I just saw a tree melt.

The who the what now? Seattle having temperatures that Phoenix usually has. Hey Phoenix, come get your weather!

The 105 is the temp outside IN THE SHADE. The 76 is inside thanks to the AC. The 46% is the humidity level. It's like breathing in water. I might be part fish!

In typical Seattle fashion I've been watching the news for 45 minutes now and I have YET to see a story that isn't about the heat wave. You'd think nothing else is happening here.

Holy Mercury Batman!

You know I try not to whine, I do really try. But Good LORD it's freaking hot here. It hit 97 today and humid too. I'm fine with the dry heat, but the humidity...ick. There's nothing like walking out the door and you're breath is taken away by the heat. Tomorrow, they are saying it'll be 104F . Um, that's ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR DEGREES!!!

If we were to back up approximately 25 years ago I was living in the desert. The summers there used to get bloody hot. I loved it! Loved the heat. But "it's a dry heat". We used to hold band camp all day long in 100 degree weather and we never complained.

Now, I wouldn't last 30 minutes in band camp in this weather. I'm a big wuss!

I do, however, THANK GOD, for AC. Not only at work, but at home. I've never lived anywhere in Seattle that's had AC. There generally isn't any need. But I am so glad I have it now. Although the upstairs is my own personal hell. It's 85 up there and 75 down stairs...amazing. Heat does rise, I'll be darn.

In other news, I doused the cat. You can imagine he wasn't too happy with me at the time, but he seemed appreciative after.

Forget The Working Blues and Let the Good Times Roll

Friday's really are God's gift to the free world. Especially when it's a day off. Earlier this week I discovered that I had no meetings scheduled for today, so I saw that as a sign to take a day off. Which I am. And I'm glad. PMGoddess threatened me with regards to logging in at all. She said she'd come over here and "sort me out". Which is enough to scare me into submission.

And so I'm not checking any work email. And it feels so good. The little curiosity bug wants to check, but I know it'll suck me in. It always does.

So, what am I doing on my day off? Absolutely nothing of value. Me and the Oodles of Poodles got up early and headed out to Starbucks and the doggy park. Hindsight being what it was I should probably have waited on the Starbucks until after the doggy park. Have you ever tried holding two cumbersome dog leashes, a poop sack ready to pick up, a chuck it, and a grande vanilla americano? I would highly recommend not. Trying to balance them was unsuccessful ... the americano took a dive. The dogs liked it though.

Two tired poodles, one less ball, two bags of poop and one less coffee later, we left the doggy park. We did stop at Starbucks again on the way home. I tried to exchange one of the poodles for a cup of coffee, but thought better of it since I'd never hear then end of it from the MomUnit.

Cup of coffee in hand, poodles sleeping, I sat on the back deck and read a program management book and soaked up the sun. Ahhh, peace.

I really needed this break. My intent was to do some work, but I thought maybe I should just not. Working 12 hour days can really drain a gal and it might make me productive to take a breather. I can't seem to shake that nagging feeling that I'll now be way behind, but I intend on dealing with that feeling like I deal with all my feelings - a good bottle of wine.

The weekend ahead is looking to be very quiet too. So by Monday I should be completely recharged. Finally...we'll see how long it lasts.

I Wanna Talk About Me

There are a couple of situations in my life that for whatever reason were extremely hurtful and have stayed with me for years. I try my best to put them to bed and move on, but every once in a while something will remind me of them and the pain comes back like a flood. Worst still, one memory generally will lead to the other horrible memories.

In the grand scheme of things to have just a couple of such hurtful memories isn't bad. And yet, they seem to over shadow any good.

One such memory came flooding back today with a vengeance. I went out to Woodinville today for a doggy filled day with ChickenLady. Well, my excuse was a massage, but I took the Oodles of Poodles out and with them we had 7 doggies. 3 of which were total ball hogs (Beau being one of them). The boys played and frolicked for hours. We had a good lunch, nice massage, and great company. Everything was perfect. It was a great way to finish the weekend.

Then on my way home, I decided to turn on the radio. It landed on a country station and before my fingers could do the walking to switch the channel a song came on that reminded me of a painful memory.

I should also state that the pain in the memories is more about how close to home comments that were made hit. It's extraordinarily painful when someone says something, perhaps in jest, and it hits a bit too close to home and it hurts. I fear I've done that to people in the past, and I sure wish, most the time, I could take it back.

Right, the song is by Toby Keith and it's title I Just Wanna Talk About Me. The theme of the song is from a guys perspective and its all about the chatter we women put on and how it'd be nice if once in a while we talked about them. Seems innocent enough. And yet, in a car ride with Crazy X BF this song came on. He turned to me and said, "I feel that exact same way."

