Top 10 new things Steve and/or I did this week

10.  We tied furniture that we bought at IKEA to the top of our car and drove home with Steve holding onto the furniture through the sunroof so it wouldn't slide off.

9.  We went to Winco, which is kind of like going to a different country because no one speaks English and everyone acts as though the beef is going to run out if they don't push you out of the way first.  It reminded me of standing in the ticket line at the train station in Paris - and the woman behind me felt like she was going to get her ticket faster if she crawled up my bum during the entire 45 minute wait.

8.  We stayed in Portland for the weekend.  Okay, that's not entirely new, but it's been a long time.

7.  I sang with the choir at the church we've been attending.

6.  I became mildly addicted to fantasy football message boards trying to figure out who to start on my roster this week.

5.  We made it to bed before midnight every single night this week.  This one's kind of boring, but I'm running out of new things that we did...

4.  We had lunch with Graham and Donnie from my work on Tuesday, and bid Donnie a fond farewell as he headed out to Egypt.  Yes.  Egypt.  As in the Nile.  and Cairo.  Egypt.

3. We finally got the last of our books put away on shelves, instead of being stacked behind the couch.  That's new, right?

2.  I gave Steve a haircut.  Really.  And it didn't suck too bad.

And the #1 new thing Steve and/or I did this week...

1.  I told a woman at church that Steve's sperm is bad when she asked when we were planning to have children.  In front of the pastor.

When you're hot, you're hot.

Yesterday, I scored several good things.  The first was a free pizza lunch at work.  Of course, to get it, I had to sit through a guy from our firm's 401k program yak at me about "staying the course" and not pulling my money out of my retirement program.  Of course, little did he know, I've thwarted the whole system and don't have a retirement account muhahahaha.

After scoring the free pizza, I also scored a pair of Trailblazers tickets for that night - my name was drawn out of a hat.  HOORAY.  So, Steve and I went.  It was not fabulous but it was definitely an interesting adventure and different.  And, our friends Emily and Charlie have season tickets so we were able to get in touch with them and meet up at half time.  Emily is my current hero because she just ran the Portland Marathon.  Several years ago, apparently I talked her into running a 10k after I had run the Butte to Butte.  Of course, after I ran my 10k, I stopped and haven't been able to get back into it.  She stuck to it and I'm super impressed.  Steve and I said something casual about doing it next year.  I don' t know if it will happen, but maybe we'll get back into 10k shape, eh?!  Anyway, SCORE for seeing friends.

We took the bus.  It was the first time Steve and I had taken public transportation together.  It was very good.  I got a ticket to the Rose Garden and got a transfer ticket.  That way, when we left (at half time), I was still able to use my transfer ticket and didn't have to pay a second fare.  SCORE again!  

Yesterday, I was pretty hot.

This morning, I went to court first thing and was pretty successful with my motion hearing.  I'll take it!  

Our road adventures.

Last weekend, after driving back to Portland and nearly dying when a car decided that it had taken the wrong fork of a Y and just decided to stop IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FREEWAY, until traffic was clear so it could do a clever driving maneuver and get on the correct fork of the Y. Thankfully, Steve's adrenaline assists him in helpful ways and he was able to bring our car from 60 to 0 in no time flat. Really, I thought we were done for. But we made it. Barely. And we continued on to our apartment

Our apartment building is pretty darn swanky. It's got its ups and its downs... but we like it and we're happy to be here for a year. It's 10 blocks from where I work, close to downtown, right next to the street car, walking distance to the train station... you really can't get a whole lot better. Except the parking. It's outrageously expensive to get parking here. So we didn't.

After our near death experience on the freeway, we were pretty happy to get home, park on the street just outside of the side door to our building (our favorite spot) and went upstairs to go to bed. It was, after all, very late.

We got up the next morning to go to church and walked outside. When Steve looked at our car and said "what the ____?!" I knew something was terribly wrong. At first, I thought our car was gone because I couldn't see it from where I was standing. But no. It was not gone. Rather, it had a dent the size of a saucer-sled in the hood. I kid you not. It was HUGE. After using our keen skills at logical deduction and reasoning, we realized that someone had dropped a ginormous water balloon on our car. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself.

You can't see the details all that well, but those orange things that look like leaves... They're not leaves. They're pieces of orange rubber, with a big ol' knot tied in one end. Yes, they are pieces of a water balloon. Needless to say, I was none to pleased. We reported the incident to our apartment manager and she was mortified. She said she would investigate and in the meantime, she would pleased to provide us with a parking spot in the garage, free of charge, for the remainder of our lease. SCORE. So, off we went.

A few days later, she called me back and told me that someone had fessed up to the stunt and was offering to pay for the damage. And we still get our free parking spot. Can you say HALLELUJAH?! I sure can.

So, onward we go.

