Sailing... Takes Me Away...

My Aunt and Uncle invited us out on their sailboat today. The morning weather did not start out promising and I kept trying to think of a "plan b" it was cold and drizzling out, not a day for sailing if you are like me and the only experience with sailing is watching it on T.V. or from the safety of my aunt's house on the lake. This is real sailing out on an ocean. But as you looked to the west, it looked shiny and sunny so we were all gung ho. My cousin Nik didn't go since her babies are little but her husband, Drew got to come along. My cousin Jill was able to join us too. The sailboat is cool. It has a kitchen, table, two bedrooms and a bathroom. We had lunch while sailing and snacks and had so much fun just chatting the day away. There was so much scenery to take in. The surrounding islands, gorgeous waterfront homes, yachts, sea lions, cruise ships, other sailboats, the Seattle skyline, white puffy clouds and plenty of sunshine. Riley took the wheel and was an instant Skipper. We were just her Gilligan and crew. Everyone commented on how relaxed sailing makes you. Once I felt secure in the knowledge that I was not going to capsize and become chum, I did feel very relaxed. I also did not get seasick. The girls loved it too and want to go back out immediatley. It was an appropriate way to say goodbye to summer and hunker down for school and fall. Some of the trees are starting to turn and I have some shots of our tree in the front yard that I will post. When you see those you will encourage me to enter them in the state fair. They are that good.
The girls and I went to church this morning. Bob couldn't go because he had to work. His giant warehouse job keeps him busy. My cousin Jill was going to speak today about how God helps her through the difficulties she has to experience. She is my cousin that I spoke of in an earlier blog. Her daughter has C.P. and she is a single mom. It was cool, her sister Nikki and family were there too. Our family took up a whole row. Jill did a superb job and didn't break up during her talk. On the other hand, the rest of us observering were puddles. She is truly an inspiring girl and gives you a boost to your faith when you look at her. So many thanks to my Washington family for a great day.

Front Yard Beauty

When I post pictures of flowers they are pics that I took in my front yard. I am thinking that I am the Ansel Adams of Kirkland. It also means that I am adding a picture when I have no others.

The Jitters

Sid and I had a bad case of the jitters today. Nerves. Butterflies. Shakes.
She had picture day, getting her ASB card, P.E. clothes, lunch account and sign up for a sport. She decided she would like to play badminton. Yes, her JR high has team badminton. She will soon be launching that shuttlecock across the net and into victory. Sid is my hero. The poor child has been to a billion different schools. She always goes out of her comfort zone and tries something new. In 4th grade she ran for student council and won and barely knew three people. She ran cross country last year and hates running. Tried out for volleyball. Now badminton. Next Tues. she has 9th grade orientation and a bbq to get to know other new 9th graders and all of her teachers. Her school really goes out of their way to make you feel comfortable. When we finished at school we both admitted that we felt better. Come Tuesday I am sure we will have those butterflies again but everyday will get better. Her biggest fear is having to eat lunch alone but after looking at what the lunch choices are I will go and eat with her. Dang, they didn't have this cool of a cafeteria in my day. Can you say Baked Potato Bar?
Tomorrow I take Riley for her class assignment and her welcome BBQ. She has no jitters or nervous tendencies whatsoever. She just wants to get started. She plows through head first and assumes that she will have it all figured out in no time at all. We will see...
I will put their first day of school pix up next week. I am sure they will both look very grown up. I live with them and don't recognize them half of the time.
Children really do have a way of making the clock hands and calendar pages FLY by. I am reminded of this when three weeks goes by and I have to color that gray hair of mine. My children are not giving me the gray, it just shows how freakin' old I am getting...

