormous daily morning mug and that is all I need to hit the ground running.

I am really getting much better at remembering to bring my own reusable shopping bags to the store. I must have like 25 of those bags that I have purchased but I really do use them everytime I go. it is a huge change for me, because i was ADDICTED to collecting plastic grocery bags. I had a HUGE collection of them in a giant Cheerios box under the kitchen sink, with instructiuons on the box to anyone who might happen upon them that they are NOT to be thrown away. I was using them for everything, especially back when we were still in the diapers phase... Long gone, thank goodness.

Now I use the reuseable bags. There is a kind they sell at the Fred Meyer here that are made by a co in Portland called Patty Reed Designs. Her bags are awesome and Fred Meyer has them for like $3 each. They are really festive, strong, well organized and durable. I use the INSTA-TOTES. Here is the Patty Reed website:
http://www.pattyreeddesigns.com/instatote/index.htm

But also here is a woman in Portland who says Patty Reed is evil because her bags are made in China and she sells them to Walmart too.
http://effdupgirl.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/to-patty-reed-designs/

SO maybe Patty Reed IS the Devil, but her bags are really really cute. I do not like any of the other bags out there, and I have tried a bunch. These are cute and they stay that way. They can stand up to me, my dog , my family, all kinds of abuse. One thing I like about them is that they do not have the STORE's name all emblazened all over them. I have like 8 of them at least: I like the Wildflowers one so much I have like 6 of those. I got enough to make sure I could always have them in both cars, so I do not forget to bring them to the store ever.

hearts

fruit on one side, veggies on the other


cherries
poppies

Wildflowers - my favorite one

Anyway. Bill is tired of me buying these totebags. They are made in China and I saw this program recently on PBS called The Tank Man about that guy who stood up to that line of tanks right after the Tianaman Square thing in China. I think it was an episode of FRONTLINE. In fact I thnk you can watch it on their website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/view/
China is a scary place and I wish they would not exploit workers and I do make an effort to not buy stuff made in China I guess but sometimes it is really hard, I mean WHAT ISNT made there now?

So. 53 days left on the Goat Farm. I have to go make a list to pack up the POD in an orderly fashion. Spencer is SUCH a pill sometimes but he has to be one of the sweetest kids EVER. Unlike his complaining mother, he derives such pleasure out of the simplest things. if you tell him that Yes, we will buy some YoBaby Yogurt tubes at Trader joes he is like doing backflips all the way home. I have never been that excited about yogurt. However here is a tip: freeze them. Kids LOVE them frozen. He is awesome. Spencer's favorite is the YOKIDS Squeezers. We freeze them and he eats them like a freeze pop.
http://www.stonyfield.com/ourproducts/kidsyogurt
Also: its not that I do not LOVE my Matrix, but I would LOVE a PRIUS and everytime I see one on the road, which is a LOT here in Portland, I want one. I wish we could have gotten one. Especially now that gas is $4.20 A GALLON. If things get much worse I may trade in my matrix for a Prius later this year.

I have Prius Envy.

Desperation sets in...Goat Farm Parole Countdown Calendar

CHAPINS HELD HOSTAGE: DAY 54

We all need something to keep ourselves from going insane, right? Some people drink, some play video games, some play tennis. My old neighbors, for example: Melinda does her scrapbooking, Shelley gardens, Tammy does crafts, Matt plays golf, John works out and power washes his driveway, Mormon Dave plays basketball. When Bill is going completely crazy get this: he bakes. He bakes cookies. They are really poofy cakelike chocolate chip cookies that EVERYONE loves. I am not a fan of these cookies, as I like my chocolate chip cookies thin, crispy, almost burned. To be nice, Bill usually flattens and burns a few for me. Anyway.

We all need a hobby. I used to needlepoint, before I had Spencer. Now my hobby is Spencer mostly - that, and endless complaining. However I still collect recipes I will occasionally attempt, I read non fiction books, I do a lot of internet research about stuff for the house. However, we have been living at this house since NOVEMBER 11th, 2007. How much can a person take????? I am about ready to lose my mind, but our official move out date is July 31st. Last night I made the Chapin Family Goat Farm Parole Countdown Calendar.

Stupid, huh? Immature, to say the least.

Hey I need this. My dog eats my husband's guitars, preschool is out, my kid constantly smells like chlorine, I have an entire house and two barns to pack into one tiny POD, and at the same time I have to figure out how to live in my new house without furniture or appliances.