It wasn't said in anger and it wasn't said in a way that was to be hurtful, but it hurt. I noodled on it for days/weeks/months and apparently years. I liked to think I was a 50/50 way talker. He wasn't a talker mostly, so that left a lot of room for me to chatter. And yet, his seemingly innocent comment has bugged me for years. Even today, when the song came on I wondered if I was that bad.

At which point I turned to Beau and said, "I don't think so." And was secretly happy he was a dog and couldn't talk back.

In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone to far Oh-a-aho oh, Oh-a-aho oh Video killed the radio star.

What a glorious Friday! There aren't enough of them to go around I don't think. Next Friday is likely to be as glorious too cuz, I got the day off. Uh huh, that's right. It's a meeting free day and I'm taking full advantage of it. I did offer to "check" my email and I was told by the PMGodess in no uncertain terms was I to check any sort of email...and if she catches me she's going to fly over here and (and I quote) "sort me out". That sounds like no fun, so I'll pass on that action.

I barely stepped into the office today (4.5 hours of work is barely these days) and I might add only had to reboot 3 times ...all time record I think. Don't be jealous! Then it was time to make like a tree and salir** and head on into Seattle to watch my favorite band play free in the park.
**Side note: in case you don't speak Spanish. Salir means "to leave". I could never remember that stinkin verb in Spanish class, until one day one of my brilliant teachers said, "Make like a tree and salir". To this day I can remember that verb. Just like "You should, you ought to, you owe it to yourself, to stay away from deber" all those things mean deber. Huh, it's official. I'm a freak.

Moving on...right...Dudley...


Did I mention it was sunny today? Yah, I got a little burnt sitting out there singing my heart out. Not too bad, but bad enough for it to be a bit itchy now.

Anyhow, Blueberry came down from work, PhotoGirl and the Yank wondered into Seattle too and the 4 of us enjoyed downtown Seattle during the day. And oh what a treat it was.

I'm sure downtown Seattle is no different from many downtown areas in that some areas tend to attract the crazies. Occidental Park is one of those places.

I got down there a bit before they started and managed to find a nice little seat in the sun. Blueberry showed up shortly after and was promptly asked to dance by some random crazy, we'll call him DancingKing. Bless his heart though, he asked any and every woman (except me...so something must be wrong with me - that's not an invite to harass...you know who you are...) and only a few told him no, Blueberry being one of them. He came back for more though and asked 3 more times. And three times he was rejected by Blue. Finally made the mistake of standing up to leave. In the process she must have jiggled her hips a bit, because DancingKing was hot on her tail (oh...heheh...didn't mean it that way). She politely told him no thanks and continued about her way. He just stood there a bit dejected and said, "oh well I guess we'll just dance here then." And began to shake his money maker "dancing" with Blue. I, being the good friend that I am, didn't interrupt at all and just let them be. Only later did I find out by the stern look of "you could have saved me" from Blue did I understand what a "BFF" was supposed to do...save her from the crazies. But secretly it was WAY more fun to watch her suffer.

Along with our DancingKing, we had a DancingQueen, she was, well, different. She shook her groove thing, but I gotta tell ya, she was shaking it to a different drummer.

And then there was Blueberry's boyfriend, Mr. Colorful. I spotted him and immediately pointed him out to Blueberry announcing that her boyfriend had arrived and oh look, he's wearing that skirt you gave him. (Note: it was in fact a skirt and could not be confused with a kilt.) Anyhow, he too had his own drummer, but thankfully I got him on tape with my fave band doing one of my fave songs - only problem is it's a gynormous file and I can't upload it... so sorry...I'll share a photo instead of Blueberry's BF.

I Think I Found the Perfect Man for me...

I know, you wouldn't think it was possible, and yet, I believe I met him.

Today I took the UK Bloke on the Seattle Duck Tour. Amusing to say the least. It's odd to see the sites of your own town. There were a couple of times I wanted to call bullshit on their "history" but figured I'd keep my mouth closed for once.

Our tour guide, however, is the male version of me. How so? Well...

1. He played really bad music on our tour
2. He sang and danced to said bad music
3. He had bad hair (okay it was a Seahawk wig, but still)
4. He had multiple hats that he used to display his oddness (see 3Day stories)

Anyhow, the part that got me giggling was watching him play a bunch of 80's songs, singing loud and off key, and dancing in his seat as he drove us through Seattle. It's me, with a Y chromosome and drive a Duck!

