Amy the Dog turns Two. Yeah. We had a party. Of Course.

We actually do not know when her birthday is, but Spencer kept bugging everyone to have a dog birthday party for her, so we did that today. First I made a dog Birthday cake which was really a meatloaf with a LOT of vegetables in it along with the meat. I have been hiding veggies in meatloaf for Spencer forever, and he has not caught on yet. In this one there were carrots, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, celery and a whole head of garlic. They trick is to chop them pretty small by hand and then sort of finish them in the food processor. Then you add milk, breadcrumbs, the meat and two eggs and Voila! Veggies meatloaf. Plus I put some sauce on the top. I made one for the humans and one for Amy the dog. We ate dinner and then it was time for the Dog Party. Bill missed it. He had to go to Burbank to meet some dude.

First we made Amy a Delicious Meatloaf cake

Then we decorated it

Then we lit the candles on it

Then Spencer helped Amy blow out the candles

Then Amy got to eat her cake

and it was ALLL GONE in an INSTANT!!!

Then it was time for Amy to open her present!!!

Spencer helper her open it.. Look!!! Its a BONE!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMY!!!!

Appliances are in. I 'm not there, so I cannot see 'em.

We are leaving sometime this upcoming weekend. I cannot wait to get home. Its not been terrible here at Bill's parents house, and Spencer has had a lot of fun, but I need to be HOME. It has been something like 500 days. I have upcoming appointments, a Pod and two storage units to unpack, Preschool is gonna start, all this stuff to do. We will get home probably Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and hopefully start moving in and getting back to our life after this long and heinous interruption. Pretty soon it will be all about all the stuff is usually is.. making a week's worth of Spencer's lunches, Weight Watchers and Curves, playdates, Kinder Karate, what's for dinner, lawyers, laundry, goofing off beating Iplaw at Scrabble on Facebook....but at least all of it will be done at home, at our own house, which honestly is not yet a HOME, but it will be. We will make it home, and we will make it into a home again. This year we will be there for Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and I am really looking forward to just simply being there.

Plus there is NO GOAT, gophers, chickens, cows, llamas, donkeys, Turdmaster, bird poop barn, stinky water, ancient washing machine, crazy neighbors, coyotes or Landlord Dudes. Its just going to be US, for once, not Wild Kingdom.

Also I am going to copy down a lot of MaryJo's amazing recipes. I love LOVE my mother in law. She has great recipes for things and she is such a dear sweet person. I have enjoyed visiting with her the most, except for maybe the other day going to Tamara's house. That was fun too. I hope she sends me the pictures soon.

Bill and I did sneak out to a movie the other day. We saw Tropic Thunder . it was a $5 matinee, and I was glad we went to the cheap show. it was pretty crass, but i did laugh hard at some parts. Robert Downey Jr was incredible in it. Seriously. I mean if it were up to me that was worth an Oscar.

DAY 494.... a Lot like days 492 & 493, except with Oompah Loompahs

Spencer and Grandpa made a birdhouse together!!!

Well not exactly We went to Capistrano Beach near Dana Point, Ca to see Bill's sister Tamara and her three boys. My goodness those boys have grown and they are all SO tan and SOOOO blonde, they look like Oompah Loompahs. I am not even kidding. They spend like ALLL DAY surfing and their are completely tan from head to toe and then their hair is completely white. Dylan, Chase and Tai, aged 16, 14 and 11 all look collectively like little George Hamiltons. We all had a great time visiting with Tamara. It was so great to see her, I had not seen her or been to her house in three years. Spencer had a riot with his cousins.

You cannot even see how tan they are in this picture from the last visit, they are way darker than this now...

Large, Medium, Small: Chase, Dylan & Tai.
When I first met these boys in 1997, the youngest one had just turned one and could not walk yet. This is also from the last visit. I will post pics from this visit as soon as I get them.

WAIT until I post the pics of them They are MORE TAN than this!!!!

The odd thing is though, it has been realllly humid in Ventura (which is pretty unusual) where we were but its not usually that humid in Dana Point. Tamara lives literally like three houses from the ocean, so its always a little sort of moist I guess, but this year there too it has been unbearably humid. No one can understand it, but maybe its global warming or something.

