Summer Fun

ScrapArtist is having a 1 year celebration. So I participated in one of their challenges and scrapped a page with my summer favorites on it. My 5 favorite things of summer? Bikinis, Suntanning, SkinnyDipping, Barefeet, and the Beach. What are YOUR favorite things of summer? I used Tania JPS Freestyl-ish Alphas for the "Summer" wordart. She is a talented artist selling at Natural Designs in Scrapbooking. The weather has changed here. It is down to the high 70s and lower 80s during the day. Falling to a chilly 45 at night. Brrrr. Our dog, Isabelle has mastered the circular staircase and is quite proud of herself. But she has quite a routine in scaling this mountain...she whines at the bottom, then mounts them and looks over the edge at each step. By the top, she preens as if she has accomplished an amazing feat! She drinks water out of the bowl we placed for her at the top, then takes a discreet look at herself in the mirror before ambling over to the window to gaze out at the night. Sometimes she lets out one bark, sometimes not. Then she hops up onto the waterbed (our daughter's old bed) and circling once, she curls up to sleep. We have noticed that since she has been sleeping on the waterbed, she does not snore as much. The ordeal to wake her up in the morning very much reminds us of when Kelsey was at home. Yelling upstairs at her to wake up, time to get ready to go to school. By the time that Greg is ready to leave, she finally comes down the stairs, yawning and stretching. Getting a goodbye hug from him, she usually manages to snag a couple doggy cookys before going back up to bed.

Going too far?

So. Somebody reads my blog. Hi Theresa! ~Waving~ And she commented on it. So you know, I will just have to GRIND this into the ground! I'm having SO much fun. We passed this guy on the street today... In other news...it's cooler here. We are going to try to go to a movie tonight... "Pirates of the Caribbean". Jason & Desi are going to fly to Maui to get married on August 22. Greg is almost finished with Kevin Reese's truck...the same truck which almost murdered him!

Cornucopia

Since I detest talking on the phone to customer service, I found out that our Internet satellite provider has an on-line instant "chat". So I signed into it and here is the result (abbreviated for brevity & hilarity). B4 you sign into your account, you have to provide ALL account information and the problem you are having. Then, the chat starts with the Customer Service Agent. CSA-Can I have Name on the Account, Phone number, Site Id and Email address to pullup your Account information. Please. Since when is pullup a word? Pullup diapers? Wouldn't it have been more accurate or acceptable to say..."so that I may assist you"...or "so that I may locate your account". CSA-So as I understand you are not able to login with your username, correct? So as I understand?... Hmmmm. Customer service is obviously based in India, huh? CSA-have you tried to login with all lowercase? Yes. All lowercase, All uppercase. First letter uppercase, all the rest lowercase…I am unable to login…Didn’t I already state that b4 I logged into chat and the first thing when this chat started? Me-Perhaps it needs to be re-set? CSA-Do you want me to reset it? DUH CSA-So here is your new username and password. Me-the system is not accepting the password. CSA-Login again. Me-OK it worked. CSA-Further to our conversation… You mean “in regards to our on-line chat” we would have to be conversing with our voices to have a conversation. CSA-You will be getting a form by email, blah, blah, blah…This survey form is related to the service provided on this contact and NOT the overall Direcway experience. Huh? I thought I had service with HughesNet. CSA-I’ll be really glad if you could take out some time to fill up the form. Take some time out of what? Out of my busy schedule? And Fill Up the form? You mean fill out? Wouldn’t it behoove customer service in India to have at least ONE person whose native language was English to at least align their interpretation of English? CSA-and also it would let us know how satisfied are you with the service provided to you today. How satisfied are you? Gee. Wouldn’t it behoove customer service in India to have at least ONE person whose native language was English to at least align their interpretation of English? I am not very satisified with HughesNet overall, underall, and sideall. And I am intensely irritated with companies that have Customer Service Agents based in India. CSA-Thank you for contacting HughesNet Technical Support. Take care and Have A Great Day Ahead. As opposed to a Great Day BEHIND?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Intermission - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

HUMMINGBIRD We have a hummingbird caught in the house again. It keeps beating itself against the highest window in the front, so that I am unable to reach it. HOW do they manage to get in the screen door when I leave it open about 8 inches for the dog to pass in and out when she has to "do her business" in the mornings?