SO: There are 54 days left in this hideous, smelly, goat infested, stinky, 1970's time warp of a residence.

What is WITH these animals? Also, Portland Luthierpalooza 2008

A very bad dog sleeping.

Saul's driveway: the scene of the crime. Also, here is the prime suspect.

Exhibit A: Chewed Chapin. Nice going, dog.

Portland bridge, one of about 200 in the city..

Picture of one of the towers of the OHSU tram, as taken through the sunroof. Its just so very "ARTY"... NOT!!!!! hahaha

They never start out that bad. They are sweet and usually a little timid and happy to be rescued by us. Then before you know it, for some unknown reason they start acting reallllly goofy. I am talking about our DOGS and this latest one fits the profile. Like Riley, when he ate screws, carpeting, an entire plastic frisbee and half a bottle of Darvocet. Not all in one sitting, of course, but that dog turned into a shark.

Today we all piled in the car and took a mini road trip to Portland, the big metropolis. Bill had to pick some stuff up from one guy and drop some off to another guy. These Luthiers are all crazy - they are always picking up, dropping off... Anyway Spencer insisted that the dog come with us in the back of the van. Fine She comes with us a lot, no biggie. We went to the first luthier's house, picked up that stuff, and when we got to Saul's (Bill's friend Saul Koll, he builds Archtops, did one for SEAL once http://www.kollguitars.com) house, Bill had to drop off a finished neck. He takes it out of the car, gives it to Saul, and discovers it has been EATEN!!!!!! Yes Amy the dog was very busy in the back seat and none of us noticed. This is the second incident this week. A few days ago Bill was grilling, and put a piece of sausage in his plaid shirt pocket. He pulls it out of the dryer after it had been in the laundry pile and then washed, and there is a HUGE hole in it and the pocket is completely MISSING. I mean there is a five inch hole in the shirt where the pocket used to be.

We are so good to these dogs and they all turn out of be crazy. Is it us???? I mean I can give Amy a little slack because she has been living with a goat for 8 months. We are ALL crazy living here. I hate this place. but COME ON!!!!! First crazy Riley then Boogie, then Missy who eats entire sticks of butter and now this crazy animal who not only eats weird stuff but also snores.

I don't need this. Keep it up, dog. You're gonna be living with the goat, permanently.

Stanley, Ed, Stouffers, and me, the crashing bore.

Red Wings win the Stanley Cup. Again.

Ed is in trouble

Nothing comes closer to home. Especially when you are still not in your home. Its not that bad though. Seriously. I lived on this stuff growing up. I had a single mom.

Well, the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup. Shocking!

You know I do not know if anyone actually reads this blog, if they do, they do not comment on it,. ever. Only IPLAWGUY.

I am starting to think it might be boring listening to me complain endlessly about living with a goat and pontificating on which is the best washer to buy. The house is not going to change much except on the inside but I guess I could talk about that.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Today my friend Fetina was going to come over so I could help her redo her resume. She has been on 43 job interviews. WOW, that is a few more than I even went on when I was looking.

Oh and here is the big news of the day: EdMcMahon's house is in foreclosure. I guess Ed has not been able to work since he broke his neck in a fall, and he got behind on the payments.

Well I think this is terrible and I do not LOVE Ed McMahon, I really found him extremely annoying, but there were a LOT of comics out there who just would not have anything had it not been for Johnny Carson. I think Johnny would want them to bail old Ed out. I hope someone like Ellen or Jerry Seinfeld or Gary Shandling or David Letterman or somebody helps out Ed. I mean, have a heart people, toxic mold killed his dog.

You can read about his HERE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/arts/05arts-FORECLOSUREP_BRF.html?ref=arts

Well, I have to go put the Stouffers frozen delight in the oven now. I am done cooking until we are back in our real house. Seriously. I am packing up the pots, pans, dishes food processors, mixers etc.

Talked to Habib the Tile Guy tonight!!!

I would like something like this in the kitchen, this is the Versailles pattern with travertine. I don't care if it is real travertine or not They have so many porcelain tiles that look just like the real thing, and less pinkish but this is the idea.