Anyway we had a great grilled dinner and Spencer had a riot with his cousins. Tamara also made Caprese salad - one of my favorites - and we had all kinds of great stuff. I love Tamara, she has such a bubbly and vibrant personality and she is such a great mom, one of the best I have even known. I just love her more and more each time I visit with her. I also had not seen her husband Mel in a very very long time and it was actually really great to see him!

I will put up some pictures from the last visit they had with him until I get the pics from here that she took last night.

Mary Jo goes to count the offering at the church every Monday AM so while she was off doing that and Spencer was with Grandpa building a tool box, and Bill went off to Los Angeles to meet some guys for business, I stayed home and made a bunch of phone calls. I called the builder to see how the house is coming and it MIGHT be finished early. Whenever it is done we are leaving here this coming Saturday. We can take our time driving home, esp on the Holiday weekend, but we are going to stop back in San Jose again to see some more friends that we missed. We had a great time visiting on Bill's mini business trip. I am looking forward to that.

Then also, we have a 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan Minivan and it now has a crack in its windshield. Sirius Satellite radio came free for a year in the car, and we were worried that the dots in the windshield might be some kind of antennae for that, so that would be a concern if we were to have to replace it. I called the place about that and its no problem to replace the windshield, but then I called State Farm. They want us to go to a certain place they go to, so we will wait until we get home to fix it. Besides, if you fix it here, it could just happen again on the way home!

Also I called Britax about a part of the car seat that got broken when it is was in my father in law's car. Its no big deal and they are sending me a replacement part for it for free. However since we will not be home yet, maybe, before it comes I had it sent to Siri's house. I sort of did a temp fix on it for the time being to get us home. We have two identical car seats but of course we only brought ONE on the trip haha.

Then I also had to call the Canby Post office to extend the time we need the mail held. I extended it to Friday.

I guess the are finishing up the plumbing and the electrical this week and all of the appliances except the washer and dryer are coming tomorrow. I am getting excited about it actually They still have to put finish on the stairs, and no one can be in there during that, but they have to wait 'til the plumbing and elec people are done. It takes like three days for the finish on the stairs to dry. Then all that is left I guess are inspectors and landscaping but landscape can be done after we are in there. that reminds me that we are gonna need a new lawnmower and hose and all that stuff. GAWD. ALLL that lawn stuff got exploded pretty badly. The hose and that hose reel thing like melted and fused together... kinda like the ball of laundry goo that was all melted together... It was in the dryer when the fireball flew through the laundry room.

FINALLY!!!!

I am MOST EXCITED about our new washer and dryer. Even though we got like a scratch and dent set (new but with a scratch or dent haha) - whatever who cares? This will be the very first in 500 days I will be able to do laundry in MY OWN washer and dryer... Seriously. You think that is not a big deal, but it IS for a person who washed my clothes clothes in weird rented and old machines using Goat Farm water etc. GAWD. Spencer's Karate Uniform turned GRAY!!!! That reminds me that I have to call that store and tell them when to deliver the stuff. I cannot wait!!!

ALSO, for the first time in 500 days I am going to once again have ICE AND WATER THRU THE DOOR in my fridge. I cannot even describe how much I have missed filtered, clean drinkable (not goat smelling) water, at the touch of a button ALONG with filtered ice, as much as you want, whenever you want it. Plus, this ENTIRE SUMMER has been spent with little or no air conditioning. We will once again have Central AC, and I am gonna crank that thing until November. I am not joking. After they hook up the TIVO I may never leave the house again. Seriously. What else do you need besides TIVO, AC, a new NORMAL washer/dryer and an Ice maker? Uhmmm NOT MUCH. At least not for me.

I am getting actually really excited to be back there. The only TOTAL BUMMER is that we missed ANOTHER ENTIRE SUMMER in our house and our neighborhood. I wish I could be home when they deliver the appliances. I am really bummed to be missing it. I just want to see how it all will fit together and look finally.

