APPLED OUT

Yeah, I had about three less apples than this pile here...
The Corn Lady had better start sleeping with the lights on....

Ina Garten, AKA "The Barefoot Contessa:" She is just Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

I cannot even LOOK AT another apple.

This morning I woke up and made Applesauce Bread with the homemade applesauce I had made days earlier that my family did NOT eat. The recipe was from Paula Deen, and I did not think it was that great. I would not make it again.

Then I made Butternut Squash soup which was very good and it had apples in it. I added not only the Butternut squash puree to it, but also some roasted carrots pureed, garlic and some roasted apples. it was pretty great and I had ton left over. I gave Spencer some and he ate most of it, which was good because it was pretty healthy and nutrient rich, and then I froze the rest.
That recipe was from Sara Moulton here it is... I like her a lot... She used to have a show on the Food Network called Sara's Secrets.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sara-moulton/butternut-squash-soup-recipe/index.html
She has a newer show on PBS called something like weekday meals or something like this...

Then we went to Fir Point Farms to get another gallon of apple cider. Then to Fred Meyer.

Then I made the apple pear cranberry crisp from the Ina recipe. Honestly I used the wrong sized pan. It called for a 9 x 12 I had a 9x 13 but it seemed too shallow for a crisp, so I used an oval baking dish.

Big mistake. I mean it was okay it was good but there was WAYYY too much topping and some of the apples were less cooked than others. ANd it was SOOOO huge. We each had a serving, and honestly Bill had three.... he loved it but I actually took the rest over to my next door neighbors Joel and Rebecca. They have four kids and are really nice people and always receptive to my hideous experimental cooking. Event they could not eat it all Bill liked it so he kept the rest but I cannot look at it. I hate apples now... And I love Ina Garten, and I will always still watch The Barefoot Contessa, but I am convinced she is crazy.

My soup turned out great though and the purees are working out! Spencer likes Sloppy Joes and we had them for dinner, but what he did not know was there there was a cup of carrot puree in there, and some corn and garlic. I mean, he WILL eat carrots, but its a struggle. I have to tell him that they are "magic carrots" grown especially for swimmers, to make them strong.

This way I don't have to make up stupid stories...

Also I put the final coat on the chalkboard Wall tonight, and it will be dry by about Wed Night I guess, and then we can use it. Takes Three days to dry and cure.

Then I cleaned the entire kitchen, washed every dish, and made all of Spencer's lunches for the week at preschool.

OH and for those of you playing at home, Bill found my wallet.

Tomorrow I have to start figuring out Spencer's Halloween Costume. He wants to be a Fireman. Teacher Gina is going to lend us the raincoat, and we have the hat and fake Axe. He needs pants, boots and some reflective tape to make like those lines on their outfits...
ALso across the street is Steve the Cop and I am going to ask him for one of those fake badge stickers he gives out to kids.

But for now I am gonna wash the apples out of my hair, put away my peeler and go watch Entourage.

Chalk Day.... but not Inside..... OUTSIDE!!!! More Apples, Groupies

Here is the town with all of the little cars on it.

I am thinking this might be the Mall?

Spencer's friend Tyler, his sister Allie, Spencer's other friend Austin and Spencer all were on our driveway today drawing with sidewalk chalk. They made like a little town, and then they took all of Spencer's little cars and stuff and drive them all over it. It was pretty fun and I was JUST AMAZED that they all got along so well for so long and no fights, no drama. In the middle of it, two of The Groupies showed up for about an hour and told me all about their Halloween costumes. The other two Groupies were at a gymnastics meet.

This morning I got up and baked two apple, pear and cranberry Crostatas. One was for Tyler and and Allie's mom who just had minor surgery. I wanted to cheer her up by giving her something nice, but instead I gave her the crostata which turned out to be the oddest pastry ever. The fruit inside was crunchy still ( be cause the recipe was for peaches and plums not apples and pears..opps! ) and the crust was good but it was all just very very odd.
Anyway. We each had one piece of the one I made for us. Also weird. BUT the crust WAS excellent and I will post the recipe for it here.

Here is a link to the recipe. This is for the apple pie, but scroll down and you will see the "Perfect Pie Crust recipe at the bottom it is awesome. Bill even LOVED the crust today I made for the crostata, and he hates just about everything I make...
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/deep-dish-apple-pie-recipe/index.html

Sometimes life is like this: you work really hard at something and peel apples for two hours and spill sugar on the floor and it ends up everywhere including in your shoes and yet the thing still turns out weird. But I gave it 100% effort.

