~~ Bibliophile ~~

In Which Our Heroine Gets Her Happily Ever After (But It's Only The Beginning!)

lightningflash — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 22:56:36 GMT

So, as I'm sure pretty much all of you have seen by now - 2016 is going to be a VERY intense year in Ashleyland! Let's recap for posterity, in reverse chronological order:

* Wedding Bells!

We have finally, officially set our wedding date - September 3, 2016. It should still be beautiful weather over in Wenatchee. Hopefully no wildfires! When we did our site visits in August, the Chelan fires had been going strong for over a week, and our ceremony venue is in an Alpine garden up on a cliff, and it was SO smokey! The people there said they'd had 2 weddings scheduled for the weekend, but they'd cancelled on account of the smoke. Our reception venue can possibly be a backup indoor venue, but we'll be pushing it (the max capacity is 50 people, and we're looking at 60-70. Our ceremony reception max is 85, and David would like to keep it smaller than that, ha).

The ceremony will be at Ohme Gardens (pronounced like "OH me"). It's one of the prettiest places in Wenatchee, and has some gorgeous views of the entire valley, the Columbia River, and it's got a rather interesting history. To wit:

In 1929 Herman Ohme purchased 40 acres of land for an orchard. Included was a craggy, dry, desolate, rock-strewn bluff with a breathtaking view of the snow-capped Cascade Mountains and the shimmering Columbia River valley. Herman and his new bride, Ruth, loved to stand on the bluff and dream of flourishing alpine meadows, shimmering pools and shady evergreen pathways where the hot, relentless summer sun allowed only sage and scrub desert growth. They set their minds on achieving that dream.

Small evergreens were transplanted from the nearby Cascade Mountains, native stone was hauled to form paths and borders, desert sage gave way to low-growing ground cover, and pools took shape adjacent to massive natural rock formations. It was hard work, done mostly by hand, and truly a labor of love. In the beginning, sustaining the Gardens meant hauling water in five gallon buckets from the river valley below, but eventually the Ohmes constructed an elaborate irrigation system that pumped water to the site.

Initially intended as a private family retreat, the interest of friends and community members prompted the Ohmes to open the Gardens to the public. The Ohmes continued to perfect the Gardens for 42 years, until 1971 when Herman died at the age of 80. The couple's son Gordon and his family then assumed responsibility for the Gardens, and in 1991 Washington State Parks and Recreation purchased the Gardens and surrounding property. The Gardens are currently owned and managed by Chelan County.

It's really convenient in a lot of ways - there's a waterfall that will be behind us as we say our vows, tall evergreens, lots of wildflowers, a little open cabin thing where we'll probably have some light snacks and water for people. Our guests will be able to get into the gardens for free, and tour before or after the ceremony. Because it's so full of natural beauty we won't need to decorate hardly at all, unless it's to do a bit on an archway they may set up for the bridal party to walk through. Saving on time AND decor costs! They do all the setup of the chairs (nice ones, plastic but with arms! No folding chairs!) and take down as well.

Our reception venue is - incidentally, the same place my sister had hers - at The Wells House, which is a very hidden little gem of a Tudor Gothic style house about 5 minutes from my parents house. It too has a bit of history:

The old mansion was deeded to the Wells House Committee in the mid-1970s when the state fire marshal ruled that it was unsafe for classrooms and the college determined that repairs were too costly.

Wells House was built in 1909 by pioneer promoter W. T. Clark and became known as “Clark’s Cobblestone Castle." Mrs. Clark designed the house, including the leaded, stained-glass apple windows and the thick walls of hand-hewn stone from the Columbia River.

In 1919 A.Z. Wells purchased the house and resided there with his wife, Imogene, until 1949, when they agreed to deed their estate for the Wenatchee Junior College campus. In 1973 the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since then, community volunteers have spent thousands of hours repairing and maintaining the building.

The college, the Wells House Committe, and the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center are exploring options for Wells House with the goal of preserving the house for future generations.

It's going to be a fairly casual reception - not a sit-down, catered meal, but a British, high tea inspired style with lots of finger foods, several varieties of sandwiches, and one entire room dedicated to sweets - the cake(s) that David's mom will make, scones with jam and clotted cream, and about five varieties of our favorite British cookies (ahem, "biscuits," haha). It will also be a DRY reception, which we've had to tell my mother twice, since she was pretty sauced the first time we told her.

Speaking of mom, we've already come to battle over the wedding a couple of times with her. She's incredibly enthusiastic, and wants to be helpful, but she wants things done in a Certain Traditional WASP-y Way, and we are just not doing a lot of them - either they aren't who we are as a couple, we can't afford it, or it's just not something we've thought about because the event is a YEAR AWAY. The woman practically had the vapors when I told her we probably wouldn't be renting linen napkins, as we are just fine with nice paper ones. She was simply appalled, and seriously, I don't think people will care what they are wiping their face with - and if they really do care that much, they can bring their own linen napkin and shove it where the sun don't shine, lol! She nearly came to tears when she asked about transportation, and David said that other than a surprise he's working on for me and 3-4 others in the wedding party, we figured most people including the wedding party (who are ALL coming from out-of-town) would just drive, as the venues are about 8 minutes apart and nobody would likely be offended. It was an absolute travesty to her senses, and she got all butthurt and made it about her, and marched off to bed that night in high dudgeon. OH BOY I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT YEAR OF THIS YAAAAY.

I called my sister the day after that whole thing went down, and she started laughing, and said "yup, it's Donna Drama!" Even I knew it was to be expected, and it's probably not the last time, but it was nice to commiserate with my sister on that score.

But in the end, it will all be fine. My priorities for the day are as follows:

- Firstly, show up to lovely venues, with David. Get legally wed.
- Secondly, to have as many of our closest friends and family there. I would like them to have a good time and eat some tasty food. I'd like us to look nice and reasonably put-together. And that we don't go into debt for this ONE DAY in our lives.
- Thirdly, everything else - napkins and all! - is tertiary to all of that above.

* Baby Gianninotti!

Now, we may seem totally crazy (AHEM, WE REALLY ARE), but David and I have been feeling very ready for a baby. You might remember me posting something about this earlier this year (January, I think?), and we decided to start trying this summer. We had a lot of reasons for trying to time it - and of course, knowing full well you can't always control these things! - especially since we were also setting the wedding date. I was very clear that I wanted to be well past giving birth, so it had to be at least 3 or more months after a baby, so with a September wedding that put me with an April, May or June due date. David wanted a summer (or at least late spring) baby, and we wanted to try to make it convenient for his parents. It's not cheap to fly across the pond all the time, and we either needed to have a baby and a wedding in the same year (crazy...) or delay one of them until 2018, which is when his parents would next be able to afford the trip. We REALLY (and I cannot stress this enough) did not want to wait on either a baby OR a wedding, so we decided to try in July, August and September of this year. In the event I had difficulty conceiving, we would have waited until next year to start trying again as I refused to be ready to drop that calf in the aisle, haha. So it was kind of a now or much, much later kind of choice.

I know it sounds crazy, and it kind of is. It's going to make an already intense year even MORE intense. David is hoping that all the stress factors will just fritz out my brain's stress centers, like an overload on my circuits. He's... probably not wrong, you guys. But financially, we were in a pretty good place, decent employments, a solid place in our relationship, in the right house - all the boxes we wanted to check in order to be as prepared as you can for something you're ultimately totally unprepared for, were checked.

So it took us exactly one try, because my family is fertile LIKE WHOA. The baby is due in April, and so far everything is going normal. My first appointment is next Monday, the 21st, and I'm hoping for an ultrasound and not just a dopplar. I'll be at 10 weeks, which is the earliest they wanted to see me. Mostly, I just feel like complete misery round the clock. This nausea is no joke! I can only hope it's a first trimester thing only, and it won't last the whole nine months. On a scale of 1 (am I pregnant?) to 10 (miserable vomitous mass), I'm generally running around an 8 or higher.

THIS MAY BE AN ONLY CHILD, GUYS. ;P LOL JK. Maybe.

Anymoodle, we've started getting the baby's room looking more like a room and less like "oh, look at all the crap we threw in here after the move!" Lots and lots of purging, properly organizing, storing in the back room of the garage like adults. We'll probably do a lot more once we find out the sex, as we'll skew it slightly one way or the other. Base colors for both are blues and greens, and a girl will have some lavender. I have LOTS of thoughts for a nursery decor, some gender-neutral. All of this is terribly shocking, I know. ;P

I told David about the baby with a scavenger hunt that led him all around the house (mirror to cat dish, to computer, to dog kennel, to his car, to the firepit) and ending in the baby's room with a gift-wrapped home pregnancy test waiting in the cradle my dad made for me when I was born. He was TOTALLY shocked and delighted - he grabbed me and cried and then had to sit down because he was feeling faint! It was the best surprise everrrrr. I've never really been able to surprise him with anything before, and may never again, but if I was going to do it once, this was the time. It was perfect!

Okay, this nausea can stop now! PLSKTHX.

* Holiday Across The Pond!

Less to say on this topic at the moment, but we will be in England for the winter holidays - Christmas, New Year's AND my 33rd birthday! It's going to be an awesome start to the year. I'll be travelling towards the end of the second trimester, so hopefully I will be past the first tri yuckiness and not quite into the third tri "beached whale" feeling. MY GOD, I HOPE IT WORKS OUT LIKE THAT, haha.

David's family does an amazing Christmas dinner (there's 2 rounds of desserts!) and I get to eat for two by then. Yayayayayay! If I get to have all my wishes, it will also snow and we will get to have that idyllic English countryside Christmas like a freaking Culver & Ives painting. Hey, I've gotten all my other wishes this year... ;)

It will also be a rare chance to spend New Year's and my birthday over there. I really do enjoy David's family (his mom is the polar opposite of mine when it comes to stress!), and it should be good. We also don't have a 9 hour layover in Reykjavik this time, so that will be nice. Cross all fingers for no weather-delayed travel!

