Pissed Seattle Driving - Ranting Post

Not pissed like drunk, pissed like I get around inattentive unfocused illegal drivers such as those I drove with in Seattle for two hours.
Arghh. Any nostalgia I had for missing Seattle and it's amazing stores filled with junk I don't need, but boy, is it fun to look at; my old breakfast haunt Vera's in Ballard that I have been going to for 26 years and ordering the same thing all that time(it is not even on the menu anymore); or the hyper-eco bicycle backpack wearin' grannies standing in line in front of me at the coffee shop with their 'put-a-bird-on-it' wallets.... all these lovely Seattle moments have been obliterated by flippin' holier than thou must drive under the speed limit in all four lanes of the freeway cars. People! Move your damn car over one rippin' lane. I swear to god you will not be any less of a man, or woman, or whatever to get your car out of the fast lane when you are going 54 mph. I really promise. I think people who drive in the appropriate lane for their speed are HOT. I don't even care that you drive under the speed limit (well, most of the time) if you are in the furthest right lane for your rate of travel. Did you all even read the driver's education book? This may be one of those posts I should count to ten before posting... nah.
Question for Seattle : What the heck are you doing with traffic and your roads? I drove around through Tacoma to get to Seattle this morn, usually a leisurely hour and a half drive which was right on time until I hit Seatac... then the freeway stopped. No problem, I bounced over the highway 99 to take the back way. Absolutely stopped. No problem, I will get off of 99 and go along the waterfront. Stopped dead, me and about 30 semi-tractor trailers that were also not happy. Then, the waterfront road is closed, and we all get back on 99 (except for those semi's who were picking up loads on the waterfront) Geez Louwheezie, it was dadblame impossible to get into the city today. It took me 2.5 hours. I am going to kiss my front door when I get home. Land of quiet and low density and horses and yard that needs weeding. I can also tell my personality is beginning to match my county. I want my calm two lane roads again. Where traffic is (shock) 11 cars waiting for a light to turn. Pic: The only traffic in my neighborhood, the wait for the Sunday ferry back to Seattle. Which actually, looking at this, is a bit daunting and why if I ever have to go to Seattle Sunday afternoon I take the Bremerton or Bainbridge ferry.

Survived the birthday weekend

This birthday weekend was great, two days of parties, it did not rain, the grill worked, I had enough food and only one child went to the emergency room for stitches.
I guess actually that last one sucked, but keep in mind, only one child went to the hospital. It makes it sound so rough at my house. Yes, nerf guns and ping pong can get craaaaazy. He made it back in time for a burger and s'mores, so all was not lost.
My mom was here visiting from Michigan, and brought her local gal pals. She said she couldn't believe how many people showed up. I have not actually invited many people over since moving here. My house has been in various states of assembly and disassembly... so I think when I sent out the invite curious friends braved the weekend ferry and fees to visit. It was a blast but boy, today I am tired. Bonus: my flippin' house is clean!

Procrastination List

I haven't done one of these lists in a while, and as I sit here with my coffee, I can tell I am procrastinating.
All because what is on my list for today is to Clean. As in Clean my House. I have people coming over all weekend, so I am to make my house have no animal hair in the corners, make sure the newspapers (only cartoons from the kids) are not stacked next to the toilet, on the back on the couch, behind the couch, under their beds, and then maybe try not to stack my stupid paperwork. So in honor of all things organized, I am drafting a to-do list:
1. Clean floors. God, I hate to clean floors. I use the height excuse, I am 6' tall so the floors are realllllly far away and hard for me to see, let alone clean. And I know that is a lame excuse.
2. Finish stupid detail painting around doors. The problem with painting in the evening hours is maybe you can't see what you are painting and need to do touch-ups.
3. Clean out laundry room. For some reason our laundry room is the dump zone for saddles, garden seeds and gloves, horse medicine, baseball mitts, clean and dirty clothes - hopefully all separate from each other.
4. Cook prep for this weekends BBQ. This is actually the only fun thing on here. Except afterwards I would have to....
5. Clean the kitchen. What is it with white cupboards? I can wipe them down and then no joke, within 30 minutes there is coffee/butter/dog drool/honey dripped down a side of them or at least a droplet somewhere on their formerly pristine surface.
4. Deal with Wilder's baseball team. Figure out if I want to go for their jugular or let Wilder pull out of this team with minimal fuss. I am having a really hard time and vascillating between motherclaws extended defense of my son who is being bullied and the coaches (I keep typing couches) do nothing or just letting my son back out quietly and making damn sure he is on a team next year that understands the concept of TEAM- teamwork, sportsmanship, grace.... I don't really want the last memory of his 11 year old boy baseball career in Little League to be his mom going all ballistic.
This seems to be the age that alot of boys have very ugly memories of sports, it does not matter if they exceled or not at a sport. There is some boy pecking order that has to occur that some kids can handle, and right now, our youngster cannot. It kills me to see that, so I am trying to maintain a professional coolness to a very hot topic for me.
5. Finish the haphazard daughter mowing. I swear she drives our mower like she is racing, and sometimes that does not lend itself to a lovely mow job so I go behind and do the fine edging work at a slower speed.
6. Dust.
7. Move Christmas train and bag of ornaments downstairs to storage. I don't even want to talk about this, how when I was moving pictures in the living room last night I found it all still sitting next to the piano. Embarassing.

General news: newly wedded gal and hub are going on their honeymoon to Ireland and Italy. My mom is in town for the kids birthdays from Michigan, she wisked the kids to Sequim today for a daytrip so I could... what? Clean? ha.
I am going to docent volunteer at a local lighthouse. A very enthused bunch, which is cool to see. Lighthouses always happen to be in lovely areas, I am looking forward to learning about ships, boats, dinghys and other floating things. Have applied for two whole jobs! So exciting. I don't think I really know how to do this job hunt thing. I am wondering if I ever did? Will keep you posted.

The Birthday Season is Upon Us

My children were born 8 days, four years apart. That means this time of year is a fest of kid and family events. Since they have gotten older we combine their 'adult' party of family members into a picnic or BBQ.
Today will be spent cleaning my house and replacing my garbage disposal that got stuck when I dropped my whole change cup in the sink. And then turned on the garbage disposal. In my defense, I thought I had all the pennies and dimes out, but those dimes are tricky and it seems there are a few lodged in there. It has sat so long because I have a double sink, and just haven't been missing that extra side.
Now, however, thanks to helping hands doing dishes that forget we can't put water down that side, I have Blech, Gross, Ack, disgusting water sitting in that sink since it can't get down the drain.
Funny how this started as a birthday notice, and now has rolled into a gross house story.
I did finish painting the kitchen, entry and front door jambs. You ever paint and then look at the color and decide you don't like it? I am somewhat in that space. BUT hell if I am painting it all again. Everyone else seems to like it so I will leave it. It is a bit too sunny yellow for me. (And truth be told, that is what I wanted... "I want a sunny bright yellow")
Pic: Not sure if this is before we (meaning I hired Javier to do it in 12 minutes where it would take me 31 hours and three trips to the hardware store) put in the marble backsplash I got for free from Craigslist. I can't see the detail on it. Regardless, you can see my new sink with the now stopped up disposal.

