The trouble with moving….

I get no sleep. Every night I have good intentions to sleep. I do all the right things to prepare myself for sleep. I put on the PJs (which are most likely on the moment I walk in the door from work), brush the toofies, kick the cat, set the alarm, read a boring book, etc. Last night, I was pooped. Dead tired and ready for a nice long sleep (I was in bed by 8:30pm). At 11pm – still wide awake.

This weekend I spent a good amount of time in the new place helping to get it ready for move in. We painted, we moved stuff, we packed stuff, we threw stuff out, we moved more stuff, we cleaned, etc. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday worth of being in the condo. All the while I was dressing it with my eyes. Making visual mental notes so I could “think” about the move.

At home last night, I had all those visual mental notes slamming against my cerebrum trying desperately to form into some sort of sense. For example, cleaning the kitchen allowed me plenty of time to see the kitchen in all its glory. So last night, instead of sleeping, I planned the layout of where all my kitchen items would go. I moved items around in my head – arranging them to find the best configuration possible. When I think I finally have the perfect configuration, I remember another small detail and I have to start all over again.

This exercise was repeated for each room of the condo (it’s technically a townhouse, but condo is easier to type). The spare room: where to put the desk, where to put all the scrapbooking supplies, what about that corner, what should I put there…? And so on and so on.

By the time I fell asleep last night I think I had everything perfectly in place. Now if I could only remember.

Packing is going swimmingly. I'm 80% packed. Holding off packing the scrapbook supplies and the kitchen…although…there are several items in the kitchen I’m not likely to use so might as well pack them. The mover estimator guy is coming tonight to see how much crap he’ll be moving. Here’s hoping his estimate is decent.

In other very important news, I burned the last of the duraflame logs last night. The new place has a gas fireplace with a switch to flip it on. But here’s the funny part. The only reason I burned the last log last night was because I need to clean out the fireplace and didn’t want to waste a perfectly good duraflame. It’s a sickness. I know.

And nothin's gonna stop me but divine intervention, I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some

Friday’s have a way about them. There never seems to be an in between Friday. It’s either boring as all hell or it’s as hectic as all get out. Today, was the latter. I knew yesterday that today was shaping up to be insane, but I didn’t really get a complete understanding of it until about 7:02 AM. At which point it was too late to call in sick. ( Side bar: There’s this guy in Starbucks – where I’m sitting waiting for a meeting to start – who’s wearing a cow shoes. And by that I mean, leather, of course, but with the Holstein cow pattern. Bizarre. I wonder if his wife bought them for him and said that they look good.) Right, so back to Friday. Today is only a precursor of how busy the weekend will be.

Oh, and the moment you've been waiting for. .... drum roll please.....

Jenn's 40th Birthday Party Pictures
Yah, sorry it took so long. I had - um - issues with the photos. I deleted them off the camera card before I moved them over to my hard drive. But thankfully I had already uploaded them to snapfish. Which then meant I had to order a CD...ugh.

Last night I met the Dane at the old Condo to put primer on the wall to prepare it to paint tomorrow. Then tomorrow, Blueberry is coming with me to paint the wall and spackle (that word always makes me laugh for some reason) any holes that might be left from nails. We will most likely help them pack some stuff up too. Which is good for me since I love, love, LOVE packing. It's a sickness. I know.

The apt is probably 60% packed. I’m holding off on the kitchen and scrapbooking mess room because – well I might need something there in the next three weeks. And as sure as I pack something I’ll need it. That’s how my life goes.

I’m also worried about the MomUnit – which takes up space in my head. My uncle is dying. The MomUnit is with him and sadly watching his downward spiral. Must be extremely hard to watch that. I can’t even imagine. On top of that, The MomUnit and the DadUnit visited the doctor. The DoctorUnit didn’t have anything good to report about the DadUnit. Not too surprising, but that just adds to the MomUnit’s stress which adds to mine. So happy thoughts in the MomUnit’s direction. Cuz if she’s happy, I’m happy. See how that works?

Other than that I intend to try to sleep in this weekend. Though my new upstairs neighbors are, I think, rabbits. At least they are practicing like they're rabbits. Stamina... I'm just sayin...

Trivia

Part of the 40th Bday party was Jenn Trivia. I was shocked and stunned (not really) at who won. Blueberry wasn’t allowed to play – she knows too much. But Mr. Not So Newlyweds (formally mr. Stalemate formally Mr. Newlywed) won – he either pays attention, or can retain useless information better than anyone. I’m betting on the latter.