We are trying to figure out what to do with the pet(s) as usual. The dog will likely go stay at my parent's house for a month - we asked them about coming over the weekend we fly out, and taking the Bear back with them to Wenatchee, and then we'll come visit after we get home and bring him back with us. The cat, though, is going to be far more difficult. David really doesn't want to board her for 3 weeks - it would be CRAZY expensive ($28/night), and she'd have no access to the outdoors which she really loves. Ideally, someone could come stay at the house, and we'd pay for that. Let me know if someone has family coming to town for a long holiday and would want to avoid a hotel fee! :D

Now, to start on all the Christmas gifts... 100 days to go!

* Kitchen / Bathroom Remodel!

We had started talking about doing a kitchen remodel this fall. It was really the only major upgrade the house needed (now that we've done electrical, security, the back fence, etc.), and aside from a re-roofing due in about 5 years seemed financially feasible. We started talking to contractors and getting some ideas about what to change.

Well a couple of weeks later, we noticed a really, really bad smell. Seemed to be coming from the garbage disposal, but you could smell it from the bathroom sink / tub that's on the other side of the wall from the kitchen (they share a wet wall). We tried running baking soda and vinegar to do a natural cleaning, as we didn't want to damage the pipes. We knew they were old, galvanized pipes that would have to be replaced, but it turns out that our worries were far, far too late.

We had a plumber out to check the garbage disposal, in case it was warranty to what we had put in last December. Nope, not the disposal! He checked the crawlspace, and sure enough there was a decently large puddle coming from he determined to be a broken drain line. So all the water from the sink was just dripping down in there, and any food gone down the disposal had just sort of caught on the broken part and was stagnating. Hence the REALLY foul smell! We had a restoration man out within the hour, and he confirmed that it was going to be a major issue, and incidentally, we were going to get a kitchen remodel out of it! Assuming it was covered by our homeowner's insurance (SPOILER ALERT: it was).

Because the subfloor was soaked, they'd have to pull all the cabinets and open up the wall to get everything dried out. Once the cabinets go, they can't just be replaced willy-nilly, they have to be all redone, AND the upper cabinets, which weren't technically an issue, have to be pulled out and redone as well because it needs to match. Because they had to tear up the parquet floor, which covers the kitchen AND the dining room, the flooring also all has to be replaced. Then, once they opened up the wall, the damage was more extensive than they thought, so they also had to come through the bathroom wall, which was pretty much all tile, and now we get a bathroom remodel out of the mess, too!

The rest of this year (travel, baby, wedding) looks easy by comparison!

So in some ways, we're very lucky. And I'd have been PISSED if we'd done the remodel now, and the leak popped up in a year. The restoration guy said he'd never seen two people so delighted to hear their kitchen was going to be ripped apart, since most are happy with their current kitchen. But it's a huge, huge amount of hassle. Whereas a planned remodel was going to take about a week for demo and installation (it's construction, so add in a week or two extra, ha), and we wouldn't have started until the cabinets and countertops were ordered and ready on hand, this restoration had to start immediately. The first few days, with the heaters / fans going was fucking miserable. All four of us, dog and cat included, absolutely hated it. I'm not feeling great now (thanks, first trimester!), so I was extra crabby and David was even worse. But it was only for 3-4 days, yay. While there's work to be done in the interim, we are without a kitchen for 4-6 weeks:

- week 1: demo and water remediation
- week 2: finalizing remodel plans and orders
- week 3: plumbing repairs
- week 4: walls reframed and drywalled, taped, mudded, painted, etc.
- week 5: hopefully cabinet installation?! Plus appliances, etc.
- week 6: countertop installation (if not done the previous week)

It means a LOT of eating out, because we had virtually no time to plan food prep. I'd originally thought to do a bunch of soups and freeze them, and some crockpot meal prep in gallon bags and freeze them, but there simply wasn't much time since we threw a housewarming party in the middle of it all. With my stomach so queasy, all of this eating out is getting really hard to handle, and it's getting kind of sickening, to be honest. I miss making a simpler meal at home and leaving restaurants for a special night out. Fortunately, this is ALSO covered by insurance for anything above what we would have normally spent on food per week.

And when it's all done, it will be a gorgeous, bigger kitchen with smarter appliances, a fancy induction cooktop, quartz countertops, pendant lights, the works. And other than a roof replacement in about 5 years, it's the last major thing to do to the house, and we'll have it done well before having the baby or trying to finagle the wedding, so that will be a huge relief. Just gotta get through the next month!

Okay, so that is a LOT of updating. WALL OF TEXT, yo.

In which our heroine takes part in a very silly and very fun Thrift Shop challenge!

lightningflash — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:15:11 GMT

I'm going to take a break from posting about sad, tension-filled thoughts in my head, and totally dork out for a few minutes. Enjoy!

Some of you might know that I'm a HUGE fan of the DIY-home-design blog, Young House Love. And I read it religiously. Every. Day. I think the whole family is totally squee-dorable, and I'm SO BUMMED that I missed their visit to Tacoma last week (I had to work - I could have taken the day off without pay, but it was already a short week for me with non-paid-time-off on MLK Day). But they are charming, lovely people from my interactions with them, and I'm actually making them some little pressies as a thank-you for general awesomesauce.

So they issued this hilarious, unofficial, scavenger-hunt challenge based on Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" rap song. And coincidentally, I had been putting off a trip to Goodwill to drop off some donations, AND I actually had cash on hand (seriously, so tight these days this never happens), so this was perfectly timed for me to take part. Woohoo! I'm a dork. :D

Challenge Accepted!

So the challenge has three parts (if you didn't click over to the link): Limit yourself to $20, buy what you want with that $20, and take a picture involving something from the song lyrics. I haven't posted pictures in AAAAAGES, so I've got to remember how to do all this, haha.

Part the First: Go to a thrift shop with – just as the chorus of the song says – “$20 in your pocket” and take a picture.
I’m gonna pop some tags, only got twenty dollars in my pocket
I’m, I’m, I’m hunting, looking for a come up, this is fucking awesome

why helloooooo there, Mister Jackson. Don't see enough of you around these parts!

Part the Second: Spend that $20 any way you’d like and photograph your spoils.
I bought some shit from the thrift shop
Ice on the fringe is so damn frosty
The people like “Damn, that’s a cold ass honky”

clockwise from left to right.
$3.99 ceramic planter to re-pot my jade plant (which is thriving, but could use some extra room to grow and has been in the original ugly plastic container for several years).
$3.99 burgundy poppy art print for the bedroom (if I don't get some stuff on those walls soon, I'mma cut. a. bitch.).
$1.99 black napkin holder (that I am trying out as a coaster-holder for my DIY'd ceramic-tile-&-scrapbook-paper coasters I recently made, as seen here).
$1.99 Belleek vase (a future Mother's Day or birthday gift for my mama, who collects the Irish china Belleek pieces in the Shamrock pattern - based on similar items, this would retail at full price for about $35-40, and it is authentic! SCORE!!!).
$1.99 scrapbooky-style Travel photo frame (to hold a pic I snapped of David & I on the plane en route to Iceland/England).
$3.99 set of glass coasters with holder (for a future DIY scrapbook coaster project).
Total spent (before WA State Sales Tax) = $17.94, yo! That's some cold-ass honky right there.

Part the Third: Find one item (or more) referenced in the song and snap a pic.

Hello, hello, my ace man, my mellow
John Wayne ain’t got nothing on my fringe game, hell no
The Duke and I are old friends. ~~McCLINTOCK!~~ Remember the Alamo!

Although I wasn't quite sure if a John Wayne mention in the song would be worthy of a John Wayne photo (he's not exactly an item to buy...), I got this one, too.
Buy it, coppin' it, washin' it, ‘bout to go and get some compliments
Passing up on those moccasins someone else has been walking in
Not gonna lie, folks - I totally wanted to wash my hands after these.

I'm not sure if I'll keep the black napkin-holder-turned-coaster-holder (it's not fitting what I need it to particularly well). I am SO STOKED about the Belleek vase, it's a freakin' steal. Right up there with getting a Louis Vuitton purse for $15 (normally $565) a few years ago.

And then just for my own fun, I took pictures of the three worst things I found while I was browsing for all of that other stuff, but didn't apply to the challenge. Seriously, there is just no accounting for taste! I tried to get three different types of items - a decor, a knick-knack, and a clothing item.

This is a painting of I-don't-even-know-what-the-hell-here, people. Robots? Aliens? Both?

Please tell me this was somebody's cake topper circa 1984. GHASTLY!

Hi, we are the store's ugliest effing shoes!

So I'll be posting this over on the "results" page for the challenge here. Next up, I'm going to try to post pictures from January - I'm attempting the Project 365 again, to document my 30th year, so you might see them here and on FaceBook (I'll put them behind a cut here, promise). Enjoy, and have a good weekend, my darlings! I think David and I will be hanging out at home, doing domestic stuff.

I wear your granddad's clothes, I look incredible
I’m in this big ass coat from that thrift shop down the road...

In which our heroine muses pensively and posts about posting in a really meta way.

lightningflash — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 23:02:32 GMT

Good freaking lord. I have things to say, and this place to do it, and I just don't as often for some reason. I blame time constraints and the internet (easily distracted...damn you, cracked.com!). How IS it that as I've gotten older there are seemingly less hours in the day? Although I guess when you factor in an 8-hour workday, plus a 1-hour lunch (9 total), plus 2 hours in commute - 1 each way (11 total), an hour to get ready (12 total), roughly 7 hours of sleep (19 total) that only leaves 5 hours left to keep the house clean, feed myself and possibly the boyfriend, run errands, craft/knit anything, and actually relax... well, there you go. Once upon a time I had a couple of hours of class in the day and that was pretty much it. Minimal cleaning, few obligations to anyone else, almost no time commuting, hardly even cooking. Oh, college. Sometimes I miss thee!