Weird dinner, according to the kids

I have lots of nettles that grow in our chicken coop yard. I mowed most of them down last week, but went out this eve and picked some for dinner.
To describe them to my son who was hesistant to eat them I said they tasted 'green.'
They taste very fresh, and I like 'em.
I am still a bit wary about putting them in my mouth first bite. I can imagine nothing more unpleasant than having a nettle-stung tongue.
The only thing you need to do is steam them quick. The heat (or crushing them) instantly deadens the sting. Oh, and usually I just cook the leaves, not the stems, but I was putting these on a grilled sandwich so didn't mind them included.

Great and busy week!

It has been a busy week. We spent the day at Viking Fest in Poulsbo, the kids disappeared for five hours on rides, Geri came early from Seattle to watch the parade and eat ice cream, we hung with friends in on their sailboat and then walked the beach with dogs and other friends. We have been riding more, which is great for the fat horses. The second and fourth photos are an art walk we went on in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle with Eve and Paulo. Even though not traditionally gallery-like, the classic car restorers garage was one of my fave art pieces. Lovely, lovely cars. The window shot is a musician that had been playing in an antique store sitting on a padded toilet visible in the window. They were pretty good, not sewer like at all.
Thirdly, Rose is goofing off having a hilltop zen moment at the most amazing park on Bainbridge Island that has a planetarium, every kind of sport field imaginable, and a great big circle trail around the place. The boy bathroom had copious amounts of pee on the floor and that was not so cool, but otherwise an excellent park.

Finally, finally I got to go on the Navy destroyer Turner Joy which is parked, or anchored, as you grammatically correct people may choose to say, on the Bremerton waterfront and I have wanted to clamber all over it for ever. (It is open to the public and you can go almost everywhere on it, every deck, every level -- ROCKS.)

Craigslist for beginners : Not just for murderous thieves!

In my Dave Ramsey financial peace class last night the topic came up about craigslist. There were tales of how afraid people are of it, how people get murdered all the time. I am here to dispel that myth. Yes, there have been deaths associated with it and you have to be careful when using it, but you should also be careful walking out your door in the morning. You are entering into a possible financial transaction with people you don’t know. If you are selling an item worth hundreds of dollars that you want cash for? Good lord be careful. The most we sold something for was a car for $12500 to a firefighter and his wife and we met at my bank. Most things I sell for $100 or less. One of the deaths was for a diamond ring worth $1000. If you are selling luxury items like that – gold, jewels,coin collections, grandma's furs, designer goods – don’t bring buyers in your home. If they are legit, meet at a jewelers to have the jewel assessed, the gold weighed. Those easily pawnable or resellable items you want to handle carefully, since they can attract a different buyer. Another sad death was a video game set. Once the buyer kid was ripped off of his money… he went after the kids who robbed him in his car, and got shot. The other murders were prostitutes who were advertising their services. Don’t go to someone’s house at night. Don’t sell or buy things that you can’t buy legally at the store. Talk to the buyer/seller on the phone. If you get a weird vibe? Don’t meet them, or meet them outside the police station.
This first section will be a description of some of the people I have met. Yes, at my house. Main safety tip? (besides not having people to your house…) when people email their response always use the craigslist anonymous email sorter rather than putting your phone or email directly in the ad -- this is your first method of screening. I generally don’t respond to people who have funky emails (hot4u@yahoo, cutepartygrrrrl@msn or sexxxymutha@gmail) figuring they are dingbats. The ones I always respond to? Ones that sound sincere, that give information, a telephone number, and their real name. Oh, and they get a response if they use complete sentences. Send me an email from a phone saying “i can pik up where r u” with no name is a guaranteed delete by me.
Have met some great folks: the young couple who were homesteading and hardworking and took down my fence to reuse on their sheep. The gal and her friend who lived on a hillside and dismantled other parts of the fence. The fellow who dropped off his tractor for two days at my place while he loaded his truck with my manure. He did large scale pepper growing so took every square inch. He also redesigned my manure storage, and brought me salsa from last years crop – he was a bonus! The gal who was so excited to get our vintage 60’s sofa for her 60’s house or the other gal who took our old dining room table to start her apartment. The woman and her daughter who loved the chandelier I bought BEFORE I actually had ownership of this old farmhouse--a chandelier in this house would be ridiculous so it hung in my garage over my minivan. The retired merchant marine interested in some lights that told me the whole history of our neighborhood community meeting hall and the couple who searched all of western Washington CL for just the right table and drove two hours from Olympia to pick it up a $45 table at our house. I have hired six fellows off of CL for general labor stuff I couldn’t do…. all honest, hardworking, got the job done quickly and with no fuss. Well, for full disclosure, the fellow who tilled my garden did a great job, but was a little sour alcohol-y smelling.
Sometimes I meet buyers or sellers in public places but usually I just leave the item on my porch with the instructions to put the money under the mat if they want the item. Never been ripped off. Craigslist is used TONS by all sorts of people. I have been involved in dozens of transactions and never felt unsafe, uneasy or threatened.
Coming up next: some craigslist scores I found.

Car buying tales - Ford Fiesta sales

I am going to list out my recent car buying adventure. I was told to try to get a) Ford Fiesta or a b) Honda Fit.

This first part will be about the Ford Fiesta.

A side note is that friends and family take me when they need a new car, since I enjoy the car buying process, and many times people hate it.

First tried to track down a loss leader car for this since it is new. These are the vehicles advertised in the weekend paper that they sell at a loss to get you in the door of the dealership, with the intent that you will upgrade the car or that they will be able to finance you at a higher rate. Either way this great deal car is to get you to the dealership where they can do their best to have you buy a more expensive car. Some of the snakiest dealerships use this tactic, so you have a lot of confidence and stick to your guns when buying one of these. If you can do that, you will get an amazing deal. My first two trucks - toyota and nissan - were loss leaders and both sold two and three years later for more than I paid new.

Since it was a Renton area Ford dealership with a nasty reputation that was holding the loss leader special the week I was looking, I ripped out the ad and took it to my local Ford dealerships in Kitsap. One of these dealerships was so low key, so calm and pleasant and straight-dealing that I would have bought the car in a heartbeat if I didn't feel I was overpaying. The problem with buying a car on a nice day in spring is that is car sales high season, with customers having their tax return money in hand. You want a different time of year for a better deal. Also, when trying to buy a gas miser car, do it when gas prices are lower. You want to aim to buy a car that is not 'in season'. A luxury vehicle when gas is expensive. A convertible on a rainy winter day. When buying a new car, I will pay about $500 more for no pressure. If I get pressure, I want a huge discount. The nice kitsap ford dealership could not get close to the $11499 loss leader price. They could do $13300.

I went to the other dealership. Had a nice salesman, with a crappy sales manager, that got in my personal space and told me I was wasting money by buying a car flatout. I needed to lease a car, that was a better return on my money. He was telling me that paying them thousands of dollars in car rent for two years on a car I will never own is better than car ownership. I am shortening what he said, he actually talked circles very rapidly and I tuned it out, since this is one of my least favorite sales techniques. Act like the customer is : your dumb daughter or wife, doesn't know anything and try to bully them.

Wrong on so many levels.

I worked a Fiesta for a couple of weeks, and could not get (what I consider) a deal at this point. The fleet lease Fiestas are coming back after use in June, then there will be deals again.