Hello Peeps

I have had a few comments made that people are reading my blog. That makes me happy indeed. Hello all... Hope that everyone is doing well and are looking forward to having their children in school soon if they are not there already. My two lovelies will start school next week. I cannot believe it is Labor Day already. This summer did zoom by and that is no surprise considering what we accomplished. Sid will go to school tomorrow for her 9th grade orientation. It will also be picture day for her as well. Today I will get to be her hairdresser. She hasn't had her hair touched in who knows how long. Yesterday we went shopping to finish up on school stuff, both girls are geared to long sleeves and sweaters than ever before, wonder why? Could it have been because it was 65 degrees and raining? Hmmmm...As I type this morn. I look out onto our backyard and the sun is shining. Lovely to see.
When we speak with people down south in CA or AZ it is really HARD to imagine how hot it is there!
Just because I moved somewhere new, doesn't mean I have shed all of my old self. I still have some of my favorite things with me and no I don't mean Bob. Back in the old days when you moved away, you lost your favorite radio station or DJ. With the invention of the cool thing called the internet, you can listen to that station on the web. So two of my favorite guys moved to Seattle with me. I get to listen to them every morning on my laptop. Life is good.
Bob and I are happy here but we are still not feeling "grounded". Everything familiar is gone and it's all weird. I am hoping that once the girls start school and I get a job, I will feel my feet planted more firmly.
I still have not heard anything from the dang state board of Cosmetology. I did a resume for myself, what a laugh it is. Under work experience it is pretty dull. Hairstylist for 25 years. And as all of you that have been around me for a while can attest to, my salon changing wasn't all that varied compared to lots of stylists.
So, the girls will start school next week and I will start job seeking next week. Since blogging doesn't pay, I am not gonna be a gajillionaire....
OH!!! Quick post script... I am reading the "Shack" by William P. Young. My aunt read it and loved it. I got it at Costco. I nearly finished it in one night. If you struggle with your faith and who doesn't or just want a new perspective on faith it is a must read or if you just want a really good book, must read. Not long in page amount but lots to think about. http://theshackbook.com/index.html
later gators...

Saturday

okay, it wasn't that bad. I did very little. I was busy doing other things. We started out slow but gained momentum towards the end when one woman came by and bought a ton of stuff! Now the girls and I don't have to get up early tomorrow and try to peddle our wares. This makes me happy. Bob works early tomorrow morning which would have prohibited him from helping us. I celebrated with a Margarita.

A New Day

okay, I apologize if I sounded a bit crazed yesterday. I was a bit crazed yesterday. But a new day dawned and the sun was a welcome friend. Not a hot day just a sunny, chamber of commerce kind of day. It was beautiful and relaxed. I ran a few errands with my oldest darling daughter. We went to a little Mexican market and that was laughable. I know there are Mexican markets out there so will have to explore. In Calif. I had many to choose from so that was not a big deal but up here I knew it would be different.
Bob worked at his warehouse job yesterday and today, that is good. He is painting the tire store today, food court got painted last weekend.
I think I will hit the hay early tonight since I am dreading tomorrow. Cannot wait to blog about the g-sale. uuugghhh...

Amy's Brain

This is a picture of scrambled eggs. It could also be an accurate depiction of what the inside of my head looks like. I am so scattered. It has been raining for three days now. The news says that this is not typical for summer. I am starting to get a bit blue. Not so blue that I am heading for the nearest tanning bed but just kinda out of sorts. I knew it was bound to happen, but I didn't think it would be in August. It probably does not help that I said goodbye to my folks yesterday or that Bob needs a job or that my house in Oak Hills is still not rented or that my WA landlord wont fix my oven or that I am losing my hair by the handfuls or that I miss my sister or that I am unemployed... whaaaaa...I am spinning in circles today. Tomorrow will be better, I heard the weather forcast and it is supposed to be sunny, plus I have the garage sale to look forward to. Margarita anyone??

Photos from the Birthday Party

Riley warms up

Sam and Lauren think Riley is all that and more!

Natalie give Riley all 10's!