Tonight we went to Office Depot to get some chalk for the new chalkboard, even though we cannot write on it until Tuesday. I learned that you cannot use sidewalk chalk on chalkboard for some reason, which is a drag because we must have a thousand pieces of sidewalk chalk.

Also, for those of you playing along at home, I did find my wallet today which had been missing for about ten days. It was rather embarassing because I had to call Costco, Fred Meyer, Safeway, and Quiznos all to ask them if anyone had turned in a wallet with BOB THE BUILDER on it. .... Turns out it was in the livingroom closet UNDERNEATH like the vaccuum cleaner and the broom and tons of crap and no one knows how it got there.... I mean I have never even been in that closet. I don't even know what was kept in there. We think maybe it had a little "help" getting in there.

Tomorrow I will make the apple crisp, also have some more purees to do, and also make Spencer's lunches for next week. And figure out what to do with all the applesauce I made that no one liked. maybe muffins?

Chalkboard Wall, Astounding Amount of Apples

No, this box does not look THAT huge, But it was FULL!!!!!! And there are still WAY more than these left.

Today I started my very first "crafty Project thing" in the new house. I am basically creating a chalkboard wall just off the kitchen. I made it high enough where I could have it as like a family message board, etc, and shopping lists and things to remember but also I made it low enough where Spencer could draw pictures or practice his letters on it.

So far it is not going well.

I masked off the part where I want the board to be with a roll of blue painter's masking tape that cost me FOUR DOLLARS What is THAT about????? Then now before painting the chalkboard paint on there, I realized that the surface of this newly minted wall is kind of bumpy. The entire house has that bumpy kind of little bumps on the walls. SO in order to have a smooth chalkboard to write on, you have to sand them out. That sucks.. My husband Bill, who makes guitars right out of wood, who sands crap ALLL DAY said that A I had to go buy my own sand paper to do this, and B he was NOT going to help me. He seems to think we don't NEED a stupid chalkboard. Thanks a LOT. He probably thought this would deter me but it has not.

However, sanding is hard. I probably would not have de3dicated such a LARGE area for the chalkboard if I had known that my arm would practically fall off sanding this thing. I don't like it, and I wish Bill would lend me his power tool thingy that sands stuff but he will not. SO this project may take a looooong time. This afternoon I promised Spencer he could help me make applesauce. SO I will probably be doing that.


At the end of my street as you may know there is a Farm Stand where the some of the best fruit I have EVER encountered is sold. it is runb by the Corn lady and she is a farmer. Part of her farm used to be where our subdivision is now. About 8 years ago she sold part of her land but she still grows stuff and sells it. She certainly does NOT need the money, I guess she just loves it. She has AMAZING fruits and veggies for the lowest prices, and most of it is locally grown.. I mean its all excellent. In season you can get these Ranier Cherries the size of golf balls for like 99c a pound. Great corn, every veggie, every fruit... she even sells garlic....

That Corn Lady is sooo nice, but........ She does have a real name and it is Betty. Yesterday, I went to Betty's to get some Butternut Squash, Pears and Apples. I got two big bags of apples, and I put them on the counter and went to get the rest of my stuff. After I got my stuff she had weighed them She said " You know Liz, you have 14 lbs of apples right here and I am going to charge you 6 dollars for them. For 8 dollars you could buy a big box like over there."

I thought about this and I said, "OKAY, sounds like a good deal to me!" Shoulda looked over there, but I did not.....

SO I put my apples back, I paid her for the stuff, and took my other stuff out to the car. I told her I would be right back for my box of apples, which I had not even look at. I come back in and I said "Okay Betty, where is that box of apples I just bought?" and she said, "You are standing right in front of it."

"THIS?????????"

At my feet was this HUGE HUUUUUUGE box of Jonagolds. Delicious for eating, great for pies and sauce and lots of things but HOLY CRAP!!!! What the HELL am I supposed to do with all of these apples?????? I did not want Betty to think I was an idiot, so I smiled, struggled to pick it up and dragged it out to my Toyota. Now I am the owner of 69 thousand million apples... so if anyone has any good apple recipes now is the time to send them!!!!!


UPDATE:
1. Could not get camera to work to post pics of Chalkboard wall but it turned out GREAT!!! BILL ACTUALLY HELPED A TON!!! He not only sanded the entire thing with his like machine thing but then he also painted it!!! TWO COATS!!!! Will post them when I get my camera to work. Now we have to let it dry for like three days. I made it low enough so Spencer could write stuff and parctice his letters, but also it will be a place to chart his height, and also make grocery lists. and reminders etc. message board that kind of thing.