WHY can't the hummingbirds go OUT the same way they came in? Is that small 8" by 6 foot opening a flight pattern for the local hummingbirds?

TREE On Wednesday night, the 26th of July at about 9pm...Greg decided that he had to "roll out" Kevin Reese's truck from the shop. It does not run, and usually Greg will let it roll as he attempts to push it. But somehow he got wedged between the driver's door and the tree at the edge of the shop. So...there he is, being crushed with a 2 ton vehicle against a tree, no cell phone on his body (how many times have I told him to carry his cell phone ON HIM at all times?) and he thinks his arm is broke, the truck is slowly crushing his ribs. He can feel himself going into shock.

All the while, I am oblivious to what is going on down there, that my husband is nearly dying...and I just go on cooking dinner. I probably would not have gone down to investigate why he had not come home until about 10:30.

He calmed himself down and somehow got the strength to push it out a little, so he could squeeze out of it. The door of Kevin's truck is severely damaged now. Oh, well. It was an old vehicle, and Kevin was in the process of restoring it. Greg has had the body shop guy already out to assess it. This is ALL YOUR FAULT, Kevin! JK.

So on Thursday, with Dwayne's help, Greg cut down the tree. Poor tree. Poor naked shop.

WATERLINE & LEAK We walked the waterline cut last night with the "listening device" from the local town water district and I swear, that thing is useless. We believe that the leak might be at the meter where the line starts at a 2" and drops to 1". Greg said that they dug it up twice when it was first installed. There is so much pressure from the drop in size, that it tends to break there. So probably this weekend, we will ask the nice backhoe guy to come out and dig up there.

ROCKS Because the local ATV, motorcycle snowmobile, and runners/walkers population have worn a two-track in front of our property and then dangerously cross our driveway without observing if a vehicle is exiting, we are forced to put rocks along the property line and out to the road. Hopefully a 1-2 ton boulder the size of a VW will deter them from racing along at 60-80 miles an hour.