Riley on the trampoline- Miss Lake Sammamish 08

Birthdays are Fun days

My cousin Jill's birthday was yesterday. I wont tell you how old she is, that would just be impolite. Let's just say she is about 5 years younger than me. She is such a beautiful girl. Looks can be deceiving though. Under the beautiful exterior lies an iron resolve and strength not often found. She has two adorable kids. Her oldest, Natalie has Cerebral Palsy. She is six years old. She is adorable, sweet and funny. She is in the process of learning to communicate with her eyes. She has just completed some intense physical therapy as well. Her little brother, Sam is all boy. Full of questions, energy and love. She has her kids all week by herself but luckily family support is all around.
My mom and dad are still here so they were able to be at the lake for the party too. Riley made Jill an adorable card and I must say I was a bit proud...It was on the cooler side with little bouts of raindrops but Riley still managed to get into the water and show Sam, Lauren and Natalie some of her water trampoline tricks. As my cousin, Nikki says "Riley's fan base". The little kids get excited when Riley shows up.
Bob has left this morning for a job interview. He has been working for a week now at one of the large warehouse stores(if you get my drift) they like him, its part time but he has been getting lots of hours. It's fine for a while but we need more than that to survive... I will get serious once I find out more about my license situation and get the girls in school. I don't have the take and bring home from school situation like I did in California.
I am driving down to Olympia this morning to drop my parents off. Their friends from Portland are meeting us there. They have a meeting in Portland about the cruise they are taking this fall. Barcelona, Croatia, Italy, etc. How exciting for them. The girls and I will be shedding tears when we say goodbye. They were barely here. Hopefully we will see them again before too long.
Well the rain has stopped it's driving force for the moment, but it is supposed to continue all day and then this weekend is promising to be sunny. We are planning a garage sale for Saturday, ugh... While the thought of getting rid of a bunch of crap is thrilling, I just loath garage sales. Going to them and having them...I better go to the liquour store and stock up on tequila, you don't have to be too sober to have a garage sale as long as you have a child who can count change and keep track of a bunch of one dollar bills.

Today at the Lake

I took these pictures with my new camera today. My old digital Canon powershot died last week mid picture. I had that camera for 5 years and it never let me down. Evryone at the store where I bought my new one said I had a good run with the old one. I bought another Canon but this one has lots of whistles and bells so I am still learning. Having fun learning. When I brought it home and started shooting some test pics I didn't have any children to practice on so of course I took pics of the cats. I am the crazy cat lady like my friend's son, Jake P. thinks I am. I just happen to be married to a crazy cat man too.
Warm, muggy day and then some sprinkles. Sid had to bundle up while she read Vogue. Had fun, my dad made ribs, yum. Everyone enjoyed them. Watching the Olympics, everyone tired and content. Weather is blissfully cool now. Bob works tomorrow. Will take my mom around while my dad works tomorrow too. Send the men out to earn the money so we women can spend it, hmmmm... I like that.

Home

Babies are home. They weren't gone very long but it seemed like it to Bob and I.
So happy to see them and see my parents. We are going to go to my aunt's lake house to stay cool today. Besides the lake, she has air conditioning! It's not too bad at our house as long as you stay downstairs in the family room. The girls came home with new clothes and shoes and backpacks, etc. They are set for school. That will start in a couple of weeks. Yay!

I Miss Jeff

The girls and I are big fans of Bravo's "Flipping Out". Jeff Lewis is the name of the guy that the show is about. He "flips" houses, decorates them, etc. He has control issues, perfectionism issues, emotional detachment,humorous in a sarcastic black way, etc. He reminds me of me. His show is over for the season. I will miss it. He always needs to hire the right person and if he lived in Seattle or I lived in L.A. I would apply for the job. Dang...
The girls will be home Saturday. I am looking forward to it, seeing everyone. My first company. I hope they remember the reoccurring theme that Bob and I live with everyday, "it's just a rental"

While They Are Gone

My Dad sent me this yesterday. It's those girls of mine and their cousin and uncle in my parents pool in Arizona. It looks to me like they are having a splendid time and not missing us too much...