Went on to the Honda.

Pic: Ford Fiesta image courtesy www.treehugger.com

Horse Head X-ray

Had to take Bey the horse to the doctor today. He has been having a cough for a while, a snorky nose, and just feeling under the weather.

They drugged him, which is always hilarious seeing a thousand pound animal appear like he is drunk, or at least very very laid back, and then proceeded to take xrays of his head. Dang me for not thinking of taking pictures of this. It was pretty interesting. And, the garb we all wore for the radiation was intense --neck to knee coverage from awkward immobile giant gloves to neck wrap protection.

End result : we are awaiting the 'big x-ray doctor' at Pilchuck Animal Hospital to get back to us about possible strange things in Bey's head.

One thing that was funny was when I was looking over the doctors shoulder at an xray and asked : what are all those dark spaces? Her assistant Katie answered "all these horses have alot of blank space in their heads" ....and that was what I was seeing.

So all my energetic verbal negotiations when riding and philosophical talks with Bey obviously are going right over (or through) those vast caverns of emptiness in his head.

Baptist Church Visit

Yesterday I went to church with my great neighbors. It is a local baptist church, and reminded me of the church I went to growing up at times (Presbyterian.) I really worded that last sentence wrong, I was not growing up some of the time and not growing up the other part. You get the idea. Anyway, it was a bright clean church. And, yes, the baptists and presbyterians would say they are very different from each other, but the essence of the church was the same. The problem was what dawned on me halfway through the god talk. The pastor, a very nice man, who read well out of the bible, sounded like what I imagine George W. would from the pulpit. Literally I was sitting there one minute following along and then bam : this man kinda sounds like George W. I was not particularly fond of our previous president, so this was a hurdle.
My poor friend I saw afterwards had a trying time with me using her as a bible study sounding board. She is a bit more traditional than I, and has a hard time with me wanting to talk and question and hash things out. It is faith, it just is, you just believe, is her mantra. I had that with Santa and the tooth fairy. I need a bit more at this point in my life.
FYI - This post is a bit of a test, also, to see how google finds ads to run alongside a blog. (I am curious if the ads are tailored to topic....)

The Single Mom Next Door

I have lived in Kitsap Co. almost three years. I have several acquaintances that would step in to help during an emergency. Also, neighbors that can pick up my kids from school if something happens or take them to baseball practice when I get delayed at work. But I don't have that nearby friend to call to commiserate on shoes, grey hair, grass allergies, paranoia and motherhood (those don't all necessarily roll together....although could on a rough day.) I still have my main Seattle friends as talking buddies and that is most evident when my cell phone bill arrives. There is a life I have thrown myself into here, that I didn't fully comprehend when I left the bounds of my 25 years with the kids dad. That of an easily identifiable and non-threatening wife and mother in a house with a volvo and minivan. Oh yeah, yeah, I am so much more than that, but for simple discussion we will talk of outward appearances. There is no thought involved to understand the life I used to lead. Kids in soccer, dance, piano. Worked part-time in a non-profit, and husband worked main-line business.
Now I live without a husband in a farmhouse on property. With two children and not working. Tell me what these words mean to you: Single mother. Unemployed. Living alone.
If that was all you knew... what do you see in your minds eye? Would you want your children playing with mine? How about inviting me over for dinner? Would I hit on your husband? Hit on your wife? Do I have a constant stream of unreliable men in my life and bedroom? Are my kids being exposed to drug and alcohol abuse? Am I on welfare?

I feel I have to explain myself more now. I have to gently move conversations to guide understanding of what I am doing, who we are, why we are here. So gently I go. Not necessarily patiently, but gently. I am the same woman, sort of.

Ilness floating around in the hail

Not sure where our spring is. I have not even started the garden. And it is end of April. Is is warm where you are? It hailed today, Wilder was sick the beginning of the week, Rose is sick now, and I am really trying to stay healthy. One of the horses is sick, the vet is coming tomorrow. When I write all this down it seems like everyone has come down with something.

For the record: the dog and cat are fine.

Cranky post - Not your elected officials fault

Yesterday I had hay delivered. When the fellow was telling me how much my total was... he added : and $32... for the governor. Today, negotiating on a car, when I was trying to push them on price... the salesman said... well, that $1300 dollars is non-negotiable that goes to Christine. (*Christine Gregoire is our governor) I got politely cranky, and said... actually it does not go to Christine. It goes to our state. Which we are all a part of and includes the road and ferry I would drive this new car on. And also funds things that all our elected officials have decided, no matter what party they belong to and many that were decided long before Christine got into office.
Whether you voted for them or not, they represent all of us. And believe it or not, if you call their office they will not ask your party affiliation, they will help in whatever way they are able. This hatred of politicians is ridiculous. Do you really think they are so much different than yourself? What the hell happened to everyone's civility? So I don't agree with how .000021% of the federal budget (or my state budget, county budget etc) gets spent so I vilify the individuals we elected? And go all wackjob about it? Spewing hate of someone I have never met?
I know I am also reacting to the birth certificate issue with Obama. Good lord people, this is what you have the attention span to care about? Not any of those wars we have stumbled into, not our spiraling debt, but a birth certificate? Arghh.

Options and Identity

Pic totally unrelated to topic: Next to the Edmonds ferry dock is an odd little wetlands of sorts. It is riddled with the noxious weed purple loosestrife in the summer.

This is what it is. I get my identity from my job. When I was an executive director or manager that was it. When I am not working, I still get my identity from my job - my mom job. When I am looking for work, it is a constant see-saw between keeping myself child focused or career focused. I can go for the higher paying fully sustainable income... with the subsequent dinnertime meetings and overtime or the easier less hours job that would require ex-husband financial assistance while the kids are still in school.
I see it has been good for my kids to have a parent more accessible and home as I have been since November (when I quit my job of eight years.) It feels like a pull between screwing my retirement and present independence for their home life stability. I actually have no problem with that at this point, I signed up for this mom job. It is just stopping me from moving forward. I want off the ex-husband gravy train. I spent many years paying to have other people help raise my kids at a preschool or after school program. It did some good things when they were excellent loving people and taught us all positive discipline and alternative ways of bringing up kids, but it was also crappy when they were unhappy gals in dead-end jobs that weren't particularly fond of small people. I see-saw alot on this topic.

Signs of a Good Blog : 500 words or less

One of the business bloggers had a list of the top 10 things (or top 3 or 5... my mind is a bit fuzzy now) you need to do to create a successful blog. What I recall : use readable fonts and colors, not too contrast-y, don't use black as a background... and keep posts to 500 words or less.

That last one is a corker.

I am so sorry you all are not reading a successful blog right now. Because, besides my sometimes repetitive, grammar challenged funky non-linear thinking I can roll into..... I am long-winded. There are stories out there, and I just gotta type the whole damn thing. Every stinky little nuance. Sorry. Pic: What I will never have alot of from blogging.