I would SELL MY SOUL for DSL

Where is Beelzebub when you need him? The Demon? The Devil? Satan? Hello? Anybody want to buy my eternal soul? Just for the cost of DSL to our residence...Or for an attorney that will file me a class action lawsuit! Satellite Internet just keeps getting worse. Direcway was bought out by HughesNet. When HughesNet assumed control…did they offer discount service? No. Did they offer better service? No. Did they make ANY improvements to their equipment? No. Just learned that they instituted a policy as of July 1, 2006 and did not advise any customers…Fair Access Policy…which states that because 5% of the customers use 50% of the ISP’s bandwidth. Or as in HN speak-a disproportionate share… So…AS IN KINDERGARTEN…everybody must be punished because one person did something bad. Did HughesNet increase the bandwidth as they obviously have OVERSOLD services…WELL OF COURSE, WE DON’T WANT THEM TO PROVIDE EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE? Gosh. Who would want a company to go above and beyond? Not me~! I pay $69 per month to this service already. DSL customers pay $16-50 per month? Isn’t that an injustice? Now they have enacted a policy wherein our HOME account is limited to 175 MB download threshold. This includes NORMAL “internet web surfing...and a “reasonable” amount of downloading.” As a quote from from HughesNet. And they MIGHT recycle (or set back to zero) your internet usage meter after 8-12 hours. How lucky! If an account goes BEYOND this company imposed 175 mb…then HughesNet will “temporarily limit throughput to ensure the integrity of the system for all HughesNet subscribers.” Throughput? What idiot made this word up? Where is an attorney who wants to file a class action lawsuit for me?????? I will transcribe the conversation from their customer service tomorrow. Get ready to laugh. It is only 7:00am and already I have - -Made a breakfast sandwich for my husband bacon/egg/cheese -Washed 2 loads of clothes & put them away -Blogged -Helped clean out my husband’s work truck Red Sky at Night…Sailors Delight Red Sky at Morning…Sailors Take Warning (I have attempted five times to insert a picture...but Blogger is not working again) Our hot spell subsided this morning and we woke up to a chill of 68 degrees this morning. Weathermen tell us that there will be lightning and thunder, but no rain? They are all fearing a firestorm. Got a semi load of rocks dumped in our yard. Goodbye ATV path! JULY 26-The Year of the Ants & Tiny Moths There must be something about living in this area…Maybe anywhere? But this year is the time of the ants. We have had a worse ant population around our home and the trees than ever before. Our home looks like the “Killing Grounds” for the tiny moths. They are everywhere. Usually landing on my face or near me. They never bother my husband! JULY 25-I found a really neat zip up sweatshirt with pockets when we were in Seaside at a discount t-shirt store there. The sweatshirts were only $9.95 and so being smart for once…I bought 5 of them. Already one of the zippers broke, but that is OK because I have enough left. I could even try to repair the zipper on that one, but maybe I will just use it without. Hot and sweltering. I sold some stuff on eBay. JULY 25-Another 100+ temperature day. Did I tell you about how the Gondola at Riverpark Square was suspended and there were people waiting on it for 3-4 hours to be taken out? Yeah. Not me. I always have my cell phone on me and would have called for help. The news reported that it was only about 45 minutes before the riders were removed. The management at the gondola had attempted to call the manufacturer to find out how to fix it. Yeah. Right. JULY 24-Another Case of WHERE ARE THEIR BRAINS? - Verizon did not advertise Fiber To The Prem (FTP) already installed in new homes on the West Coast. So they are losing money daily because they have NO customers…They are losing a lot of money. And they spent even MORE money hiring temporary workers to install it. Nice work, Ivan, you idiot~ So…by promoting the Advertising Vice President & giving them a raise…management put the onus on the employees to “sell” to the people that this this neat service is available. Sorry Verizon…you are NOT the only game in town anymore. Comcast is raking up the subscribers by the handful! GO Comcast! GO Comcast! JULY 23-Water bill only went up 4.90 from last month. Still have not found leak. Saw the Nissan Maxima commercial wherein the L.A.-based band MELLOWDRONE song "Oh My" (What A Wonderful Day) snatch of lyrics can be heard. Wow. Way to go kids! What great exposure. Hope Nissan paid you for using that song! But this band is Awesome. They generate an excitement, their songs are great and the impression is that they are super relaxed, having fun sharing their music with the audience. If you can possibly do it, GO SEE THEM!

Swallowing Sperm Produces Sore Throats

There is nothing more disheartening to a mother than to have your baby sick and not be able to comfort them. I love my baby lots and wish her the best. Take care of yourself, Baby Beaker! Well, the only thing I can tell you is... It was 99 degrees here yesterday. It is predicted to be 100 degrees here today. It is supposed to be 101 degrees here tomorrow. After we saw 3 dead squirrels on the roads the other day, the hubby and I were reminisced about the time we drove to Yellowstone. Departing that National Park on a deserted highway, we saw over 80 miles of road littered with dead rabbits. We were never able to figure out why so many were dead in that one area.

Send Me A RCMP

Sometimes you just have to go with it.

I really enjoy talking to my son-in-law, Matt. Even when he's drunk. He has a great sense of humor. He told me the other day that he and Kelsey are having SEX! OMG! Can you just imagine. Gosh. He told me that Kelsey is still in denial. Denial? Of what? Having sex? Telling her parents? Kelsey...it's not news. We KNOW you are doin' the hokey-pokey with Matt!

