Thirty One Cents

Or double that for sixty eight cents. No, my math isn't terrible, I've merely included sales tax on that.

BaskinRobbins ice cream yesterday was wonderful. DD and I stood in line at our local BaskinRobbins for their special 31 cent scoop of ice cream. I don't know the last time I had Baskin Robbins. The last time I had ice cream at all was from my freezer. The last time I was at an ice cream parlor was Cold Stone...3 years ago? They sing in there. The Baskin Robbins was magnifique. Jamocha Almond Fudge, oh yeah.

The Good Run

Every day that I run is a good day. Every run is a good run, for one reason or another (even when I feel like lead, and it's cold and windy and the ground is wet). Today was a good run; it was dry and the wind was calm. I needed some activity. My brain is playing games which is always a good reason to get outside.

On my way back today, during the second half of the run, I looked up to see a far off ridge of trees to the east of me. The ridge was green spires of cedar, firs and maybe some pine...who knows. Beyond the spires of tree tops clouds were building into giant cumulus marshmallows as they butted up against the Cascade Mountains. I am hit with the knowledge that I live in the Northwest. How totally cool to have chosen a home and here I am.

On another level as of late I feel as if I am running toward something; running to meet it. This too is a great feeling.

Living Together

My daughter has moved in, messed up her room just right, and put all her stuff around the bathtub and bathroom sink. She's here. We live toghether now. The energy has changed in the house. I appreciate that she brought some good energy with her. But, I worry.

I worry that I can't provide, that I'll get under her skin, that I'm a hands-off Mom - but that can change on a dime (and good luck seeing that one coming). I did something last night that seems to have gone over rather well. Better than I thought it would.

I'm on a tight budget here until I go back to work (I'm currently between contracts). I had a full tank of gas when the week began (but DD's been driving around the neighborhood), we have videos for our leisure and food in the cupboard. I'm not worried, per se, but I don't want to stress as we get closer to paycheck. Last night Dear Daughter (DD) and I went through the cupboards and freezer. We have over two weeks worth of menuable items. Two weeks worth of food. I stretch the truth just a bit, we will need milk and a brick of cheese to make all this work for a full two weeks. DD came up with more menus than I. She's good at this.

I'm glad DD's had the chance to live on her own. She's had the chance to make a paycheck last. She totally gets it. The thrill is in making everything work on nothing. Two can live cheaper than one - with us two anyway.

Calvin & Hobbes

Bill Watterson has it right.

Calvin walks up to his mom as she is pushing a shovel into the yard. Calvin says, "I don't have anything to do." His mom says, " Well, then, why don't you go clean your room?" Calvin responds, "I was bragging."

Life is good.

On the Radio

There was a stretch of time I purposely did not lilsten to the radio. It's all love songs, when you get right down to it. I had no wish to hear that blather at the time. None of it applied to me anyway, what's the use. Lately, I'm finding these things rather interesting.

John Mayer is wondering if he has to sleep with roses in order to prove his love and Sara Bareilles is not going to write a love song just because someone wants her to. This isn't love...it's a power play. Maybe I should switch to books on tape...Madame Bovary maybe? hahahaha

Okay...maybe it's time I go back to work.

Jammin'

What you see here is a fresh batch of homemade strawberry jam. I've already given some away. I love this time of year. This time of year being berry season. Last year I made one batch of blackberry and I ran out before this new season. I'm getting an early jump this year. Both out of necessity and because the berrys were seriously on sale. Yum.

Morning Voices

It is said that being out of work enhances one's capabilities at blogging. Let's put that to the test.

I know I've talked of morning voices before - maybe it was just last year. Let's say that's a good thing, that it was a year ago, that I'm not obsessed, and that I can remember the last ones. The voices that wake me in the morning, because that's what they do, aren't always nice to me. Sometimes they are a kick in the pants to get up and at something specific to the time. The voices mostly belong to people I know, someone in my life at the time. I don't hear from dead people...although future people have been known to show up, and completely confuse me until I get to know new people.

These aren't just disembodied voices I hear. They are "attached" to individuals. I get the visual of whoever it is as I'm waking. The visual isn't always how they look when I see them later in the day or in the week. They seem to appear to me more as I see them in my heart or in my head than they appear in person. I have my own personal cinema going on here with a strange costuming department.

Today's voice was from someone I've met recently - clean shaven, short hair, fitted clothing - basic Everyman. Except this morning he shows up just as I'm waking looking like a regular Jeremiah Johnson (although not as pretty as Robert Redford), or more like Jeremiah’s buddy (that later in the movie grew all his hair back so if the Indians scalped him he at least had a head of hair to show for it). The vision this morning apologized to me. He simply and completely apoligized to me. I hate to make assumptions on what he was apologizing for. But, I want to know more completely what he meant.

It was the quickest visit I’ve had. The voice and vision faded out faster than usual. I tried to stay asleep to regain any of this. I had questions. But it’s not to be. Even awake here in front of the computer I’m trying to regain some of this.

So, the voices still talk to me. If it’s insight I wish I knew how to use it better. If it's not insight, at least it's mildly entertaining.

Days spent in prayer

Are always good days.

Today a beautiful room was made available to me to send my prayers into the universe. I could describe the cushion of the tatami floors, the graciousness of the aura, the richness of the altar. But, nothing can describe how fulfilling the moment is when the connection is made within me to that which is outside me.

My work contract has ended as of last Friday. New adventures are on their way.

I didn't know

I've been working on this project for the last four working days. The object of the game is to have no paperwork when one is all done. Today I found out that this is potentially a four step process. It is possible to go through the entire binder and just pull out the live paperwork - throw out the rest. Next, go through the live paperwork and find appropriate ages - throw out the rest. Then one should go through the live, appropriate aged paperwork and find current records (or other signs of life) and throw out the rest. Finally, with the paperwork still available, scan and throw it out. I found out this process can take up to four days per binder.