Anyway, part of ^that ramble is that this past Saturday was my 10-year LJ-versary! I will probably go back and post-date a reflection over the past 10 years. I know my LJ has changed a lot in terms of content. My early days were mostly consisting of quiz results ("Which Alternative Care Bear Are You?") and vague ramblings about college. I started to focus more when I was actually documenting stuff like funny out-of-context professor quotes, and tracking my actual thoughts and life more. A lot of private posts in regards to heartbreak(s), and random bits of life after college as a fledgling adult. I still find writing in LJ very therapeutic, especially as a retrospective on certain events and eras in my life. I definitely can tell I've evolved as a person, and hopefully for the better. The very dear friends I've made on here (Nicole Hammond being on of my first LJ-friends, but not actually meeting any of you until I started dating [meeting via FB, ironically] her coworker Mike Parker) have been life-changing. Mike Fleming and Mardi, Jess and Georgia, Christina and Zach & Co., Lori and Kyle, Jason and Chris Nelson and Mellzah - I tell you what, I look forward to every post by you guys, because we don't get to see each other that often and I think this helps fill in those gaps. I always feel like, when I do see all y'all, it's almost like no time has passed because we know what's going on in our lives and we can just keep the convo rolling IRL instead of URL.

Okay, that wasn't meant to be so long. I mean, that's about a quarter of what I wanted to say in my 10-year Retrospective Post! Guess I'll save the rest of it for that post :P

Things I DO want to post about rather soon-ish:
Relationships - Happiness at Last; Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Brit :D
Politics - Vote for Gays & Vaginas!; Or, Why I Fucking Hate Ultra-Conservative White Republican Males
Car Accidents - Yay for Volkswagon Engineering; Or, Why Do Civilians Need To Drive A Military-Grade Tank On Our City Streets and Ram It Up My Ass?
House - Coming Home to the Pretty; Or, Why Does It Take Over A Year To Make And Hang Curtains?
Pictures - Pictures from Ashleyland; Or, I Have Too Much Fun With My Cameraphone And Am Obsessed With My Dog
Life - General Shenanigans; Or, I Ramble About Things Of Interest To Nobody, Really, But Me

Any requests for what I write about first? The order above is not necessarily the order of things these days. Except for maybe the first one. That's pretty much my main priority these days.

In which our heorine realizes she needs a pintervention!

lightningflash — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:56:19 GMT

As things are settling down around the house (with the roommate) and my finances (especially after next weeks' homeowner's insurance payment), I can finally start to relax and really get back to the things I enjoy. And Christmas is just around the freaking corner! Since I've got oodles of time in my day, and I finally got Pinterest working for me again, I have been going through my boards with about 1,700 pins, clearing out duplicates (there's more than a few) and trying to categorize things a bit more. I even made a board for "Upcoming Projects," which I can easily do either with the funds or supplies I have on hand, and start gettin' shit done. There's something about the sense of accomplishment that comes with crafting that is so satisfying, and I miss it horribly.

It will feel less overwhelming to start breaking things down into smaller bites. So I'm not searching through 200 items on my "Crafty Creations" board, for example. That's where this "Upcoming" one will come in handy, and everything on there is a duplicate pin of something else in my account. So I can delete the duplicate once it's done, for that sense of acheivement, yet still have my original pin for reference should I want to do it again. My OCD kicked into overdrive yesterday, and I spent about 5 hours refining my pinboards. That was fun for me :D

So, here's some of the things I'm planning on making in the next few months, in addition to catching up on ~5 years of scrapbooking, and knitting baby blankets/Christmas presents/birthday gifts:

I need new coasters - the ones I bought in 2005 for my first apartment are looking a little shabby. Plus, I've never liked the way the lightweight cork can glom onto the bottom of a sweating glass and come up with it (and then suddenly drop). So, since I have plenty of scrapbook paper, and ceramic tiles aren't expensive, I'll make some new ones like these, these, or these. Those are all pretty much the same process :P
Estimated cost for supplies: $10-15.
Estimated time to make: 1 to 2 hours

The art on the walls of my living room is a little half-assed right now. There's 3 frames of London-y Things, 1 frame of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and a not-even-framed poster of the statue of David that I nabbed from a Tube station in London (it was part of an advertising campaign for wine, and David's says "Just Stone?" where the wine one says "Just Chardonnay?"). I have the frames, which are not of exactly-equal size, offset a little bit in the concept of making a more interesting wall-of-stuff that is not perfectly-lined-up like little soldier-pictures marching in a row. I want continuity in color (muted tones) and content (London/Europe), not size and shape. So, David is either going to get framed or "canvasized" (I don't know what the process is called, but Gretchen had it done to a poster of hers and I love how it turned out). I've a couple of small pictures needing frames. And then I'm going to DIY some of these other things: a string map of the London Tube system; assembling a collage of found/old items to create a shape (I'm planning on a treble clef), most of which I've got already; a cute button clock with muslin/linen fabric and an embroidery hoop, for which I've already got the buttons in shell, bronze/gold and brown, and for which I'll basically have to figure out on my own as my pin links to the blog in general not the specific project; doing a dog silhouette in mixed media (fabric/paper) or just scrapbook paper, of Sir Fluffy von Barkingshire, to go either in the bedroom or over my key/mail holder by the front door. I'm going to relocate my current necklace holder, which is a European-landmark-themed fabric memory board to the living room, and I will replace it with fancy shopping bags, that I bet I can get for free just walking around downtown and asking for one of their bags; I will rehang my necklaces on a board with funky doorknobs instead. And don't even get me started on the rest of the decor the bedroom needs... more DIY art, shelves, curtains, chandelier...
Estimated breakdown by project:
String Map of London Tube: $15-20 (small nails [?], embroidery floss, board, paint[?], frame [?])
Estimated time to make: A day? Depending on distractions and complexity.

Collage of Items: $5-$10 (have items, need backing of some sort [corkboard? fabric-covered foam board?], frame [?])
Estimated time to make: 2 hours

Button Clock: $10-$10 (I have the buttons, need fabric, watch parts, embroidery hoop)
Estimated time to make: 4 to 5 hours with all sewing and assembly of clock bits

Dog Silhouette: $5-10 (pretty much just a frame or any fabric - I've got the paper!)
Estimated time to make: 1 to 2 hours

Fancy Shopping Bags: Dependant on cost/amount/size of frames, which will be determined on number/size of bags I pick up.
Estimated time to make: 1 to 2 hours. Putting in frames is easy. Putting walls takes more time :)

Doorknob Necklace Holder: $20-30 (multiple doorknobs [possibly used?], wood or whatever to back it, plus any paint
Estimated time to make: 3 to 4 hours for drilling all those knobs in and then hanging.

And then there's all the RECIPES. Oh goodness.
If you're interested, you can see all of my boards/follow me if you're not already, right here. Now that I'm in a totally lax job, I can spend a fair amount of time pinning ALL THE THINGS.

The Brit has said he doesn't mind if I do some crafting/scrapbooking/knitting and so on, especially if we can be watching a movie together while I'm doing it. The basement craft room is in the process of being set up, and so he'll be able to chill on the bed while I sit and scrapbook. I knit while we cuddle on the couch already. The rest I'll be doing in my evening downtimes during the week, I'd imagine. So this could work out nicely :D

In which our heroine decides that a cold shower or five is a good lesson in being an adult.

lightningflash — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:46:11 GMT

I've been meaning to post for weeks. But then, I always say that, don't I? However, I think I'll be able to keep up with slightly more regular posting thanks to my easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy job at BlackRock.

Technically, it's a temp-to-hire - but since most of the "Corporate Services" staff (basically the reception/facilities management people like me) are Contingent Workers, and the guy ahead of me still has that title and has been here well over a year/year-and-a-half? Unless I move up, I don't see that status changing anytime soon. And this is high finance - an international company with offices in 28 countries, managing $3+ trillion in funds, which is not a field I'm well-versed in, nor super-interested - so I don't see myself suddenly being all high-powered career woman babbling about investments and stocks and mutual funds. But then, I never thought I'd babble about HVAC equipment and chillers and boilers either...so anything is possible, I guess! As one of my friends (who has a LOT of temp experience) put it, it's just a way for them to avoid having to pay out benefits. I can get medical insurance through my staffing agency, though. That's about it - no paid holidays, no paid time off, nada. Just the bare bones. Can I do without that for a year or two (the expected length of my term here)? Quite possibly. But I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket. At the very least, it's a good start to broadening my professional experiences and hireability in an industry that I *do* like. I'm leaning more and more towards Event Coordination or Hospitality for the long term.

There are things I really like about this job so far. Like my other receptionist temp job (right after I left McK, at Sabey Corporation), it's a relatively quiet job. The phones ring less at the front desk than they did in dispatch at McK - maybe 10 times all day. BLISS. And when they do, I transfer it to someone else to deal with, instead of being the end-point for all the nonsense that can come through. There are some specific processes that I've learned the basics of VERY quickly (my teammate, Andrew, has been training me and is very pleased and impressed), and now I'm just learning the nuances of it all. The people here have all been incredibly nice, and they all seem happy to be coming into work. I'll admit, I also like that this is a little more high-standards here - people dress nicely, even in business casual, far more than the sweatshirt & jeans crowd at McK. But again, this is high finance, not construction, so it's entirely different. Apples to oranges, you know. And of course, there's THE VIEW. Which I'll post here, in case you haven't seen it on my Facebook. It's stunning. BlackRock takes up the top 3 floors of the 3rd tallest building in Seattle! To go from the industrial district to the business district feels much more "me," and aspects of that make me happy.