Matt is a great kid. I love him to death. And...best of all...he loves my daughter. When I call them overseas to talk, there is no sense of urgency that he wants to hand the phone off to her so that he doesn't have to talk to me. I am very fortunate that my daughter gave me a great son!

Bad satellite internet connection. I want DSL so badly that I wanna cry. My satellite connection has been DOWN all this week. Please COMCAST, please come and install cable/dsl/phone service in our area...

Still trying to tidy up the basement. If you don't hear from me in the next 2 days, call the Mounties. What? I'm not Canadian. Or in Canada. But it would be nice to have a RCMP come save me.

My hair is actually growing. I don't know what the heck I'm doing to it. But it is the longest it has ever been. And it actually looks healthy.

Still have no locate on the water leak in our system. Oh, Well.

Just sent M&K a box. Magazines, CDs, Scrapbooking stuff, Toys, Notebooks, and Victoria's Secret Panties (for K to wear and M to take off).

My feet have been extremely dry again. So I had to scrape them yesterday. P-yucky. But I soaked them for quite a while in Yardley Sea Salts. These smell SO good. I hung some of them in our main bathroom.

Hey! See our weather forecast? I'll have to put Greg's egg on the sidewalk to fry!

A hole in My ear

Greg had mandatory safety training at the main yard for 8 hours on Saturday. We rested at home on Sunday after breakfast and lattes... Monday I discovered I was having internet connection problems. I went into town to see my chiropractor, Kevin. Washed the car. It has been very warm day, but the nights are exceedingly chilly. Tuesday we went to the Valley Mall to get my right ear pierced on top. See pic. My belly button piercing which I only received 6/25/2006-prior to our vacation, has already worked its way out. This is the 2nd time my belly button piercing has rejected. My skin rejects the metal so next time the piercer advised trying a different metal. Today I hope to tidy up the basement.

Yippee! My daughter recognized her father!

Wow. I was seriously worried there for a while. Because she hasn't seen us for a long time...But, my daughter picked her father immediately from the previous post. He was the one on the RIGHT. . . Bald is Beautiful when he walked through the door last night, i almost screamed in fright! who was this almost bald-headed man walking into my home? i had earlier asked him to get his hair cut, but this was a little bit drastic. he explained that his usual barber was absent and he had gone to a fill-in who had fiddled with his hair until, exasperated, greg told him to just "cut it all off". during themiddle of this narrative, he picked up the watermelon. posing discreetly as shown, he reflected that his head was very similar to the hairless melon. while giggling hysterically, i was dearly wishing i had kept our daughter's "Mr. Potato-Head" set. well, i suppose i can learn to lovea bald guy. thursday, july 12, 2006

Daddy's Head or Watermelon?

KRL-N In this picture- - one is your father, one is a watermelon. It's up to you to decide which. Your dad got a haircut. But now he has NO hair left!

Aiieee, There Be Pirates Here!

We watched the most INTERESTING show on The History Channel the other night. Real Pirates Of The Caribbean. If it is shown again, please make an effort to watch. Lots of interesting facts...like Blackbeard was well-educated. Henry Morgan was granted clemency by the English king after a long life of debauchery and pirating. And that there were 2 female pirates (woot - as my daughter says... woot for women's lib!) Everybody raise their hand that has a broken water line somewhere between the main connection and their home connection...a minor 880 feet of line that has to be checked. The hubby has to call the testers (very expensive) that will use Ultra Sound to find the leak. Our bills for the last 2 months have been ExtremeLy higH and it looks like until we get it fixed, this month will be another expensive water bill. Why Us? Wow.

Looks like I'm the only one in the room that raised their hand.

Lucky Me! Tonight it rained in sheets. Black clouds in the sky. Extremely horrible for about 35 minutes. Then I got outside and took pics of the rainbow in the sky. Scrapped a picture of me and hubby sucking face on the beach at Port Townsend.

SO romantic, huh?