Drive-in in the middle of nowhere

We discovered the strangest thing when we were checking out the kids school options two years ago. In between the two schools down an unidentified dirt road was a perfectly designed drive-in 50's style diner. Literally, you are walking from the middle school to the high school down a rough gravel road, and boom, there it was behind a locked fence. I just stood on the other side and said : huh. Weird place for a restaurant. In the middle of nowhere, with no advertising on the main road, and no apparent business. It was a mystery until this year, when I was at school early to pick up Wilder and they were having a school emergency drill outside. It looked like it was going to be a while, so I wandered down the path and found the diner again. This time the gate was unlocked, great! I walked down to look in the windows. An energetic man and calm woman gestured me in. Before I knew it, I was getting a tour of the building... which was 10,000 square feet. Way way bigger than it looks on the outside. He had memorabilia from the last 100+ years laying about... on tables, on shelves. The owner told me he rents it out for events. There was a dancing room, game room, room with classic cars, soda fountain, juke box and booths. It was a surreal experience. I went home and looked it up online: http://www.mygirldrivein.com/ and saw what it looks like all lit up in neon. The owner created a diner on a rural patch of land to hold his personal collection. It has never been a working restaurant, nor a public museum. I will say it again: huh.

How not to use Facebook. Or, Just another way I know I am getting older.

We recently attended the memorial service for a family acquaintance. On a friends facebook page it says something like "My friend lkdjlk, Rest in peace," and then attached a music video. Three people "liked" that. Oh god please when I die don't have people "liking" it on a facebook page. I realize those folks were rating the video, not the death (boy, I hope they were rating the video) it just seems a very impersonal way to express sorrow for a devastating family loss.

Where on Earth is Wally World

Pic: All Wallyworlds are in great seas of asphalt... this photo is taken on the hill above Walmart where the Home Despot, Petsmart, Big 5 and Office Max sit. Also, this terraced height is a great place to view fireworks.


When we still lived in Seattle, I would take the kids up to Port Townsend for the day. Port Townsend which was saved the wrecking ball and still retains its Victorian seaport downtown because for decades it was underpopulated, with no industry other than the pulp/paper mill and maritime. So, accordingly, why would development bother to tear down all the late 1800's structures if there was no money to be earned. The towns I see in the NW that still retain a beautiful historic downtown are the ones that had "no value" to construction investors during the hundred or so years following their original construction. Anywho off the soapbox...
We went up to Fort Worden, my fave park. While we were walking to the batteries, there was a fellow that pulled up and opened his trunk. He pulled out airplanes, as in the kind that make the buzz noise and fly around your head by radio control. I thought it a bit wierd (pedophile! luring my sweet children with his buzzing airborne thingies!) but calmed down enough to let the kids fly one of his planes. (This was when I was still a revved-up city gal, and pointless pursuits that took alot of time were suspect...now I realize they are a vital part of life and accept his 'grandfather' excuse for having the planes)
Flying the planes was a blast. I asked him : where do you get this sort of thing? Meaning the cheaper (19.95) easy to fly ones that could withstand Wilder divebombing them to the ground, vs. the lovely large $200 big planes, that could not. He answered : Wally World. I asked if there was one nearby, he said no, not in PT, but there was further on down the road.
When I got home I looked in the phone book for Wallyworld or Wally World. There was no such listing. I searched all of kitsap county for a hobby store starting with W. Went to the library to search local phone books since I lived in King County...did not find it. Could not figure out where this mysterious Wallyworld was, thought I got it wrong.
About a year ago, someone referenced Wally World as in : I need to get to Wally World. The context of the conversation was that they were going to WALMART. I had a huge Aha moment at that point, it was very refreshing. Now, I know you smart readers already had this figured out, but it took me 5 years. I remember asking a storekeep in Silverdale where Wallyworld was, and they literally turned their head sideways, like an attentive dog to a strange noise. Like I was trying to pull their leg. Yes, I can be clueless.

Bullying on the Baseball Field

Wilder is on the local little league team. Most of the other team kids are smaller/younger than him and he recently went and sang at their elementary school in choir. At the last game he had to endure razzing about how he 'sings like a girl.' And he was pissed. They also do 'cup checks' which he doesn't like (I'm not sure anyone would like that.) They fight, swear and push. He still is loving baseball, but beginning to dislike his teammates. I heard stories from Wilder's dad a long time ago about his experiences on the Little League team of bullying. He didn't play after one season because of it. I feel a mantle of mother bear coming over me, where I want to rise up and defend with very sharp words. But there is another side of me that realizes this is being a boy, at least in this community, and Wilder has to learn to handle it somehow. The loud, rude, bullish building a little boy facade of fearlessness that will turn into a man facade of fearlessness. Key word is facade, it will be covering little boys fears and rage. My job is to make sure Wilder is safe, and that he does not ever have to wear that facade as a man. Funny to say, since being female really I have no idea some of the issues he will face, but being his mom I know that I need to do my best. Raising these babies is not always easy. Sometimes it is a dance, and I don't always get the steps right. Rose sat down with me last night across the dining room table and we had one of those conversations you only have with a teenager. As in, what you are not saying is more important than what you are saying. THAT is a tough conversation to have, I am not always smart enough to keep track of exactly what we are saying vs. not saying.

The New Horse Fence!

Here is a pic of our new fence and gates. It is not quite done, I still need to run a 2" band of hot turbotape along the top. Note the horse that is actually located behind the fence, not leaning over the knee-high (former) field fence. I threw a before picture in there, too. Can you find it? I was teasing the fellows who built it that they built me a horse fortress. And compared to what was there before, it is.
I have 6"-8" treated round corner posts, 4" treated field posts, and 4' Red Brand non-climb horse fence that I could not find anywhere in my county except at Lowe's. Go figure. Total cost of materials was around $2000. Labor was another $1800. Much better than the $9,997.00 I was quoted and yes, horses are an expensive habit.

Pictures top to bottom: 1. Old fence and Strider. See that it is below his knee? Yes, I have placid horses. 2-4. New fence.

When your camera is taken over by an 11 year old

I went to my trusty Pentax to get some before and after photos of the (wicked old) and (lovely new) horse fence. What I found was about 200 photos of legos. Wilder mentioned he wanted to use my camera for some stop-action storylines of his sets - I just didn't think it would be such a prolific number. The blurriness could add action to the story... or... it is hard for him to hold a big camera, a bunch of lego dudes and then press the shutter button. He really needs to find his own camera again!

Fencing update 1

Last week I had a sweet couple with new sheep dismantle and take 400' of field fencing, posts and barbed wire.
Then Alex and his crew of one began digging fence post holes. I was thoroughly freaked out when they were digging near the marked buried electric wires. They were very patient with me, explaining why they were not concerned. They are all alive today, so I guess I can stop worrying. They dug 62 post holes, I can only imagine how they felt that evening. Today they are bracing corners, to prep for the big fence pull.
This is the part that stopped me from doing the fence myself. Physically pulling 120-310 lbs of 48" non-climb fencing taut between the posts. It takes some brawn. I have brawn, probably more temperamental brawn than actual muscle brawn, but this fence would have been the end of me.
Thank you Alex of 4seasons in Poulsbo.