There are some flip sides to it. I am commuting by bus, and that's... an adventure. I don't want to drive and find/pay for parking downtown - on a $15/hour salary, there's no way I can swing those costs! So, $5/day for round-trip bus fare it is! It does make me miss my nice 3-mile commute to McK, I tell ya! And I have to get up an hour earlier too, to catch the 7am bus to be here by 8am. But the commute itself is easy, because I'm not driving anywhere - I can nap, read a book, use my phone, etc. The bus people in the morning are nice people coming into town for work. Going home, I'm on 3rd Ave, which is basically an open-air drug market for all the crazies, drunks/druggies, and assorted homeless weirdos. And, my most hated part, the bus is ALWAYS late in the afternoon. The morning bus is on time, within a couple of minutes. Coming home, there is a bus every half an hour. When Bus A is 20-25 minutes late, then that's really just a whole new route at that point, one that I cannot plan for accordingly (like trying an alternate option). What's happening is that I'm not getting home until close to 6:30, and that's a 12-hour day for poor Teddy Bear, and his tiny bladder. So I've hired one of the neighborhood girls to come walk him once a day for $5/day, or $25/week. It's not much, and it makes me feel like a more responsible dog-mother. The commute is really the only thing I don't like so far, although I suspect I could get bored here soon, but there's opportunities to learn new things and advance, so we'll see!

[Sidenote: my dad has decided to express his opinion that it's "really spendy" to pay someone to walk the dog every day. I don't see my dad holding HIS pee for 12 hours! I just think it's inhumane, and not fair to Teddy Bear. An emergency trip to the vet for a bladder infection would be more spendy, no? Especially considering that I'd need to take unpaid time off work...]

I'm just glad to have a paycheck coming in for the foreseeable future. I ended up having to make a decision about what bills to pay - my only remaining student loan is in deferment through the end of the year, so that helps, but even though I've cut way down (and I don't spend a lot to begin with), I still couldn't afford my gas bill. So, I let it lapse, since it's in the middle of summer and I don't really need the heat. Unfortunately, my gas range/oven and my hot water tank are ALSO gas, so it's been a lot of microwaving and cold showers for me in the last week. But perhaps, it's a necessary lesson for me to learn. Which makes me sound like I'm embacing matyrdom, but I'm not. I just didn't want to ask for money from anyone else, and learn to deal with the problem like a mutherfuckin' adult. So I've since called the gas company now that I've gotten a paycheck, and I've made payment arrangements, and it was turned on yesterday.

I've also got a tentative roommate lined up (3rd times the charm, right???). She's coming up from California at the end of the month, and we sound pretty compatible. Fortunately, the room has been completely cleaned out, cleaned up, and is ready to go for a roommate to move right on in. She's planning on a year committment, so assuming all goes well with her, the job, etc. - I might be able to say things are going to be okay.

But you'll notice, I said "okay," not "great," not "perfect." I've had the rug yanked out from under so many times in the last ~5-6 months that it's getting very hard to trust the future. And I'm somebody who REALLY likes stability - in my home, in my relationships, in my job, etc. To have not known what's happening from week to week has been very character-building, I'm sure, but I fucking hated it. It stressed me out so badly, I've broken out in stress hives a couple of times. So I've got a job, yay - it's a temp job, though, with no guarantees. I've got a prospective roommate, yay - assuming she doesn't flake like the previous ones and I'm back to square one. It's just too hard to get overly emotionally invested in those things anymore because it's too hard when it fails.

And then there's the family thing...[to be continued, DUH DUH DUUUUUUH!]

In which our heroine provides an exhaustive update on life and love while unemployed.

lightningflash — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 06:06:18 GMT

Hello, long-overdue-post ahead. But it's a Friday night, the first I've had to myself in a while, and I'm typing this on a laptop from my couch (a first for me) and drinking a fuckton of "Jammy" wine (not necessarily a first for me). So, LAZY! But taking a break from hyper-organization and/or knitting.

Updates on ALL THE THINGS!

*JOB. I still don't have one. I am taking on cat-sitting jobs to help make the mortgage, and I'm allergic to cats. I've sent out (by my estimation) between 150 and 200 applications, of which I've gotten only a handful of interviews on my own, and another handful of interviews from any one of the staffing agencies I've signed up with (I got on with my fifth one today. There may be more coming, too). I've revamped the roommate search, and met with an awesome person (seriously, she's just like me, only with a pug, all of which is fuck-awesome).
I was told today by my newest recruiter that I'm over qualified for the jobs I'm applying for, which is NOT HELPFUL. I know I'm overqualified to a certain extent, but I NEED A DAMN PAYCHECK. So yes, I will apply to $13/hr receptionist jobs to make ends meet (with a roommate, I can swing it financially). An administrative assistant position is a better fit for me (more responsibility, more room for growth, more pay), but they are looking for people with either specialized skills or specific industry knowledge. Since I am trying desperately to break OUT of the HVAC industry (the only one I really have any knowledge in), that kind of sucks for me. The deck is stacked against me, as it were. And I'm about to lose ~~my shirt~~ the house.
It has been suggested that I should "dumb down" my resume. I'm starting to think that might not be a bad idea. At least in the interim, to get a job lined up. A reception/admin job would ideally only be a for a year or two, and then I can transfer THOSE skills to an industry more to my taste, if it wasn't already. And then add my degree/skill set back into the resume at that time.
I'm saddened by this prospect, though. I worked hard for my bachelor's degree, and I was always told that it would help me to earn a higher paying wage. Now I'm tempted to leave it off my resume to earn something only slightly above minimum wage.
Sigh. Might as well wear skin-tight pencil skirts and low-cut tops, too, when I'm interviewing with a man. My brains can be in my bra for all they care in those positions, right?

*HOUSE. The house, however, has gotten a LOT of my attention with being home for the last 9 weeks. Some of it is subtle (I organized the freezer! the cleaning supplies! the magazine stacks! OMG I AM OCD...), and some of it is more obvious (I have actual plants growing and making it look more landscaped! holy schnikes!). I'm going to have to start moving things down from the loft into the basement/elsewhere though, once a roommate is firmed up.
Still, with the inside as good as it's going to get until more $$$ comes in, I've done some work on the outside. Mostly with my parents showing me how to start, and mostly in the front yard. The holly/rose bush area was cleaned out and planted with some groundcover (lilies of the valley, hostas, etc). The walkway was edged on one side with pansies, snapdragons, primroses, and one calla lily (looking a little lopsided until I do the other side in a week or two). Mums from me mum's yard and two kinds of lavender plants were put in alongside the front steps to welcome you. The overgrown laurel bush was cut back, and the jungle on the north side (ferns, vines, a choked-out bush of something or other, a pane of broken glass) got cleaned out. An herb/veggie garden was started in the back yard. The scraggly apple tree is coming down to make room for 2 dogwoods from my parent's side yard. And there's still so much more to do! But this might be it for this year, in terms of what I can still get in the ground, what I can physically do, and what I can afford. It's exhausting, but looking back at the end of a day and saying "oh wow - it already looks better!" makes it pretty darn cool. I've also got 16 potted plants thriving INSIDE the house as well, so I think I'm getting a decently verdant thumb going on here.

*TEDDY. As of Wednesday, I've officially had Captain Fluffypants for a full year. I love my little guy so much, and he loves me. He loves nothing more than to be near me for treats and snuggles. He's had his yearly check-up and shots, and he's all good, except for gaining 3 pounds. When you only weigh 7 to begin with, a 30% increase in a year is kind of a lot. So I'm cutting back on his food (and those treats) to help bring him back down.
He's such a funny little guy. My phone's photo bank is FULL of pictures of him, of which I only publish about 10% on Facebook. Maybe I'll post more here... perhaps a year's worth of "Dog of the Day" or something of that nature.
Also? He was a fucking bad-ass ninja-dog the other day and KILLED A FLY out of the air. So proud! Also, kind of grossed out, since he did it on the bed. He got a VERY thorough brushing-out today - I had to clean out the brush 5 times before we were done. But he's SO much nicer to snuggle with now! :)

*DATING. I actually seem to have found myself in a relationship - with a British guy, no less! After one rather eventful weekend of sleeping around/dating multiple people within a 72-hour period (OMG I AM A WHORE), I started talking to a whole new guy not previously in the running and things... settled into place very quickly. I'm trying not to jinx it (I'm coming up on 6 weeks with him, and if you're not aware, I have a 6-Week Curse: guys inevitably break up with me around that point. See also: Dan, Kaleb (twice), Chuck, Mike, Tobie, and so on, ad nauseum). However, this coming week, we're getting a hotel for a couple of days while he's on an intense work schedule in the north end (double, even triple shifts), and we're even bringing Teddy Bear, whom he enjoys immensely! So, I don't think we're ending things, heh. Especially since I got $30 knocked off our hotel with my AAA discount, and therefore feeling like I contributed instead of made things harder.
He's a really great guy - British, as I said, works in the tech industry, lives on a sailboat. Wants children (and HE was the one to bring that up before we'd even met - not me!), and it sounds like sooner rather than later. Smart, funny, generous. Divorced (3 years - was married for about 3 years), and therefore a little gun-shy about crazy women, but less so than say, Shawn. Loves intimacy, and not just the bedroom games (although that's part of it), but things like snuggling up behind me while I'm making dinner or something.
We talk/Skype/see each other in some combination almost every night. He sends me texts almost every day to say good morning. He's pretty great so far! I'm excited for some of you to meet him tomorrow night, bowling for entropic_system's birthday.