Anyhow, Jenn Trivia got me thinking about odd Jenn facts. I thought I’d make it a regular on the blog appearance, but then remembered I forget when I make things “regular”. So instead, you will get random useless odd facts whenever I think of them (and remember to post about them). Lucky!

Jenn Odd Fact # 467
Said to PM Dude today...

Jenn: “Did you ever see the “choppin brocahlee” skit on Saturday Night Live?”

PMDUDE: “Yes.”

Jenn: “Well, every time I eat broccoli I say “choppin brocahlee” in my head.”

Jenn Odd Fact #113
Whenever someone says Albuquerque I spell it in my head A.L.B.U.Q.U.E.R.Q.U.E. We lived in Albuquerque and it seems it was one of the first words I learned and learned how to spell.


Jenn Odd Fact #42
I can't wink both my eyes separately. It's a genetic flaw. I'm sure of it.

The Art of the Move

The moving process has begun. My apartment is full of musty old boxes, just waiting for me to fill them with all my belongings. I love moving! Anyone who’s know me for more than 5 years knows that moving is built into my genes. It’s part of who I am. It’s like an alarm clock goes off every 3 years or so (it used to go off a lot more often). I must be part gypsy.

Houston
New Jersey
Albuquerque
Minot
Great Falls – we lived in 4 different places in GF (Maybe 5). I went to 4 different schools for my third grade year.
Lancaster – 3 different places
Redmond
Tasis (I’m not counting Saudi Arabia here since that was part of TASIS – though it was still a move)
Pullman – 4 different places
Guadalajara
Redmond
Bellevue
Kent
Renton
Home to Redmond with Mom and Dad for 6 months
Bellevue
Renton – Two different places
Bellevue
Kirkland
Bellevue – two different places this time
Lynnwood
And finally back to Redmond

This will be my 31st Move! I’m sure I’m missing one or two somewhere. But that’s quite a list in 40 years. That’s and average of 1.29 yrs in one place.

I have several friends who have asked why I move so much. When I mention I’m moving to people I get a mixed reaction. Some are like, “Wow, again?” Others are not surprised at all. And still others feel the need to ask, “Why?” and that is usually followed with, “I hate to move.”

So I started thinking about it. Why do I like to move? I could blame the list above – I was an military brat for the first several years of my life. And anyone who’s father or mother was in the military knows you move a lot. There were always boxes we just didn’t unpack – there wasn’t a need. I got used to not getting very comfortable in one place. And as sure as you did get comfortable, you’d hear the news – we were moving.

Moving around so much as a kid, I believe, made it very easy for me to make friends. I do remember as a kid not wanting to become too good of friends with anyone because, well, we’d be moving. In Lancaster is where I felt that finally we would be staying put in the same city at least for some time. We were in Lancaster for 10 years. And when I think about where “home” might be, Lancaster is usually the first to come to mind. It was where I was molded into who I am today. It was most my teenage years. It was where I met some of my still bestest friends. It was where heartache first touched me. It was where we lost Grandpa Spaid (not as is we lost him and don’t know where he is, but more he passed away). It was where I gained a new dad and three new step-brothers (BigBro being one of them). It was where I tried smoking for the first time and just about choked to death. It was where I got in some of the biggest trouble I’ve ever been in. It was where God became a big part of my life. It was where I learned to twirl a rifle, and march in step. It was, in my mind, home.

Then we moved.

And now Seattle and its surrounding cities/towns is my home. And moving around Seattle has been my pastime. I’ve had several roommates – some of whom I would prefer to never see again (not you Blueberry). But I’ve lived the most by myself. And I like that. I own what the big black beast of burden allows me to own in my domain. And now I’m packing again. Packing up items that have become the definition of my adult life.

Boxes scatter the apartment. Items are carefully packed waiting for a spot in their new home. Many things are being discarded – used and no longer needed. I’m a big fan of getting rid of things. I’d rather pass them on then pack them and take them with me. But I’m at that very odd phase of packing. It’s too early to pack everything – and I can guarantee once something is packed, I’ll need it. And yet I can’t wait to pack because I hate last minute packing chaos. So I’m trying to be very systematic about my packing. And yes, for those who know me, we’ll have a color coding system to indicate what floor or room the boxes should go into.

And so in three weeks I’ll be unpacking and putting my belongings into new locations, new homes. I’ll be spending the month of February trying to remember where I unpacked something and where it might make most sense to go instead. Unpacking is my favorite part. It’s all new, fresh, changed.

Someday I'll wear pajamas in the daytime...