Talking to the Undead , Meeting old friends, Staying another night

Ok issue number one: My friend and classmate is in fact not dead, but alive and living in Huntington Beach. In fact I got a call from her this morning. Apparently not only did the alumni office think she was dead, but that she was also married. Neither dead nor married, we had a nice but interesting conversation.

Also last night we had a fun dinner with two olds friends of ours in San Jose, Tim and Masa. It was really really fun. One was our old pal Masa Kobayashi, who practically lived at our house and shop, and the other was Tim Volpicella who is a great friend of Bill's and was the best man at our wedding. Today he is with another guy who stood up int he wedding, Kirk Tamura. he is another one of Bill's friends from the Music School at San Jose State, where Bill went to college. Today they all had a gig at the Children's Museum, and Bill watched it. They are in a group that writes songs for kids and we were bummed that we had not brought Spencer with us, because he would have loved it. However we are enjoying the time away. SO anyway. I am enjoying this trip to San Jose and seeing great old friends. We left here because there was no way we were ever going to be able to buy a house in a decent neighborhood, and we felt we needed that for Spencer to grow up. We also were tired of driving all the way up to Oregon just to buy guitar wood. So we do not miss the actual city of San Jose, but we do miss our dear friends very much. AND the restaurants.

I have been working on the classnotes most of the day. I have no pics but I have included, for your viewing pleasure, some pictures Bill took at the PAPA HUGS gig today that show Tim and kirk playing.

Business trips, Class notes, lawn mowers.

Bill is in SFO today

A sad day at Kingswood School For Girls

I never had a lawnmower...boo hooo.. hahahah

Last night I decided to come with Bill on his trip from L.A. to SFO. SO now I am in the hotel while Bill went to SFO to meet with whoever it is. I am not bored, because I have a lot to do. I am the Class Secretary of my alumni class of Kingswood Cranbrook, which means i write the Classnotes for the magazine. Because Cranbrook Kingswood was two separate schools when I went there (C brook for boys, K wood for girls) There are two separate secs for each year right up until a few years after I graduated. After that, I think the years all have one person.

For my class it was first a girl named Marian Rey McIntyre, who then handed it off to Cackie Boomer, and then to my friend Michelle Letica. Michelle and I are friends, and last year Michelle asked me to do it. All three of my predecessors did a great job and it is tough to live up to, so I try to do a great job but it is not easy to find people to give me news. I have to send out emails and postcards.

This year I am sad to learn that there is a rumor that another one of my classmates has died. I have to confirm this information with the alumni office and I have a call into them. SO, if this is true, and I hope it is not, this will be an especially sad classnotes post.

Anyway I am doing that in the hotel while Bill went to San Fran and then on to Napa. They may be having that guitar festival up in Healdsburg right now, too, I am not sure. I can never keep track.

Spencer stayed at Grandma's house, along with the dog and I hear they are having fun. He was told he could call us anytime he wanted and he has if he feels upset or misses us but so far he has seemed okay with talking to us on the phone. We brought a bunch of beach toys for him and also his scooter, and toys and books and movies. The most fun he has had so far was the other day when he and Bill's dad built a birdhouse. Then the next day I think they painted it. I forget to get a picture of it before we left.

So anyway. Bill took the car of course and picked up Mike Roberto at Dave Kelly's house, and Josh Smith at his hotel in San Fran and they all went to somewhere in Napa. I am not sure how late they will be but this hotel (here in San Jose) has a silly little kitchenette, and I brought soup and stuff and drinks and whatever, so I am cool. I think there is a jack in the Box next door, too, so I could go there for dinner if he is not back or whatever. I am fine.. I am just napping and watching TV and doing my class notes and enjoying my break from Spencer and the dog and Bill and the 'Sploded house and Grandma's house, and all the insanity that has been my life for the past year.

They are making progress on the house, the only stuff left is to stain and finish the stairs and banister, do the plumbing and electrical and install all the lights, put the Tiny Town carpet in Spencer's room, and do the lawn, bushes and new fence all around the back yard or whatever.. I know that side gate near the garage got blown right off. Also we will now nave a back yard fence that will be completely enclosed, as in the dog cannot get out. Unless she digs, which she might. We are not sure how she will adjust to life back home without two acres to run on, like at the Goat Farm.