*LIFE. In general, it's not too bad. I've still got the roof over my house, although paying the mortgage + bills is starting to become worrisome. I suspect I'll be calling on my parents to take them up on their offer of loans in order to pay my bills (to be repaid, of course) before things get resolved any time soon. It sucks, but once I get a roommmate in that will be half the load off. If I can supplement the rest by whatever means necessary, I'll be able to stay independent. And at almost 30 years old, I REALLY want to stay independent and show them that I CAN DO THIS ADULT THING.
One thing I'm glad they're there for me though, is an issue with the utility company - apparently the previous owner's W/S/G bill (about $550) was NOT settled prior to foreclosure, OR going into escrow, OR my closing date last August. Nobody seems to have known this bill was in arrears, and since it's a charge against the property, they are holding me responsible for it. Apparently the utility company was never notified this became a bank-owned property (at which point I PRESUME they would have said "Oh, BTW, there's an outstanding charge that needs to be paid"). Now, while I agree 100% they should be paid, like hell I am paying for charges incurred before I bought the house. And I know it's BEFORE because the utility people checked and said "oh yes, this is 2011 charges prior to you taking over the account on August 6." You know, the time when I called them to set up the account in my name and a totally missed opportunity for them to say "oh, BTW, there's an outstanding charge to be paid." Why this has come up 10 months after I closed on the house boggles my mind. Fortunately, the utility people are being understanding and giving me a couple of weeks to track down listing agents, title companies and escrow to find out who will be paying this damn bill before my water gets shut off. My dad (and his lawyer, and his friends at utility districts) are helping me with this legwork, thankfully, but it's still stressful.
But overall, things could be worse (aside from the job front). I've been very blessed to have such good health by not getting sick in almost 2 years (ankle injuries notwithstanding). I have a great house with room for someone to come help with the rent. I have an adorable, loving dog to keep me company. I've got an exciting new relationship that seems to be headed towards longevity, not short-timing. I've got good friends and family who have offered tremendous support during the job schtuff. I've got summer plans to make and look forward to doing (at home/with friends/with family). I'm having a second short story published - and this one wasn't a local publisher via someone that I knew, so it was all resting on the story's merits. So many blessings to count, and I do, believe me. There's just a couple of pieces I'm waiting to fall into place, and then I'll truly have a charmed life.

Until then, there's always more wine.

In which our heroine lives with hope and faith, and stops being such a doormat.

lightningflash — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:30:57 GMT

[sidenote: you may (or may not...) have noticed that I've changed the subject lines of my posts. I've decided to give the song-lyrics a rest, and have started essentially narrating the "chapters" of my life, as it were. So, there's that :P]

Work:
My last day at McK was March 30, and I'm so glad for it to be over.

Not in the "I'M FREEEEE!" sense, just that the chapter is done with, and I can now focus on looking for new employment. It was tremendously difficult to keep focus at the job I was leaving (I was under agreement not to "short-time" my attitude and to be dedicated to the job I was still employed at, even though I was leaving). So to try and give a damn when I was increasingly less responsible for things made it very difficult in my head. Plus, I've got the 2012 Torch Project (I took over for a girl who left/was dismissed), and I wrote most of my recent short-story submission in that last week as well. Add in job hunting/applying and housemate vetting, and you get a lot of stuff happening in my brain. Big things, little space. Is no bueno.

So, once my focus was no longer so divided (and I sent my short story off that same night), I could start to feel much better. It helped that I got an incredibly generous severance package that gives me some breathing room, AND I had a nice temp job lined up that will go for about a week and a half. Plus two interviews this week (possibly more), and I'm feeling optimistic on the job front. Or at least hopeful. Enough, anyway, to allow me to turn down a job at the Pandora jewelry store in the U-Village, because the retail hours and the pay weren't going to be worth my while, nor my value (in my opinion). If I didn't have these other things, I'd probably have taken it. It was a sweet group of girls/managers, and the product looked like fun to sell. But at $12/hour, and a schedule that was probably going to be more hassle than it was worth, I decided to pass, and hold out for something better.

I have been very fortunate to have such good momentum, coming out of a steady job into an unknown future. After all, I could have stayed at McK and waited for something to come available there - I would have known the "where," just not the "when." Instead, I chose to know the "when" rather than the "where," and I still think it was the right decision for me at this point. I don't feel like I'm dying a little inside when I go to work. I am reinvigorated for my life.

Plus, this temp job is SOOO nice. The office environment is very friendly and absolutely everybody says hello, good morning, how was your weekend, etc. The Service department at McK was getting very toxic, where people just trudged into their cubicles and slogged through the day, with earphones in if they were lucky. I'm also enjoying the considerable break from responsibility. The phone rings like 3-5 times an hour at this front desk (by comparison, just in dispatch it could be ringing every few minutes). When someone calls in with a problem, I pass it off to someone else to fix. I sort the mail once a day (it takes about an hour). My commute is the easiest I have ever, ever had. Overall, it's like a paid vacation for my brain! I don't know that I could do this long-term, but for right now it's satisfyingly easy.

Family:
Went over to Wenatchee for a quick 48-hour visit over the Easter weekend, since my sister and her family (husband Brian, sons Dylan and Gabe) were up from Portland and my brother Bill from Columbus and family (wife Jamie, daughters Alexis and Cameryn, son Michael) were all visiting for a mini-family reunion. It was mostly a good trip although some parts of it were less savory than others (really, mom? cleaning the bathroom on my trip? WTH? oh well...). Some parts were great, like when Bill & Jamie announced they were expecting their 4th baby at the end of September - YAYAYAYAY! And one incident where I decided I'd finally had enough of certain things.

See, my family likes to repeat the same jokes and stories over and over again. Sometimes they are actually funny, and my dad is a born storyteller. Sometimes it's just really old, like this old joke that's "funny because it's true." I'm the youngest of 5 - 1 sister, 3 brothers, and the only one not married/has children. Granted, these are things that I really want for myself (see previous posts on this topic. or my therapist), and while there's no specific pressure on me to get them - my parents having 8+ grandchildren and all - it's definitely commented on at least once during every family get-together in some fashion. In this case, there's an incredibly tired joke that no matter what Brian does (he likes to push people's buttons), he's still be the favorite son-in-law! AHAHAHA. Get it? Because there's an unspoken second half to the statement, being that there is no other choice. Now, maybe this would be more amusing if they didn't have a second daughter of marriagable age, but since they do, this digs at me every. single. time. But they think it's all uproariously clever.

When this got trotted out on Saturday, while we had 14 people over for dinner, I left the company entirely and went downstairs with my phone to have my pissy fit in peace and not make a scene. My mom came down shortly afterwards to get something, and saw me sitting there, asked what I was doing, and I replied, "Avoiding people." She heard the tone in my voice and asked what was wrong. I told her, and she said, "oh, I don't think it's meant like that..." and I'm telling her no, it's exactly meant like that, because there is no other way for that statment to mean something else. And since I'm in therapy for relationship issues, I'd appreciate it if it wasn't a punchline.

Then I mentioned the snarky, bitchy comment my sister made a Christmas, during a conversation about how she wants to get chickens (doing the urban chicken thing). And someone asked, "well, don't they stop laying after a while? what are you going to do with them?" She replied that she'd keep them as pets until they died naturally. Someone else then asked "why would you want to keep something around that you just have to feed and doesn't produce?" and Michelle's answer was to gesture at me and say "Well, look at Ashley!"

HARDEE-HAR-HAR. I picked up a glass of wine to throw in her face, and my mother stopped me, saying not to waste the good wine. Again, in an attempt to not cause a scene, I settled down. But I sure didn't forget.

My mother did not remember this exchange from Christmas, conveniently enough. I also reminded her about an incident about 4 years ago, when I said something to my sister (a statement of fact - not a bitchy joke) that caused her to stop speaking to me for over 2 years. What was impressed on me by my sister, her husband, and my mother at that time was that regardless of my intent with the comment, it didn't matter because it hurt someone. When I brought this up to my mother in a gee-the-tables-have-turned way, she told me that I needed to let it go, and that my sister was just joking.

I got very upset (calmly, though - not crying) and told my mother that was unacceptable. First of all, since the lesson was that intent didn't matter, I didn't care if she was "just joking," because it hurt. More to the point, it was deliberately, viciously, mean. I had not set out to hurt her with my comment, but she had specifically done so. Whether of not she "intended" it, I was hurt by it, and for my mother to tell me that my feelings about it were invalid? That made it even more unacceptable. My feelings are my feelings, and nobody gets to tell me otherwise. And, I was done being silent about it.

Mom considered this and didn't really say much else, either in defense or "advice." Granted, we had continued this conversation after everyone had left and it was a busy day, so she was tired, but I hope something got through. It's a start anyway, both externally (letting other people know what I no longer find acceptable treatment of me) and internally (that I can actually express myself in my WASP-y family and the world doesn't stop turning, and that I can do with without getting hysterical). Congratulations, Ashley! You're almost 30 and you've learned how to act like an adult! Gold star :)

I understand how I could be seen as being hypersensitive about this stuff, and that I should just let it roll off my back. But, I don't really want to, because it's really not okay anymore. And I think it's important for me to grow and become stronger, more assertive about what I do and don't want in my life instead of just letting it happen (or not happen). I tried to handle this maturely over the weekend - I didn't throw a beverage, I didn't throw a tantrum, I didn't go out of my way to make anyone else uncomfortable during the party. I went off to deal with it myself, and I spoke up when it was appropriate. So, it's progress.

That's probably the biggest things going on right now. Other things, like continuing the job search, and still considering housemate options, are still going as before. But I'm able to be less stressed about everything in general, which is good. I'll be covered on my mortgage through the end of June, so I'm able to relax into the interview process and get a good job at good pay in a good environment in a good location. Tall order, no? I'm so demanding :) But ya gotta have faith! [insert song here]

OH! One other thing, in case you've missed it on my Facebook. The Super-Secret Olympic Project that I have been working on for the last couple of months is getting ready to launch in a couple of weeks. It's actually launching on April 21, which is the MardiParty, so I'll be going to the launch first for a little bit, getting my own Torch line to start around the world, and then off to Mardi's. Jason helped with the testing of the app, so he'll be going to the launch and getting a Torch line, too.

So here's the YouTube video of what it looks like - COOLNESS.

Pretty neat, eh? We're now in the promotional side of things - contating dignitaries, famous personalities, politicians, bloggers, etc. to launch their own Torches and get the word out. Very exciting!

Okay, done for now.

In which our heroine daydreams about becoming a bird of paradise and flying far, far away.

lightningflash — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:20:38 GMT

As most of you know, if you've heard me ramble on about inspirational people at any point in the last year, I'm a really devoted reader of the Young House Love blog. Week before last, they took a much-deserved break and jaunted off to Hawaii for 6 days.

I don't know if there are words enough to express how much their post makes me want to go there. I've got something of a windfall coming (tax return in the year of buying a house + severance package from McK), but it will really need to be stocked away pending a rather uncertain employment future. It's what is smart, practical, prudent. And yet. I totally want to say - fuck all that and just go.