Fencing options and craigslist

Good lord have I loved enough on Craigslist? Case in point. Bathroom: Bought a load (about 25 pieces) of Restoration Hardware fixtures for $180. Did my 'new' bathroom fully with them, and sold the extras back on craigslist for $215. Worked out that I got all my bathroom fixtures (retail value $1400) for free! Horse fencing: My first quote to replace the fence was $10K for 700 feet of fencing. Since that seemed like way too much money... I decided to do it myself. Went and picked up the fencing (five rolls of 120lb fencing) and then realized there is no way in hell I can lift these puppies and pull them tight. Got another fence quote - $9000. Still crazy overpriced. Next fence quote - $2000 with $1400 dismantle cost of the old fence. Called some different licensed fellows who quoted $150 to take the fence out. Posted the whole lot of old fencing on craigslist.... and have someone coming this morning who will take it all down and haul it away for free to reuse it to contain their sheep. The power of craigslist is great.
Curious? See the finished fence project here....

The season of driving

My son has started baseball season. Rose is doing piano and art, and finishing up drivers education. That means every flipping day except for Wednesdays.... I am in the car with one or two kids taking them somewhere in the 4:30- 7:30 range. It is not as bad as Seattle, since there is no traffic to sit in, and stoplights I can count on one hand. It is just a lot of driving. I want my car to last to 200,000 miles before it is replaced, so am keeping an eye on the accumulating miles.
This commuting blows the sit down dinner to hell. Unless we go out to dinner, and that plays havoc with Dave Ramsey's envelope budgeting system (since I am still working out the kinks within our monthly budget.) An upside is there is driving bonding/talking/sharing from the kids trapped in the car with me....

Veggies and Pressure Cooking

A couple weekends ago went to an extension office class on how to use a pressure cooker. I have always been a bit wary about these, thinking they were going to explode all over my kitchen sending carrots, beans or tomatoes to my ceiling... and taking my eye out. I thought I would get the how-to from the professionals.
The end results : I took home two jars of carrots, and the desire for a pressure cooker. I have a ceramic top stove, so need to get a stainless steel one. Supposedly you cannot can or pressure cook on a flat top stove. HA. You can do it all, although I do freak a bit about the weight I am putting on it. I also bought this stove last year with one 'superhot' element (my terminology, not the stove manufacturers marketing) that should be fiery enough to get the pressure up on the cooker.
Wondering what the nuclear rain that is falling in our state will do to the planting this year, but really, what option do we have?
Bought some seeds from a new company...Comstock, Ferre and Co., that I got a gorgeous catalog from at the Kitsap Small Farm Expo. I also decided I would buy for interesting names this year. First seeds : Lazy Wife beans. Next in line : Pink Girl, Black Sea Man, Shiny Boy. I will just like seeing the names at the end of the rows...
Couldn't find any Grumpy Lady Peas or Feisty Woman Peppers. Maybe next year.

Financial Peace according to Dave Ramsey

When I first started this blog (or more accurately, when Rose signed me up for a blog) I had no idea there was this whole bloggy world out there. In the beginning I spent a lot of time searching other blogs to see what was going on,what is this blogging. I think Rose mostly signed me up so she would not have to listen to all my stories.

There is a funny midwest gal - www.coalcreekfarm.com - that I found when following the links from a house restoration blog. On her site she had a corner about managing finances, how they were doing it. She talked of going to this financial peace university with her husband, and called the guy that did it Damn Ramsey. There is no Damn Ramsey when you google, but there is a Dave Ramsey. I visited the website, and got a couple cd's off of ebay of him talking. This month I signed up for one of his local classes (he is not there, they are usually facilitated by churches.)It is only the cost of the books for the class. I bought mine off ebay for 40, you can get them through the church or website for around $100. You go watch a video for an hour, then discuss for an hour. These classes are all over. It is a great thing for couples, and would have been helpful for Dennis and I at any point in our marriage. Budgets, retirement, debt, basic how to manage money presented in an empowering easy to digest entertaining manner. The energy is high, the people are kind, and boy, do people get in financial hot water. I am lucky that at this point we have no debt other than the house I am sitting in, but that was not always the case. I am taking the class so I don't ever live in debt again, especially since my income is going to take such a hit when the divorce papers are signed. Rose and I were talking about a Toyota Highlander commercial that she likes, and I do not. It is a young kid telling his ma, and his carpool ma, what a cool car the Highlander is, and how it fits him since he is cool. And their old minivan is not cool. It makes wanting something for how it looks legit in a kids eyes. I am trying to teach the kids want vs. need. It is a challenge.

Woodpecker alarm clock

There must be a load of insects on the north side of my house. About once a week I wake up to a woodpecker pounding his little head on my house right outside my window. It is really loud, and wakes me right up. Better than my alarm clock since I can't womp that bird on the head to turn it off for ten minutes. I have been working on getting Amanda dog to chase away woodpeckers, but I don't think she knows what I am saying. Being that she is not a typical dog and befriends fowl, felines and foes.

What I did on a Saturday night

Ready for it? I sat here and got a trojan virus off my laptop. Oh yeah, I know how to have a good time.
If you go on the internet at all you should have a malware search and destroy program loaded up on your system. I use the donation or free Spybot by Safer Networking, but Malwarebytes or any of the other free or low cost one will do. Just make sure it is an approved malware killer and not actual malware you are loading.
I have been scanning this week and notice every other time a keytracker trojan virus pops up. I delete it (quarantine) and then scan again. When I do it is no longer there. Until next time, and it pops up again. Obviously, that virus was sitting somewhere on my computer.
A cnet.com forum had a similar question... the answer they received was to run the F-Secure Online Scanner to find and clean that puppy out. Another freebie. I downloaded and ran it from
www.support.f-secure.com. It only works on Internet Explorer only. You have to load ActiveX, which I personally hate. Or I hated on my old computer. Then do a full system scan which can take hours, and clean the results.
After running that, I have been checking spybot for something wicked to pop-up and nope. All clean. (At least for now.)

Gushy Post on TDAmeritrade

Part of my visit to the financial advisor Irene was that she did a step-by-step blow by blow detailed account of how to proceed with my sloppy retirement accounts.
The first step was to open ROTH IRA's through Vanguard, TDAmeritrade, or wherever.
I liked Vanguards website, but she highly recommended TDA so I thought I would start with them and if I didn't like them, just switch out.
My first instruction from Irene was to open a non-deductible IRA account. That was #1 on the list "Open an IRA" .
I set up an account and funded it and then was sitting on some sort of stock buying page. Huh? Went back and saw that I had opened an individual investment account. I messed up my first instruction, the very first thing the website asks you is: what type of account do you want to open? My choices : individual, joint, or IRA. My instructions :open a damn IRA. My fingers and brain : opened an individual.
Dangit. So talked to automated TDA fellow Tom who told me to open another account and just transfer the funds. I did not want a fee assessed, so called the 800 number for a person to confirm since I seem to be a little "following instructions challenged" this evening.
A pleasant fellow answered the phone who gave his first and last name. He walked me through all sorts of things on the website, and we chatted of security password software, his wife, Trader Joe's, family and medical research. He clarified what I needed to do, and in what order. He is sending me something to sign, as I send him off other signatures.
This was the most amazing introduction into sending your money off into the internet ether. He was helpful, patient, and answered all of my repetitive sloth-like questions about what the heck I was doing.
If I just had someone calm and knowledgeable like that all the time about everything...
"OK, now I opened the leaking generator and fuel is shooting across the yard, what do I do now?"
"I just hit my truck with my minivan, is it better to pay out of pocket or tell insurance about this and file a claim?"
and it would all be taken care of with a signature and a pleasant conversation. My life would be so much easier. Who can I talk to about this?

