I'm A Queen!

Because I'm getting a crown.

I think I've written about this before but whenever there's something wrong with my car and I have to take it in, I always expect it to cost $600. That way if it's $600 then I can think: I knew it! And if it's more, say $800, well, that's not too much more than I expected.

And if it's less then I can think: whew! at least it isn't $600.

This is exactly what I was thinking as the dentist ground down my old broken tooth and fitted me with a temporary. When I found out that after insurance I would probably owe $450 (due now), I thought whew!

On the bummer side, when I was planning my day of amazing productivity, spending 3 hours at the dentist wasn't in the equation.

Today Is the First Day
Today's my first day of being fabulously organized and focused for writing and so far I'm failing spectacularly. Also, I just broke a tooth.

I'm attempting to systematically eliminate distractions. Last night I deleted several series recordings from my TV shows and cleaned out my Google Reader. There are a lot of sites that I enjoy, like the Slog but every time I log on there are a million posts and it wastes too much time. Good-bye Slog.

I'm still subscribed to all my regular real people blogs. I told angelawd I was going to update my links soon and soon is probably not anytime soon. I don't know. If I can master this fabulously organized and focused thing, maybe soon.

I also deleted my Usenet reader. I've read alt.gossip.celebrities for such a long time I'm too embarrassed to name the date. I've tried to quit twice before but I think this one will stick. Do they make a patch for that?

We had a fabulous weekend in Seattle and I'll write more about it when I get the photos organized. There aren't a lot of photos because we took Bob's camera and he got to hold it so I didn't get to capture every interesting crack in the sidewalk like I usually do.

A few last quick notes: I had to scrape ice off my car this morning and there was no traffic on the way in. I guess Washington is on Spring Break this week.

And finally, there were some young people on the radio talking about going to an Eighties party and what to wear and what their research uncovered. ("They wore Izod shirts in different colors and … ") I have never felt older.

This is my yard around 9:30a.

I should probably talk about this photo but don't know what to say about it. Eons ago I ran across a website by a woman who made incredible collages. I thought it would be fun to try and I collected colorful paper scraps and cardboard and bought some Modge Podge and brushes and then it sat on the floor of the closet for the next several years.

A couple weeks ago I got a wild hair and clipped and glued and put together that thing. The process was fun but I was disappointed with the finished product. It's actually a square but I'm too lazy to do multiple scans and blend them together. I like the way it looks in the scan.

How Not To Write is keeping a list of writers going to Clarion West this summer.

We're getting ready to head out into the grim weather — right now there are very slushy snowflakes falling from the sky — for our fun getaway weekend in Seattle. I remember when I bought my new coat I thought it was overkill for how much I would be using it. HA HA. I've needed it almost every day since November.

These are time elapse photos from the brownie making last weekend. I intended to take more but my hands were sticky and I forgot and we had already eaten half of them before I thought about it again.

I wanted to share some of my high tech kitchen gadgets. That's my double-boiler. It's a saucepan with an inch or two of water and my favorite bowl a Capri Bake Serve'n Store Stoneware. It's microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe. I don't know how old there are. My mother-in-law gave it to me with a smaller one that matches. I think she has a third one at her house. I love them and use them all the time. I bet women riot over these in the second hand store.

Watch and learn kids: this is how the masters melt chocolate and butter together.



I don't usually link to other posts like this but I feel like mixing it up today.

I think this is probably in the top 3 best blog posts I've ever read. I'm not sure what the other two are. The Dooce post about the Big Bad Mother Effing Poop would probably make the list. We still talk about this at the office and laugh so hard we wipe tears from our eyes.

This is another great post about visiting a shipwreck in Coos Bay.



One thing about going to Clarion West that I didn't mention yesterday is that I haven't had 6 weeks off from work since the nineties. The early nineties.

I've had a job of one kind or another pretty steadily since about 13 when I started babysitting. At 16 I got a job at Jack-in-the-Box and worked on weekends and after school until I went to college. After my freshman year I worked part time during the school year at the Santa Barbara Zoo and part time at the University library. A few months after college graduation I got my first real job at the license exam school. When that fell apart I got a job at Panavision.

(Additional jobs not mentioned: waiting tables at a Chinese restaurant, teaching gymnastics to little kids, Psychic hotline.)

Panavision is the job I quit (Dec 1990) to get my paralegal certificate.

The next series of events is documented in my first holiday newsletter.