It feels like the last time I took a vacation (an ACTUAL vacation, with hotels, and restaurants, and tourist attractions, for a significant amount of time) that wasn't instigated by the death of a family member or a business-style convention was 2004. Almost 8 years ago. My parents and my paternal aunt & uncle went to London & Spain two weeks before my study abroad started. In the interim, I've spent 2.5 days in Las Vegas (2007, with Allison) and a couple of road trips with Shawn to Orcas Island and the Olympic Peninsula (2008). I've been to Arlington and Chicago for the afore-mentioned burial and convention, respectively. I go to Wenatchee several times a year, and maybe Portland if my sister and I are on speaking terms. I suppose it's totally a first-world problem that I've totally been places even if it is almost all with family and the ensuing stress. But all of that combined time (about 7 days total) averages out to less than one day per year of "ACTUAL" vacation. Ugh.

But ever since I saw those pix of Hawaii, I keep finding myself dreaming of warm, balmy weather, white sandy beaches, and peaceful surroundings. It's not the first time - I will sometimes look up those amazing little places to rent in Fiji or wherever, with the 'rustic' (is it really rustic if it's prohibitively expensive???) little huts and the glass-bottem floors. I took a break from job-application blitzing yesterday to research airfare. I contemplated that, once I got the dog boarded/cared for, I could just throw a few clothes, hairbrush, toothbrush and a swimsuit (god, I need a new one - haven't had a new one since 2005!) in a bag with a couple of books, some knitting and just GO. Obviously, it would totally take more than that, and sleeping arrangements and all. I wouldn't necessarily want/need to spend money on 'the sights,' as I'm feeling pretty sure that right now all I want to do is lay on a beach and read until all the stress is melted out of my body. I'll see the sights if I ever go there with a significant other. What if I rented out my house, sold my car, put stuff in storage, and moved me and the dog to Hawaii to "live aloha" for a while? I've heard the pace of life over there moves like warm honey...

It's a pipe dream, for sure. I mean, put everything in storage? I just moved everything in there! And my piano? The new bed? Jeeez. That's just crazy. Plus, I'd probably miss my friends. But the idea of a vacation, just me, just sun and sand and books and beach... I think I need this, really really need it. Someday, I guess. Maybe I will knit things for money or something. Or my soul! Faustian deals are still happenin', right? No? Maybe I've just been watching too much Buffy lately. Hmmm.

Or maybe I'll see about going to Spain. All I need there is airfare - I've got family to stay with, and they are ALSO right on the beach, and wouldn't have to spend a ton of money on food. Plus I'd know people (my sister-in-law and her family).

Sigh. Anyway. Rambling now. I'm just really ready for a change of pace, I guess, especially since the big job one is pending in T-minus 3 weeks...

In which our heroine rambles on, and on, and on about first world problems of her own creation.

lightningflash — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:45:42 GMT

Update! Update!

* Things are progessing well (so far) with leaving McK in >4 weeks (17 days from now, actually). I met with an HR rep last week to determine my severance package draft, which looks to be very generous.
Does anyone have any experience with things like COBRA v. private insurance? Any advice for job transition? Some of this might all depend on what my next job is as well.
I had a phone interview with a company structured very much like McK, and that could include benefit timelines. McK's benefits kick in the first day of the month after you're hired, no 3-month wait. So it's not impossible that would happen at this other place (assuming it's a good fit for them and me). I also had my first in-person interview (they have like a 4-part interview process. JEEZ. They should just hire me on the basis of AWESOME).
The dispatch team was informed right away, and the department was notified a few days later of my plan to leave. I've talked to all of my techs in person, and have gotten almost universal sadness and "NO DON'T GOOOO!"
Which is very sweet and flattering, and I'm going to miss 95% of the techs tremendously. A couple of them and I will not miss each other at all. Even Shawn (my ex) was a bit sad, but also knew that I'd been wanting this for a long time. His reaction was "well, their loss!" Another tech asked if I'd stay for more money.
Had to explain that it is SO NOT about the money at this point. It's the job. And it's time for me to grow, learn, be challenged, put new and interesting things on Ye Olde Resume.
The Boss J's have been very supportive, and have promised to give me good recommendations. Not burning any bridges her, I hope!
Tomorrow I am hitting up a job fair in Renton for a few hours.

* I've gotten some small nibbles on the housemate hunt (most of you got my email - if not, want it?). IF this other job goes through, depending on pay I might not NEED a roommate. It's all so very up-in-the-air. So many paths are branched out in front of me right now, and a decision on one will both eliminate certain options and free up others.
I am somebody who so totally values stability and "knowing" that I have stayed a bit too long in a job and a bit too long in a relationship, even when I *KNOW* they aren't going to work out. Taking these kinds of chances - you know, off a goddamn cliff - are so not me.
So, there's that. Scary, yet Empowering. What a fucking heady mixture.

* My Super-Secret Olympic Project (it's an internship - possibly paid, possible trip to London) is continuing on as well. If nothing else, it will be something good to add to the resume - more professional than my work with the Cabiri, and hopefully with a bigger payout on a number of levels (exposure, contacts, references, experiences...).
This, bee-tee-dubs, will be henceforth referred to as the SSOP.
One of you actually knows what it is, as of Monday night. Ssssssecretss...
But I think you'll all want in on it eventually!

* I feel like I've got so much going on that a part of me has shut down, or is paralyzed or something. I go home, and I'm crazy-tired and my head is just fried (not headachy, just... done thinking for the day). I've got bills to pay, research to do for the SSOP, emails to respond or initiate and I'm all... "I'MMA WATCH BUFFY FROM THE THE BEGINNING. AGAIN. ALSO, COOKIES." It's like I'm all set to do "The Grown-Up Thing" and part of me slams on the brakes. Like I've done enough to be happy-perky-supportive employee at my current job (part of my agreement to not be fired before March 30, and getting a good severance package), and so therefore I must not need to do anything more for the rest of the day. I... don't think that's how it works. But I make it happen, so does that mean I'm making it work? No, it's going to come back to bite me in the ass. With late fees. Also, I'm rambling now. SEE? NO FOCUS. 4:30PM, NO MORE THINKY.

* Okay, moving on. Other things in my life I WANT to do, and COULD do if I put forth the effort: Write a short story by March 30 (have beginning, ending is planned, general plot is formed. Need to write, edit, and submit). Knit ALL THE THINGS. Or at least finish the scarf I've been dabbling with for a month, and just went to a Sewing & Stitchery expo and bought books for inspiration. Clean the house. Craft things, since I have AN ENTIRE ROOM for crafting and right now all I do is pile stuff and say 'maybe this week...end." SAI stuff, like the newsletter I just sent out and a meeting next weekend. Cabiri stuff, like do I want to volunteer for their Spring show (TARHUN: LEGEND OF THE LIGHTNING GOD, if anyone wants to go/volunteer with me!) in mid-April. Swing dance classes, which I'm negotiating with my teacher to do administrative work for him (class list data entry, checking people in, etc.) in exchange for free classes. Going back to Wenatchee for an Easter weekend mini-family reunion, which may depend on my job status (was going to take off Thur/Fri/Mon at McK, but I'll be gone, sooo... maybe set a start day at next job for the following Tues?). Read the books I just bought, or at least my pile of "read it or donate it, but DO SOMETHING." Or at least read the books I've already got, including Pat Rothfuss' 1000-page tubthumper of a sequel. The dog needs to be groomed, I'm getting crispy split ends, new glasses and at least one more appointment with my therapist are a necessity before medical benies run out.
AND I KEEP FALLING ASLEEP ON THE COUCH UNTIL 2AM. God. I need a keeper, a clone, an assistant. Something.
Did reading that paragraph make your eyes glaze over? It's ok, mine did too. You see where I'm going just a little bit crazy and stressed? It's really no wonder. It's all good, positive stress (eustress, I believe?), and it's totally a First World Problems thing (OMG, how am I going to find the time to read ALL MY BOOKS? Heavens. Where are my smelling salts?), and all of my own devising. I know this. :)

I am just really glad I took a mid-week spa break last week and went to Banya 5, followed by swing dancing. I just... need more of that. Less of everything else. More money, more time, more knowing. Less stress, less instability, less doing it all myself all the time.

Who is that girl I see, staring straight back at me?

lightningflash — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:15:17 GMT

Out of curiosity, since I'm trying to find jobs that will "fit" me, I've taken an online Myers-Briggs test. My results show that I am an ENFP (extroverted, intuitive, feeling, perceptive), which sounds just about right! I knew I'd rank as an extrovert, but good to know on the other stuff. Keirsey classifies this as "The Champion", and his breakdown lines up just about right with how I handle situations.

Some stuff that I've C+P for my own benefit:
Like the other Idealists, Champions are rather rare, say three or four percent of the population, but even more than the others they consider intense emotional experiences as being vital to a full life. Champions have a wide range and variety of emotions, and a great passion for novelty. They see life as an exciting drama, pregnant with possibilities for both good and evil, and they want to experience all the meaningful events and fascinating people in the world. The most outgoing of the Idealists, Champions often can't wait to tell others of their extraordinary experiences. Champions can be tireless in talking with others, like fountains that bubble and splash, spilling over their own words to get it all out. And usually this is not simple storytelling; Champions often speak (or write) in the hope of revealing some truth about human experience, or of motivating others with their powerful convictions. Their strong drive to speak out on issues and events, along with their boundless enthusiasm and natural talent with language, makes them the most vivacious and inspiring of all the types.

Fiercely individualistic, Champions strive toward a kind of personal authenticity, and this intention always to be themselves is usually quite attractive to others. At the same time, Champions have outstanding intuitive powers and can tell what is going on inside of others, reading hidden emotions and giving special significance to words or actions. In fact, Champions are constantly scanning the social environment, and no intriguing character or silent motive is likely to escape their attention. Far more than the other Idealists, Champions are keen and probing observers of the people around them, and are capable of intense concentration on another individual. Their attention is rarely passive or casual. On the contrary, Champions tend to be extra sensitive and alert, always ready for emergencies, always on the lookout for what's possible.