I've been reviewing the information in front of me, tossing or scanning and tossing then moving on. I've been doing a binder a day.

I don't know that I'll ever get the hang of this place.

Washington Speak

"Rain changing over to showers by afternoon."

I just find this interesting...

FourSquareDay - Holiday for Social Media?

http://blog.4sqday.com/2010/04/one-man-an-idea…-and-the-entire-internet/

I get the 4/16 thing with today's date. It's the "Holiday for Social Media" that has me scrunching my eyebrows in confusion. Did I need a "Holiday"? Only if it's a paid holiday.

I'll be looking into this further today. Any thoughts? My brain seems to be missing an element to make this an event for me. Maybe "holiday" has connotations of Thanksgiving or Independence Day - not people bent over their cell phone/blackberries. I'm working on this.

As far as social media...this space station astronaut is twittering from space - totally cool - for twitter add @Astro_Soichi.

She's Here!

My girl is here. She's happy. And so am I.

Interior Design or...

Interior Design or What I did this weekend.

And here for viewing my before pictures and after pictures. I had thought the room was clean when I started. But picture clean and live-in-it clean are two completely different types of clean. This was not a weekend of "clean" meaning "hide", which usually works. This was a weekend of cleaning as in toss it out(old) to make room for stuff to come out of the box(new). empty boxes and all my notes on life (which have been known to take up the entire room)

more empty boxes - they've been offered up on Freecycle. Hey, they're good boxes.

Has been reconfigured into...a bedroom worthy of calling "Home".

Note: Wicked witch's ruby slippers - She's gone. This just isn't Kansas. Time to start over in living color.

New Chapter

While the back story of Marathon Madness continues, I will be adding a character layer for my daughter moving to Washington state. She will be arriving on Tuesday. She too is making a leap and kick-starting life. I don't know how much stuff she gave away or sold, I just know she is moving out here too.

This weekend I have put aside the time to make her room welcoming. I have picked up a bedside table for her. I have a chest of drawers (on loan) and a blow-up bed (on loan as well). I started cleaning out the closet last weekend. I still have work to do there to finish emptying that closet. I would just like for her to have a room to call her own. Yet, (there's always a 'yet') I'm leaving the Thanksgiving/Christmas decorations in the closet. I think she'll get over it.

Some things coming out of her room will be moved into the living room, my room has the chest of drawers that needs to be moved, and the living room needs some rearranging to make everything fit against walls so I don't have to climb over furntiure to get to the kitchen - always a chore that way. I've invited a friend to bring her strong arms over to help wrestle furniture. If she doesn't respond by tonight I'm calling in my reserves (also known as new friends).

It's a new chapter for me, for my daughter...life never really slows down, now does it?

Pleading is cheaper

I cajoled my apartment manager into resetting his wireless service - I have service again. The problem was not my computer. This is good cheap news. I hate doing it, but it's cheaper to plead than to purchase. (in some ways)

Tradition

I know it's supposed to be Monday with all the requisite whining about work and traffic and such. Sorry to disappoint you. I'm feeling pretty refreshed these days, today included. I am still internet access-less at home. I will have this rectified by Thursday or Friday at the latest. At that point I can again add photos to my posting. These "No photo" entries drive me a little nuts. I love the visuals.

This may be slowing me down...or (almost better) it is giving me time to read. I've been reading things like books and newspapers and I've even been doing these amazing feats sitting in a living room comfy chair in the afternoon; as opposed to propped up in bed half an hour before lights out. I got a batch of cookies made yesterday morning - and promptly left them all with my friends and family up in the mountains. They are very very lucky, and now I have to bake a whole new batch for me. (oh yeah, oh darn)

It's a good thing I'm running these days. I say that for all the cookies I've been ingesting. Running has been good. We ran as a team on Saturday - as scheduled. The slow team (over twelve minutes for a mile - that's me) is scheduled to run 160 minutes. I admit it. I cheated. I ran (or walked really really fast, by my standards) for 120 minutes. I'll get the other 40 minutes on there soon.

I found it synchronistic that last year on Easter Saturday (my first year in Seattle) I visited West Seattle and Alki Beach for the first time. It was during that visit that I found rosemary and sage are used as ornamental bushes - and how cool is that! This year on East Saturday, as scheduled, I ran from Lincoln Park north to Alki Beach, and the rosemary and sage are just every where. Without trying it appears Alki has become my personal Easter Saturday tradition. I can live with this. I'd be happy to live with this. Traditions.

Measure Twice

Measure twice, cut once. I spoke with the craigslist poster about the AirPort wireless router for my iMac. He suggested that my iMac probably uses the AirPort Extreme. I drove home yesterday instead of over to his house and double checked my computer. Yep, iMac G5's use AirPort Extreme. I saved myself the trouble and the gas of going into two separate rush-hour traffic routes. Here's a big thank you to this fella for knowing his stuff, and a big sigh on my part that I recognize it is always worth looking one more time before making a leap.

Funny, I'm happy for all the things I didn't do. I didn't do the extra driving. I didn't spend $30 for something that isn't going to work. I didn't open the back of my computer before it's necessary. I didn't try to replace something that might not have even fit, never mind not work. I'm not shuffling this card around on desks then tables and into closets in my house (where it would stay busy collecting dust and weighing down my house).

I am still without internet service at home. I did find an additional window/diagnostics area that let me know my computer is "reading" my wireless card. If I could just get in touch with the apartment manager and have him "reset" just to be sure it is not at that end. In essence I would like to measure three times. It costs nothing to measure.