From the time I quit Panavision to the time I got my legal assistant job was 14 months and an incredible low point in my life. The program was 6 months and then I could not find a job and ended up doing odd jobs for family and friends of family. Cleaning house. Gardening. Washing cars. So while technically there was an extended amount of time where I didn't have a regular job, I was too stressed out and miserable to enjoy the time.

The whole idea of not going into the office for 6 weeks is hard to imagine. And really cool.

Clarion West

I got the call on Sunday night. I have been accepted in the Clarion West Workshop. Don't let my calm tone fool you. This is a BFD. For the second time in 6 months I ran into the basement and did these pogo-ing jumping jacks while shouting, "you'll never guess what just happened" at my poor bewildered spouse.

I get to spend 6 weeks in Seattle doing workshops and writing and hanging out with writers. No cooking. No cleaning. No commuting. And no lawyers.

I never mentioned applying to it here. I guess that's a great indicator of my confidence. I had pretty much talked myself out of it thinking that I would really be relieved to find I didn't get in. There's a big change in my professional life coming up that I also haven't mentioned yet here but the gist is I'll be leaving the firm at the end of September and working fulltime for a tribal client. I'm sure I'll be wringing my hands about it until then but I'll spare you for now.

I was thrilled with the news and bouncing off the walls for the rest of the night. That night I dreamt I was at the workshop and I only had one page to turn in for my story. It's going to be awesome.

There's a good summary of my writing life and what led up to this here. After Wordstock (the first time I did the pogo dance) I wanted to keep moving forward so I decided to apply to Clarion West. I didn't know if I could get the time off or how I could make it work but I figured I'd worry about that later.

The firm is fine with it, if not very supportive and Bob and I are working out the rest of it.


I know this is just one summer of my life but here are the two tragedies.

#1 – My garden. I don't see how I can put in a garden and then be gone for 6 weeks. I'm sure Bob could keep it alive but he hates tomatoes so it seems like a lot to ask for him to take care of it. I'll probably put some stuff in anyway and see what happens. Of course I'm going to plant pumpkins.

#2 – No extended Orleans trip this summer with all the family and kids and the river and corn and tomatoes and Indian Rocks. I'll have time for a quick weekend trip but can't see taking off 6 weeks at the beginning of the summer and then expecting another week at the end.

I'm not complaining. This is going to be a great summer.

We're going to Seattle this weekend as our super-abbreviated spring break trip (long story omitted) and I told Bob this is the last weekend for effing around until August. I'm all business until this workshop is over.

Ideas for Posts That Have Been More Or Less Discarded

Dancing with the Stars. I've never watched this show before and decided to check it out last week when they did the two night premiere. It was fun but I didn't get into it enough to follow for the whole season. Poor Monica Seles. I've seen ironing boards that could move better than that.

Over the weekend I got a fortune cookie that said: "A good movie would be a great way to relax this weekend." My brother-in-law's response: "That's not a fortune. That's a suggestion."

Miracle face product: there was a TV commercial for a face product that would brighten, smooth, plump, moisturize, age-defy, lift and minimize pores. If it would empty the dishwasher they'd really be on to something.

Photo: My First Easter

In my head I always think that the computer is what sucks up most of my free time so two days of computer-free would translate into piles of time to get to those long ignored projects. HA HA.

Friday I did errands and made the brownies and thought I'd clean out my kitchen cupboards. You know where you take everything out and wipe them out and find all sorts of treasures like dried up macaroni and measuring spoons you thought you lost? I got less than halfway through and had to run off to an appointment and by the time I got home I had time for a snack and then we got ready to go over to Priscilla's to have dinner with Steve and look at photos.

Saturday I read a little bit and got organized for the writers meeting, then the gang arrived and when we were finished I took advantage of the sunshine to weed and rake and clean up in the yard. Then it was time to get cleaned up and go to Priscilla's again for more time to visit with Steve and look at more photos.

Now I'm sitting at the computer not sure what to do with myself.

By popular demand: here's more info on my buttermilk bread from an earlier post. (Here, if you missed it.)

This probably isn't a good recipe if you're new to bread baking. If you've never made bread but want to try, it's never going to get easier than the no knead bread recipe.

If you want to learn more about bread baking, I recommend The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book by Laurel Robertson. It's the perfect beginner book and she explains a lot of these steps in great detail.

Laurel's Buttermilk Bread

2 t. active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water

3/4 cup very hot water
1/4 cup honey
1 1/4 cup cold buttermilk

5 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 t. salt

2 to 4 T butter

Dissolve yeast in the warm water.