CHALK WALL TURNED OUT GREAT!!!!

2. Nick the Builder came over today to fix soemthing at the house and he ended up also hanging up my old stained glass thing!!!!! it looks perfect and it has a new home, exactly where it used to hang in the old house. It even looks happy to be there. iI swear it does. I ll also post a pic of that.

3. Tonight for dinner I made Pastitsio, a Greek and not at all low fat dish I got the recipe for on that EVERYDAY FOOD show. http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/recipes/pastitsio.html It turned out pretty well, but I used ground beef instead of lamb. Bill will not eat lamb here in the US he says the lamb here tastes weird and the only lamb he will eat is if he ever gets back to the UK where he loved for a couple of years. Whatever... but it was good I can post that recipe too but warning it is fattening as heck. I think I actually have a link to the recipe or I can cut and paste it.

4. with all of the apples, of course I made Nick the builder take like 10 of them. I also spent like alllll after noon making home made apple sauce, which my family insisted that they love. Then no one would eat it. Well I ate it, but that is typical in this house.. I do a LOT of gourmet cooking for the dog.


5. Spencer did his half day at preschool today. he is home for the entire weekend of course, and we plan to read books and do inside stuff, as Monsoon Season has officially started. However, since i have 8945 apples to use up I plan to make an apple crisp for my family, an apple pie for a neighbor who is having surgery, and also puree some apples to later hide in Spencer's food a la the jessica Seinfeld cookbook. http://www.deceptivelydelicious.com/site/ ALso I have a bunch of carrots yet to puree and freeze, and one more butternut squash to roast and puree. I did three of them yesterday but that was all that would fit in my oven.

I hope to post pics of all this hideous experimental cooking asap as soon as my camera comes back from the dead.

Here are two of the recipes I plan to make tomorrow:

I am excited to try yet another Pie Crust recipe. I have seen Ina do this one on TV. SO maybe it will work? The last one turned out pretty scary. Kind of CRUNCHEWY.

INA GARTEN'S (AKA The Barefoot Contessa) DEEP DISH APPLE PIE
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/deep-dish-apple-pie-recipe/index.html

AND:

INA's PEAR, APPLE and CRANBERRY CRISP
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/pear-apple-and-cranberry-crisp-recipe/index.html

I made an apple pie today. Also: Chicken Paprikash Recipe

My very FIRST apple pie with crust I made MYSELF (as opposed to buying it).
The wine in the background is for Chicken Scallopini Bill is making for dinner later.

I made it with apples from a friend who has a bunch of apple trees. Her name is Heidi, and she is the mom of Spencer's friend Helaina at preschool, who is also in his Karate class. She gave us an old leather love seat, which is perfect in the place we are using it, esp since the kid and the dog will mostly be on it. She also gave us a bunch of apples.

For the first time EVER, I actually made the crust myself!!! The apples were very fragrant and had almost a flowery scent. It was good, thought it was a little CRUN-CHEWY.

I might have done something wrong because I had a LOT of leftover crust. I used it to make a crostini with the extra apples, but it was small and we ate it before I coudl take a picture of it.


Chicken Paprikash From "Jazz Cooks"
I eat this all the time at my Mother In Law Mary Jo's house, and I LOVE It. She makes hers in an electric skillet that ii NOT non-stick and I think it turns out a little better than if you do it the way I did in a non stick.


Chicken Paprikash From "Jazz Cooks"

2-3 T veg oil
1 large white onion, diced
8 chicken thighs ( but I just use those frozen "chicken tenders," thawed)
2 heaping T of Sweet Hungarian Paprika
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
pinch salt
5 oz sour cream (or plain yogurt)

OPTIONAL:
Egg noodles (half a package) or rice is good with this, but you don't have to put it over anything..it is good by itself too!

In a Skillet enough to hold all of the chicken, over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the onion and saute, until translucent. Make room for the chicken a little.
Add the chicken (leaving the onions in there) and sear on all sides, 3-4 minutes a side. When the chicken is cooked, sprinkle it all with the Paprika so that chicken is coated all over. Add the tomato sauce, and the salt. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cover the pan, and cook for 25 minutes, checking it occasionally to see if there is enough water in the sauce, If not add a little. test the chicken, after 25 minutes, and if cooked through, remove it from the heat. Cook longer if necessary.
Add the sour cream only after the dish is removed from the heat. Have some extra sour cream at the table if people want it as a garnish.