Rain Today

Woke up at about 5:30 this morning to the sound of a soft, steady rain. We have had warm sunny days for about a week so the rain is welcome. It was dark out till 9:30 this morning so Bob and I have the jazz playing and we are watching the antics of our crazy cat, "Boone". He is our cat/child. For those who don't know, he is the cat that was left in Bob's truck when he was about a week old. We fed him by bottle, wiped his little cat buns, cleaned him, kept him warm. Well now he is a nine pound adult/kitten. The whole family is in love with him and the other cats tolerate him well. Sid calls him her "brother from another mother". I have put pix of him on here before so I wont bore you... Anyway, it's raining.
We have no children anymore. We gave them up. They are temporarily residing in Arizona. My parents have custody of them but only for a week, dang... They will be back next Saturday AND they are bringing the grandparents with them. Somehow this didn't work out how I envisioned it...
I am excited for my parents to come see where we live. Plus my mom gets to visit with her sister, nieces and new baby Kate. My dad will work while he is here.
Back to the rain, I have to keep reminding myself that it is 104 degrees and sunny in Arizona. Bob and I took them to the airport and they flew down there by themselves. That is like the 5th time they have flown alone, they are such airport pros... We miss them but we are also excited for them. My niece was so excited to see her "sisters" or "friends" as she calls them. She couldn't wait to pick them up at the "airpork". I miss her so much, it hurts... She will be four this fall, wow time flies.
So now the sun is out, its still raining, its beautiful. We are going to get busy and work on our garage, we are going to have a garage sale. I will just sit in a lawn chair and drink margaritas and chat with the neighbors while Bob does all the work.

Wow... I was informed by the WA state board of cosmetology that I have to take the practical and written exams to get a license to do hair in their fabulous state. I use the word fabulous VERY loosely. I am not happy about this at all. I haven't even looked at testing materials in 24 years. Working in a salon in no way helps you to test for a license. They truly are totally different animals. I am really thinking about taking a new career path. I am not so sure that I want to test. I am really insulted right now. Maybe when I am done licking my wounds and stop feeling sorry for myself and stop taking this as a personal attack, I will change my mind... I doubt it... I may not have the hair thing in me anymore. It will take me at least a year or more to build a clientele and gain the trust of shop owners as well as clients. Having to prove yourself 5 times a day or more at my age sucks. I think I am getting to old for this crap. I LOVE doing hair, I LOVE my H.D. clients but I don't love the career enough to do what the state wants from me. I have been in the cosmetology business since October of 1983. I have always done hair, I have worked when Bob couldn't because of school or work was slow in construction. It was never a billion dollars but the potential to make good money was there and I often did. I think I am still in a state of shock even though I found out about 2 hours ago. Bob was trying to help me by talking to me about it but I was in no mood...
I have held two licenses, one in Calif. and one in Missouri. Neither requires a current license holder to retest in practicals. Practical tests are performed on a doll head and you have to pretend to do all of these procedures that I have never done on a live victim!
Well boo hoo for me, thanks for letting me vent, if you didn't want to even finish this blog post today, I wouldn't blame you. I am Debbie Downer today... I guess I will be one of those people who has to find out what they are besides the job they hold, I will begin my identity crisis now...

