Stench

I am just warning you all that this story is a rather disgusting one, so read on at your own risk. I need to post it to get it out of my head. I am currently working on painting the kitchen cabinets for a short term fix on a much bigger project that we will be dealing with at a later date. The other night I was cleaning out the cupboards and moving some things onto shelves, and put some boxes on one of the top shelves in the kitchen. As I am going about my business I notice that the stench I caught wind of every now and then (and thought was something in the freezer) was much more pungent. The kitchen isn't that big so it didn't take long to locate the general area emanating something putrid. As I got on the step ladder to peer into the upper cabinet I see a pool of blackish liquid that has dripped down from the shelf above where I had placed the boxes. I muster all available courage to take the boxes (without looking up there) off the shelf. Dark liquid is beyond smelly and all over the bottom of the box. I decide I must take a look. As I peek up over the shelf I see a brownish, hairy mass and practically fall off the ladder.

As I contemplate shrieking at the top of my lungs, I think of the LG quietly sleeping in the next room, and the BK who would have already been shrieking at this point, and decide that someone has to be the adult. I collect myself for one more peek and step slowly up the ladder. There, lying on the top shelf is the smelliest rotten potato (with roots growing suspiciously like hair) I have ever seen or whiffed. The aroma almost nearly made me pass out on the way to the trash can. On the bright side, this story doesn't end with me shrieking, waking the LG, calling exterminators, and putting the house on the market the very next day. Below is a pic of the kitchen with after shots to hopefully follow next week. And yes, I will post pictures of the interior one of these days.

Welcome to the Jungle

We bought a house. Enough explanation as to why I haven't had time for anything else. I should mention that it is located on a corner, in the city of Portland (as opposed to out in the burbs somewhere), and it is in a jungle. One of the neighbors told us they think the reason the house was priced so well was because of all the overgrown shrubbery that had taken over. When we first looked at the backyard, we couldn't see the sky through the trees. Too bad I didn't take pictures of that. The house is an old bungalow circa 1920s which is in pretty good shape on the inside. Now that we are done painting and putting in new carpet in the upstairs and basement, I have a bit of time to breathe before packing and moving. Below are some before and after shots of Saturday in the yard. Poor BK out there with a chainsaw all day. I wish I had a picture of him cutting down one of the bushes. It looked like he was playing twister and that his left leg was going to lose to the chainsaw. Luckily the only mishaps included a run in with a power line by the driver of the truck dropping off our yellow bin, and them later calling the BK in the middle of the workday to say that all the refuse had to be at "bin level". That might have been nice to know beforehand. BK had to come home from work to stomp on the bushes that were poking out. Nice.

FRONT YARD BEFORE - Notice the big tall trees next to the house blocking all sunlight.

Notice big yellow bin awaiting its lunch.

Notice the house (if you can) and the bushes already poking out of the bin.

Ah, no more big, ugly trees. Notice ugly bushes lined neatly in a row.

Bye, bye bushes. So nice to see you little house. Now on to dressing you properly. That should only take all summer, probably fall, and next summer. Sometimes being naked is SO much better than being dressed.

Mountain Men

Yup, I've got me on of 'em. This past weekend, the BK scaled Mt. Hood. They left at 1am so that the snow would be nice and cold - less risk of avalanche - and made it back down by around 10am. This is his 4th or 5th such adventure. I think he has dreams of climbing Everest. Admirable and insane. I'm just glad that for now he is sticking with more "local" climbs. He did sweetly tell me that he thought Mt. Hood was a climb I could do. I thanked him, but added that if I liked being cold and wet, I would have spent more time skiing. You should see his poor, cracked, bleeding hands. Anyway, the pictures are amazing, so enjoy.