Welcome to your 40's. The 40's came in like a lion for this girl.

Last night was the big party. Everyone who was anyone (or who didn't have other plans) were there.

The Peanut Gallery : Brian, Kathy, Jackie, Bob, Margo, Janet, Mark, Vanessa, Julie, Ric, Sherrie, Jenn Suzie, Jo, Mark, Mike and Nancy.

The evening started with decorating and helping put together the tasty treats. I had to "test" each and every treat we were going to offer the guests. And I can say with 100% certainty that each and every offering was DELICIOUS! We had shrimpees, hummus, olive tapenade, meat/cheese tray, vegi's, baby quiches, and German Chocolate Cake cupcakes. MMM MMM Good.

Everyone played Jenn Trivia - Mike was the winner. Scary that he knows that much abut me. I guess I'll have to take care of him in the event I run for office. His prize? A 4 course meal at the exclusive Chez Jenn's. He's one lucky guy. Blueberry came up with some excellent questions that had a few friends stopping and saying things like, "Wow" and "really?" and "OMG are you serious?"

I drank some cosmos and then some water...cuz being 40 now you have to be sure to hydrate.

And so in the end, I'm 40. Ready to take on this decade with passion, grace and style.

Oh and one more thing...it's !@#$%^&* snowing again!

Cheers to 2009!

Welcome to the first blog of 2009. This year I think will be a great one. At least that's my plan. All those out there who plan on making it not a great year for me - go away! You're not welcome here! That means you! Right there - the one up front! Leave!

There - now that we cleared out the riff-raff let's get down to the celebrations. Fondue part dos at Chez Jenn's last night. I cheated with the cheese fondue and bought it already made - that being said it was - IMHO - delicious. Surprisingly so. We had about a half of cup left so I think everyone else thought it was good too. Dessert fondue was Toblerone - omg so good! It was almost a sin to eat it. We had apples, pound cake, marshmallows; and pecan Sandies for dipping. Blueberry brought some homemade caramels she had - we dipped them too...delicious.

We started the celebration around 7 and took it will into the evening. In attendance - Claudia & Chris (not pictured); me; Mark & Vanessa; Sherrie; Margo & Bob. We did the obligatory catching up; eating; drinking; cheering; and photo taking. Bring on 2009.

Today I'm catching up on cleaning - what a mess new year's eve makes. Tomorrow I have to go back to work. That will be weird to go into the office. I've not actually been "in" the office since the 17th of December. Huh - hope I remember where I sit.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that my New Year's "theme" this year will be 40 New things! I've already started making a list. If you've got something new you think I should try - send it my way. I'll consider it!

This weekend is the big birthday gala - more food and more drink. I can't wait. It should be a blast to be at a party I didn't do any planning for. I can't remember the last time I had a party that I didn't plan! So watch this space - you may see some photos!

Happy Birthday to Me!

The Big Four O....whodathunk? I really am still a bit in shock over the whole thing. I don't feel 40 and don't really want to be 40...though I guess the alternative isn't an option either.

We didn't do too much today. Ran a few errands and then had a family gathering tonight with the DadUnit's World Famous Ribs. OMG soooo good. BURP! If you've not experienced the ribs, I'm sorry. If you have you know how good dinner was. Ribs, homemade potato au gratin, 7 layer salad and Garlic baked green beans. German Chocolate Cake with WAY too many candles on it.

Cousin Bruce thought he'd be a funny man and brought a blow torch to light the candles with. Hardee Har har...Our family...such comedians.

 

I heard from almost every person I know in Facebook wishing me a happy birthday. Thanks everyone. That was fun to witness. I'm so blessed.

I decided today my new year's theme will be - well not so much a theme this year or a resolution as it is a plan. I'm going to do/try 40 new things. I've set no limit as to what it can be - so it could be walking a new trail, trying a new restaurant, moving into a new condo...who knows. It's going to be a great year.

Last day in my thirties!

Its still even hard for me to believe that tomorrow I'll be forty. How'd that happen? My grandmother always told me life moves faster when you're older...I didn't believe her then. Now, I think I might.

We were supposed to go to Tubac today. It's a quaint little town full of fun stores to shop in. Unfortunately my Uncle has been in the hospital since I got here and today the prognosis wasn't good. The doctors have done all they can for him and have said it's only a matter of time.

Uncle Dick is 80 year's old. Twice my age. And it's sad to see him in such a state. Thankfully he's not in pain. He's also not willing to chat about the end and what his wishes are. Men. The MomUnit, after hearing the news this morning when we dropped off his pumpkin pie (his treat), didn't much feel like going to Tubac. Which was fine.