We are planning to leave to go home like Sept 1 or 2. Spencer's preschool starts Sept 9th I think or maybe later I cannot remember. BUT I do know that the POD bills on the 9th of each month, and if we can get it delivered from storage to the house and emptied by the 9th it would be better because then we would not be billed for another month.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz I just want to be home and I know this sounds stupid and selfish and dumb but I just want to be home, in my kitchen and in my bed with my family and my TIVO and and my dog and just get back to a normal life. I want to cook dinner every night and do laundry in a washing machine that is NOT rented and sit on my OWN crappy non rented furniture you know what I mean? I just want to do stupid stuff. Stock the pantry and get ice and water from the door of my fridge again, and start eating AT HOME every night and making Spencer's lunches and just GET BACK TO MY LIFE. It has been like 490 freaking days. ENOUGH ALREADY. I am sick of all the DRAMA. We need to pull the trigger on this thing and get it OVER WITH. I want to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in my own house, give Spencer a bath in my own tub, read him stories in my own bed and yell at him in my own back yard,mow the lawn (okay, I mean TELL BILL to mow the lawn) all that stupid stuff.

We actually never had a lawn mower growing up. My mom was a single mom and she did not know how to work one and she always hired these crazy people to cut the lawn. Thus I have no idea how to even turn on a lawn mower. I have never used one. Pretty sad, huh?
Gawd.

House will not be ready on the 25th of August. SHOCKING!

HAHAHAHA Well I knew it would not be, but we did talk to Builder Nick today about everything. Its coming along and at least when we get back EVERYTHING will be ready. Landscaping and everything. I have no pictures to put up.

Bill is taking a road trip up to San Fran today for business. I guess he has to go pick up a guy in Capitola and then they are headed to Tom Ribbecke's (he is another guitar maker) who lives somewhere in Napa Santa Rosa I think. Its all business stuff.

Spencer and I are staying here and maybe tomorrow we will go to the library. I will probably go to Curves tomorrow too. Later this week when Bill gets back we will go to visit Bill's sister Tamara in Capistrano Beach down in Orange Co. She has three teenage boys that are surfer dudes.

I think I have a picture of when they were all together last time. but I could not find it so instead I will put up this picture of when Spencer went on a horse at preschool this year

Love the music in this crazy commercial...from 1961

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Ejoe-Dedk

Flash of Genius: IPLAW, are you paying attention?

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/aug/17/film-reveals-inventors-fight-over-car-wiper/

There was this guy in Detroit who had been an engineering professor at Wayne State University. he invented intermittent windshield wipers. He took his invention to all of the auto companies and a lot of things happened but they ultimately said they were not interested, and they turned him down. then they came out with HIS INVENTION! he had to sue all the auto cos, and he had a nervous breakdown, his marriage failed and finally he got somewhere with it but it was a mess. well, this was a HUGE story in Detroit. I remember it well. They are making a movie about it and I think it is great that they are finally telling this compelling story of this guy Robert Kearns.

Anyway the movie is starring Greg Kinnear as the guy I cannot wait to see it. Its coming out I think in October.

Maybe its all we have been through in the past 485 days, but something about this story and this film resonates with me. I have never invented anything, but there is an element of David v Goliath in this story, and at times I feel the same way. This kind of thing is what I'll bet makes a lot of people really glad they went to law school. I'll bet my friend IPLAWGUY would not put up with this! hahah Too bad he was a toddler when all of this happened.

This is a link to a clip of the preview:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809914818/video/8946851/20080723/150/8946851-300-wmv-s.68744984-,8946851-700-wmv-s.68744992-,8946851-1000-wmv-s.68744997-,8946851-300-flash-s.68745010-,8946851-100-flash-s.68745003-,8946851-700-flash-s.68745015-,8946851-1000-flash-s.68745023-,8946851-100-wmv-s.68744973-,8946852-2700-qtv-s.68745027-,8946852-10300-qtv-s.68745035-,8946852-6800-qtv-s.68745030-

They all went to church this morning,

I stayed home. I cleaned and organized our bedroom, put away some laundry, took a shower, cleared the breakfast dishes and then later I even did my nails. I have to look presentable for the big big birthday extravaganza later today. Bill is turning 43. Everyone is coming over: Aunt Dolly, her son Ken ( who is more like Bill's brother) his wife Laura and their two daughters.