(HikerGirl, UK Bloke, me, My Perfect Man, Blueberry)

It was the perfect Seattle day for a Duck tour, rainy and a bit chilly. Yesterday it was 80+, today 65 ish. But all in all we had fun and got to check one more thing off my list of 40 things to do in my 40th year!

Actually, last night also lent to adding one more thing I've never done before to my list. I took the UK Bloke to a piano dueling bar downtown. Whenever going someplace new you never really know what you're going to get, and last night we had a little of everything from really bad food, to a really bad comedian to pretty darn good piano dueling. Did I mention the food was really bad? Yah, gross in fact. But in the end, we had a blast. We got to sing off key to a lot of really bad songs, enjoy some excellent piano playing (and by "excellent" I mean someone playing piano and talking/singing at the same time...amazing to me). The layout of the "dueling pianos" isn't exactly what I thought - essentially the crowd make requests of songs. It can be anything. The piano players take the request, and play it. Doesn't sound too complicated until you realize that they're getting requests like songs from Snoop Dog and songs from Neil Diamond. Crazy. Oh, did I mention songs by Neil Diamond....



Those great voices you hear in the background would be PhotoGirl, myself and UK Bloke...yah we're rock stars.

Whoosh!

You hear that? Its my life passing me by. I am increasingly amazed at how quickly time flies, especially when one doesn't have enough time in one's day. It seems unfair to me. In the prime of my life when I should be enjoying things, time isn't allowing me to even stop and smell the roses.

So don't feel neglected. It's not you, it's me.

Yesterday my stress level came to a head. Aside from working 12 hour days almost consistently for the last 2 weeks, watching the Poodles, having to drive to Lynnwood every other night to watch Blueberry's demon cats, AND trying to keep some semblance of sanity...I lost it. Everything just seemed to be one thing too much yesterday. But alas, a glass of wine and a bowl of ice cream later I felt a bit better.

I'd love to tell you something exciting that's been happening, but well, there isn't. I could tell you about the several items in my Inbox that are going unanswered because I'm in meetings all day and can't even get to those items. But that's boring.

On a much brighter note, I hope, one of the UK Blokes is in town and needs a tour guide this weekend. So I've been tasked with finding something musically inclined to do on Saturday night AND then on Sunday we're riding the Ducks. Yah, I can't believe it either. But it is one of the things on my list to do, AND it'll count as one of my 40 new things this year. So there.

Old Glory Day

A day off. Finally. Sorta. I did do a bit of work this morning, but only a little. I'm getting very tired of the 10+ hour days, but I keep telling myself it's temporary and that in the end I'll be rewarded with a job well done and God willing more $$.

Today I wanted to sleep in but seeing as I'm watching the Oodles of Poodles they wanted to go out at/about 7am. They're like children. They pester you until you give in. So I got up, started the coffee, fed the cat who's nose is slight out of joint, and took the boys for a quick walk.

On the one hand, I'm walking again, though not overly far. On the other hand I really could have used another hour or so of sleep. But whatever.

Before the day got too hot, the Poodles and I went to the Doggy Park. I opted to go to the smaller of the one in our area since the bigger one tends to get bombarded with people on sunny, hot, holiday type days. And it stinks a lot. A lot! So the boys and I hung out for about 30 minutes in a small doggy park and made a few new friends by sniffing butts. The dogs, not me!

Afterwards, we came home and crashed. It got hot fast outside and the fur covered types don't do too well. Though they should they live in Arizona 9 months out of the year. Still, they were tired. They slept and I scrapbooked. I finished up the pages I did last week at the Scrap for the Cure, organized the desk a bit and spilt my diet coke. All in all a very successful day.

Tonight I BBQ'd a flat iron steak in a marinade. As it was on the grill I noticed a small fire on the underlining catcher. The place all the grease and crumbs collect. Well, Dad was here last week and grilled ribs. Love dad's ribs, but mad he can sure make a mess. So I tore about the grill and scrubbed it down. RunningMan would be so proud since he was the former owner of said grill.

So, the grills cleaned. Dogs fed. Cat fed. Dogs pooped/pee'd. Dinner done. Dessert (fresh berries) done. It's time to get back to scrapping a bit. I have the fan blowing with a gale force wind upstairs here as it's quite toasty.

Tomorrow VolleyballMan and the Dane are coming to dinner. We'll just be hanging out here doing nothing overly exciting other than trying to stay cool. Making Saudi Coolers for a treat tomorrow night. I haven't made them in forever and they sound so refreshing and so perfect for the 4th. (Saudi Coolers = Apple juice, orange juice, grenadine, rum or vodka - yum!)


Be safe!