YEARBOOK YOURSELF: I did it. You Should Too. Here I am in '70,'72 and '84

www.yearbookyourself.com

Well, I finally finished it. Plus: The Vaccuum Cleaner trick.

That is, the Class Notes that were due a week ago. Its okay. I got an extension. The Alumni Office took pity on me because we just now got the internet back. I got to emailing back and forth with a few friends, and we were reminiscing about our high school dorm and doing the dreaded Vacuum Cleaner Trick.

That is, what you do is,

1. Friend is sleeping in a dark room with the door closed. You enter, quietly with a vacuum cleaner that it switched to the "ON" position but not plugged in.
DO NOT TURN ON THE LIGHTS.

2. Place vacuum cleaner in the person's room, then exit the room all with out ever turning on the lights. Exit the room, quietly and close the door behind you. Remember to BRING THE CORD and PLUG of the vacuum cleaner out of the room with you.

3. After you have closed the door, plug in the vacuum and RUN!!!! Hide around the corner to watch for sleepy person emerge with a "WHAT THE HECK???" kind of look on their face. Laugh Reallly really hard.

A Few Notes:

a. this will probably be only effective in a high school dorm like we were in, because we were bored to death and locked away from all males. Also because we were 15, we thought this was Pee Your Pants funny.

b. NOT NICE to do this to a person who is ill or has a big test in the AM or has to take the SATs in the am or something. This is a funny weekend sort of thing to do. Not the kind of trick you do to a person who has an Astronomy final in the morning.

c. I must have done this to my friend Julie C. 650 times. She is a surgeon now, so apparantly it did not affect her academic perfomance, but still. What I don't get is that she DOES NOT EVEN REMEMBER IT!!!!

ODD.

Anyway here is the part of the class notes where I implore my fellow classmates to come to the 25th Class Reunion this coming June. I hope it works. There is more news than this, but this is the part I can psot here....

First of all, Ladies, I must say that coming up in June is our 25^th Year Reunion, and I hope that everyone attends. Seriously. This is a chance to reconnect with old friends, and if you are thinking of not attending because you think it is going to be weird, please just come anyway. Please do not worry about looking old or whatever. I have news for you… We ARE all old, okay? My babysitter was born in 1992. The other day my husband was volunteering at Spencer’s preschool and a 4 year old girl named GraceAnne said to him: “Teacher Bill, your Grandson is not sharing the blocks.” She thought he was Spencer’s GRANDFATHER. OUCH!!!! I myself am the oldest, nerdiest mom on the playground. No amount of Botox is going to hide that fact that I lose my minivan keys 12 times a day and wear Keen sandals, with socks, under skirts, every single day. So I am just not worried about it. Besides, (name witheld) was at the 20 year and she said it was truly great to see everyone. She and I had a long amazing talk after there was some confusion over at the alumni office about her being either married, or deceased or both. When I finally reached her in the Great Beyond, we were both relieved to find out that she was neither, but she did want to know what this person she was supposedly married to was like (I mean, he had a name, and everything!), and if he liked cats.........

........I sincerely hope to see all of you attend the 25^th year reunion. Anyone wishing to contact me or send your news, please do not hesitate. My contact information is listed below. Also, I have recently discovered Facebook.. I even have mastered the art of “texting” (OMG, how cool R U?) on my Blackberry. I learned it from my babysitter. So, now you have no excuse not to send your news. And ladies, don’t think that if you do not attend our 25^th that I will not come and find you. Seriously. I found the undead name withheld and her nonexistent husband…so I am not fooling around here. I’m just putting that out there…

Feeling Groovy. But Also Different. Plus: "A Gallery of Heinous Furniture"

Pretty sure Virginia Woolf had a table just like this one in her "Room of her Own" or whatever. I was forced to read that book in High School. It was on the horrible Summer Reading list, along with "Henderson the Rain King" by Saul Bellow. It made for a truly endless summer.
Actually, this may be her actual table... Its pretty old.