Instead we drove to the University of Arizona and I finally found my UofA sweatshirt I've been hunting for. Then to In N Out for lunch. I decided when the MomUnit's number is finally called I'm going to put an In N Out burger wrapper in her coffin with her.

Tonight we're heading to dinner with some family friends to celebrate the first of three birthday parties. Yay Me. I love having a birthday around Christmas sometimes. You celebrate for days. Then tomorrow the DadUnit is fixing his world famous BBQ ribs for me and some other family friends. German Chocolate cake for dessert. Nummers!

The rest of today I'll be sitting outside. There's this bright round thing in the sky that is producing warmth here. I googled it to find out what it is.

So with that I farewell to you all and farewell to my thirties. WAHHHH!!!!

The Day After the Day After...

It's the day after the day after Christmas today. All's quiet in the Wraspir household - with the exception of dad wheezing in the chair as he reads, the birds outside having some sort of discussion over the bird seed, the dogs barking and carrying on and the clitterclack of the keyboard. But otherwise, it's quiet.

The MomUnit and I - with long standing family friend - went shopping and to lunch yesterday. I'm sure I've told you that the DadUnit and I go out on Christmas eve every year to have lunch, a little father-daughter bonding and buy mom her gifts. Well, it seems the newest tradition - in the last 6 years anyhow - has been the MomUnit and I going to the Gavi Restaurant for some Italian viddles, then shopping. Unfortunately it's me spending my money -but whatever. And yesterday was no exception. It hadn't snowed in the "lowlands" of Tucson and so we needn't worry about driving in snow - Thank God! I did manage to spend some cashola - but the deals out there. My Goodness. It's hard not to buy when things are so cheap. So now I have my school clothes for next semester (that's my excuse for buying new clothes you see).

We got home -slugged around the house, watched the thermometer dip to the 20's and the snow start to fall slightly. Dinner was left overs - because if you've ever been to Chez Jenn's Parent's diner you know that the fridge is bursting at the seems with food and left overs night is a required dinner. The DadUnit didn't eat last night. He was in one of those moods. He was pouting because we were having dinner so early - it was 6:30PM...so we let him pout.

I think he had a bad day yesterday. He was quite argumentative with everyone and hated almost everything. He sat quietly reading most the day - but when he said something it wasn't necessarily nice. I miss my dad.

Today is a lazy day. I had planned on sitting out on the deck and sunning myself -but seeing as it's 26F outside - I think maybe not.

Seriously?

I give up! It's even snowing in Tucson.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night...

I bet you're wondering where I'm typing this from aren't you? Come on admit it, you spend your every waking hour thinking about moi.


Well, thankfully, I made it to Tucson. Mother Nature gave us quite the wallop in Seattle and did all she could to strand thousands in Seattle's airport. But by the time I had to leave on Tuesday they had sorted "most" of the weather issues out and I was off. The airport was a zoo and I wasn't so glad to be on an airplane as I was that day. People were tired, rude and cranky - you couldn't have paid me enough to be an airline ticket agent that day. No way nohow.

Way back when on a trip back into Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, I followed my good friend JC through customs. Saudi customs was crazy strict and would, at any time, try to find something in your luggage they didn't approve of. I used to put all my dirty girly under clothes on top hoping they'd just move along. Rarely did they. Anyhow, JC and I were in the customs line and I was dreading it. He had a green passport - diplomatic - meaning they couldn't search his luggage. He and I passed through "together" so the Arab guard wouldn't check my luggage. We whizzed through customs.

Tuesday morning after BigBro dropped me off, I ended up in a long line waiting to check my luggage. A young lady in front of me and I got to talking. We laughed and joked all the way through the line. As we got closer she suggested I follow her through security because she had a super secret pass to the front of the line. Okay...I'll follow you. We detoured at the end of the 2 1/2 hour security line to the front of the line. They directed us to another 30 minute line. Phew. As we stood in line, I got to thinking about Saudi and how I'd always get frisked when leaving. Secretly I think the Arab women enjoyed humiliating us foreigners because it gave them power they didn't have. As we got through to where we actually showed our boarding pass - I was waiting for the frisking treatment. But nope...they pushed me on through. On the other side - new friend and I parted ways. I stood in another line- Starbucks - but it was well worth it.

I made it to sunny Tucson. I landed in beautiful sun shiny weather. Christmas morning we woke to rain and hurricane force winds. Rain I don't mind so much. It's not white and it's not frozen. Christmas was relatively uneventful. We woke later than normal, open gifts, had Dad's World Famous biscuits and gravy for breakfast and then just vegged out.