PT or Port Townsend Fort Worden

We took a trip up to Fort Worden for a game of nerf wars. It was a moment of dry skies. Someone who is taking drivers education got to get behind the wheel for a bit while the boys climbed. Normally she drives with her eyes open and hands on the steering wheel.

Staying the course in chickenworld

This will be the first spring we bring no new chicks to the place. My girls are laying great guns, their fence and roof are both bad, so need to focus on that rather that cute little peepers. It will be so hard walking by the chicks at the feed store... especially if they get in russian orloffs or lakenwelders. I will be strong.
Pics: Five chicken butts are enough for me. 1 buff orpington (favorite breed to date, round, happy, friendly, quiet, crazy egg layer), 3 golden laced wyandottes (round, busy, friendly but not overly so, cautious, good flyers) and 1 welsummer (loud, slimmer more dainty chicken figure, narrates all your movements with a wary tone and warning-- as if saying "I don't know about that, I don't know if you should be doing that, Be careful there", humorous, good flyer)

Thinking of far off things

I have been in shock with the devastation of Japan. I actually watched the footage of the tsunami destruction and felt awful, and powerless, as nature has the ability to do to us wee humans. I did not watch the planes of 9/11, Haiti destruction, Indonesia tsunami, or bombings humans have done globally. That does not mean I did not read about it, or know about it, it means I don't want to get used to bearing witness to that violence. I want to maintain my horror that there are things that can go terribly wrong, and feel that horror. I don't want to sit in front of a monitor and watch this sort of thing unfold like I am watching an exciting movie. To me, it feels like I am knitting and watching the guillotine during the French Revolution. It is not entertainment. I know we have a grisly gene in us... the same one that causes us to slow at car crashes and look. I wish I could go back and not watch this. Somehow to me it is so wrong to be present and above watching that tsunami flow fast and deep over the coastal communities, knowing there were people in those cars that were trying to turn around in front of the oncoming water, and they did not know which way to go. But we, sitting at our computers, could see which road was clear and which way to go. And them making the wrong choice, or sitting while the water engulfed them. I imagine the helicopter pilots are in a world of mental crap seeing people, houses, animals, lives being engulfed while they float above with engine running, narrating. Or cursing, praying.
My temperament is to want to go in and fix things. That is not possible. My thoughts and prayers are being sent across the Pacific to Japan. I see why the ancient civilizations around the world all had a God of the Sea... that wall of water was otherworldly when rising off the ocean to tower over ground level. If we didn't have seismographs and underwater geology to explain what happened I would think this was one of those crazy gods really pissed off. Thank you, everyone, for science.
And I fully realize I am not the norm in terms of viewing our culture. It is just my skewed opinion... don't get your pants in a bunch if you watch all sorts of stuff that I can't stand. It is not a judgement, although when I reread it sounds like one. I am just trying to let go some of the wild sadness I have over this.
Image: Nasa Terra Satellite image of the east coast of Japan, with tsunami damage visible. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.

Dream - House insect damage

When I was a kid I would tell my mom my dreams and she would tell me what they might mean. The one I had last night was worthy of pondering.
...I was outside and noticed a whole section of my house siding was chewed by insects. I was all indignant ("hey, I thought they didn't eat cedar", "hey, why a whole section on one side of the house", "hey, how could they do that in one night") and then I noticed there were large patches of chewed wood in several places on the house.
The interpretation dictionary off of dreammoods.com says : To see insects in your dream signify minor obstacles that you must overcome. There are small problems and annoyances that need to be dealt with. You feel that you are under attack.

I left off the insects as divine messenger part of the interpretation, since that just didn't ring true. In realtime...my siding above my bedroom window has failed, I have been worrying about termites I found outside in the yard last summer wondering if they think the house looks delicious, and I have one monster to-do list nowadays. So yes, something is bugging me.
I hate things threatening my house. Weather, bugs, age, earthquake, fire, unruly children, dustbunnies. Good to know those concerns just go right into my subconscious to make me some weird dreams.

Documenting Frogs

Just a note that the frogs started up their evening singing tonight.
Only for about an hour, only a few. Within a week it should be a festival of frog noise out there until summer...
They are later than last year, probably due to the snow. In 2010 they began February 14th.

Boys and girls

Sometimes I wonder how I would view having children if I would have had a boy first. Having Rose first led me down this path of girl behaviors which I did not know they were specifically girl behaviors until Wilder was born. I (crazily) thought all kids were like Rose and her friends. I am an only child, so I realize my view of the world is a bit skewed.... or very skewed.
Right now I am sitting in my bedroom which is under my sons room. He had a good buddy spend the night and this morning my house is literally vibrating from them wrestling and tussling from one end of the house to the other. I had no idea a house could make so much noise and still be standing.

This is our generator. If not the first thing I bought after buying the house, it was in the first 4 months. My house power grid controls the shared well, so it seemed considerate to keep the neighbors in water. After sitting idle for two years, a big power outage this winter brought it out from the corner of the garage. The ladder next to it is my creative weather protection. Generators are not supposed to be exposed to the weather, and I didn't have anything that wouldn't catch fire other than this. So it is my rather sketchy and haphazard attempt at weather protection. Notice all the melted snow? There were some metal parts that would glow red when it was running. Dang hot.
I had issues starting it up. As in, the battery was not hooked up. And I had no idea until my neighbor pointed it out. Well, when I parked it in the garage after its reliable service when the power went out, I didn't turn off something and after six weeks gas was leaking over the garage.
Arggh. Called my mechanical neighbor, who told me how to check if I had gas in my piston. I do. Told me we need to suck it all out. DANGitall. I get tired of walking around this new life where I am completely inept at a whole scad of things. I am not a good inept person. Maybe for one of two things, but geez. I realize in a couple of years I have acquired many new skills, but enough already. Maybe I can learn one new skill a year? This year is already my tiling/bathroom remodeling/horsefencing/house siding year. I don't think small engine repair fits in all that.

Christianity

I am a NW woman. I was born and raised here, went to college and got my first fulltime job with benefits here, got married and had children here.We did live in Florida for one and a half years, which was culture shock in several ways.
1. People/neighbors can be super nice. Super super genuinely nice. I attribute it to a strong influence of midwest values, since no one I met was born in Florida. They were all from somewhere else.
2. Correct spelling is an option on public signage.
3. Recycling is a bad word, and it is okay to throw garbage out your car window. If you are a smoker, go ahead and dump your car ashtray out the window at stop lights.
4. Christianity was not the grace in the background of your life that kept things together. It was to be used as a tool to confront.
Florida was the first time I ran into the type of Christianity I had read about in books or seen on feisty tv.
I worked with a gal who one day was ripping into homosexuality while sitting at her desk. I think it is ridiculous to hate who another individual loves when it is not your flipping life. I also have the deep seated suspicion that men and women that are rabid anger spitters about the sins of being gay are themselves drawn to same sex love. But obviously not comfortable with themselves or that lifestyle so vilify others. Anyway........I told this gal I thought it ridiculous. She said gays were pedophiles. I told her it is primarily heterosexuals that are pedophiles. Our conversation rolled into extreme (what I will call) bible thumping. This was my first foray into the bible being used as a tool of hate. There is alot of crap in the bible that we no longer use. There is alot of guidance in the bible, also. Here is my NW sensibility coming in. We think about things. And we are supposed to let things slide off our backs... live and let live type of mentality. I have argued about Faith. As in, I have been told having faith means you don't question. It just is. But see, that faith is based on a human interpretation at any given time. And humans are notoriously fallable. And we intrepret with the knowledge and background and fears and strengths at that point in our lives, within the framework of our societal times.
Why spend more time trying to control another individuals thought process and belief system rather than focus on your own beliefs and how that works in a larger global framework. Building community, faith, support and christianity are not bad words. My co-worker and her ilk were making them so.
Oh, and she also spread the rumor that I was gay throughout the office, which was considered a big insult and a bad mark on my name. I laughed. She needed to get out more, see things, and not look for Satan in the Proctor and Gamble logo (that was our other argument on another day.) Grace and faith are not determined by a book with gold edges held above the heads of others and used as a weapon. Stop that crap.