Mix together the hot water and honey (I never measure, I just squish a bunch in) and add the buttermilk. It should be slightly warm.

Stir the flour and salt together and make a well in the center and then pour in the liquid ingredients and stir from the center outward, incorporating all the flour. The bread is lightest if the dough is slightly soft. (I wish I could annotate this direction, but honestly, all dough seems soft to me.)

Kneed about 20 minutes adding the butter in cold bits at the end of the kneading time. (I've done this with and without the beloved Kitchen Aid. The machine is easier, in case there was any doubt in your mind. When I did the bread making class the teacher had a cool way of kneading, he did a sort of wrist flip and swung the dough around so it slapped on the counter, as if you were trying to smack the water out of a pair of heavy socks. He made it look like poetry. I flipped my wrist and had to pick up my dough from the floor.)

Form the dough into a ball and place it smooth side up in the bowl. Cover and keep in warm place. After 1.5 hours gently poke the center of the dough about 1/2 inch deep with your wet finger. If the hole doesn't fill up or if the dough sighs, it's ready.

Press flat, then form into a smooth ball and let it rise like before except check it after 45 minutes. If you use quick-rise yeast, cut these times in half. Ideally, you're moving from step to step by the way the dough feels and looks. I'm not that talented and usually just hope for the best.

Press the dough flat and divide in two. Round it and let it rest until relaxed. (I'm not sure how to tell the dough is relaxed. Maybe after it finishes its cocktail and cigarette?) I let it rest for 15 minutes. You can shape for loaf pans, or even better, shape into round balls and put it in greased pie plates and they make the cute loaves from the photo.

Preheat the oven to 325 while you do the final rise. Set the loaves in a warm place until the dough slowly returns a fingerprint. Bake 45-60 minutes.

This bread tastes fabulous cut into thick slices and spread with cashew butter and Nutella. One time I ate almost half a loaf fresh from the oven with butter. Then I couldn't eat my dinner.

This last time I misjudged my timing (and probably several other steps) and had to pull it out of the oven a tad early so it ended up damp and heavy.

Even goofed up homemade bread is better than store bought so I keep trying.

Computer Free
This evening we went to the grocery store. Neither of us wore a coat into the store and it was monsooning when we were done. We ran across the parking lot in a gusting downpour, drop-kicked our groceries into the trunk and were in the car buckled-up in record time.

I had a recipe I was thinking of making for Easter. We don't really celebrate Easter but I thought I might make a nice dinner. When I clipped the recipe I thought it was a "toss in slow cooker and forget it" type of recipe and as I was writing down what I needed I noticed there was stuff about browning and setting aside and a bunch of steps with aluminum foil on and then off and then a reduction sauce and I could sense that this wasn't the type of recipe I was up for so it was abandoned and I'm guessing now we'll have frozen pizza and salad.

We'll see how I feel.

I did a lot of computer work at the office this week and my neck, shoulders, back, arms and dried little eyeballs are telling me that they would like a break so I'm going to be on a severe computer reduction diet for the next couple of days.

The Psycho Call
One thing I cannot get over is people talking on cellphones in public places. I want to accept this as it is clearly here to stay and I've thought a lot about it. If two people are walking through the grocery store having a conversation, this doesn't bother me. But if someone is pushing his/her cart through the dairy aisle with one of those ridiculous cordless earpieces and jawing away in a one sided conversation, I want to rip his or her tongue out.

My biggest peeve is people yakking on public transportation. I get it, it's dead time. Why not use it to catch up with friends or family? But I have to share an enclosed space with that person and I want to read my book or stare out the window without one or more people yelling into their phone in the background. Especially inappropriate interpersonal disputes like the woman at the (different public space) library (!) complaining to someone I am guessing was her spouse about being stuck at home with the baby.

Yesterday the woman next to me was doing the psycho call and as a woman who has made a number of psycho calls in my lifetime, (but thankfully, not for eons) I wanted to feel some compassion for her misery. At the same time I was super uncomfortable and trying to act like I couldn't hear when everyone at the front of the bus could totally hear her in the midst of making The Call that is never a good idea.

The psycho call is the call you make after a relationship is over and the other person has clearly moved on but you have not. You make this call with the idea that it will accomplish some sort of closure, that you will have the last word, that you will show that you are the bigger person. In fact, you will probably say some of these things during the course of the call. But what you are really doing is being a psycho loser who wants an opportunity to say out loud all the nasty things you've been thinking about this person since the breakup.