Spencer always has fun at their church. He and grandma started the cake last night which took four times longer than if she had done it alone, and then today they are going to frost it. She made a delicious looking three layer German chocolate cake.

Mystery Poster....Bill? Is that you? At grandma's house...

Spencer watches a movie in the back seat... "Mighty Machines: Diggers and Dozers"

Spencer with a bucket on his head...

Spencer and Freddie during intermission...

Bill got my laptop working today now that we have been at Grandma's two days and I think he did two identical posts. Not sure why, maybe he just really really really likes that song? I dunno.

Anyway we are here at Grandma's house and Spencer is having a riot. Right now they are baking Bill's birthday cake. Bill turns 43 tomorrow.

The drive up was pretty long, 17 hours but not that bad really. We took it over some days because let's face it, we have time to kill. Our house will not be ready until about August 25th. Maybe even later than that. We have to be back when school starts, but not before, so whatever.

Today they all went to a Beach Festival in Port Hueneme, and then they all walked along the pier over the ocean Spencer had fun. I stayed home and read my book and took a nap I was beat from the looooong drive.

It has been very very humid here, but we are surviving with fans and stuff. its usually not this humid here. It is only about 70 though, because Grandma lives so near the ocean. I am hearing that it is like 104 in Portland this past week, YIKES.. I am glad we are not there right now.

Tom Waits - Ol'55

What a great great song.

Fair, Stairs, Feeling Better.

Hey I know these posts have been LAME but we are hitting the road, and I promise they will get super exciting starting on Thursday.... Anyway..

Spencer Plays in Corn at the Fair. I guess he later buried that kid next to him...

Physics IS Fun

Yep. its that time of year again here in Canby. Today Bill took Spencer to the annual Clackamas County Fair for Kids Day. He had fun but there were a few weird moments. He loved all of the animals, he saw goats, cows, pigs, chickens, sheep all kinds of reptiles everything you can imagine. They also had a great area for kids called Physics is Fun or something where they can do little experiments with magnets and stuff he liked that a lot. He saw a couple of kids from preschool, and he rode a train they have there. He loves trains. Anyway, it was typical Fair stuff, and the usual stuff was there, however two sort of disturbing things happened.

The first was when he walked into the fair one of the first booth things was this Army Recruiting thing and the Army people were really nice, and they thought Spencer was `cute but they gave him a free dogtag with his name on it... Hmmm... Spencer loved it - he is FOUR. Bill was like "Uh Thanks.." but inside he was thinking "In the current administration in the White House that might just mean he will head to Iraq in a few weeks..."

The second weird thing that happened was this... There was this one booth that was made up of three tables and they had nobody in there - like no customers. So Spencer wanders in there, and they offer to tell him a story... Well he is FOUR, he loves stories. Bill was close behind so they sat down. Five minutes into the "story" Bill told Spencer it was time to leave. Apparently the story was all about hell and crucifixion, etc, which honestly Bill said he GOT their point, and HE is religious but they should have known that is too much for a four year old. So that was uhmmm disturbing.

The newly finished stairs from the livingroom. You can see how the entry thing turned out.


Stairs from the Dining Room. They still have to be stained.

Top of New Stairs. I asked them to please cover up the ugly pole there with something nice. They did a good job! I initially asked them to take it out, but apparently it holds up the second floor....bummer.

When you walk in the front door this is how it looks. Except mantle not up yet....
I think it all matches fairly well. Even the half wall looks okay!

Also Yesterday I went back to my MD for my parotid gland infection and he gave me some drugs and it feels better already!!! We are going to stay one more day in Canby and leave Thursday for Ventura to Bill's parents. Bill was going to go to Seattle on Business today but we found out it was kids day at the fair so he took Spencer instead and he will go drop off that stuff tomorrow. We ordered the blinds for the house today too.