He is meeting us at the Sploded House on Monday to go over what we want in the kitchen and the two upstairs bathrooms. He is awesome, and he has a real passion for tile and all the stuff he does. I cannot wait to see him again.l We had met with him a bout two weeks before the house blew and we were gonna have him come over and install stuff but we were still making up our minds. Then the house blew and that project was off but i NEVER lost his number. Aweome. I hope somehow we can do a lighter colored tile in the kitchen in some kind of a tri colored versailles pattern. Then in the master Bath we can do a gray or dark tile can be porcelain or whatever, in the shower, around the tube and all over the floor.

Then in Spencer's bath room it is so small the he can just do the floor right now, but I really would like to talk to him about doing turtle tiles in there on the walls and back splash, eventually, and make it into like a turtle bathroom. Habib can do anything he is AWESOME.

Ex of some turtle tiles... You get the idea.

Sex and the Paint Colors: SERENITY NOW!!!!!!

SATC MOVIE: It was just AWESOME.

Frank Costanza: "SERENITY NOW!!!!"

I could not find a clip of SERENITY NOW but here is a top 25 Seinfeld moments clip to entertain you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzkVFqErzJs&feature=related

Last night I went to see the Sex and the City movie, by myself. Do not feel sorry for me, I prefer it that way, because no one I know wanted to go. IF you never watched the series the movie would be dull. I was not about to drag Bill there. It was great.. I got a small popcorn that was I guess about the size of a grocery bag, a small drink which was a mere 450 ounces, and some gummy bears and I sat exactly where I wanted to and kicked the seat in front of me the entire way through. I like to sit near the front, though not TOO close. The movie was AWESOME when it finally started but there were like two hours of previews first. I thought it would NEVER start. It was great to go to the late show on a Sunday night not very crowded. I of course did not get all the way thru the popcorn or the drink, and at some point I dropped the gummy bears on the floor by accident but i was so into the movie I never bothered to look for them.

The movie was SO VERY AWESOME, it really really was and it was one of the most fun things I have done in like 15 months. honestly.

Today we met Builder Nick at the house and picked out Interior paint colors, door knobs and a stairs bannister. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Get this: the house is going to be painted three colors - You can look them up on Sherwin Williams website...
I was not able to download the pics.

the three colors are:

White trim and also on the ceilings
Sleepy Blue
Lazy Gray

You think there might be a theme here?

Honestly, I know it is going to look really nice and we had a lot of exciting colors in our last house - some ours, and some were there when we moved in and we never got around to changing them. But after this year I have had ENOUGH EXCITEMENT.

You know what I was thinking when I picked out these interior colors? Well you have to be a fan of SEINFELD, but remember on that show when George's father keeps shouting "SERENITY NOW!!!!!" like a total maniac? That is EXACTLY what was going through my head when I picked these colors. So one entire wall will be white because it cannot be helped... it is near the foyer and goes up to stories hard to explain but most of the house will be LAZY GRAY. Except a couple of rooms will be SLEEPY BLUE: our bed and bathroom, Spencer's bathroom, my office and the downstairs bathroom.

The Mediation will probably be delayed. Its ok, it needs to be. But we are moving off the Goat Farm by July 31 no matter what. That knowledge is all the Serenity I need right Now.

This is the last week of preschool before it gets out for summer. Starting next week he will be home all day except for four weeks when he goes to Day Camps, all with different themes:

Creative Art Camp June 23-27^th

Simply Science Camp July 7-11

Wet and Wild Water Camp July 21-25

Delightful Delicacies Cooking Camp August 4-8

These camps will all be at his current preschool, so he will know some of the kids, and the teachers. They get out at 1 PM and he will have to leave at 12 15 every day to be able to get to swimming on time, but its okay. Also he will have swimming lessons every day at 12:30 PM for 30 minutes. Also every Tuesday he will have KINDER KEMPO, which is like Karate for Four year olds. Then I will have to take him to my Weight Watcher's meetings while he is still in his little Karate suit. GREAT. Spencer is SUCH a pain in the neck at my meetings, especially when Siri brings Travis.. Then they go nuts. The only way I can keep him behaving is I play this game with him where I pretend he is a dog. he crawls on the floor under people's chairs, but sometimes he sits or rolls over, and he is at least not talking as a dog. I pet him, and hope that he keeps it together for the 30 minute meeting. How dumb is this???? But you do what works, and that works. Then JJ the leader lets him collect the nametags for the raffle, he loves that.

He will be home the rest of the time, but we will be busy packing to leave the Goat Farm so who knows. Hopefully he will somehow stay out of trouble and we do have a babysitter now. We cannot really afford to do with him what we did with him last summer, which was to put him into Learning Tree for the summer. I was working then, which is why we did it.