Example from yesterday, "I'm glad you have a new girlfriend. No, really, I am. I hope you two are happy. A rich girl is just what you need until three months from now when you start lying to her. … No, I'm not bitter."

Also there may be more than one call. In this case there was a call when she got on the bus which terminated during the bus ride but then she flipped open the phone and dialed and flipped the phone shut about 30 times (are you getting a sense of where this call gets its name?) and then resumed the call again near the end of the bus ride.

I should have grabbed the phone out of her hand and hit her over the head with it.

photo by nickherber

The Cutting Edge
The other night I caught the last 15 minutes of one of my favorite cheesy romantic comedies of all time: The Cutting Edge.

I'm not a big fan of the Winter Olympics but I love figure skating although not so much that I follow it on a regular basis. If I happen to notice that there's a major championship going on I might tape it and I'll check the results online. Like turns out the 08 World Championships are going on right now.

The Cutting Edge stars Moira Kelly as a spoiled pairs figure skater. Her Dad, played by Locke, is really rich so she has her own personal skating rink and foreign accented coach but she's such a shrill harpie that she can't keep a partner and her people get more and more desperate to find her one so she can win the Olympic gold medal and eternal glory.

Enter the dreamy D.B. Sweeney as a hockey player who for some reason switches to figure skating. I can't remember why and the wiki says he was injured and his peripheral vision was shot. Not sure it makes sense that such an injury would make you an ideal candidate for pairs figure skating but then none of this really makes sense so you just have to get caught up in the moment.

Of course they instantly loathe each other but their skating works and they really want to be in the Olympics because of all the fame. Quick! Name three sets of Olympic Figure Skating Champions. Can you do it? Me either and I've watched Olympic figure skating since the 70's.

The whole movie is fabulous but the last 15 minutes, as is in any romantic comedy, the best part. I can't remember exactly what happened but I think Moira realized she was in love with D.B. but then thinks he's a womanizing cad after showing up at his room in the night. Brokenhearted, she decides that after their final Olympic program she's going to retire from the sport and forget this foolish love.

Meanwhile, D.B. realizes he's in love with this feisty-brat and so right when the official is calling them to come do their final program in the Olympics, he tells her he's in love with her. It's the most ridiculously fabulous confession of love in modern cinema.

She doesn't say anything at first and they storm onto the ice and then as they stand there waiting for the music to start, she informs them they will be doing the Flying Petrenko (or whatever) this really dangerous move where he swings her around in circles by her feet and then lets go and she does a bunch of flips and twists and lands in his arms.

They skate in a curiously tiny Olympic ice stadium with close up shots of about 12 people, cheering. There are tight close ups of our heros and then incredible long shots of real skaters flipping around. And this is all intercut with their rivals, the Russians with their unfortunate hairdos, making sour faces.

I won't spoil the ending (HA!) but a definite must see if you like cheesy movies and ice skating.

Later that evening I watched the latest episode of Jericho and there was my dreamboat D.B. Sweeney playing an evil badass. What happened?

My Favorite Things to do in Portland
Last month it was 16 years since I started working in Downtown Portland and I still love it. When the weather is good and even when it's bad, I walk all over town to get fresh air, take care of banking, have my delicious Alexis fried cheese fix, try on wool pants, or have my favorite sausage sandwich from the midweek downtown farmer's market.

When were down at the old office I would walk by the river almost every day in good weather. Like a regularly scheduled break, every day around 2p or 3p, I'd head out and walk by the river to clear my head for the last couple hours of the work day. I usually walk on the west side of the river but Eastbank Esplanade is nice too and it makes a big loop. I've gotten out of the habit at the new office but if it ever stops raining, I'm going to get back to that.

For one of the best birthdays I ever had, besides the one in Germany, we got a room at the Paramount Hotel and spent the afternoon hanging out downtown. We went to the Fox Tower cinemas to see a Wes Anderson movie, I think it was The Royal Tennenbaums, and then went to late night happy hour at Dragonfish for snacks and exotic drinks.

Whenever the family is town we always make a trek to Powell's books. Go there first and pick up a handy walking map. Lucky for me I can go on my lunch hour. It's a long walk, but do-able. I need to go this week because last time I was there I bought a book I already have and need to trade it for one I need.



One of my favorite downtown meals is paella at Southpark. They also have fabulous fish specials. Mother's Bistro is also yummy for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner but really busy so you have to plan ahead. Bob and my new favorite dinner spot is West Café which is a couple blocks north of the museums and Schnitzer and where we go on our lecture night.