Grand Parentals

Now that I have a child, the only real vacation I have had (other than a weekend getaway to NYC and a soon to be trip to DC that don't include the LG) are those that involve grandparents who are happy to play, eat, walk, bathe, and otherwise entertain the LG. We had a great and busy time in Logan. Grandma and Grandpa were busy preparing to leave on a mission, and my niece was married. The BK was even able to come out over the long weekend, although I am not sure he liked his return trip much which involved driving the beat up Pathfinder back to Oregon. To say the Pathfinder is old and temperamental doesn't quite do it justice. Any of you who know my dad, however, and his previous choice in vehicles should have a pretty clear idea.

Some of the highlights from our trip include the LG spending a lot of quality time with his grandparents:


Lots of posing for pictures in Grandma's living room. My mom LOVES to pose for pictures. Hence, you can track our family history as we age in photos from the EXACT same spot in the house. The chair pose or the piano pose. Here is one of each for your enjoyment:



The LG also enjoyed teaching a few tricks to grandma and his cousins. The first picture is of him teaching Grandma to ride the tricycle. He was very adamant that she sit on it as he pointed his finger at her and yelled things that only a toddler can understand. The second is of the cousins "listening for earthquakes". This all started when the LG kept laying down on the sidewalk and his older cousin decided that the only reasonable explanation for that type of behavior was that he was listening for earthquakes. If you look closely you will see his other cousin holding out his ears to improve the audio. You might be startled to learn that they heard one.



Finally, the LG had many opportunities to practice his newest face - the Stinkeye. This photo hardly expresses the squinchiness of his eyebrows and the anger in his face when he does it, but it gives you a good idea. Luckily it is almost always followed by a lot of giggling.

A Little R&R

We all just returned from a marvelous break to Arizona to meet up with friends, see some family, and do a whole lot of nothing. You know a vacation is good when it feels like you were gone 2 weeks, even though you were only gone 5 days. We were in Sedona, which was amazing, scenic, relaxing and the weather was fabulous and dry! We also didn't realize until we got there that we had almost forgotten what a blue sky and bright sun actually feel like. It was so nice to get away, and a much needed vacation. We are all feeling 100% better.

The BK took the LG on a little hike. I say little because the LG ran his poor little face into the ground not long after the hike began, quickly calling the "hike to a halt. A few before and after pictures:



The LG also got to rekindle his flame with his BFF. It was so great to see some of our best friends from DC and hang out like we used to.


As you will see above, I had a debacle with my contact lenses the morning we were leaving, so I was disappointed to have to wear my glasses the whole time, particularly since I was hoping to get a nice pair of shades, but it seems useless until I get my eyeballs fixed. I also got a massage, a nice reward for Mother's Day. Count your blessings that I am not posting photos of that. Another highlight, was that they were all out of compact cars at the rental place, so we got a free upgrade. We chose the Nissan Murano, which I was quite happy with. Gotta love a freebie. Speaking of car rentals, as we were waiting in line, the woman in front of us looks at the LG and says, "Oh, he's so cute. I just drove past an accident where a little boy about his age was thrown out the windshield." EXCUSE ME? ARE YOU KIDDING? Who says that? I didn't ask if the kid was in a car seat, but after recovering from her complete lack of tact, it made for good consolation that we do use a car seat, and that neither the BK or myself would EVER make such a ridiculous statement.


Finally, we drove to Tucson to visit the BK's 98 year old grandmother, and to visit other family. Always a pleasure to hang out with people who have to love you, or at least pretend like they do! Here's a pic of the view from grammy's back porch. Amazing. We're off to Utah Wednesday for more R&R which we can't seem to get enough of, and to see Gma and Gpa before they ship out on their mission to New Hampshire.

Saying Goodbye

Part of the drawback to blogging is that once information is out there, it is out there. The BK and I were so excited to announce our news about #2, after what we thought was a reasonable confirmation from my doctor. A few misunderstandings, and one very rough week later, we are heartbroken to announce that this is not a pregnancy that was meant to be.