I just hope that between all that stuff and moving back to the house and maybe the mediation and saying goodbye to the goat that he will be busy enough to at least not have his mind rot. We were going to do soccer too but this summer is really hard for us and we do not have the time to take him to pracitces and go to games all the time. Not this year - we have a little too much going in.

Chapins 1, Earth 0

Chapin Spolded House

Earth.

How many opportunities in life do you have to replace an entire house AND two cars????

Hopefully not many, but we have had this chance. However, we have not been able make use of many Earth Friendly options in either our cars OR the rebuilding of our house due to the prohibitive cost of the materials, labor or lack of knowledge by the building code dept of Canby.

So far we have been able to

• reuse some of the wood from the old house
• replaced the Expedition with a used better mileage Toyota Matrix - 33 mpg v. 12 mpg
  
• got some earth friendly insulation, bu could not do the entire house with it because of Code rules and cost
• we will get energy efficient appliances, EVENTUALLY, including washer/ dryer
  
• we opted for the 90% efficiency furnace
• we are going to TRY to afford a tankless water heater
• going to try to get SOME earth friendly flooring options if we can
• we are reusing the granite that was only a month old when the house exploded
• replacing the washer, dryer, cook top, oven, dishwasher and fridge with energy star ones
  

Here are the things we wanted to but could not afford to do:

• two hybrid cars
• Solar power on roof
• solar water heater
• wind turbine on roof
• denim insulation
• soybean insulation
• bamboo flooring
• recycled glass tiles
• recycled glass countertops or tiles on floors/walls
• concrete countertops
• dual flush toilets
• syncrete (concrete made of garbage)

There were many more, but almost all of these things were just completely cost prohibitive. Some of them save money in the long run, but cost a LOT upfront. For example a tankless water heater is $1400. a regular water heater is like $200. see what I mean? The point is that most people cannot afford to tear down their house and rebuild it, and replace both cars, They just cannot do it. We did that, but we could not afford much in the Earth Friendly category because it is all just sooooooo expensive.

On the good side, I do not use grocery bags anymore, and I always bring my own. My favs are the HUGE ones you can get at Costco for about a dollar each They hold like three regular bags of groceries. I keep them in the back of my car.

COSTCO Reusable totes: $1.10 each, and HUGE. This is not my picture, though.

LOOK how much they hold!!!

GO WINGS!!!!!

Put on your WING NUT HAT, grab a Molson and GO WINGS!!!!!!!!

R.I.P. to Legendary Director and Actor Sydney Pollack.

Actor Director Sydney Pollack

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080527/ap_en_mo/obit_sydney_pollack_15

Director Sydney Pollack http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001628 has died. he directed and acted in some of the best movies ever made, and I loved his work both as an actor AND a director. He directed films like out of Africa, Tootsie, The Firm, Three Days of the Condor, The Way We Were, Havana, Random Hearts and Absence of Malice.

He acted in many films as well, including Tootsie, Eyes Wide Shut, Michael Clayton, The Player and Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives.

He was a fantastic director, but an even better actor in my opinion, and this is only ONE of my favorite roles, as Dustin Hoffman's agent in Tootsie. It is one of my all time favorite movie roles, ever. I hope the you Tube clip here will work. but if not, look it up. He was amazing and will be missed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnHqiipcw6g

Anniversary in Review, Colors, life with the goat

This is only a fraction of the shades and hues and tints of grey we have explored.

Caprese, one of my very favorite things on earth to eat
It is fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil leaved, garlic and pesto, and the best thing is to pour a little balsamic over it. This place had FANTASTIC Balsamic. I could have put it in a glass and drank it...drunk it? I wonder where they get it. They also had a great lemon oregano vinaigrette on my salad.

We did not go to the Hall Street Grill for our tenth anniversary dinner, because we did not want to be that far away from home on the very first time we had a sitter. SO we instead went to abella Italian kitchen http://www.abellaitaliankitchen.com which is a great Italian restaurant located unfortunately enough within the Fascist State of Wilsonville. Bill had Penne, I had lasagna, (which I later regretted, because it was kind of a boring choice) we shared a couple of great appetizers, and skipped dessert. We wanted to get to the movie on time.