So. I woke up in an odd mood this morning as if to tell myself: "WAKE UP, DUMBASS, AND START YOUR LIFE!"

For some reason I felt like reevaluating a lot of things in my life and there are some changes I'd like to make. SO I am working on all that crap. Just sometimes you have to go through your life and look at realllly look at how your life is, and who is in it and what it is, and how you would like it to be. I spent 504 days in a rather fragile kind of state, emotionally frayed. As hideous at times as it was, I am determined to make something good come of it. I am a different person than I was even a month ago, maybe after having emerged somewhat emotionally intact from the 504 day ordeal. I feel a little stronger and maybe more ready to sort of face the world in a different, more real kind of way. There are some friendships I need to reevaluate, some things I'd like to change about myself, and ways I'd like to make my husband and son's life better. I am very very pissed off that I had to take this 504 day detour, but am happy to get back to my life and feel even more determined now to not only get back to my life, but also appoach it much differently than I have in the past. Its hard to be specific, but I'd like to be less of an ass clown. I don't know why this word came to mind, but it did. I am not motivated to look up its true meaning in the Urban Dictionary. Rather I will just use my own meaning of it: I'd like to maybe take my own life a little more seriously, as others do theirs. But enough about that...

The first thing I did this AM was to actually enter and use my office for the first time. I have an office in this house, a place where I can close the door and work, a place that only I am supposed to be in. It feels good to have that kind of space. I am going to start working from home really soon and other stuff so I am grateful to have this space. I have this crappy wooden table for a desk, that was some kind of a leftover from the Guitar Shop we had. I think it may have been a desk at one point but it is missing a drawer. I have always liked this table and it was my desk in this office before the house blew. Though, back then I had a quaint little cover over it to hide its hideousness. Today this table is once again in its room, but no cute cover. Today I celebrate its hideous scars and lack of a drawer. I may keep is as my desk forever, just to prove how trustworthy and reliable it is, and to prove that explosion or not, it cannot be killed by conventional weapons.

I told you I was in a weird mood.

It is paired with a lovely lawn chair which also made it through the explosion and subsequent fire, though it is from a set of four and, sadly, one of its friends melted and did not make it. Though, as an unexplored art form, melted furniture is an interesting medium. Every cloud has a silver lining.

I am looking out my window that faces the street and I see the sun rising in Canby. My neighbors are heading off to work. My family is sleeping, as Bill was up half the night unpacking and organizing his work shop place. Spencer played all day and went to bed finally after FOUR books, including the intolerably long "Zack brought his alligator to school" or whatever that stupid book is called, which he picks purposly because it is so long and he does not want to go to bed. He gets up about 7:30 usually, and he could go to preschool today for orientation and to meet the new kids but it only lasts an hour, and this is year three for him so what is the point of that? Real Preschool starts on Thursday 9 AM to 1 PM every day, four days a week. Not saying I want to get rid of the little guy but honestly? I am looking forward to it. I want to get rid of the little guy. For a bit. He needs it too. He had two very adult summers in a row. For the last ten months his best friend was a freaking goat. He needs to get back to his life too.

Anyway... Back to the changes Id like to make this year....