Dreamin'

Being in the divorce mentality I had a dream last night.
In it, I was remarrying my soon-to-be ex. The traumatic part was that about an hour before the ceremony I realized I had gotten all the food ready, and guest list, and place etc etc but I had no wedding dress.
So pulled out my original wedding dress from 1994. It was a teeny bit tighter. Ha. All the people who have been included in my life the last 30 years were there. It was a potluck. I love potlucks. It was about 30 minutes before the wedding, and I thought "HOLY CRAP, what am I doing?" I can't do this again. I deserve much better than this when I venture back into a relationship.
And called off the wedding. Although, before my alarm went off to wake up, I remember telling everyone that we could still have the food potluck party, since there was some amazing dishes....
I think I was hungry.
This came out of another bloggers query about getting married. As in, how did you do it, how did your husband ask, etc etc. and I began thinking about all of that.

Seattle

Mid pic: Tacoma bridge fee booth traffic. Not really a Seattle pic, but clooooose.

Top pic: The curved portion of the Seattle viaduct with its patchwork of metal plates holding it together. This is the weak link in the whole thing. Nothing really underneath this supporting, since the waterfront was filled a kajillion years ago (okay, about 100) and the worms have eaten through the wood. This bridge is not made of wood,obviously, the stuff under-under the pavement is.

Bottom: Back to SoDo. When I was a youngster, Seattle's Interstate 5 freeway had oodles of bridges that went to nowhere. They just ended in mid-air....(they were blocked off... so no risk of taking an airborne ride.) Great planning on someones part, since the infrastructure was created before the cars came. Interesting, since that is not usually what happens in our wishy-washy can't make a decision without three years worth of public meetings where the dog chases its tail over and over and over. This is one of the former overpasses that 'went to nowhere' now going somewhere. And you can drive on it. Risk free.

Old Industrial Seattle - SODO

These were taken before I quit my job, when I was still scurrying to and fro around Seattle. I am driving through road construction in the SoDo district of Seattle. (See below for SoDo description)
This industrial part of Seattle used to be fraught with danger by large work trucks. Literally, you would be in the extreme minority when driving through here during the week in a car with only 4 tires. Seattle has changed, the heavy labor industries, grit filled industries are all disappearing, and the old cedar beam constructed workshops and buildings are being converted or torn down. The one on the bottom is my favorite. That building has been sinking or twisting or leaning more and more with each passing year. When you walk in it, the woodwork is amazing. Not that it is fine woodwork in the carpenter sense, but it has timbers so large all I can think of is "we don't even have trees like that anymore anywhere in this state." And we are the Evergreen State. The trees cut down for these buildings were local. The wood is amazing. Sometimes I see it go by on Craigslist, someone has a beam and is parting it out for big bucks. Things change. I know. I also know I am in the minority when I look at a tilting building and get all nostalgic. Looking at an old building to me is like reading a book, or people watching. Look at it closely top to bottom, left to right, and you can see remnants of all it has been through. Cedar gutters? Loft accessible from the outside? Old staircases? Blocked off doors or windows? A prohibition era speakeasy in the basement? Look long enough and it will all appear.
SODO: This neighborhood is competely sitting on fill added to the mudflats of Seattle during the last turn of the century. Another hot spot in Seattle you don't want to be when the earthquake hits.... this area will liquefy, which means shake like jello in a bowl and turn to sloppy sinking sand. I am actually pretty sure that geologists have a better definition for liquefaction, but mine is more food friendly.
The newly named ("newly" means within my old lifetime) SoDo (meaning, cutely, SOuth of DOwntown) ( I don't even want to know how much the acronym folks got paid for that one)
centers around the old Sears building, now the Starbucks headquarters. Another clever acronym in Seattle is the S.L.U.T. (South Lake Union Trolley/Transit) T-shirts were quickly printed up with "Ride the SLUT." That one was quickly changed to SLUS... 'streetcar' instead of 'trolley.' I can't tell you how many times I made our poor transportation historian define trolley vs. streetcar vs. tram vs. train vs. elevated train on and on. Plus add in historic timeline. I can just tell you my former volunteers were amazingly patient.

Images: Top, always construction going on in Seattle dangit... gotta tear something down! Mid: Blue building example of Seattle heavy industry that used to abound in SoDo.

Bottom: Sad sad red building across the street from the Sears building. Trust me, it is cool on the inside. Well, okay. Cool if you are into old tilting things.

Financial Advice and Divorce

I went to a financial advisor yesterday. Looked up one that is a member of NAPFA, since they are fee-based only, and their advice is not affected by any commissions they may receive. The downside is since they do not receive those commissions, they charge a fairly high hourly rate. BUT, the advice is invaluable.

She rolled into talk of money markets, EFT, stocks, bonds, short term, long term on and on and on and my brain glazed over. My eyes were appropriately making eye contact and head nodding at the opportune moment, but my brain went far far away. I figure by the end of all this I will completely understand these concepts, but yesterday I was listening to a language I don't speak.

Then to throw in the upcoming divorce, and how to divide monies and responsibilities and bank accounts and ...

again, on and on and on.

Image: Totally unrelated empty MalWart interior. My financial advisor works out of a very nice waterfront home. Not Walmart.

Bathroom Door Stripped

Top to bottom: (re)finished door hardware and painted door

mid: Door coming back from the furniture stripper store

bottom : door hardware before clean-up.

The door is back on the bathroom. We have been living with a curtain nailed to the door frame for bathroom shower privacy. A door works much better. Obviously. I began stripping this at home, but with the weather not warm enough for me to do it outside, I was worried I would asphyxiate my family. It was offgassing something fierce, and there was lead paint on it etc etc. So off it went to the furniture stripper/restorer in Bremerton. Once they took off the 9 layers of paint, they repaired it with glue and dowels where it had cracked half way down the door to the knob assembly. The one thing I wanted to document was the colors. Light pink was the first coat. There was a seafoam green, a grungy green, bright blue, layers of versions of white. I saw a brand new version of this door (four panel, inverted cross) at my local Ace Hardware for $140. Yeah, I coulda put a new door on here, but what would be the story material in that? This door, in all it's uneven glory, has stood with the house through all sorts of livin.' When I uncover the bright colors in this house, I want THAT story. There is someone who lived here who was either embracing the hippie era vibrant colors, or someone was trying to make Victorian era decor in a very plain farmhouse. Eventually, I will figure that one out when I track all the previous owners. There was the time the house was locked and barricaded closed from the outside, so it must have been vacant at one point.