Summer

This is with out a doubt the coolest summer I have ever had. I mean that as in weather. I am not complaining, I am thrilled. But it is weird to have to look for a robe or sweatshirt to put on. Living in the desert was about conserving the coolness, here it is about staying warm. I have never had cold feet or hands and now I do. Our daughters are leaving us in a few days to go to the other extreme, that would be Arizona. I know they will have a grand time, we will miss them but it is only a week...they deserve a little R & R, they have worked hard this summer. When they get back it will be all about getting ready to say goodbye to summer and get ready for school. I don't have much to blog about, things are not changing at a lightning pace right now but I bet once school starts and I start my job quest, I will have plenty of stuff to relay, complain about and share with everyone. I am actually walking away from my keyboard now, I have been filling out online job apps for Bob all morning and need to get busy. There is never a lack of something to unpack, clean, organize, make, fix, around here. Bob is behind me in the kitchen tearing out the cupboard above the refrigerator and then building a new one so that we can actually push our fridge all the way in like it is supposed to be. New fridge old kitchen, they don't do well together...
A visit to IKEA was a welcome change for the girls and I the other day. Cool stuff on the cheap, I like that. You really can window shop there and get your exercise.

Some pictures from Edmonds, WA

The Blog Below

It didn't load the pictures, so will have to work on that and the type/font size is a bit small. Oh well, all good things take time...




Too much of a good thing is wonderful.
Mae West (1892 - 1980)

Life is Good

Okay, I really have nothing to blog about in this post this morning. I don't even usually post in the morning but I just installed a blogging application and wanted to try it out. If anyone knows me very well, I am all about fonts and pictures. It appeals to the inner graphic designer in me. My skills are limited to scrapbook pages, greeting cards, business cards, signs for work, etc. but I do enjoy the whole computer graphics thing. So if this works, be prepared with your reading glasses cuz who knows what I will come up with. Other people have such pretty blogs. My sister's friend is a scrap booker, designer, photographer deluxe and her blog site is so freakin' cute.
The husband is off and running today. Hittin' the bricks, looking for a job. PRAY for it! Actually, he is going to the one and only business in the whole state of WA that does concrete v-ditch work like he did in CA. He is just going to chat with them. Of course him finding a job is good for the obvious reasons, you know, like money. He also needs to get that feeling of self esteem back. If anyone knows Bob well, they know he has good self esteem but some in the male species needs to feel good about providing for their family and being good at what they do. I think all that is too deep and he is just itching to get into a big backhoe and show off. He can make this huge, heavy tractor look like a 65 pound Russian ballerina. It is amazing to watch even if you are like me and know NOTHING about backhoes…So far we have sent out a bunch of resumes and he has gone on a couple of interviews. I am confident it will all work out. What I am really afraid of today is that he is going back to the storage unit we have. I can't handle anymore boxes full of crap! I am soooo over unpacking. We are seriously thinking about a garage sale. This house is not that much smaller than our CA house but the storage is horrible. I am sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that we have waaaayyyy to much stuff. I use the word stuff loosely. I really wanted to use another word that starts with S.
Yesterday's outing to the beach helped a lot. It fed our spirits a bit to get out and see new things. In that vein, I will attempt to post another photo of yesterday.
I want another cup of coffee, but don't need another cup of coffee. This post only took me 2.5 minutes to type…

Exploring

The family took a drive today. No real plan or timeline. Bob and I did know that we wanted to show the girls Edmonds. It is about 30 minutes northwest of where we live. On the water, ferries go in and out to go to Whidbey Island. A very cute town, with a great downtown, beaches, beautiful homes, etc. Going up there, we took a route that Bob and I hadn't taken before, as we did coming home. Fun to find new places around where you live. We stopped for lunch at "Burgermaster". It started in 1952 and is a drive in like the carhop types you see from the 50's. Fun! Coming home we went through some towns that we had not seen before. It was cloudy and cool all day which was fine with us. We did have some rain this morning too.
We are watching a documentary on Edwards Air Force Base and Chuck Yeager right now. It's strange because we know that area so well and here we are sitting in Washington. Watching these pilots do their maneuvers makes my stomach turn.
My babies leave for AZ soon. We will miss them of course but know they will have fun. I am going to fine tune the house and take a class at one of the hair care distributors in Everett, just to fine tune and keep my hand in it so when I do go look for a job, I don't come off as a old shampoo set "beautician" named Flo.