We then made it to see FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL which was a great funny movie. Its is for adults, and it is more in the vein of "Something about Mary" than "Manhattan" but it was still a funny funny movie. The lead character reminded me very much of my friend Harry. I had some red licorice at the movies for dessert, and I thought right after dinner that I would not make it to the movie, because I got so sleepy from just ONE GLASS of wine... I am a cheap date. BUT I rallied and we had a fun time. Spencer loved his babysitter. We plan to hire her again very soon, probably next weekend, when Steve, Siri and Bill will all go to see Indiana Jones and I will ditch those Fuddy Duddies and go see Sex and the City. Yes I was an SATC fan, surprise surprise. Though very crass at times, I did really love all of those characters and I am very much looking forward to seeing what they have come up with as far as Carrie and Mr. Big. I have no interest in INDIANA JONES, thank you very much. Blecch. I also do not go to the Real Movies that frequently, because we have Netflix and HBO and Starz AND pay Per view if we need it - comes with DirectTV (which we hardly ever use). I usually do not mind waiting for movies to come to netflix but SATC I have to go see. I am excited.

Also we are still exploring paint colors, and we are currently debating over shades of gray, literally. Bill is leaning to a darker more putty grey and I prefer a brighter lighter gray. The drywall goes in this week. I have really no more updated pictures because outwarly nothing has changed Its all inside stuff for now. Next week we are supposed to pick out our wood stuff, like the banister and stuff. Speaking of BANNISTER there is ANOTHER Incredible Hulk movie coming out. How stupid is that???

THe month of May is ending and then comes June, and when June gets here that means it is the month before JULY and JULY 31 is the absolute latest we can live on the Goat Farm. I CANNOT WAIT to get out of here. Wow, shocking, huh?

Oh and I voted, but not for Obama or Hillary or McCain. I could not vote for anyone, at least in any of the partisan races, because I never declared a party preference and Oregon has a closed Primary.

SpencerFish, Ten Years, Drywall.

For the Man who has.... well, an uninsulated half built house...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, BILL!

This is our 10th Anniversary Cake....

This is what I really got him.

We have decided that Spencer loves swimming SO VERY MUCH that he should do it every day. SO starting the week that school gets out, he will be doing it EVERY DAY, all summer long. Every week day, 12:30 PM around these parts will be Swimmin' Time. Time to ride the goat on over to the Cement Pond. He loves it, so why not. A goal for him is at the end of the Summer if has learned enough he will be able to join the Canby Penguins... they are like the younger swimming freaks in town. Then if he does well in there in a year or two he can join the Canby Gators. They are the town swim team and they are actually pretty great. What I like about them is that there is no real age minimum, the kid just has to have certain skills. I am not loving how gross and humid the air is inside the Canby Swim Center, but I am trying to get used to it as I am going to be spending a LOT of time there.

Other Big News is that Friday May 23d is my tenth wedding Anniversary and we are ACTUALLY for the FIRST TIME EVER, drum roll,..... getting a BABYSITTER!!!!! This girl who sits for Spencer's friend Donut is going to come out to the Goat Farm and babysit for us We are going to go to a cool restaurant in Portland call the Hall Street Grill http://www.hallstreetgrill.com/ which has been recommended, and then, maybe even to see a movie!!!!! WOW!!!! Spencer knows the sitter she is a teenager and she will do anything Spencer wants to, as far as playing with the blocks etc so I know he is going to have a blast with her.

As for gifts, I don't even care but the proper gift is either diamond or blue sapphire jewelry, or tin or aluminum. I am not sure what Bill is getting me, but I got him R30 Insulation and sound proof sheet rock. Maybe we can get each other stuff later but all I care about now is moving back into my house.

Also they have finished all of the insulation in the house and are starting on the drywall very soon The next thing is we have to pick out the wood stuff for the inside... Not the cabinets, we already picked those, but the stuff like the stairs banister and interior doors and stuff like this. Then they will paint the outside I think, then pour the new driveway thing, then add the garage door and then put the decorative stone stuff on the outside then start doing more stuff on the inside like installing the kitchen etc. We are nearing the end thank goodness, as I am sooooo tired of the Goat Farm.