A Day with The Groupies

Its going to be 90 in Oregon today: WHY WHY WHY?

Its fine, it does mean that Monsoon Season is delayed a bit, HOWEVER, I am getting a little tired of summer...

ALL the kids are out on our street and that is fine, Spencer has a riot. But there are these four little girls that just STALK me (Twins Brittany & Briana, and sisters Maddie and Erin - AKA= M,E & B squared). They are the sweetest girls but whenever they see me out they head right over, and they all want to tell me about their dancing classes and gymnastics classes and their recitals, and do their dances for me on the lawn and ask me funny questions and give me a LOT of unsolicited hair and fashion advice, (not a bad thing actually) and ask me what I am having for dinner, etc.

Yesterday they were ALLLLL here and while I sat on the porch they put on a what they called a "Ballet Opera" on my front lawn. I was the audience. The twins (who are so identical that even their parents cannot tell them apart) were flowers, one other girl was "the farmer" and then the last girl was the "mean wolf." They made Spencer do the Special Effects by misting them with the hose. There was no music but choeography alone took 90 minutes. Then they would do part of it, stop and explain what they were doing and then continue A lot of times they would start from the beginning and say "OK, this is the real thing now." and then they would of course stop in the middle, change something, and then start over. Sometimes Amy the dog ran through "the stage" and that would cause a re-start. At one point she was going to have a part, but that did not work out due to her being uncooperative.

The whole ordeal took about 4 hours on the porch. I was busy pureeing squash (to hide in Spencer's food so he will get SOME vegetables in his diet - yes the Jessica Seinfeld Cookbook), and putting it in individual bags to freeze, also bagging up pretzels and veggies for lunches etc so i did not mind, I guess. Bill came out with the snow cone thing we bought while on the Goat Farm and made them all snow cones for Intermission. It was okay, but GAWD, it went on for HOURS and after it I realized a few things. Spencer may drive me INSANE but I am so GLAD he is a boy, and that I have only ONE KID. Those girls are CRAZY. They are very very creative and fun but they were so nutty, so spastic, and they talk NON STOP.

The Ballet Opera involved Ballet, jazz and a few gymnastics moves. The mean wolf was on rollerblades. Not sure what the hose was for. They are all so good, I mean really really great at all the stuff they did. They wereflipping and tumbling and twirling allll over the place. At one point they wanted have costumes but they did not so they told me: "Okay you have imagine that I am in a pink sparkly dress with little flowers right here..." and then they allll argued about who was going to wear which imaginary sparkly outfit. That killed about a half an hour. By then end I was just DIZZY, and I wonder why they always choose me, why they always hang around ME??? How did I get so lucky?

One time I tried to ditch them by saying that I had to start dinner. They followed me into the house and critiqued what I was having for dinner. I told them a few things and started making them and they would say " Welll that's okay, but what will you have for a vegetable course? You need to have a vegetable, too...."

They drive me insane. I think they missed me, because I was gone for 504 days. Bill calls them my "Groupies." I love them all but they are sooooo crazy. Everyone of our neighbors, if they are talking to me say, "Well, you had better get going, I think I see your groupies coming out."

I have no idea why they like to talk to me... maybe I remind them of their grandmas or maybe their crazy Aunts? I dunno. Maybe because I listen to them. They tell me all about thier Halloween costumes, their dance classes stuff like this. I like them all, and when they are a little older I know I will not have a problem finding a babysitter, but for now I am kind of looking forward to the END of summer here on Sycamore Street. They are driving me a little batty. They ring the doorbell and Spencer says "Mommy, your friends are here..." hahahah and I think, yeah I am freinds with four 9 year olds. Alllrighty then.

I should have taken some pics of the Ballet Opera. It was quite something.

Goodbye Paul Newman.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080927/ap_on_en_mo/obit_newman_32

Well this was very sad news, and not quite a surprise, since news of his illness was leaked over and over. However I am glad for once that he decided to not spend his final days on Jay Leno, yukking it up on the couch etc. Paul Newman was not only a great actor but also gave millions of dollars to charities by selling his delicious salad dressing and pasta sauce, among other things. He was just awesome and I'd like to write something profound and deep but it all sounds so contrived and feeble. I think I will just say that he will be missed.

Feel free to comment on what your favorite Paul Newman Movie was....


Mine was Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
He was amazing in it.