We had dinner at the Top O Hill. http://www.canby.com/topohillrestaurant/ Lately I have been getting the "Half Sandwich and Soup"at almost every restaurant I go to lately. I am not sure why, maybe because I am an Old Lady. Or maybe because lately mostly we eat at these weird little diner type restaurants that have that on the menu. I gotta say we call the Top O Hill restaurant in Canby "The CB" which stands for The Country Bumpkin Diner but honestly they have great food really!! But then, my mom could not cook well, and neither can I so you know... maybe that's why I like it hahahah. I had turkey rice soup, half a turkey sandwich and some of their AWESOME potato salad today and it was just the best dinner! But then I live in a crappy hotel. I am just happy to GO Anywhere hahaha.

Really I have to say that I love that place now. You walk in there and they say HI SPENCER!!! They don't care if he switches sides of the table by crawling underneath, and at the end of dinner, IF he has eaten all of his "real" food on his plate (stuff like the chicken etc haha) he gets to go into this silly treasure basket and get a prize. He totally loves it.

Plus they have awesome pie.

More stuff done on house, not leaving town til Wednesday

You can see the new fence thing is on the porch.

Its not painted white yet, it will be. There is a RUMOR the house will be done by like Aug 25. I'll believe it when I see it... BUT that is finally the real front door, and also it will be painted black.

Close up of the porch fence which is weird looking to me- - like why are the STICK THINGS on the OUTSIDE??? but oh well, its in there now...

We are going to stay in this crappy hotel for another gozillion nights even though this room gets smaller every minute hahaha

Bill's going to go to Seattle for biz one day only, and Spencer and I will stay here. Its not like we would have a ton of time to go sightseeing, and they have an IKEA here now, so WHY GO? He's not gonna stay overnight. Then on Wednesday we will all head down to Ventura to visit Bill's parents. Spencer and Grandma have big plans to dig and build things and go to the beach, and according to Spencer he is going to teach Grandma Karate moves, and possibly the Crab Walk, and maybe they will cut down a few trees. You see Spencer, talks to Grandma like every day on the cell phone. They are making Big Big plans. At grandma's house I plan to sleep for 6 days straight, and reunite with my crazy family after that time if by then I have been adequately rested from this year. I will not be visiting the beach, as I do not see the point if I am not going in the water, and everyone knows I refuse to enter any natural body of water.

Seriously we have been locked up in a hotel room for like 12 days with this nutty kid and Cooking Camp was Cancelled. Grandma and Grandpa along with Aunt Dolly and Aunt Tamara and all the rest of Bill's huge Family can all take turns entertaining Spencer and he will have a RIOT. In the mean time, I need some sleep and Bill needs to get some work done. I am gonna see if there is a Curves near Grandma's house I can go to.

We wanted to be kind to the Earth and our wallets and take the Toyota down there, as it gets 33 mpg but I guess Bill has a ton of stuff plus the dog and the kid etc so we're gonna bring the van. It also has the DVD player which frankly does NOT hurt.....

New stuff is going on with the house...

bottom of the stairs... The treads will be clear varnish or whatever and the rail will be stained the color of the cabinets.

Top of the stairs, I don't know what its called I have always called that one part that sticks out the "ROMEO BALCONY"

Stairs as seen from dining room. Railing will match the cabinets in the background, which also match the kitchen.


Spencer, FINALLY ASLEEP in his Fire Engine.

Probably headed out...

We are probably headed to Seattle for like two days, for Bill to do some business stuff, and we will probably do IKEA there. Then down to Ventura, CA to see Bill's parents. The kid is bouncing off the walls, this hotel room is Wayyyyy too small for us and Bill can stop at a couple of places ( like San Jose) to do some work and do business stuff I guess.

So. We may leave Sat AM but who knows.

House should be done in like 2 weeks exactly. Today we picked out stuff like mirrors and towel racks, also where the mantle will go, and some bricks for this retaining wall in the front lawn. Each time I go in there I hate it because I want to stay and move in.

I am bummed they took away SCRABULOUS. it SUCKS.

SPencer and Freddy Bear talk to Grandma on the phone!!!