I am trying to complain less. TRYING. I cannot believe I have been married to Bill for TEN YEARS but for the most part it has been pretty great. We have both our own crises, but we have weathered the various storms always together. We fight - I mean who doesn't? but we are very committed, or should be hahah. Most of our fights are just sooo stupid.... they end up just bei9ng funny. For years I accused him of stretching the dog's face out... because he would always grab Riley's face and give him pretend kisses and in this dumb voice say "I love my dawg what a good dawg " this kind of thing.. To me, the dog had a kind of a saggy face that he did not have when we first got him and I still think Bill is responsible for this. I will never think otherwise. Oh, and I never forget ANYTHING. Like how he totally stretched out the dog's face.

Insulation is in the house now. Pictures coming

Film at 11:00.

In case you re wondering, the picture is just the house as you last saw it, but instead with a bunch of piles of insulation all piled near it. Nick the builder went to Hawaii for a week.

Sneak Preview, Circling the Aiport, 10 years of Marriage to the Bluesman.

Guess what Temperature it is in Oregon today?? About 150. No I guess it is like 94 but it is gonna be HOT for the next few days. The goat farm house has bad insulation and so the A?C does not work as well. We got some fans, we are gonna try our best to stay cool.

I complain WAYYYYY too much about things. I know this. AND I also know we are in the home stretch here... This coming week comes the insulation, then then the drywall the week after that and then they will really get going. There is a lot to do, pour concrete for a new driveway and walkway, install tons of lights, hang lamps put in cabinets etc.. But it is coming together, and We really can see the light at the end of this loooooong tunnel. Still, we have been out of our house for over a YEAR, and it has been a reallllly long road. I just want to feel SETTLED like I can put things away for GOOD. I can put stuff away in a drawer or a closet and KNOW that if I come back in a month it will still be there or I will not have to move it.

Really all of this unrest started in in FEB of 2007, not April when the house exploded, because February is when we started the remodel of almost the whole house. Starting in February we were living in one room of the house - all of us - with no kitchen. We got new floors in every room and had to move everything out of all the rooms into the Bonus room. The Bonus room later collapsed, and thus, we lost more stuff than we should have. It was all being stored in the room that collapsed and then caught on fire.

SO here I go again, complaining, but since February, we have been living out of boxes, suitcases... etc. We had JUST finished most of the remodel when the house blew, so really it has been 15 months since we have had a NORMAL life.

Saying over and over that I cannot wait to get back to my house does not help me get back there any faster. In fact if it were not 200 degrees outside I would be packing the POD right now. I just feel like I am stuck....sort of circling the airport. I can SEE the terminal, I can picture myself there, but I am not driving the plane. I cannot START anything I cannot ORGANIZE anything I cannot PLAN anything until we are back there. Limbo is okay for a while I guess, and I am trying hard to be patient. so BLAH BLAH BLAH


ON the good side, Spencer LOVES his swimming class and he is just amazing at it. Just fearless, and graceful and agile, and he may have found a passion. It is great to watch.

May 23d is my tenth wedding anniversary. We are ACTUALLY going to get a BABYSITTER and go out to dinner at a place where they DON'T sing the clapping Happy Birthday song every ten minutes. Marriage is not pure bliss every minute, but I have a great marriage and it is to a great man. He listens to TERRIBLE music. He loses his car keys and his wallet about 35 times each day. He can be kind of a space cadet, but he is a great person, a great Dad, a great husband, and we are really happy.

To me, the secret of a great marriage is to marry the right person in the first place, and then make a real commitment to respect each other's feelings. That means none of that sniping sort of verbal abuse that a lot of people get into. Once you cross that line, it is hard to come back.... once an awful thing is said, it is very very hard to take back and erase it from the memory of the person you know? Sometimes it takes all you have to NOT say the meanest thing you can think of, but I think about how much it might hurt him, so I try hard hard hard not to. That does not mean you do not tell the truth, which can also hurt, it just means, you know BE NICE. I grew up in a sort of a toxic, angry kind of household where hurtful things were said a lot and honestly it is no way to live. I refused to live that way after a certain point, and I will not tolerate it. I am not ever going to tiptoe around a person's temper, nor should anyone do this for me. We are not perfect but we try our best.

Serenity, Summer, and Giant Bugs Inside Ears of Corn.

Not sure what Spencer is doing here, but he was a big help this weekend loading up the POD... Just look at all that SPLODED STUFF in the Goat Farm Garage.

I took this Picture of the house today. Not much being done this week because the builder is in hawaii for a week. But all the HARDI PLANK stuff is on exept for the place on the garage where they are going to put rocks... or decorative stone stuff You know...