Champions are good with people and usually have a wide range of personal relationships. They are warm and full of energy with their friends. They are likable and at ease with colleagues, and handle their employees or students with great skill. They are good in public and on the telephone, and are so spontaneous and dramatic that others love to be in their company. Champions are positive, exuberant people, and often their confidence in the goodness of life and of human nature makes good things happen.
(from here)

And this is pretty much dead on (bolded areas mine for emphasis):
The Champion is usually a bundle of energy, but they can become exhausted if they are overloaded with work. They also will experience stress if their values and principles are violated and they see others in the company being hurt by policies that kill the human spirit. Then they become hypersensitive to what is going on around them. Facts become exaggerated. They have feelings of paranoia and may withdraw. To regain their equilibrium, meditation will help. Kindness and support by others, but not patronization, will help them get back to normal.
(from here)

Anybody care to chime in with their M-B personality? Do you find it accurate? Do you agree that MINE is accurate?! I do :)

I left a good job in the city, working for the man every night and day

lightningflash — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:10:54 GMT

As some of you know, based on a job-hunting email I sent out recently, I am seriously looking for a new job. That has gotten ramped up, and it is now official:

I will be leaving McKinstry on or before March 30.

Yes, that's about 6 weeks away. No, I don't have anything lined up YET.

This is a mutual decision that I've reached with both of my bosses (The Boss J's - Jeanne (immediate) and Jennifer [my original boss, before they brought in middle-management, she is a step removed now]). This all started about 3 weeks or so ago, when my 2011 Year-End Review happened, and it was bad. Seriously concerning for all involved. And what it came down to was a choice, that I had to make: Either buck up and be more than "just fine" at my job, or start looking outside of McK. I could have waited it out some more here, see if something would come available that I could transfer to in 6 months or a year. There's a certain amount of stability in that path, especially with a company that I've been invested with for 6 and a half years.

But the thought of staying with this job, which has a high burn-out rate (most people only dispatch 2-3 years. As of January, I've been doing it for a decade...), made me physically sick. Stomach cramps, anxiety attacks. This is no bueno, and it's no way to live, quite frankly. And it's no way to be an employee, or to have an employee from their perspective. It is in everyone's best interest that I leave to find new opportunities, get new training, learn new things, have new experiences that are simply not going to manifest here in the foreseeable future. This allows the managers to get someone in who is going to be passionate, engaged, and eager in this job - all the things that I have tapped out. I am at the bottom of my barrel, so it's time to find another barrel.

After much discussion, the Boss J's and I came to an agreement, based on the projected timeline of how long it will take them to interview, hire and bring on board a replacement, and we put it at about 6 weeks, hence the March 30 date. We've made a mutual committment to each other that if I improve my attitude, help improve team moral and make this an easier transition for all involved, and they will commit to not firing me before the agreed-upon date and support my needs for interviews and appointments. I have already done the attitude adjustment for the last couple of weeks, which they recognized and appreciated - if there's a light at the end of the tunnel, I can do this job with a short-term blast of energy.

I am totally convinced that if I had not made this decision, and discussed it with the Boss J's, that I would eventually be fired for poor job performance. I would disagree - I do my job, but not exactly happy about it. Still, I DO MY JOB. They saw it differently, and maybe that's valid, too. At least this way, I have the opportunity to leave on my terms, with room to make other plans (and backup plans!), and not burn any bridges. McK is still a good company to work for, I just can't do this job any longer.

The dispatch team was informed yesterday, and the Boss J's will inform the rest of the department today or Monday. They are doing it this early in part to be open and above-board with everyone. Otherwise, the rumor mill starts and pretty soon I'm being fired for an affair with the boss's husband or something. Six weeks gives a LOT of time for people to prepare, transition, and accept the idea instead of just two weeks, or even a day's notice. People will know that this is a GOOD thing for me, that it is supported by management, and not a bad, dirty, little secret.

I'm a little excited to finally have an end in sight, but I am absolutely terrified of not knowing what is going to happen. Some people are totally fine with major swings of fortune, but I like a LITTLE more stability in my life. Obviously. See also: 6 and a half years here, buying a house, etc. My parents, who are more old-fashioned, had a knee-jerk reaction of unsupportive, angry, judgement calls. One response was, "well, you might as well just sell all your stuff and put a For Sale sign up, because you're going to lose the house." I told them to STFU if they can't be supportive! Part of their problem is that they have a very narrow view of my options, and I am taking a much broader approach. Things I am considering include (in no particular order):

- Finding full-time, permanent employ with full benefits package (okay, this one IS actually at the top of my list). Even better with a company reasonably close to home and with a creative bent to the job
- Consider any combination of temp work, part-time and applying for unemployment. Silver lining of this one is that I get more experiences (more on that in a minute)
- Bring in a housemate (probably in the basement, but maybe the loft is more legal). $500-600 rent would help to bridge a gap left by making less than I currently do - which is most likely going to happen regardless of full-time or part-time
- Hooking on the street corner. LOL I JUST KIDDING. :P See also: find sugar daddy. STILL KIDDING!

What I find I'm running into is that I'm very experienced in a very narrow field - and it's not one that I want to continue in. So in order to get somewhere I DO want to go, I need to swim upstream and fight harder. I'm 80-90% qualified for a lot of the jobs I've applied for, but the market is such that people with EXACTLY those requirements are immediately available. If a job for exactly my job opened up somewhere else I would be eminently qualified, but I would so hesitate to take it - yes, it would be in a different environment but that's not my problem anymore. We had a major switch in atmosphere around here about a year ago, and for a few months that was great. And then it fizzled out because it's the job itself that is sucking my soul. So from an objective standpoint, I really do need to get more well-rounded things to put on my resume. I'm from a liberal-arts background - I totally understand the importance of having experience and education that creates a more desirable employee. Nothing exists in a vacuum, and that includes employment. So, maybe taking two part-time jobs in the short-term gives me two-for-the-price-of-one, so to speak, and could actually help me in the long-term. I don't know - it's just a thought.

The times, they are a-changin'. The job market is on a bit of an upswing right now, so I'm hoping that will work in my favor. Also, this thing I heard about recently on the news, called the "Quit Factor." It's part of an unemployment recovery process, where someone (like me) leaves my job to go on to better (or at least other) things, therefore opening up MY position to someone else. Someone most likely had to leave their current job in order for me to take it. It's a positive cycle - sort of the opposite of a maelstrom or downward spiral. Bottom-up economics, perhaps, rather than trickle-down, because we can be seen as pulling people up rather than letting it roll down.

Leaving a job is uncharted territory for me, at least as an adult. Previous jobs ended because I graduated and moved to another city. That's not what's going to happen here - change is not going to happen TO me, so I need to make it happen FOR me. It's part of growing up and being a mutherfucking adult, I guess! Too bad I still feel like I'm just playing dress-up in some random adult's skin most of the time. Buying a house, owning my car, staying up all night, leaving a job - these are things I thought about as a child, but it still doesn't seem real sometimes.

So, there it is. New life adventure. Scared to bits. Kinda excited. Totally relieved.

I've got some other stuff I want to post on, but for now, I need to take some computer skills tutorials before I take the test for my recruiter at Business Careers! Wish me luck!

You bring me sorrow, you cause me pain, Jealousy, when will you let go?

lightningflash — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:45:19 GMT

As some of you know by now, I had a short story published late in 2011 - fantasy story involving Faustian deals, aerialsts, demons, and a cripple. If there were any more tropes and cliches in there, it wouldn't be bearable :) Plus several bits of various folklore and mythology woven into approximately 3,700 words. I was so pleased with the result and the overall experience of writing/editing/publishing/announcing/promoting, with a lot of really great feedback consisting of almost unanimously, "you should write more," that I've searched around for another anthology looking for submissions.

I have found one, due by the end of March, called "Sins of the Seven," and naturally it's going to be about the Seven Deadly Sins, five stories per sin. Being me, I jumped to "OOOOH, LUST." And then I realized, well, that's just too damn easy. Too popular. And, as one gamer/writer told me, "We're a repressed lot. We're going to write about sexual fantasies A LOT." So, heavy competition, little challenge, and too "me."

So I've decided to write about Envy. The green-eyed monster itself. I've started doing some research, as I did on the Dark Carnival story - as my story was mostly set in the 30's, I research the history and traditions of travelling carnivals back in the day. I researched mythology, like peacock feathers and various devil interpretations (mine is based on a variant from the Dominican Republic, although it's not terribly obvious to anyone but me, really). But I wanted to give the story some heft, something that would make it seem almost plausible.

So. Envy. What some argue as being at the root of the other sins, and definitely among the most malicious of them all. Envy is often defined in terms of it's similarly-verdant sister, Jealousy. But Envy tends to be active, while Jealousy tends to be passive. Envy is more about one's self, whereas Jealousy is about other people. For example, Envy is often about what someone else has that takes away from what one wants, and what one will do to get it. Jealousy wants what the other person has/is/does, but it doesn't necessarily mean the person with the jealousy will act on it. Therefore, Envy tends to be more destructive, outwardly to others and inwardly to oneself. It's more inherently sinful.

Some well-known examples that I've been looking up include the oldest story of Envy, of Cain & Abel in Genesis. There's Shakespeare's masterpiece of Othello, of course, from which we get the term, "beware the green-eyed monster." Some famous movies include the professional rivalries in Amadeus, The Prestige and most recently Black Swan.