Nothing major really I just sometimes need to reevaluate who my friends are and why, and what my life is and how I would like it to be different. I love my husband and son, and my new house, but beyond that I need to make a few changes. I need things to be a little different. SO I am probably gonna start working on that today. So far, I have reheated some of yesterday's coffee (I have no idea how to make coffee, never have made a decent cup of coffee.... I leave it to others primarily) and I went to the backyard and dragged a lawn chair in thru the sliding doors and up the stairs into my office. Today I plan to FINISH FINALLY and TURN IN the clas notes for my Cranbrook Kingswood alumni magazine that were due Sept 8th, but the lady said its okay because I have not had the internet until yesterday and we were moving back in. I plan to also go take some pictures for my blog of the lovely array of furniture we have here in the house, mostly the table and chairs in the kitchen, the big comfy chair in the bonus room, my lovely office, and the very interesting coffeee table we got for free at a garage sale. Oddly this lady in the hoity toity Canby sub of TOFTE FARMS (pronounced Tofte FAHMS, with an intense mr. Howell accent) was moving her entire family to I think Brazil or someplace and she was so anxious to get rid of this thing she just gave it to us. We realllly wanted her suede buff couch which was enormous and gorgeous and at a bargain price BUT it was suede and huge and we were going to be homeless for a month, and also it was suede... get real. However friends of ours gave us a leather couch and chair, and oddly it seems to be Spencer Proof even though it is a very light color. Stuff just wipes right off of it. Perhaps leather is the way to go in the Chapin Household.

Well, the photographer from Architectural Digest just arrived.... I have to go.

WOW these pictorials get to press awfully fast these days.... Here is what will appear in the magazine:

A Gallery of Heinous Furniture

At first glance you might not think that this chair was given to us free of charge. it is very hard to believe, but it was absolutely free. it is very comfortable and I am hoping that it can in the Very very very near future be re-covered somehow. I don't want to hurt its feelings, but they do not make slipcovers to fit the enormity of this chair. It is very very comfortable, and great for fixing amplifiers as well, as you can see by this photo. It is our one and only souvenir of the Goat Farm, and I would have much preferred the actual goat to this chair, but city ordinances prevent me from keeping farm animals. Honestly, though, truth be told, that goat was more like a large dog anyway. Except for the sounds it made, and the size of its poop, you would never guess it was a goat. But anyway. what a chair, huh? Well, hang on to your pants, We're just getting warmed up.

This is an attractive piece from the late mesozoic period. I believe a cave man carved it out of a large tree stump, or maybe Lewis, or maybe Clark. Not sure. It unbelievably says "LANE" on the back, which is the hallmark of an actual legitimate furniture company, but I think it must be a typo.
Sturdy, utilitarian, it is from the "Early 1970's Cheap Motel" collection, of which I have become so very fond.




This, my friends, is one of the pieces of furniture to survive the blast. It used to be an Hammond B3 Organ, and someone gutted it and made it into a desk. I found this desk at an used office furniture store that was around the corner from our guitar shop in San Jose. The bench that came with it was the actual stool or whatever that it came with originally but this insanely manic hyperactive guy who owned this place sold that bench to a lady who wanted it for her hallway, or something, and he was stuck with this. He left it outside day after day in his fenced lot and we kept driving by it and wondering what the heck it was. I told myself one Friday if it was still there on Monday I would go in and ask him about it. We had bought a few things from him in the past for the shop, a couple of filing cabinets and chairs etc. He was always ready to play "Let's make a Deal" but part of his deal was that you had to drag it home yourself. That was okay, because we had a van, and it was right around the corner. Hyper Office Furniture Guy told me that he would give it to me for $35 dollars if I took it TODAY and he would personally deliver it to the Guitar Shop...which I did not argue with... Apparantly it was not his style and he badly wanted to get rid of it. I was his only nibble. What I love so much about it is that it still has like rings on the top where either the players or some Lounge Lizard rested their drinks, and a ring where obviously the tip jar was.

This is my trusty pink coffee mug. I like it mostly because it is pink, because I like pink things a lot, but also since it is pink, Bill is less likely to use it. Bill likes to fill travel mugs with coffee and lots of cream and then leave them in the car for a week or until they explode, whichever comes first. Even if you try to clean them later, they always taste like moldy congealed rotten coffee with cream, and you have to throw them away. Though many a travel mug has died this similar death at the hands of Bill, this one I have managed to hang on to. Mostly because he does not like to be seen with it. I mostly drink tea out of it, or used to. But I am waiting for some dude to come and drill the hole in the granite for the Hot Water machine thing, and then install it. I like coffee, but at heart I am a tea person. My favorite is is this mint flavor from Starbucks and Earl Grey. Also I am a fan of this White Blueberry tea.