I just thought it was a cute picture

Question of the day: What color should the stairs be?

Posts going in and that little fence thing

We have to pick out a stain for the stair railing and its just going to match the cabinets. Today they installed the posts on the front and started in on the fence thing around the porch.

Stairs going in but they are not stained yet.

Cooking Camp Cancelled, but Spencer keeping busy anyway

Amy in Spencer's "fort"

We took Spencer for his first day of Cooking Camp and we found that it had been canceled and no one had told us. It was a total bummer he was looking forward to it.. However, we will find stuff to do with him this week. In the meantime he is taking very good care of Amy the dog. He tucked her into his fire engine bed at the hotel, and amazingly she puts up with it. Amy is like the perfect dog. She may eat a few guitar necks but she is great with kids. All the kids in our neighborhood take turns taking her for walks and often when we go to do something at the new house she can be seen running down the street with her leash trailing behind her and like 8 kids running after her trying to catch her. They all have a riot.

Today I took the tag that had the Goat Farm address on it off her collar and put on the new one that has our REAL house address on it. It was a good day! Also good news its gonna be like 93 today and then 97 tomorrow and the AC in this goofy hotel room just blasts until icicles for in your nose.. Seriously. I am LOVING it.

Amy's new tag with our REAL address on it

OFF the GOAT FARM FOR GOOD!!!!

Here is the dead carcass of that crazy Venini Lamp that my mom bought in Italy in 1956. It hung in my family room in my house since birth... but it did not make it through the explosion. Sadly, it was in a box in the bonus room.

Here is the new driveway and all the exterior paint is done and the rocks are all on. Or whatever those are called...

Here is the final paint job, and all the rocks but the front door will probably end up being black. The fence around the porch is not there yet either, but that is all that is missing and that is not our real front door.. And I am pretty sure the pile of rocks is not staying... but you never know...

Hello it is us, the Sploded Family, and we are here in Exile in a hotel in Tigard. This is like the Motel 6 version of the Residence Inn. The Residence Inn is where we stayed when the house first exploded. The Residence Inn is owned by Marriot and honestly it is like the Ritz Carlton compared to this place. Here they clean the rooms ONCE EVERY SEVEN DAYS, unless you pay $3 a day for housekeeping to come once a day. The internet thing sucks and it costs like $5 to join it but there is no GOAT and that means FIVE STARS to me...

Its a Very very very small room, and it has a queen sized bed. Every morning I wake up in a bed with Bill, the dog and the kid, and that usually happens, but this is not a King sized bed...We brought Spencer's fire engine bed with us and it barely fits but he has his bed and his fish lamp and he gets to eat breakfast from McDonald's EVERY DAY so he is diggin it. The TV has like maybe 25 cable stations and no icemaker in the fridge but we KNOW it is not our permananet home, so we are okay here. I got it using my vast knowlegde of priceline.com, when I used to book hotel rooms for all of Bill's musicians friends for their gigs out of town and other stuff. We are paying only $42 dollars a night for a room that costs $70 normally, so I am not complaining. They allow dogs, there is a full sized fridge and two burners and a little kitchen thing. it is NOT the GOAT FARM, and it has NORMAL WATER and now cows, pigs, goats, sheep, horses, llamas or camels living anywhere nearby and that is about all I need to know.

The move from the Goat Farm was hellish... probably the worst week of this whole thing since we moved from the Faux Chateau. I mean we did it practically all alone except for some help from Steve this one day. However on two occasions people took Spencer for a couple of hours and that was a TREMENDOUS help. One day the Dylan T Moms kept him for like 5 hours and he even ate dinner there, and then another day he went to Siri's and played with Donut and ate dinner there too. Spencer had a riot both places and while he always has a great time with Siri (she is one of THE BEST moms I know) we are definitely going to have more playdates with the Dylan T Moms. Dylan goes to Spencer's preschool and they get along great, and they really really had fun over there.