Sunday we stayed home to combat the heat (high of 92 degrees) and just relaxed. Greg watched his automotive entertainment programs and I did some digital scrapbook work. Then we went to the local grocery store in a nearby small town. Since the sun was going down and it had gotten cooler, we decided to walk the dog at the beach. BIG MISTAKE. Lots of drunk, slap-happy idiots were loading and unloading their boats. One guy almost ran over his two-year old kid. We narrowly avoided getting run over by a car driven by an obvious crack-head. And talk about the RV-ers and garbage around the lake. It was awful. I told Greg I was NEVER going down there again. Today I was lethargic and tired. Sort of running a low grade fever. Tried sleeping, but was unable to do so. Greg came home and worked in the shop til late. I made his stir fry shrimp.

Catching Up

Cherry Chip Crumb Cake

1 Pound Bacon

Cherry Chip Cake

Tuna Salad

Pea Salad

Vacuum

Wash Clothes

Wash Dishes

Then get caught up on my scrapping and emails. I had 250 emails in one and 394 in the other.

How can a house get so dirty when nobody lives in it?

Also having to read all the info on NDISB forums to get caught up.

I'll never be done.

Before we left on vacation, the doctor put me on a special medication to combat my endometriosis.

However, a few days into our vacation, I blew up like a balloon.

About 20 pounds were added to my frame.

My clothes would not fit...

After 3 weeks of two hours per day exercise on my bike,

I was feeling quite good about getting back into shape.

My tanning consultant complimented me on it; my husband noticed.

Now I have to start all over again.

How depressing.

Home Again

After a brief continental breakfast on the balcony overlooking the harbor and marina, we packed and made a quick stop for a photo op at the county building. From the peak of Port Townsend, the vista is teaming with myriad boats of every make and size. Tiny fishing boats for personal use, massive carriers of humans and vehicles, and fabric flapping sailboats. Boarding the ferry for a trip to Whidbey Island, we drove on the lower deck of the steel behemoth. Exiting the vehicle and climbing to the upper deck, we stood at the aft of the boat watching the seagulls dip and float on the wind. Our faces turned to the sun with the water surging and splashing us, we watched PT fade into the background as the Island stood furious before us. Disembarking 30 minutes later, we made our way overland to the 2nd ferry ride of the day from the tiny town of Clinton to Everett. After another exciting 20 minute ride, we drove through Everett and stopped in the town of Monroe to fill with gasoline and top off our hungry bellies. We picked up a snack lunch of KFC to stop at a wayside park beside the Skykomish River. Making the acquaintance of the park mascot, a cross-breed dog that shared in our repast and made friends with Isabelle, we sat in the shade for a while just soaking in the feeling of rest and relaxation. Continuing our journey, we made another brief stop at Deception Fall which lies just past Stevens Pass on Hwy 2. Isabelle was just the best baby dog as we had to walk among many people and children to reach the view of the falls. Unfortunately, the most putrid smelling outhouse was located amidst the splendor and beauty of this area. We drove through the town of Leavenworth which has been made over into a Scandinavian burg. To me, it was creepy. I did not especially like the buildings mimicking the actual Scandinavian architecture. It almost appeared to me like a bloated caricature cartoon city. The remainder of our trip was uneventful until we returned to Spokane, with the massive amount of roadwork occurring, we diverted through the middle of the town to skirt the interstate. A record 94 degrees in downtown Spokane gradually cooled to 74 degrees when we reached our home. We stopped at the local amusement park on the way to watch the very brief 7 minute fireworks ceremony which was quite a disappointment. Even though the house had been closed and everything unplugged, we still returned to a massive amount of dust and disruption. The waterline to the swamp cooler had broken, our weeds had grown a foot in the short time we were gone, and other things needed attention. We unpacked today and did loads of laundry, then ran to get a few necessities for groceries. Very happy to return and greet our local espresso stand! We took Isabelle to the vet to verify her skin condition she picked up at the beach was just mosquito bites; she then received her current shots and got her toenails trimmed. She was just as happy to return home as we were. She kicked up her heels after pooping in the woods, and ran merrily around all day long. Greg returns to work tomorrow. I can only imagine what will happen…