I did find out that Blueberry, who was supposed to be watching my cat, made it over to Spokane after all - so she left the keys with a friend to check in on Pookie. Only the keys she left weren't for my apartment. So poor Pookie is home alone and most likely starving right now. I'm hoping tomorrow I can talk an apt worker into going in and feeding him. Poor kitty.

Tomorrow we're hitting the stores. We are most likely crazy to be going out the day after Christmas, but it'll be fun. And I need a Starbucks fix.

We are going to also take in the Desert Museum and the airplane graveyard (mostly for photography purposes for me). Birthday dinner will be tritip roast, and some fixin's. I opted to stay in for dinner as going out for dinner these days sets the DadUnit into a fit and makes him ubber grouchy. So...Happy Christmas everyone.

Ok...enough already

Seriously. Enough. Day 4 of the Great Shut in of 2008 and I've had it. It's not getting very close to ruining my chances of getting to the airport to go south - where there's sun...and maybe no snow.

Two things I know for sure:

1) Seattle is not a snow/ice friendly city. We're built on 7 hills - not conducive to snow.

2) The Stang is not a snow/ice friendly car

The two mixed means I'm stuck in my apt. On the bright side, the apt is pretty damn clean now. We got 7" overnight. SEVEN INCHES! I'm pretty sure I still live in Washington, but there is a chance that an alien ship picked me up and deposited me back in Minot. I mean, come on, enough already. The snow is so last week!

Moe, Larry and Curly are all frozen. Poor birds. Thank god they have their warm feathers on or they might have frozen to death.

It's important to note that I park under a car port and the Stang rarely gets wet or snowy because it's covered. Well, last night we had a little breeze...and well - it's covered alright. Stupid Snow.

Beautiful, isn't it? You can't tell, but that tree to the right is a rhody and is not usually covered in white snow. I'll be shocked if it survives.

This really doesn't do it justice, but those things at the bottom of the picture are stairs. To the left that mound of white used to be ivy. It's crazy.
Now I know snow is nothing new to most of you who read this. But "most" of you live in areas where snow is a yearly occurrence and most likely are smart enough to not drive a rear wheel drive car...but here...snow is a big deal. In fact, I have no idea what - if any - other news happened outside Seattle in the last three days. All they cover here is the snow...and the "flakes of death".
So today I'm going to strap on the boots and walk down to the mall. I have to get out of this place...why not go to the mall - it is just right here.
In other thrilling "shut in" news - I did get all the heritage photos scanned and documented. And I wrote my goals for next year for work, and personal, and I managed to toss out a butt load of stuff - taking garbage out is a fun exciting thing these days. I wonder if I'm not throwing things out just so I can go out with a purpose.

I said Every day's a new day...everytime I love...

Welcome to day two of the thrilling story of "Shut-In in the Hood." It's riveting story of a young - ahem - lady - ahem ahem who's stuck in her apartment due to some rather icy, snowy weather. It follows said "young lady" through her day of "working from home" and how she terribly wants to leave her apt and so is considering risking everything to drive the car to the store. It's thrilling really.

Having all this time at home has allowed me to do the following:

1. Get some actual work done. While working from home is at times challenging, I can say with almost 100% certainty that I have done some work. I'm working right now in fact.

2. Pack. While sitting in the spare room looking around, I realized that there's a lot of crap in here. And so what better time to start packing said crap then when you're stuck at home. Only 4 boxes packed with stuff I won't need in the next month or so. Although having said that I'm pretty sure I'll need something in one of them. That's how the law works.

3. Scan photos. I have a buttload of heritage photos from the MomUnit's side of the family. While sitting on one conf call after another I have been scanning all of them. They're categorized by family and indexed by date. No not really - well they will be. Eventually. Maybe.

4. Managed to take a walk on the wild side and made the great quest to the mailbox and back. Twice. I know. Amazing huh?

5. Brushed the Big Black Beast of Burden several times...he's almost bald. Only found one flea in the last two days - so maybe we're on the flea mend.

6. Laughed at the crazy neighbor lady who was attempting to get down our hill in her BIG Red Beetle yesterday. See she was out of Pepsi. And apparently when you're out of Pepsi - weather be damned. She ventured out. Oddly I don't see the Big Red Beetle parked up by our apts.