Gotta say here, I totally get what those alcoholics or whatever are talking about with that serenity prayer thing now. Sometimes all you can do is hat you can do... and you just have to try your best.

The guy who owns the Goat Farm now would like to sell it. He also wants to SHOW IT with us still living in it. So, now, because we were not stressed out ENOUGH we have to keep this place immaculate and looking like a four year old and a dog do not actually live here. Then if he does sell it, and if the buyers would like to move in ASAP, guess what that means? WE GET TO MOVE AGAIN, EVEN THOUGH OUR HOUSE WILL BE FINISHED BY JULY.

However that is a lot of Ifs to contend with and so to stay relatively sane I am just basically sort of focusing on the things I CAN control.

We have to get totally ready for the lawyers.

We have to pack up the POD.

We have to get a dumpster.

We have to do all the preschool stuff like field trips & end of year stuff.

We have to Get Spencer to Swimming and all of his classes this summer.

I been a CURVES slacker and need to get back there, though SHEER PANIC does burn a lot of calories....

When I am truly going insane, I used to just pretend I was at the Movies. Seriously. I did, but that was back in JANUARY when it seemed there was no end in sight. Now, either way, no matter what happens, we are going to be almost in our house by July. So now when I need something else to focus on I just start planning out house stuff, like How Habib the Tile Guy is going to revolutionize my bathroom, or endlessly search for the perfect dishwasher to buy, or play Scrabulous, or research dryers or wall ovens or insulation or decorative stone stuff.. blah blah blah

This is a strange way to live, imagining a new interior for a house that you lived in for three years but that blew up and is now going to be basically the same house but a little different. SO you KNOW the house, but you don't. You KNOW what it is like to live there and changed certain things that you did not like about it, yet you still do not know how it will all look after it is done.

It makes my brain hurt and I feel so stupid for worrying about such stupid things when there are people who have it so much worse than I do. For me there is an end in sight, and I am realllllly looking forward to going home to the home I do not know but already lived in for three years.

Hopefully by August 1, we will be all moved in and settled, and I will get to spend this summer the way I had planned to spend last summer: walking down to the Corn Lady (this woman who runs a farm stand form her farm, at the end of our street) every day and buying really fresh produce, and then getting back to my true passion: torturing my family daily with my hideous experimental cooking. Making gallons of soup that no one really likes so much and freezing it.

I miss that corn lady.... that goofy look in her eye when she looks at me and asks "SO what cha gonna do with all those tomatoes???" And I know that she knows that I have NO IDEA what to do with them and I want to give her the true answer: "Well, Betty, I am going to boil them mercilessly for hours, until they have no more flavor and then force my family to eat them!"

but instead I lie each time and say, "Uhmm I have not decided yet... "

Ah... Summer in Canby, the warm months where it stops raining for a while and old ladies and those weird 4H kids gather outside and make fun of me because I am scared of those bugs inside ears of corn, I think chickens are pets, and I don't really know where my food comes from. Magic.

House has more stuff on it... Dessert night... POD

Latest Picture of the house...

POD arrives at Goat Farm

The PODS guy just called and he is on his way here.. so that is the big event for today.

The Mother's Dessert night at the preschool was pretty fun and I met some other moms that I did not know and hung with some I did know. SPencer broght me a pice of chocolate cake the size of my head and then pretty much ate it all. I do not like chocolate cake, but I did have a piece of lime cheese cake from Costco. For drinks they had apple juice... It was like Diabetic Coma Night. It was pretty fun and everyone told me what a great guy Bill was. But of course I already knew this... Then the chocolate cake kicked in and the kids started getting wild. Apparantly SPencer is part of a trio that also includes Ashton and one of the Devins...Devin Ritchie I think. They were all there, and when they are together all hell breaks loose. Right before we left Spencer had one of the moms in toy handcuffs and was making her do the perp walk. It was time to go. It was nice, and sort of fun, but I am glad it is only ince a year...

Also we went by thehouse to get the mail and there is more stuff on it now They almost finished putting the HARDI PLANK on. I am not sure what it is, but everyone puts it on their houses here in Oregon. It rains like 349 days a year here. The color htere is just what the color of the stuff is, we are going to still paint it.

Well, I have to go move my van and Toyota so the POD dude can come. We also got four new Netflix yesterday: The Savages, Juno, Dewey Cox and Charlie Wilson's War. Hopefully we will find time to watch some this weekend.

Later Homeskillets...