Bob and I are both museum nerds and belong to the Portland Art Museum and the Oregon Historical Society. Every once in a while I go to the museum on my lunch hour. It's enough time to peek at the special exhibit or do a lap in the
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Center for Native American Art.



I haven't been in years but Saturday Market is a good spot for visitors. Lots to eat, look at and buy. Easy access to river walk and light rail. Voodoo Doughnut isn't too far from the market, either. I also haven't seen the Rose Garden in Washington Park in a long time but it's a lovely spot to visit.



My friend Tonya and I used to meet for walks in Forest Park which is really nice. We haven't managed to synch up our schedules since she became a successful independent businesswoman.

Bob and I sometimes drive over to Portland on Saturday mornings for the Farmers Market at Portland State. Actually, Bob more than I. He discovered that some of our favorite vendors from the Vancouver Farmers Market have switched to Portland. Tons of great stuff to eat even if you're not taking a fruit and vegetable stash home.

I've always wanted to do the Shanghai Tunnel tour and I never have but a woman in my writers group has done it twice and says it's really cool. I've also never been on the Portland Spirit because I'm not really into boats, but I walk by it all the time and it looks fun for people who like boats.

A fun day trip is to drive out into the Columbia River Gorge and check out Multnomah Falls and then on the way back stop at McMenamins Edgefield for some food and a beer and a walk around to check out what's going on there.

If you like wandering around looking in shops and grabbing random snacks, downtown is perfect for that or the Pearl which is where you find yourself if you go to Powell's.

On the other side of the river is Hawthorne which is my favorite. There are also shops and stuff on Broadway around the Lloyd Center and out on Alberta.

Every time I re-read this post I think of something else but I'm going to make this my last addition: Old Wives Tales on the east side of the river is a great spot for breakfast, lunch and dinner and their menu includes items for special dietary requests including vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free.

Photostream From Mom's Birthday is Up!

Here's the photostream from Mom's Birthday.


The first part of the group arrived on Friday evening and camped out at various locations.

Saturday morning Erin and my team drank tea and worked on our photo project. We had a bunch of photos from Aileen and Erin had scans from Dad and Grandma and I had scans from a never ending collection of old family albums that I am scanning. Or more accurately, not scanning but intending to. Scanning is tedious work.



Here Erin is playing an old game we used to call Anchovy Cliff Divers. She said the water was fantastic. (Just kidding)

Mom, Dad and Carole came over to our house and we went on an epic walk down at Frenchman's Bar.

It took me about 10 minutes to lose the lens cap of my brand new camera because that's the kind of irresponsible moron that I am. I offered a dollar to the person who found it and I won!



We took everyone to lunch at La Bottega in lovely downtown Vancouver where I insisted everyone try the gorgonzola cheesecake. This is an incredible appetizer consisting of the gorgonzola cheesecake which is light and tasty and served with polenta and a bit of marinara and you spread it on your toast. It's a life changing appetizer.




Then it was time to make ourselves pretty, get our stuff together and head over to the Kennedy School.

I was sure to grab the history of the Kennedy School for when I wrote this up but I have no idea where it is. Here's a quick summary: once it was a real working elementary school and now it's a wonderful place for drinks, dinner and/or parties. You can stay in a guest room converted from an old classroom. Or if you live in the neighborhood you can stop by for a movie and have a slice of pizza.



One time, many years ago, Bob was off doing some sort of Bob thing. Maybe a concert with a friend or an out-of-town school event. I got this crazy idea in my head that I was going to go do something independent and unusual for me and go to the Kennedy School and see Seven Samurai.

This was a Sunday night and I found my comfy couch. The theater is the auditorium and it's filled with couches and overstuffed chairs. I grabbed a piece of pizza and settled in, watching this classic which to be honest, was a tad slow for me.



I stuck with it, because it's a classic and everything. And what do you know, there's an intermission.

Hm, I think to myself, I wonder how long this movie is. So I've just settled back in my seat after a visit to the restroom when I overhear one of the people who works in the theater say that the movie is OVER THREE HOURS LONG. We weren't going to get out of there until after 11pm. Why didn't anyone tell me this sooner?

I got up and went home and I've never seen the rest of the movie.



Our party was in the Mina Parsons room.

We had a fabulous buffet with salmon and beef and all kinds of stuff. The food was really good. The wine was lovely, too. And believe me, I would know.