7. Managed to have breakfast for dinner last night. I hadn't actually done much grocery shopping trying to not have a lot here for when I leave for Arizona (in T minus 3 days) and so consequently the weather has caused me to be creative. And so, last night we had corn beef hash and a fried egg over hard. No yolk runny stuff please. Ick. Although I'll have to get creative here shortly as I'm almost out of cream. And without cream how can one have coffee.

8. Discovered there is no Starbucks within reasonable walking distance. If it were warm, sunny and no snow there is one about 1.5 miles. Totally doable. In 21F weather - ah no thank you. Though I did find my gloves when I thought - briefly - about walking up to Rite Aid drug store for something that I now forget.

9. Finished the movie "Jenn - the last 40 years". Stay tuned it may be posted here soon.

And sometimes I get nervous, When I see an open door,

Close your eyes
Clear your heart...
Cut the cord

Ahem...Happy Thursday. Enjoy my new favorite song as you read this drivel - or I mean blog.

Well, it's cold. It's white. And it's freaking bothering me. We got about 4" of snow last night. Redmond, where I work, is basically in a state of shock. They are frozen to their keyboards as I type.

Here's the funny thing. Yesterday we were supposed to be hit hard by snow. The school districts freaked and closed their doors. In Bellevue/Redmond,not a single solitary flake. Today - school was to go on as planned. They get hammered with snow. These weather people...man...they're good.

The stang is safely parked - thanks for asking. And I'm happily working from home. (Shhh don't tell anyone, but I'm secretly making Ande's Mint Brownies too).

In other exciting news, just a few days and I'm off to Tucson for the holidays. That is, if I can get to the airport. DOH!

Eskimos are moving in next door!

Happy freakin freezin Tuesday. It is butt cold here in the great Northwest. I am not a fan. In fact, I am beginning to hate the cold in my old age (which in exactly 13 days will be OLDer). While it's been sunny - which is fun for Seattle - it's been cold. Today's high 25F. Right now according to the old Atomic Clock it's 17 outside. SEVEN - freakin - TEEN! I don't recall moving to Alaska. It can keep it's cold air...in fact, leave it in British Columbia. They seem to enjoy the cold.

Tomorrow I'll be building an igloo. Seems like the right thing to do considering. How can I without snow you ask? Oh, well...there will be snow tomorrow. Oh goody! I did laugh today at the weather wrong-caster on the news...he said, and I quote, "Right now it's too cold to snow." What's that about? Too cold to snow just means it's too freakin' cold. I'm just sayin' (That one's for you Mrs. Geek).

In other non weather related news, I'm moving. This is the big news I alluded to a couple blog posts ago. It's official now. I'll be renting a kick ass condo from a good friend (Mr. Volleyball and his wife the Dane). They bought a bigger and better condo and have decided to rent their old condo to me for an FANTASTIC deal. I can't wait. It is 4.4 miles from work. My commute will be 8.8 miles round trip - versus the 40 round trip I drive now. I won't move until the end of January so I have a month or so to pack. But if anyone knows me at all, I'll be packed before the end of this blog post.

I met Mr. VB and his wife on Sunday for dinner. Blueberry was with me and she commented on the way home she wasn't too happy about me moving. She just can't understand how I could move so much in my life. It's in my blood is all I could say. I've moved like 27 times in my life...which means I average - hold please while I calculate - 27 divided by 40 equals .67 something or other. Which I think means I live in on spot for an average of 6 months...which doesn't seem right...but whatever. All I know is I LOVE to move. I've become more stationary in the last 10 years mostly because of the expense of moving.

Moving is therapeutic to me. It's a chance to ditch the old and bring on the new. It's a chance to purge. It's a chance to start new. I love the whole packing and unpacking process. Of course, I'm very organized in it so of course I love it. I usually have all the boxes color coded to match which room they go too...and I have an index in which I give the movers so they know which room corresponds with which color. I'm so lying. But you wouldn't put it past me would you? I am very organized in my moving...it comes from so much practice.

So if you're not busy, Jan 31st feel free to stop by and help support my move. I'll be hiring movers so really you'd just be hanging out with me eating pizza and drinking beer. How much fun is that?

There is an outside chance that the condo won't be ready by end of Jan - but I'm just moving ahead with the planning.

Did I mention it's cold outside? It's now 16F outside. Ugh.

Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Clause

I like many people have a budget. Each month I painstakingly hash out how much money goes to what. Some months I'm more successful at following it than others. But there is, without a doubt, one month I stick very closely to my budget - December.