Harborside

We stopped in Port Townsend, WA overnight and ended up staying two nights. Even though the room was directly next to a marina wherein loading and unloading of boats took place from sunup to well beyond dark...It was very enjoyable. An enclosed deck gave us a breathtaking view of the bay. The town is a quaint victorian themed area. The thought that it was to be the west coast "New York" was held by the town fore-fathers back in the 1880s. However, when a depression ensued and the railroad fell into receivership, many homes were totally abandoned and beautiful enormous downtown buildings in the middle of being built were never completed. The town literally stood still until the early 1970s when it was rediscovered. Most places were well preserved and brought back with slight renatovations to now house shops, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment. On the bluff of the town, lies an enormous garden park. Originated by the uppper class women in the 1800s, they wanted a park of great reputation as in larger cities. Once housing gazebos, band concerts, and amphitheatre. We walked through flower gardens, an archway of blooms, and then down to the shoreline to observe the ferry docking, and see the lighthouse at the far end of the point. We visited the Port Townsend museum, 2nd floor temporarily located in a vintage building with a decidedly rolling and slanted floor! Young Parents! Take note!-I do NOT want to listen to your squalling, squealing children while paying a premium price to visit a museum. We had barely been there 5 minutes when this unfortunate incident happened. The mother of this child decided that she would follow ME around the museum. Wouldn't attentive parents have discerned the reason WHY this poor child was screaming? It so happened that it was about lunch time and obviously the baby needed to be fed and napped... But these rude people thought only of themselves and not a jot of ruining a quiet, idle time for others to browse a very interesting musuem of history. Our museum tour then took us to the Rothschild Home; a perfectly preserved home of the local merchantile agent who committed suicide in 1886 after the town went bankrupt. He left behind his wife, 3 sons and 2 daughters. The youngest daughter became a librarian, staying home for the rest of her life, becoming a spinster to take care of her elderly mother. Everything that was in the home from the 1800s is still there, ALL the furnishings, ALL the floor coverings, ALL the clothing. Very eerie stepping back into time. Partaking of a hotdog street vendor that had been in business since 1981, we returned to our hotel room to take a brief nap and recover from our extensive walking. After a brief respite, we then walked around the local boatyard and talked to the locals about the services & vessels being repaired there.

A Very Bad Idea

Driving thru Washington from Seaside, we traveled along the scenic 101 Hwy (the Coast Highway). With no rooms to be had in Aberdeen, we continued on to Montesarro. Which was a big mistake. The hotel just off the highway, was way too expensive and right next to an all night gas station. Rude drivers leaving their heaps of junk running, boom boxes cranked at 3AM, and doors slamming prevented us from achieving a full rest. Continuing on after a latte in this miniature burg (I am totally amazed by the amount of espresso stands throughout the NW-it is NOT unusual to find quad lattes in 20 ounces. Anybody drinking this much back home is in consideration of being a dope fiend, searching for a new high...) Anyway, we continued on the 101 Hwy to Olympia, picking up fresh Bing cherries for Greg. In Olympia, we made a detour for the dog elimination of bodily fluids. Walking along the waterside and observing many huge boats, it was hotter in the sun than the indicated 72 degrees, so I stripped off my sweatshirt with only my black Victoria's Secret bra for a top. Instantly feeling cooler, at last feeling it was truly summer! Arriving at a beautiful resort town-Port Townsend, WA and securing an enormous beautiful harbor view room, we unpacked and walked through the quaint Victorian town. PICS to follow. Oh. P.S. WASHINGTON-label your highways better. We were on 3 different highways for over 10 miles with no identification road signs. What about indicating on the road itself the designation...i.e.-Hwy 101; wouldn't that be simple?