This weekend, we went to Sunriver with my parents, Kim, Fred, and August. It was a nice weekend, with some hiking, some football watching, hot tubbing, and good eating. On our way home, we drove through Government Camp, and just before reaching there, some fellows on bikes cut out directly in front of us. What is it with people doing really stupid things. Steve, again, with his cat-like reflexes slammed on the brakes and narrowly avoided the collision. The car behind us nearly slammed into us and there may or may not have been a lot of "I HATE YOU" honking going on.

I kind of wish the guy would have hit our car and then it would match in the front and the back and we'd have a good excuse to actually get a new (different) car. But alas, we were not so fortunate. We made it home uneventfully the rest of the journey.

I hope we have no more road adventures for a long long time.

Good night.

If Jessica can talk about it, so can I.

So, Jessica's blog has talked about poo this week, and tonight, I had a poo experience.  Parker has been very particular lately about where he will go... and today, he would not go when I took him out in the morning, or in the afternoon.  This evening, he didn't want to go either.  But, I was persistent and after about 10 minutes of walking him to a variety of poo-spots, I took him to an area that is quite suitable for pooing and just stood there.  After about 3 minutes of just standing, he finally went.  And went.  And went.  It was unbelievable - I almost could not get it all in the bag I had with me.  So, there you have it.  My poo story.

Will life ever slow down?

I think it's been 4 or 5 weekends in a row that we've gone to Eugene - and it looks like it may be several more before we can have some respite.  Although Idon't seem to mind the drive anymore, it does nothing for my ability to keep the apartment clean and laundry up to date (which is not my strongest suit anyway).

Steve is mega-stressed about getting the jobs done in Eugene that seem to be tightening a death grip around us.  In fact, he had to leave work at noon today to drive down to Eugene to try to fix some things - and he HAS to be back here at 11 tomorrow... then, he may drive down again tomorrow night and stay through the weekend, leaving me to come down on Saturday.  

Our car is in the shop so he had to rent one.  That kind of stinks, but we'll deal with it.

I feel like I am really fighting my pessimistic urges and really trying to trust God in this, but it's hard not to try to carry it all myself.  It seems that Steve and I have made such mistakes when it comes to his business, and that it might all be coming back to bite us in the bootie right now.  It's hard not to fixate and worry - but really, what will that do?  Perhaps I just feel totally helpless because I can't help Steve - when he calls, I don't even know what to tell him except that it will all work out in the end.  It will, right?

Sooo.. I'm trying to work hard at my job, and do what I can in that regard - and really, what's the worst that can happen?  The absolute worst is that the company would go bankrupt -and that we, somehow, would be drug into that... and well, there ARE worse things in life than bankruptcy, right?  Of course, I think this is a very very improbable outcome... I think it's more likely that we'll just have to eat some of the business losses... which is not great, but not the end of the world.  I'm such a spoiled brat that maybe it would do me some good.

Anyway, I best start doing a bit more work.

Later.

Idiots in their cars

Today, I was driving in Springfield and saw some woman who was a passenger in a minivan. in the front seat. She was holding and bouncing an infant on her lap. What is wrong with people?! I mean really. And of course, being the concerned citizen that I am, I called the police. Unfortunately, I'm sure there was no way the cops could find them, but I feel I did my civic duty.

I just don't get it.

On a happier note, my fantasy football team kicked bootie this week.

Keep on Keepin' On

Last weekend, we went down to Eugene for it seems the 80th time this summer. Steve did a bit of work and then we were off to the coast for Buck's wedding at Heceta Lighthouse. It was a perfect day for an outdoor evening wedding at the coast - not too windy, only slightly chilly. In Oregon, you can't ask for much more than that. I admit, I was crabby most of the weekend, but you know, we all have our moments and I can't be bright and bubbly all the time; I just can't.

The day after the wedding, we went back to Eugene where Steve did some more work and on Monday, which was labor day, we went back to Portland in the evening. The next day, Steve had to do the same trip over again - Portland to Eugene to Florence to Newport to Eugene to Portland... all in one day. holy moly. He took Parker with him and at the end of a day in the car, Parker was one unhappy camper, but it made him very happy to see me and to be home.

The work week passed fairly quickly, although both Steve and I started feeling under the weather. I had some depositions this week and as part of my illness, I sneezed during one which caused a bloody nose - that, my friend, may or may not have been the best moment of my life. On Friday, we were both feeling pretty run down so Steve took the day off from work to rest and try to get better. I had too much work to do so I pressed on.

Once again, we came down to Eugene - I'm currently sitting at my in-laws' computer typing this post. Steve is trying to wrap up some projects here and I brought work with me to do over the weekend. I've not been getting as much done as I had hoped, but that's pretty typical for me.

We just found out that we're not going to Africa this winter, afterall... which means we will have 2.5 weeks in Europe. We're not sure how we're going to spend all of that time, so I'm going to start doing some internet searching. Feel free to leave us some suggestions.

Until next time....