Still in three days we emptied an entire house and two barns, PLUS we filled a 30 yard dumpster and then yet another dumpster. We filled up two storage units and a POD. The only real casualty was the Futon which I was sad about, but whatever. Landlord Dude was kind of an ass at the end but whatever, it is done and honestly, his punishment for bein that way is that he has to LIVE THERE. He is going to try to sell the goat farm now and I wish him a lot of luck with that. The giant dog that used to poop in our yard AKA The Turdmaster did come by to see us off and I tried to soooo hard to get a picture of him but he ran too fast.

I was NOT AT ALL SAD to leave the Goat Farm. I might have mentioned that before....

SO Here we are and I keep getting us more and more nights at this place. Priceline is really pretty formulaic if you kearn how to work it. We have been here since Tuesday and we will be here at least thru this coming Saturday. So at least Spencer can go to Cooking Camp which he really wants to, which starts Monday (today). He will have camp all week from 9 to 1. I have a medical appt MOnday at 11 but after that I have nothing all week so I mean its a crappy hotel and everything but we really have not much to do so it s KIND OF like a vacation At the end of the week we will see where they are on the house and if it is close we will just keep staying in town The truth is that thoughwe would LOVE to go visit Grandma in Ventura, we are not sure it is a good idea to be gone while they are finishing the house. Things get messed up sometimes and though they are little things maybe we will not be able to afford to fix them later so we have to get it all correct NOW. We would be SO FAR AWAY and it would be difficult to make these kinds of decisions.

We did move some breakable stuff right from the goat farm to the house and put it in different weird cupboards and stuff. We are exhausted but frankly quite happy to be out of there. Even Bill was glad to go. Farm Living turned out to be not the life for either of us, though Spencer and the dog liked it there.

The house is really coming along and though there have been a few hiccups it is going fast. One is that though the grey exterior does look nice, it seems we somehow painted the house the exact color of the porta potty. The drive way and front walkway are both in, the banister is being finished, the floors are all in now, they are starting ont he trim for the windows, a lot of interior doors are in, and a bunch of other stuff.

The internet thing here at this hotel is pretty bad and so I have to kind of bear with it, and also the Facebook Scrabulous kicked me out I have no idea why I could not get in to take my turns, so I have to fix that I am going to look for the near Starbucks and start bringing my laptop there rather than put up with this weird hotel internet. Other than that, we are alive and living in Exile in Tigard.

Our Last Night on the Goat Farm....One Step Closer to Home, where we never left.

Elmo, we hardly knew you....

Well, we have to be out of here by Thursday but we are staying in a hotel starting Tuesday night. Tomorrow (Tuesday) they are taking all the rental furniture, which will make it a little easier to get the rest of our crap out of here.

I have this great great Tom Waits song in my head now...I have no idea why maybe because we are in the home stretch here and we are finally going to be headed home after a lonnnng time on the road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x8RpnUne2U


One of the best.

Its going to be a bit of a challenge I think, even to go home, because the house is obviously ours, with the same exact floor plan, but it looks very different. I mean, it is exactly how we want it now, but still, it might take a while before we feel truly at home there. But then, what is HOME, anyway???

The one thing I have learned through all of this is something I have really always known... Home is not a PLACE. Home is just where my family and friends are, honestly. Even though our home exploded fifteen months ago, we were always at home, whether it was a Residence Inn, a hideous Faux Chateau in Occupied Fake France, or the Goofy Green Acres Goat Farm. We were always at home because we were together. That sounds a little Hallmark Card-ish, and I cannot say that I am happy about moving this week for the ninth time in 15 months, in fact I am incredibly annoyed. But tomorrow when my head hits the pillow at the Homestead Studios Suites I will not be filled with despair. We will be a little closer to getting back home, even though we really never left.

That makes NO sense. I need to keep packing.

House has been finished - at least exterior paint

This is pretty crappy picture.... but it is done There will be better pics later. That car in the driveway is that painter's.

Have to still decide on door color but that happens like LAST. We realized later that we have now painted the house the exact color of the porta potty.

How sad is that????

have to go Tomorrow they are coming for the rental furniture. Though we do not have to be out of the goat farm until Thursday we are starting our hotel stay tomorrow night. SO this is our last night with the goat.

Wow I just cannot stop crying...... NOT!!!!