We had a nice turn out. It seemed like everyone had a good time. I've gotten lots of nice notes. I had a good time, too. Let's do it again, only next time with less wine.

The Dream Police They Live Inside of My Head
Man, there is just too much heavy stuff going on right now. Can't write about it all.

The attorneys I work for have both been out of the office most of the last several weeks. Either I deal with stuff on my end or things pile up until they get back in the office.

This is co-worker's in box.

Not scary you say?



Well, this is his desk. We're trying to keep it all reeled in with the crises on the top of the pile. This week there are an unusual number of crises.

I have never been so grateful for a day off as I was today. I expected to have more time to dink around but it's been more putting things back together. Cleaning out the fridge and buying food; catching up on email and trying to fix a situation (long sob story omitted); figuring out where things are at with the checkbook. You know, that daily living type stuff.

Uncouth Heathen asked about my favorite things to do in Portland and ALL WEEK I kept a file open on my desktop so every time I thought of something I would make a note and track down a URL so I could whip my post together this weekend. Left it on the office computer. doo-doo. It's coming someday ...



Last night we went out to a 10 star fantastic dinner for my sweetheart's birthday and I have to confess I was a weary and using all my efforts just to sit up straight.

Since I wasn't in the mood for wine, I ordered a fancy fruity soda thing. It was bright pink and very sweet and delicious and I had two giant swigs before I noticed that it has caffeine. I don't do caffeine, ever. But especially not in the evenings. Who adds caffeine to a pink girly drink?

I drank enough to make it hard to fall asleep. Nothing like being dead tired but laying there in the dark with your eyes open. Then it was my big morning to sleep in and I woke up at 6:30a. I closed my eyes right away and thought, "No! no!' But yes. I was awake.


I got my sweetheart a surprise for his birthday. When I bought my new camera I bought this for him. He's a fabulous photographer and a descendant of a fabulous photographer. I thought he'd enjoy having a something of his own to carry around.

I gave it to him last weekend since we were doing the big family thing. I said, "I got you a surprise for your birthday and thought you might like to play with it this weekend. Would you like to open it now?"

He saw the box and looked like a kid at Xmas and said, "Is this what I think it is?"

Then he opened it and made a funny face and said, "What is this?"

It's not like he was disappointed, it just wasn't what he thought it was. He thought it was Berlin Alexanderplatz an epically long movie that he says saved his life. I bought him that to open on his actual birthday which means he is the luckiest man alive.

Here's his first photo set.

Happy Birthday Bobman!

Today's my sweetheart's birthday. After work we're going to dinner at one of our favorite local places, La Bottega.

Here's Bob's review of Sondheim and Rich.

Last night was our lecture night featuring Stephen Sondheim. Mr. Sondheim apparently doesn't do prepared speeches so the lecture folks convinced him to come and do a "conversation" with Frank Rich. I'm not into musical theater at all. I was trying to think of the last musical theater I saw and I came up with Annie (80's) and Jesus Christ Supertar (70's and there's a story there but no time to get to it now) and that's pretty much it. Ever. There might be some school productions I'm forgetting but I don't think so.

Regardless, the talk was WONDERFUL and I'm certain my sweetheart will post a great review later and I will update and link to it when he does.

My point is, I left my house yesterday at quarter to 7am and didn't return home until 10pm. So, between the big party weekend and my body's complete rejection of the notion of "sleeping through the night" along with a surprisingly busy work week, I'm still in zombie mode and am behind on everything and continue to phone in my blog posts and prop them up with old family photos.

Here's another classic which I estimate to be around 1970. Nice butt Grandma! I dig the car, too. This was from a trip to Hawaii. My sister thinks Mom was helping her with "her shells" while I'm grinning for Dad with the camera.

Happy Birthday Mom
Check out my hot Mom and me. (I'm the one with the pacifier.) This is probably Zuma Beach in 1964.

Post Party
Excellent weekend. Really spectacular. The party went great and everyone seemed to have a good time. I have tons of pictures which I will organize as soon as I can but probably not until the end of the week.

Yesterday I took the folks on a Powell's run and it was the perfect day, sunny and nice without a coat even though I had a hangover so bad I wanted to die.

My dear husband wrote an item about his music selections for the party here. And he was quite a prince this weekend helping keep things organized, running around with last minute errands and picking up the slack when I was hobbling around yesterday.

Last night Mom and Dad and Priscilla came over for leftovers at our house and then Mom and Dad went off to the motel with the park & fly and they should be sitting in a plane right now getting ready to take off for Hawaii. Lucky.