Spencer will be Class of 2022. That's kind of freaking me out....

Today we figured out that Spencer will graduate from High School in Class of 2022. YIKES!!!!!! How scary is THAT???? We are debating on where to send him for school next year. The public schools of Canby are all pretty good, except for the one that is near our house, and everyone we know is pulling their kids out of it. Thus, we are on the search for the perfect Elem School for Spencer. We only have the one kid, so it will be bad paying tuition, but not as bad as if we have like 4 kids. We are looking at a couple of Parochioal Schools in the area, two of them being St John The Baptist in Milwaukie (http://www.sjbcatholicschool.org/) and the C S Lewis Academy in Newberg (http://www.cslewisacademy.com/) Both would be a commute and a sacrifice of sorts in a lot of ways, but have one chance to educate this kid so we might as well do it right. Neither place costs more than our current preschool, and somehow we are pulling that out of thin air for the past three years. I guess we will just have to fire the Butler and the Maid. There is the Pacific Northwest Academy, but it is twice as expensive and honestly it reminds me of a school in my home town that I hated. I even went there and I hated it.

This decision is a way off, as he will be at Teacher Gina's Preschool for another year. He does not start Kindergarten until next year.

They came and drilled the extra hole in the granite for the instant hot thing, and they will come back and install it tomorrow. Then just a few lights are backordered, and the storm door has to be installed and that is about it! We have a house!

It rained today for a bit, and reminded everyone that there are going to be just a few more sunny days left in the season and then Monsoon Season starts for real. However it is supposed to be in the 80s this coming weekend. Not much news to report, as evidenced that I am giving the weather report today...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Storage, Soccer, & School

Spencer the Nutty Soccer Player

The final look of the house. Except the garage lights are back ordered. But who cares?

Left side of the house... Yep. That's my Toyota.

On Saturday we EMPTIED THE STORAGE UNITS!! For the very first time in like 16 months, EVERYTHING WE OWN is in under one roof. We were very happy and proud of ourselves but the celebration did not last long. That is because Garage Floor Coating Guy called.. yeah.... he needs to do another coat on the floor.....
Which means that we have to EMPTY THE GARAGE!!!! well its only for like 24 hours or so but That means that EVERYTHING has to come into the house,where I am already tripping over stuff I have not put away yet. I work hard everyday to put some more stuff away but some of it I just have not decided where it should go. In some cases, we have not much furniture, so we have no where to put it even after we do decide.

But it is still good to be home.

Spencer spent like this entire weekend riding his bike. Last night the kids wanted to play soccer in the street and she thought he should keep riding it to playsoccer. They told him to get off. So he finally did and he parked it in the goal thing. hahah

SO then the kids kindly moved his bike, explaining to him that this is the field and the bike cannot be here. He thought the goal net thing would make a fun little bike garage so he MOVED the goal to where they had put his bike.. SO funny. Then, get this they said he should play soccer with him... maybe only to get his bike off the field. SO they are playing and he is starting to get it, and then they kind of kicked the ball toward him and said "Get it Spencer!!! GO Spencer!"
He sees the ball coming toward him, PICKS IT UP with his hands and runs with it toward to goal... They tell him he is not supposed to pick the ball up. hahah So the next time he just took the ball and ran away with it. FINALLY he got it. and they sort of let him score a goal and then he liked soccer..

He needs to be in soccer, but we did notget back in time from CA to sign him up for this year, but next year he will do it. Later this year is going to do Swimming and Karate again, and Id like to put him in gymnastics as well.

Spencer is A NUT. He is off to preschool, and Bill is teaching there today.

Ginger has asked me for the recipe for my Chikcin Paprikash that I got from Bill's mom. it is from Cookbook called "Jazz Cooks" that Bill got for her a while ago. I will post it later. Right now I NEED some COFFEE. But here is a link to the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Cooks-Portraits-Recipes-Greats/dp/1556701926

Stream of Barely Consciousness...Uhmmm... Was that a CANNON????

SCORE!!!!!!

It was a pretty fun day here in Oregon for me.. weird but okay.

It started out as usual where I go to bed and everyone is where they are supposed to be.... Bill in our bed and Spencer in his bed in his room and the dog on the floor. I wake up every morning with ALLL of them - Bill Dog Spencer - i.n my bed and there is just NO ROOM AT ALL... also it does not help that we now have a QUEEN bed instead of a KING.... so this AM I just gave up and hit the livingroom couch. I have been getting up at like 5 & 6 all this week for no reason so I was beat.