Typically, this is just the type of event in my life that I prefer to keep to myself. I have learned many things, however, through this experience that have made me extremely grateful that I was forced to share it with quite a few people. I have learned that many of my friends and family have also experienced similar or much more difficult losses. I have been reminded that people are kind and compassionate and willing to do just about anything in their power to make me and the BK feel better. I have learned that women, including myself, often bear unbearable things with courage and resolve and faith. Thank you to all of you who have already shared your own stories with me. It does help, not with grieving the loss, but with the other grief which creeps in when thinking that there is something wrong with me. It helps to understand that this is a fairly normal, but very difficult part of building a family.

More than anything, it has made me more grateful for every moment with the LG. What a blessing it is to have even one beautiful child to keep us laughing, working, and getting out of bed even when we don't want to. The day I found out, the BK came home to take care of us, and I decided that what I needed was a very long nap. As the BK was dressing the LG to take him to the park, the LG escaped to run in and give me a very soft and sweet kiss (a virtual unknown for me previous to this time), he then turned and ran to the door only to turn right back around and give me one more.

What a beautiful life this is. Hard, but beautiful. It is quite something to feel the love of so many people. I am always amazed, particularly by women, and their ability to comfort, serve and bounce back. A special thanks to the BK who is my rock, and who makes life better always, particularly when things get messy.

DMV

Yesterday, the BK, LG and I, all decided to take a trip to the DMV to get Oregon Driver's licenses. Risky? Definitely, but we left early enough and figured we would leave if the lines were too hairy and brought lots of food to keep the LG quiet. We are both required to take a "knowledge test" before we can get the licenses, and due to my laziness over the years, I have 3 different names listed on my passport, SS card, and Driver's license. It's complicated, and the line turned out to be the least of our worries. We laughed our way through the line by reading the "study" manual, from which I have taken a few of the following excerpts:

1 - Drinking Myth #1 - "I drive better after a few drinks." Okay, come on, is this really even a myth, would anyone who is sober really give this as an argument?

3 - Drinking Myth #2 - "I don't mind riding with Joe after he's been drinking. He can really hold his liquor". If you ask me, you should send this guy home with Joe and just hope that they only remove themselves from the gene pool.

3 - "The importance of vision to driving is obvious." Apparently not so obvious that they couldn't leave this out.

4 - Hood Flies Up - Brake smoothly ease onto the shoulder, and stop. Thanks.

5 - "Although drivers must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, pedestrians must not suddenly leave a curb or other safe waiting place and walk into the path of a vehicle....Vehicles cannot stop instantly."

6 - "You may pass on the right only when there is room ahead on the road." You mean to tell me that if there is a semitrailer in the right lane, I can't drive underneath. Come on. That totally has to be legal.

You might be thinking that this is a knowledge test for dummies, which, it may be, but I should also share at this point that the BK failed the test and he is no dummy. I, was unable to take the test at all (thus spared the humiliation that would likely have ensued), as (surprise, surprise) I hadn't brought along enough verification to prove that my hodgepodge of alternate identities were actually me.

So, let's be honest, how many of you drivers out there would answer the following correctly:

1 - When stopped at a red light on a two-lane road, it is legal to: A) turn right after coming to a complete stop; B) turn left onto a one-way road after coming to a complete stop; C) Proceed through the intersection after coming to a complete stop and checking for traffic; D) A & B; or E) All of the above. The answer is D. Yes, in Oregon, it is apparently legal to make a left turn onto a one way street, even through oncoming traffic.

2 - A Class C driver's license allows you to drive the following vehicles in the State of Oregon: A) Passenger vehicles including cars, trucks and recreational vehicles for personal use; B) Passenger vehicles, recreational vehicles and fire or emergency vehicles; C) Passenger vehicles and motorcycles; D) School buses. The answer is B. I've always wanted to drive a fire truck. Here's my chance.

I don't want to get into the rest (since there are probably quite a few others), but it was humbling, and sort of amusing that after being there for an hour (not bad), all we (two grown adults with Master's degrees) walked out of there with was a lighter wallet ($5 for the BK to take the test). I guess we are just lucky they didn't revoke our Virginia licenses on the spot and call us a cab.