I had trouble falling asleep last night and woke up a bunch of times, so still not quite feeling like my sparkling self yet. And of course I waltzed into my office to find a couple of forest fires so no slacking for me.

The Difference Between My Sister and Me
The difference between my sister and me is that I go drama queen in situations where she appears to be barely ruffled.

Many eons ago when we were in college we were on some sort of road trip. I can't remember where we were going but we were in her car, which was originally my car, which was a 1972 Plymouth Duster that had once been owned by our grandparents. I could probably get at least a half dozen good blog posts out of that car. I'll have to see if there's a good photo somewhere.

Anyway, on this particular trip we were low on gas and this was the kind of car that went from a quarter tank to stuttering on fumes in a heartbeat. Knowing this, we took an unknown exit which led to the backroads and not a strip of gas stations and chunk chunk. We were out of gas. I immediately went into freak-out mode convinced that our very lives were at risk and days later people would find our bodies in a ditch.

My sister calmly told me to get out of the car. She locked it and grabbed the gas can (out of gas, not an uncommon occurrence) and off we went, no civilization in sight. Within minutes a car filled with strangers pulled up and offered us a ride. As I protested, "How do we know they aren't blood-thirsty murderers?" my sister calmly ordered me to get into the car.

The world's nicest people took us to the gas station and back to our car.

We lived on into middle age. So far.

I bring this up because she's on her way here right now and just phoned because she got mixed up and went over a bridge she shouldn't have. When I first moved to Portland I was perpetually lost. It took months before I didn't cry when I ended up driving over a bridge I shouldn't have. I was panicking for her, thinking "Oh no, how will she find her way?"

She phoned us from the car, completely calm. "What do I do next?"

And she's good at fixing things. Why didn't I inherit those genes?

I woke up at about 1:30a this morning and never really got back to sleep. I'm so wonky that I actually described the above photo as "Sunset this morning."

By the skin of my teeth I managed to leave the office at 12:30p as planned. It never fails that if I try to take a half day, something monumental has to be done 20 minutes before I want to leave. Today was no different but my determination was unstoppable and I got my thing done, made my bus and was back at my car by 1pm.

I'm only writing this to tell you about how perfectly fabulous Toyota of Vancouver was this afternoon. I have said and thought bad things about them after some visits in the past but they were A+ with extra credit today.

When I walked in, I told them that a dummy light went on shortly after I left last week and could they take a look. One guy grabbed my keys and ran out the door while another guy made a joke about me calling them dummies. I mentioned that I'd like to get new windshield wipers because I totally forgot last week and he said it would be cheaper if I bought it from parts.

"I don't know how to install them," I said. And he said, "One of these guys will install them."

He then took me to parts by walking me through the service area with all the guys working on cars. Then in parts, he stood there and b.s.'d with me while we waited for them to find my part. Once they found it, he took them back to my car while I paid, so they could get them put in.

He instructed me to go back in the way I came and I asked, "Is that cool? Doesn't your insurance company frown about customers wandering around out there?" And he says, "Yeah, probably. I bet [redacted] wouldn't like it." I had no idea who [redacted] was but said I would run if I saw him.

Then I paid less than $11 for my part and trotted back out to the service area and the first guy from when I came in saw me and laughed and said, "You're everywhere!" And I laughed and he said to be careful walking through the service area and I said, "You mean, don't break my neck right here?" Then he showed me this really cool old car they're fixing up to put in the showroom.

When I get back to my car there are FOUR (4!) guys working on it, one each installing a wiper, one figuring out the malfunctioning rear light and one watching him, plus my friend from parts cracking the whip as they worked assuring me they would get it done as soon as they could. I think about 15 minutes had passed so far. I was at least an hour away from being concerned about how long it was taking.

They didn't charge me for the rear light and I was on my way by 2pm. I have nothing unkind to say about Toyota right now.

Note to Uncouth Heathen: I have many fabulous ideas for you and will make it into a whole post. Stay tuned.

Almost There
I saw lots of daffodils in my neighbors' yards but mine aren't quite there yet.

I can't tell you how much more fun it is to take photos with the new camera. None of this take a picture and then go take a nap while a little red light flashes and the camera decides when its going to take another photo. I'm looking forward to playing with it this weekend when the group is in town.