FINALLY we have the INTERNET AGAIN!!!!!

Certain Utilities..... I don't know what they are smoking... but anyway. WE ARE BACK!!!

We moved in on Sept 5th but we have been here living here without Internet or phone service until today. We had our cell phones, and I was able to get email and stuff on my Blackberry but it is impossible to post to the blog pretty much with a BB. On Tuesday they installed the Direct TV. We still have a few light fixtures back ordered, and two faucet things for the showers but that is about it! The Sod is growing in nicely despite the very hot weather we have been experiencing. The kitchen is pretty much all organized and I am back to my Hideous Experimental Cooking again, which is a relief to me only. I am missing a few annoying things: I cannot locate the blade for the inside of my small mini Cuisinart, despite that I have a box full of at least 19 blades from different Cuisinarts, including I think the one i inherited from my mother, which is long gone. This is annoying. I would use the other one I have but of course I cannot find the lid for that one. Then also I am missing the insert for my salad spinner. I know I am gonna find it, but it is driving me crazy. it is GREAT to be home. There are a few kinks to work out.. The dog keeps escaping from her little dog run we built, and we fixed that problem but now she has figured out how to escape from the regular back yard, not just her area. We are working it out and even Builder Nick is scratching his head on how to contain this sweet dog who is not much trouble but seems to be having some trouble adjusting to life in the city after living on two acres.

I cannot even describe what it is like to be home. The first amazing thing when we got home was that Morman Dave detailed the inside of my Toyota as a Welcome Home present. He said that he and his kids did it as a surprise for me. I had given him the keys for it while we were gone for the month, to move the car around in case it looks weird that my car is sitting on the street for a month. I could not leave it in the driveway because all those guys were working. It was such a nice surprise!!!!

It is great to be home and just to do the simplest of things. We are slowly unpacking, washing dishes and clothes and slowly getting things organized and put away for good. I washed every single dish as I unpacked it, and some of them were very dirty because the Goat Farm had a terrible dishwasher, and there were like two very ineffective lights in the kitchen so you could not even see if your dishes were clean or dirty or what. We did the same with all of the clothes.

Now that I look back on our 504 days out of our house I really honestly do NOT know how we got through it. It was terrible, for the most part and I am so very very glad it is over. The Residence Inn part was not so bad but then we were just shellshocked at what had happened and it seemed that we were in such turmoil that we were just glad to be anywhere. Then, Occupied France in the Faux Chateau was honestly just pretty horrible from Day One and I never really wanted to live there. Whatever Then the Goat Farm, don't get me started about that place. An entire summer there that seemed just endless, hot, humid, weird smells, ancient appliances, and lots of smelly water and brown shag carpeting. It was a picture of my life had I married Greg Brady. I can say it was truly terrible. THEN not only that but we were completely homeless the past month when they were not done with the house. We lived in crappy hotels for like 20 days and then stayed at Bill's parents house for two weeks, which was nice and restful but again, 17 hours away by car. I thought we would NEVER get back here. I really did not. I mean I REALLLLY thought "I am NEVER gonna live in my house again, sleep in my own bed, etc." I can totally sympathize with all of these hurricane victims all over the US, but then their housing crisis was caused by nature, not negligent stupidity.

I am sad that Riley did not make it home with us. We had to put him to sleep (send him to go "live with the Vet" is what we told Spencer) and he never made it back to the house. He would have loved the new house and the back yard.

We do not really have any furniture to move in with and we are living with free stuff, Craigslist specials some of the stuff we salvaged of our own and things that have been kindly given to us by people. It makes for quite an interesting decorating scheme. We did get an excellent sofa, chair and bed from a friend of ours, and we are getting another couch from a neighbor. We got a free coffee table from a garage sale and Landlord Dude insisted we take his ginormous hideously ugly but VERY comfy chair from the goat farm. I will include pics of some of these beautiful pieces. We are using our old kitchen table but with three different types of chairs, none matching. We have no rugs, lamps etc stuff like that.