Part of my budget is obviously a food budget. My food budget is most likely higher than most single girls because I truly cook for myself. Without fail each Saturday or Sunday I go to the grocery store with the week plan in hand. I do my best to build off similar ingredients so not to waste anything and to keep things less expensive. (Rant: Cilantro and Parsley really need to be sold in smaller bundles. Who uses that much cilantro and parsley before it goes bad? Ok, "who" that is single?)

For the month of December I add $10 a week to my budget. Not for holiday cooking. Not for buying extra eggnog. And not for buying those multicolored holiday M&Ms. No, each week I buy one extra bag of food for the food shelters. I start the week after Thanksgiving and do it every week up to Christmas.

My local store, QFC, makes it VERY easy in that they started selling $10 bags of food already put together AND they have a bin for that food on your way out. Very convenient and therefore leaves me no excuse to not do it.

It's my little bit of giving back during this season. It saddens me when I see the statistics of how many children go hungry in our local area alone. No one should ever go without a Christmas meal, but at the minimum if I can at least give them A meal, then I feel good.

Today I was picking up this week's bag. To my luck, as I hefted the bag up off the table - it broke. Can goods and boxes went everywhere. An older woman standing by me stopped to help. She thanked me for buying the bag of food. I explained to her how I do this every Christmas and how every week leading up to Christmas I buy $10 worth of food for the food banks. I think I saw a tear. She stopped and looked me directly in the eye and said with more emotion than I could ever conjure up, "Bless you, and thank you."

She began to tell me her story about how many years ago she hit a rough spell and was down on her luck. The only way she was able to give her kids food was through local food banks. She said she was never as thankful in her life than at that time for people who give. She folded her hand over mind and patted it saying thank you and Merry Christmas.

We went our separate ways. Yet I caught a glimpse of her in line and she too had a bag of $10 groceries. Suddenly, my heart was full of joy. It grew three inches today.

So with that, I decided that every month for 2009 I'll buy a $10 bag of food (or $10 worth of can goods). I challenge you to do the same. We may not be able to end hunger, but we can sure help our local families.

Friends call me Heat Mizer - whatever I touch, simply melts in my clutch. Imma too much.

Happy Friday! It really couldn’t have come at a better time. This has been, for some reason, a very long week. I have had almost nothing to do at work for a month then suddenly WHAM 4 projects kickoff in a week and 3 “need” to be completed by the end of the year. Only 1 of them is going to be. And so the constant negotiating with clients on that fact has been all sorts of draining.

And when I feel drained I find comfort in my “still” favorite song. Oh Jason. How I love this song!

Speaking of songs, my pals Dudley Manlove were on TV last night. If you don't live in the greater Seattle area you would not have had them on your beloved TV. I know you've been waiting with baited breath to witness the tunes of DMQ - in better quality than my crappy video skilz - and so now you can. They were on a local show that spot lights art in the area. The lead guitar guy is a shoe maker...whodathunk! No, I mean he REALLY makes shoes.

So - you can see the shoe maker story - which still baffles me by clicking the video link below. You can fast forward the video too BTW. The shoemaker part comes on at / around 14:08. Immediately following that is DMQ ( at 17:02). They do 2 songs and Nancy Guppy (the host) does a quickly little interview between the two songs (20:50)

This is the new lead singer for the group. And while most of you wouldn't know this, he is quickly converting me to his side. He's got pipes. Oh and on the first song at 20:04 Steve the Bass player (to the lead singer's right) gets his serious head bob on! The famous head bob!

This weekend Seattle was on a "Winter Weather Warning" - but that's been cancelled. Thank God. Now I don't have to plan my weekend around snow. Ick! This is a big weekend too....I mean what with all the holiday parties I've been invited to (there's one) and with meeting friends for a holiday bite on Sunday (and to discuss potential life changing news) - I'm just so glad that The Snow Miser isn't coming to town. Because he would greatly hinder my plans and that would be bad.

Jungle life, I'm far away from nowhere, On my own like Tarzan Boy

I blame Patron Saint for the title. She mentioned the song in a Facebook exchange and it's been stuck in my head since.

Ahem!

So, it's been a while. I'd apologize and say I was too busy and all, but that really hasn't been the case - outside work anyhow. Work has picked up dramatically. And while I'm thankful to have 1) a job and 2) actual work to do, I'm bumm'in because I was planning on December being a quiet month. Hotel CaliforniaSoft will have none of that though. They're busy trying to spend Q2 funds. Which is fine by me, it just means that the next two weeks will be busy and fully of unnecessary stress.

Let's do a quick review since we last chatted.