Stripping the door hardware was finicky, being that the materials used originally were not high end. That is steel with a finish over it. And black glass door knobs. My fave way of stripping paint off of metal is boiling water, but I read online that if you do this to steel, it will rust up in no time. I am here to document that if you strip it and treat the surface it will do fine. I used bronze metal spray paint, and/or clear lacquer.

Phone messages

For some reason our son is in the other room playing all the phone messages. I don't know why I have not deleted these, other than there is the plumber apologizing for disappearing... my kids in various places checking in... friends singing me happy birthday and one of my mom saying "Hi, I hope you are having fun... I hope you are not lifting heavy things like trees or toilets!"

Gotta love that. Could that be why I am going to the physical therapist next week for my back? Huh.

Movie ratings are screwed up in our country

There is something completely hooey in our rating system. Case in point : went to the Green Hornet two weeks ago. Rated PG-13. Went to the King's Speech tonight. Rated R.
Walked out of the Green Hornet thinking there was a WHOLE lotta violence in smooshed human carnage. No blood splatters, but you see people get smashed and killed. It is somewhat presented as a kids movie, and I saw it with our son and a friend of his. I actually covered their eyes at a part. (they were nonplussed about the whole thing, and humored me)
The King's Speech R rating? Well I imagine it was because he says the word fuck and shit when overcoming his speech impediment. That was it. No skin, no violence other than raised voices.
PG-13? Multiple deaths. Shooting. Sex (implied, not shown). Scantily clad babes moving to the beat and drinkin' alcohol. Drug selling. Hitting. Guns. A gang attacking a woman.
Here is where I get all crazy talkin'.
Why is it okay for our children to become immune or at least comfortable with watching violent acts -- something that they may not ever see or be a part of in their "real life" -- but sexual material and language are taboo? Sex which is vital for our species, and bad language which pretty much everyone will be exposed to in their lifetime...
WTF? Makes me really cranky. I read somewhere that our movies become more violent in times of war. To keep our adrenaline up? To keep us on the aggressive?
As an aside. I loved both movies. The GreenHornet was tapping into my old crazy love of cars. The car is genius. Had a bit of chitty chitty bang bang coupled with the batmobile.
Rose went with me to the Kings Speech. Boy, did she ever NOT want to go. But she was surprised, and loved it. Mr. Firth rocks.

Divorce Prep

I don't know how people do this. Besides a low level of anxiety I am having over everything under the sun... getting together the budgets, the savings, the house info, how to split things, who gets the tax write off on the kids, when the kids are at who's house when, and then formalizing it all with the State of Washington is daunting. Especially when I feel like it is all on my plate.
Since Dennis' family health insurance rocks bigtime, I have been doing all the things I procrastinated on before the separation. Some were unavoidable... such as the surgery I was supposed to be having for the last 5 years, or the glasses I can no longer put off getting (my great eyesight has turned into blurry distant mush.) It should be noted that at yesterdays general checkup, for the first time in the history of me getting my blood drawn, I have too much iron in my blood. This has never happened and let me tell ya, it is night and day difference for living.

Have went to a financial advisor to assist with cost of living issues (budget!), looking at schools for Wilder, getting Rose through driver's ed, dealing with her (and my) fluctuating mood rollercoasters, and standard stuff of getting them to dentist appts, playdates, piano class, all the while keeping those doors open for communication about all the crappy, mundane and joyful things they have to deal with at their age.
Michael and I both did budgets. In his, there is no cost associated with the kids. It is all his life costs only. He has no problem paying for all the things they participate in, or need for school, he just doesn't reflect that in what he considers his budget. When I was talking with our financial advisor and telling her about how we are going about the divorce process (amicably)... she asked ... "Why on earth are you getting a divorce??" It did not strike her that we battled enough for this. From the outside, most people think Michael and I get along too well for divorce. We don't throw things, we don't badmouth each other in front of the kids, he funds anything and everything that I want to do with and for the kids. They are also not realizing that at this point I am a "kept woman." Without Michael's income, I would not be living the life I am. Kept women generally have to be cordial. I worry when I get a divorce I will then turn nasty. How long can you keep anger going? I will let you know.

These posts

Every time I read one of these blogs after I have posted it I find all sorts of errors. (Case in point: it is not everytime I read one of these blogs, I am reading the posts on this blog.)
So the correct sentence : Every time I read one of these blog posts after I hit the "publish post" button, I find all sorts of errors. CRAP. How about : There are errors in every flippin' one of my blog posts that I only see after I have sent it out into the great wide world of webhood.
Sigh.
And if I read it on a different day of the week, I wonder what was in my breakfast cereal that morning.
Suffice it to say. This is a blog. Not a reporters notebook. It is a slice of life at a moment, but not the whole pie. I am by nature a storyteller. Sometimes they translate to text on here, but mostly my poor friends and family have to endure all the cagey little nuances of my speech patterns. And sometimes I try to translate them to text, and they don't read the way they came out of my brain and went through my fingers tapping on the keyboard.
Or my brain is very cryptic, has a hard time staying focused on one short story and grammatically inept. I like to think it is the 'short story' part of the venture that trips it up. If I could ramble on and on and on and on.... well then, I would have all the time I need to go down all the little side tangents involved in any one story. I won't do that to you, however.

Kitsap County WA Part 1

When I was looking for a house with property to buy outside of Seattle... I drove throughout the surrounding towns and counties circling Seattle. I was looking for a community that WAS a community. Something that the developers did not decide the lay of the land, since for some reason greed wins out over "community" unless there are guidelines for density and requirements for infrastructure. In the last 20 years that seems to have been hucked out of the window of King County.
How I ended up in Kitsap is that it still has retained alot of it's rural nature. It has clear guidelines for density in city limits and outside. It was all written down which areas were slated for development, and they were near the city limits. Rather than checker-boarded allover the county. Which does not make happy rural property owners or development owners... since the reason people buy in a development may be so they don't have to look over a manure pile or have cows mooing next door. Ditto for rural residents. They may want the privacy so they can park as many derelict and dead cars as they want in their front yard and not worry about the neighbors complaining. Or raise pigs.
Over on the Seattle side of the water, former farmland areas to the north, east and south have been and are being filled with endless rows of quickly constructed developments with granite counters, spacious entry ways, walk-in closets and less expensive materials holding it all up.
I did research on rural density designations and development for all the counties I looked at. (and school data, crime data and community demographics) In Kitsap, we attended a meeting on zoning changes. The thing that struck me was the people in charge seem to be fresh outta school. I am all for school, but I think it takes a bit of life wisdom to take what you have learned in school all starry-eyed and dew-cheeked and roll it through the machine of real life, so it can get a semblance of what gritty reality is. Take your theories, actually live and work in the community, listen to the residents and business owners, imagine your county's role in a larger world....and then put something down on paper.
There is a bunch of development issues I have been watching with a keen eye. And it reminds me of the difficulty of the public process. More later....