I slept on the couch for a bit. When Bill woke up and came downstairs he asked me if the dishes in the dishwasher were clean. I must have been asleep and I told him yes. He started putting them away and got about half way when he realized they had not been washed. Then I really woke up.

We both located AND fixed Spencer's Super Duper Superman bike today and he rode it around ALLLLL day long. He did really well except for that he kept putting his bike helmet on backwards. He was so tired tonight he almost fell asleep in his Dinosaur Chicken Nuggets.

Bill got a call from SOMEONE related to Bill Cosby (?) or Bing Crosby or David Crosby or Kathie Lee Gifford I have no freaking idea some guy who wants a guitar. In fact two guys in famous bands no one has ever heard of ordered guitars today, I think, which is pretty good but I had of course never heard of them BUT the deal is that Bill MISSED DINNER.

Spencer and I were on our own and he was all in a hurry to get back on his bike SO I did frozen nuggets for him, and I just had leftovers of the Chicken Paprikash that I THOUGHT Bill liked because I watched him eat it at his mom's house not a month ago and thus made a ton of it yesterday, only to find that he does not really like it... ARRRRGH I got the recipe from his mom and everything. I thought it was awesome. I DO like it and I made a ton of it and it was great so but we had a lot leftover so I was eating that for dinner with corn. And get this....I went on the porch for something for ONE SEC and I come back and AMY THE DOG has eaten my DINNER!!!!!!

This happened AFTER she ate Spencer's and his friend Austin's lunch this afternoon but I think they fed it to her. They were hungry and I gave them both lunch on the front porch. I made them both a sandwich, Caramel Milk and those little 100 Calorie cookie packs. They hate the cookies, left the milk and fed the sandwiches to the dog. They thought I did not see it. The kids like to give her treats but I limit them because I don't want her to end up like old Riley... I am pretty sure PB & J is ok for a dog. All the kids in our neighborhood LOVE Amy the dog and she runs around with them all day long..Seriously I mean she follows Spencer EVERYWHERE, but other kids come by and ask to take her for walks or just hang out with her. At first we were worried because she kept escaping form the back yard but everyone likes her so much its okay.

The storage units have about 1 or 2 more vanloads of little stuff and they will be empty. The bad news is that all that crap is now in the house and I am getting a bit overwhelmed. Every time I turn around in the kitchen or someplace there is something wrapped in bubble wrap or a box that I am supposed to take care of or put somewhere. IT needs to be finished so that A we can empty the units and not have to pay another month but also B so that Bill can get all the stuff in here and get back to work. He is behind on a lot of projects.

ALso the plumbers came today to do the rest of the shower stuff... I guess they were waiting on some fixtures. Another guy is coming Monday to drill a hole in the granite near the sink for the Instant Hot thing. That is a thing you put on your sink that when you pull a lever give you instant boiling hot water. I like it for tea. We had one before here. In fact, there was a hole for it, but the plumbers put in this "air switch" for the disposer and now they need to drill another hole now for the INSTANT HOT which I keep calling the 'Hot SInk" and i have no idea why. Builder Nick is putting on the storm door next week. We had one of those before and I like how the house LOOKS without it, but honestly I like having a storm door that is one of those allll the way down glass one with no screen because I can see all the kids out the door while they are playing but I do not have to lose AIr Conditioning to do it. In our neighborhood we all trade off watching each other's kids for short perioids or afternoons or whatver while a mom runs to pick up another kid or ck on dinner or a Dad runs to the store for some forgotten ingredient or whatever. So, I need to see out the front door most of the time, but I don't want the flies in or the AC out.

There are a few backordered light fixtures still we are waiting for but that is about it. The house is almost totally done.

I was freezing cold ALL day today, and I am hoarse from yelling at the dog and sitting outside watching the kids all day but it is still good to be home. Tonight are you ready for this? we are all sitting around outside, and alll the kids are out all over the place on bikes and scooters, running with the dog and all of us moms and dads are talking and suddenly a CANNON goes off. HUH???? Turns out that most Friday Nights in Canby during the football season there is a home game at the high school. They HONESTLY SHOOT A CANNON when Canby scores. FOur years ago if I'd heard that thing go off like every 20 minutes I would have wondered why we had ever bought a house in this wackadoodle town. Tonight, however.... "SCORE!!!!!!!!!"

You don't have to be crazy to live here, but it helps. AND its WAY better than a goat farm.

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.