Saturday I spent a few hours at Susan G. Komen helping plan for the up and coming Volunteer open house. I was asked to bring in my creative side to help decorate the volunteer area so it feel more welcoming. As I was spouting out ideas right and left, I realized I may have missed a calling in my life. Decorating. I love the putting of things together to make a big, happy, welcoming, warm environment. I'm not a pro at it by any stretch of the imagination - and people like the StaleMates put me to shame when it comes to Martha Stewart'ing up the place. But I enjoy decorating all the same.

Post Susan G. Komen decorating ideas (and consequently volunteering my time for a butt load of work after) BigBro picked me up and we headed off for the December PhotoGod safari.

We were meeting the rest in downtown Seattle, but opted to take the much talked about Seattle Monorail. Now the monorail has had a checkered past with it's reliability rate - so we weren't so sure we'd make it without at least some help from a fire truck ladder to get us down. And so while we were standing there waiting, I started my photo day.

Our theme was obviously holiday and lights etc. We walked the streets of Seattle and took hundreds of photos between us. Once all was said and done, we all agreed that this trip we didn't get quite the photos we thought. I, for one, had an issue with focusing my camera correctly. Ugh. Damn automatic focusing. I'm going old school now and back to manual focus. You can see all my photos by going to my Flickr site. Here are a couple faves.

So then Sunday...what'd I do on Sunday....? Ah yes. A BIG OL' FAT HANDFUL OF NOTHING!!
This morning on my way to work I was listening to NPR and all the stories were about the rising issue in Africa, poverty around the world, Governors of States called Illinoise who are corrupt - basically your standard depressing news. Each passing mile I found myself dropping further and further into sadness. I pulled into my Starbucks (yes it's MINE). Walked in the front door. Favorite Barrista greets me with, "Your regular?" I nod. I grab my "regular" and as I'm walking out the door sipping the goodness that is a Grande Venti Vanilla American all my depression floats away. Whodathunk that Starbucks had the answer to world peace all along? Give the world a cup of coffee!
Those weather peep are calling for a chance of snow this weekend, which means the Stang stays in the stable if white flurry stuff falls from the sky, which means I'll be doing nothing this weekend. And sadly, I have a fully booked weekend ahead of playing Bah Humbug the Christmas Elf. Maybe I can squeeze in a pedicure too.

iPod-less in Seattle

I knew this day was coming. I had known this day was coming for about 6 months.

Won't you take a moment of silence in recognition of the iPod that has died.

Thanks.

Yes it's dead. It had been making death sounds - or rather not making sounds - for some time. It would happily play along and then stop. I'd hit play and it'd start up again, but then stop. If it was cold (the iPod) then you can forget it playing until it was "warmed up" (You should know that I sometimes forget it in my car and it gets cold in the Hood.)

The other day I plugged it in thankful to have remembered to bring it because I was later than normal leaving work and I knew I'd be in traffic. I plugged it in and the recognizable apple popped on screen. And I waited. And waited. And then I waited some more. Then a URL appeared on the screen directing me to support. Ugh. This can't be good.

My iPod has treated me well though. It was the first generation 40 GB iPod, purchased sometime in 2002 (I had in my brain that it was 1998 - but they weren't even around yet so I had to go back and figure out where I was living and what job I was in to make the date connection - that happens when you're almost 40 BTW). It has held all my songs for me faithfully - in fact I sure it has Faithfully on it. We won't get into a discussion about good versus bad songs - we'll just say it held some of the Top 10 Worst Songs too. A whole lotta One Hit Wonders on there just waiting to break out into song. And let's not even discuss the enormous amounts of 80's music that is on there. Or the several songs from some very HARD rock bands, or the Spanish music, or the show tunes...oh my pyschofrantic iPod...you'll be missed.

But the iPod is silent now. It just sits there all white and no color screen resting peacefully. Don't cry for me Argentina softly playing in its hard drive.

Did I mention I was turning 40?

The MomUnit felt my pain last night and was so excited - too excited now that I think about it - when I told her of the death. I had mentioned that now it was Nano Time. I was going to have to leap into the newest generation with bad songs in tow. Then I hear this, "What color do you want?" Does she not know me at all? What color do I want?

Then I hear a 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IT'LL BE THERE IN 2 DAYS!"

I'm no longer iPod-Less in Seattle. Spoiled in Seattle, most definitely. But not iPod-less.

Thanks Mom! You're the best.

Straight No Chaser

Thanks to Solje for posting this on her blog. Hilarious! Enjoy everyone...

Oh and beware, Youtube will suck you in. I'm just sayin.