My Mom is celebrating a big birthday this year and we're having a party at the Kennedy School. We're in the Mina Parsons room. We'll have a big dinner on Saturday night and in the down time do some field trips possibly to: Bob's Red Mill, Uwajimaya and/or Powell's Books. It looks like the weather may be doo-doo but if not we might also do a nice walk on the Eastbank Esplanade or maybe at Vancouver Lake.

Meanwhile, I decided to take a half-day off tomorrow so I have extra time to do errands before everyone rolls into town. I need to go back to Toyota and have them look at the dummy light which let's all cross our fingers takes 15 minutes or less. And I need to do a Target run and organize some food and photos and generally get my act together, which certainly couldn't take more than a half day.

Attack of the Monster Cereal
I didn't mention it earlier but I made rice crispy treats on Saturday morning. I had leftover crispy cereal (not Rice Krispies, I bought the generic version) from the white bark balls I made last month. Crispy rice cereal only comes in luggage-size boxes. The box was so big I couldn't fit it in any of my kitchen cupboards and had to put on top of the filing cabinet in the laundry room.

I haven't made them in eons and now I remember why. The bag of marshmallows instructions used the microwave but I wanted to do it on the stovetop and after a half hour the effing marshmallows still weren't melted so I had to transfer to the microwave.

Once melted, I scraped the world's stickiest substance into a giant bowl with the cereal and tried to mix it together. I wasn't getting far with my spoon and since I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty so I plunged them in which didn't seem to accomplish anything except to spread the world's stickiest substance all over my hands. Then the cereal stuck to my hands and would not come off and the more I tried to scrape it off, the more that stuck to me until I had these giant marshmallow-cereal gloves on my hands. I knew that on some level this was funny and we should probably get photos except I was not humored in the least and sort-of panicked (ah! I'm going to die stuck in a giant web of marshmallow and cereal) and super irritated because my quick little project to get rid of my barrel of cereal was resulting in a mess and frustration.

Some warm sudsy water and my hands were clean. I buttered some aluminum foil and mashed the mixture into the buttered pan and let them cool and everybody loved them. I brought the leftovers for the lunchroom.

Meanwhile, I haven't slept through the night for 6 straight nights and just out of curiosity I checked and last March I had doodoo sleep as well so I guess it really is a seasonal thing, not that I'm any less sleepy for the realization.

One thing about my lazy days is that I always really want them to be productive but the rule of what constitutes valid productivity is a secret, even from me, thus I am never satisfied no matter what I do.

I woke at a decent hour and read Temeraire: Throne of Jade for a couple hours. There are about 100 pages in the first 150 which have woefully little Temeraire (a dragon) which is the only reason to show up for the book and was causing me some dismay. But he got more active and I would have liked to read longer but the secret productivity called.

I put on my yoga clothes and then sat in front of the computer (one of my fitness secrets) and caught up on email and RSS feeds. Bob said he wanted to go for a walk so I changed into walking clothes. It was sunny and in my head I was thinking it was nice and warm out there and it was barely over 40 degrees so we kept a brisk pace.

When we got home I put on yardwork clothes and worked out front in the sun (now more than 50 degrees) and raked and whacked rose bushes and pulled weeds and destroyed some prime slug habitat. My arms turned to noodles in a few hours so I didn't finish but then finishing yardwork tasks is not one of my superpowers.

Now I'm sleepy and looking at the papers on my desk that I not-so-affectionately refer to as "my pile" and I'm wishing I would have dealt with them earlier. I'll have to shuffle and make sure there isn't anything time sensitive and they will have to sit for awhile longer.

Tonight on Masterpiece Theatre: Emma. Yay.

Is there a food styling tutorial somewhere? I thought this camera would take awesome photos by itself. I didn't know the operator had to have a clue.

Here's my cake. I followed the recipe exactly, except that I didn't have golden raisins but I had a Trader Joe's Golden Berry Blend with golden raisins, cherries, cranberries and blueberries. Also I didn't have dark brown sugar so I used light. It came out spectacular. Bob and I ate a big piece last night to make sure it was okay and the writers gobbled it up this afternoon at our meeting.


These are the bulbs I threw in at the last minute in November. I forgot about them on the workbench. I planted a bunch all around the tree and this is all that came up. But if you look in the background, looks like something else is coming up so I'm in for a surprise, I hope. I should probably track down my order sheet since I can't remember what I bought or where I put it. When I was digging holes in the ground I was sure I'd remember.

I've been so busy today I haven't had 5 minutes to pull up my socks until now. The 80th bday party was super fun and the pot roast dinner turned out fabulous. Now I'm so tired I can hardly see straight.