To be honest I don't care a thing about any of that stuff. I love my house, I missed our friends and neighbors most of whom were SO GREAT to us. I can call up Siri and hit Curves without having to drive there from Green Acres or a hotel. I can walk across the street and get Melinda's recipe for banana bread, I can talk to Joel next door while he is digging up his front yard trying to put inground sprinklers in.

Its just reallly great to be back here. We hardly drive anywhere, I cook dinner every night. I have not been to a drive through in like two weeks. I cannot wait to get home from places. I used to DREAD going back to the Goat Farm. Now, I never want to leave. SO... BACK!!!!!!

Ph and Spencer is back in Preschool starting Thursday. They are starting late this year in part because Teacher Gina is building a ROCK WALL in the classroom!!! How fun is that??? SPencer can have playdates with his friends again, and hang out.

We are looking into a school to send him next year as an alternative to the Public school here. You kind of have to do this Language IUmmersion thing for his school and I am not sure I want him to do it. I dont have anything against him becomeing fluent in Spanshi by fifith grade all of that BUT I am wondering if it is the right choice for HIM. I am looking into it.

BACK IN!!!!!

We are back in the house!!!! Internet is not really installed yet so this has to be brief More later!!!! But its great to be BACK!!!!!!

Last Day (today) at Grandma's house...

We will miss Grandma so very much when we leave, and I know she will miss us, but we need to go. It is time for us to move into our new house. We have been in hotels, on the road and this protective coccoon surrounded by love and family for two weeks, but now we have to leave.

We'll leave tomorrow to avoid the Holiday traffic Monday, and then get to San Jose tomorrow night. We will stay Monday and Tuesday nights there, seeing some old friends, and Bill I think is gonna do some repair work for people or something... I don't know. Then Wednesday AM we will get up and drive the eleven hours to Canby from San Jose. Its not a bad drive really, when the weather is okay. You don't want to make that drive in the winter time, though, because you have to go to the Siskiyou Mountains, and its gets very treacherous in the winter months.

My favorite part of it is passing Mt Shasta. Its very pretty. But there will be nothing like seeing old Mt Hood again, and the familiarity of goofy old Canby which is such a weird place but I have really really missed it.

I am looking forward to going home. Not necessarily to all of the packing and driving and moving, etc but just BEING HOME FOR GOOD. It is time.

Question: What is the saddest thing you have ever seen on TV ?

In the 2002 Opening Ceremonies for the Winter Games they used the Flag that had been at the WTC.

Death of Dr. Greene was very sad, but then mostly because that show has kind of sucked ever since...

FOr me, it was a couple of things. The Beslan School shootings to me were absolutely horrific, and of course Sept 11th.

As for a TV show, I am pretty sure it has to be the episodes around the death of Dr Mark Greene on the show E.R. Also the last M.A.S.H. Also I really got emotional at the 2002 Winter Olympics opening Ceremonies, and all those games.

Beach. Move In Date. Dinner at Aunt Dolly's

We talked to Builder Nick today and he said we can move in this THURSDAY!!!!!

We are gonna leave Sunday, Hang in San Jose to see some friends for a bit and then head for home


In the mean time Spencer went to the beach today with Grandma, Grandpa and Daddy.

We are headed to Aunt Dolly's house tonight for dinner so I have to go get ready. I goofed off all afternoon.
Here are Pics of Spencer at the beach and some at Aunt Dolly's house.

Spencer is extremely busy at the beach

Spencer and Grandma are digging.

Doodle wrote his name on the beach!!!

Leslie, Bill's cousin, and Laura, who is Ken's wife. Ken is Leslie's brother.

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.