One of the things about Envy is that it turns on the "owner," in that the envious person gets hit harder with some sort of karmic punishment for their sin. Nina in Black Swan, for example, {SPOILER ALERT] thinks she kills her rival when she really kills herself. Cain kills his brother, but is cast out by God. There's a moral, righteous, and fitting punishment to these wicked sinners. Envy is, to a degree, a self-punishing sin. Not to say, of course, that other sins are not full of punishment (Lust brings disease, for example). Dante's Inferno, in fact, doesn't have a specific level of hell for Envy, but places those with the most active sins towards the bottem (remember, I said this was an active sin!), including Cain, he who first envied (according to the Bible), which we all know led to murder, an active crime. These start with the City of Dis, which if I remember correctly is from the 6th Circle of Hell down to icy, frozen lake of Cocytus in the 9th (and final) Level of Hell.

[Sidenote: I myself am no longer Christian, but I was raised as such, and I find the Sins/Virtues very interesting. Plus, this topic is inherently Christian-based, as today's society views such things. The Greeks had a two different gods of Envy, so of course envy itself pre-dates Christianity, but in terms of the "Seven Deadly Sins," we're talking from a Christian standpoint. Ahem. Moving on.]

Dante does, however, address the Envious directly in the 2nd level of Purgatory (If you're not as familiar with The Divine Comedy, which I've read, the mountain of Purgatory is a direct mirror reflection of Hell - meaning that which was first in Hell will be the last in Purgatory. Which is Lust, incidentally. This set-up indicates that Lust is one of the lesser sins (in Hell) and one of the easiest to work off (in Purgatory). Envy, however, is extremely low down on the mountain which means the sinner has a long, long path to go before earning his way to Paradise. This also corresponds with the reflection in Hell, with the Envious traits being just above betrayal to God). This level of Purgatory ALSO mentions Cain, and the envy that led to the fratricide of Abel.

In more classical mythology, there's the examples of the Greek Erinyes/Roman Furies, although they tend to be a little more "after-the-fact" than the "causing-the-commotion." Then there's also the spirits of Zelos, of "eager rivalry, emulation, envy, jealousy and zeal," Phthonos of the romantic jealousy and Eris, "strife as the driving force of competition." [As noted right here]. This could go on and on, but I think you get the point.

[According to some sources, the Erinyes sprang from the blood of the Titan Uranus, when he was castrated and the testicles thrown into the sea. Their polar opposite, Aphrodite, the goddess of Love and Beauty, came from the same source, but she came from the seafoam instead of the blood. Interesting, no? That love and vengeance come from the same source, which also happens to be the most primal place on the body...A story about love versus envy is almost TOO easy, though, unless it was written as an allegory].

So anyway, I'm just kind of talking through this story concept in my head/in my LJ. The Dark Carnival story was, in some ways, much easier. As soon as I heard the parameters (set in Cobalt City, a superhero city, with a once-a-generation demonic carnival in town), the story practically wrote itself in my head. This time, the parameters are different, and in some ways a little more vague - pick a sin. So I have several ways to go on this - write it sympathetic to the envious, or to the envied? Give it a fitting punishment with a moralistic dénouement? A happy ending, or a not-happy (sad, angry, vengeful, ambiguous) ending?

I am interested in what other people think of Envy. I made a quick post over on FB, but can go into more detail here. When you see/read/hear a story of Envy, which do you identify with more, the person who envys or the person being envied? What is it about the story that "gets" you? Is it that you think you could never do that? Or is it that you understand all too well that feeling? Is it secrectly uncomfortable where it hits a nerve? Does it leave you wondering how people could do such terrible things, to themselves or others?

Also, in case you are interested, here is Dark Carnival, which is available for purchase (SUPPORT LOCAL PUBLISHERS!) and here is my author interview.

Okay, that's enough for now. Off to let things percolate...

I stood upon the Ivory Tower, as far as I could see, the winds that grew from out of the trees..

lightningflash — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:07:17 GMT

This list is mostly for my own edification, as a list of things I plan on doing around the house in the coming year. Feel free to skip, but if you're at all interested in what the hell I'm blabbering on about (a lot of these are Pinterest inspirations so the descriptions make little sense to anyone who hasn't seen what I'm talking about!), please feel free to ask!

Bedroom:
DIY - Curtain rod/holders, curtain hemming and hanging
DIY - Magazine holder floating shelf
DIY - Faux Roman Shade for closet
DIY - Wall of fancy shopping bags, framed
To Do - Hang art
To Buy - 2 small wall sconces to hang above bed, side of window

Living Room:
DIY - Canvas photographs/David poster
DIY - Line white plastic bins with craft paper
To Do - Pick out and hang curtains (or at least valances
To Buy - Stencil for glossy wall art

Music Room:
DIY – Music Shelf – paint, (wallpaper/remove the back?)
DIY - Decoupage musical lampshade (also: buy a second-hand lamp to do this!)
To Do – Enlarge doorway with French doors, run bamboo flooring

Kitchen:
DIY - Doily table runner
DIY - Bookshelves – paint, wallpaper the back?
DIY - Glass Cabinet – paint, wallpaper the back?
?DIY - Remove drawer/drawer front, install paper towel rod?
To Do - Reorganize spices into cabinets/drawers
To Do - Hang art, herb-growing jars?
To Do – Install bench seats on 2 sides (need different table?) with cushions
To Do – Hang curtains/valances
To Buy - Rug for underneath table/chairs

Loft:
DIY - Recover file cabinets (scrapbook paper, fabric?
DIY - Yarn ball wreath
DIY - Side table – add table legs to an old drawer, paint/decoupage?
To Do - Set up craft area
To Do - Hang wall art
To Do - Set up small TV, get used DVD player?
To Do - Organize storage area
To Do - Build/Restore Built-in Bookshelf, white wrought-iron railing
To Do - Paint – Dark Greens – wainscoting trim? Stencil (same stencil as downstairs, to tie together)?
To Buy – Replace carpet

Basement:
To Do – Tear up carpet, clean out moldy nastiness
To Do – Remove useless half-walls
To Do – Make repairs as needed in walls and around windows
To Do/To Buy – Put in half-bath, create laundry area
To Do – Paint : gold in storage area, lavender in laundry, burgundy in movie area (with white painted or fabric screen), chocolate brown/sage green in bathroom?
To Do – Install peg board along big wall in storage area
To Buy – Replace carpet (same as upstairs)
To Buy – Projector, cushions and couch for movie area (small fridge, microwave, shelving?)

Front Yard:
To Do – Remove stones/stumps just under the surface
Make lawn better – I don’t know where to start on this one!
To Do – Lay a proper driveway (run under fence into backyard)
- Stepping stones from driveway to front porch
Border plants for front walkway – lavender plants, silvery grasses, stone edging
Mounded beds under front windows, use compost log things to plant in (small annuals – primroses, pansies)
- Layered beds on North side of porch
- Cultivate larger bushy plants – roses, for sure
- Ground cover – succulents like hens’n’chicks
Large potted plants for dramatic effect
Lots of foliage for year-round greenery
Fairy elements – gazing balls, faces, doors, lights

Back Yard:
DIY – Pallet table
To Do – Remove apple tree
To Do – lay stonework next to kitchen (continued from driveway)
To Do – Build a small potting bench/gardening storage area (garbage containers, rainwater cistern in this area?)
To Do – Small patio just off back steps (to the South, under bedroom window), just big enough for small table, couple of chairs
To Do – Seal off exposed overhangs, to protect from rodents
To Do – Large patio with storage unit, BBQ, and fire pit (greenhouse, chicken coop eventually?)
Make lawn better – I don’t know where to start on this one!
Stepping stones/walkway to large patio area
Double-layered herb garden to South of porch steps
Flower bed (roses, lilies, lavender?) under bed-bedroom window (northernmost one)
Fruit/Vegetable bed along back fence
Plant weeping willow/weeping cherry tree in corner with cute bench at base
More foliage/evergreen plantings? Along North fence, perhaps?
Fairy elements – gazing balls, faces, doors, lights

Assorted Easy & Cheap Projects to DIY:
Cork Monogram
Cereal Box Star + paint/fabric/paper
Candlestick + Frame
Twine-wrapped vase lantern
Terrariums
Button Clock
Binding together old cards/notes
Assorted items into Treble Clef shape, spray-paint copper, mount & frame
Air freshener – baking soda & essential oils
Frame/hang corkboard (stencil anything?)

More Intensive Projects to DIY:
Reupholster/Recover recliner into burgundy from baby blue
Retuft/Recover fainting couch

House in General:
To Buy - Get 3 window screens (bedroom, music room, loft) – do in Spring/Summer
Eventually, 2 screen doors
Outside of House – NEW PAINT! Currently contemplating a bluish-gray (as opposed to the blah cement-gray that it currently it!) with white and raspberry (or burgundy with purpley undertones?) trim and accents. With lots of lavender, roses, primroses and pansies, the various shades of pinks and purples should blend nicely. Could pop with orange or yellow plants/flowers, too.

And thankfully, this weekend I have nowhere to go and only one small 2-hour (meeting) committment, so I'll be whittling down some of these smaller items this weekend - mostly in the loft, I imagine!

Let me be stormy and let me be calm, let the tide in, and set me free.

lightningflash — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:58:33 GMT

A real post coming soon, I promise.

But in the interim, ever have one of those days where you could cheerfully play whack-a-mole with your coworker’s heads, and feel that any jail time would be worth it? If nothing else, for the change of pace and different people to bitch at/with/about?

I’m off every Wednesday in December, and the entire last week as well. I won’t work a full week from mid-November to mid-December, thanks to a stockpile of vacation time I hadn’t used yet (and it’s use-it-or-lose-it). So, being able to plan in advance to be gone, make arrangements for stuff that needs to happen in my absence and STILL doesn’t get done makes things extra-frustrating. What was the point of doing all of the work ahead of time, only to come back and have to do it all over again?! I hate reinventing the wheel as much as the next person, and it makes me really, really want to not take time off in future. If I could cash it out, I totes would, I tell ya.

An ongoing frustration is a mechanic of mine, an apprentice we will call L. He’s a lazy little complainer who needs to step up his game before he becomes a journeyman in a year or so, a point in time which I dread. He’s going to be terrible, we won’t be able to send him on 70% of our accounts, and nobody will want to work with him.

Anymoodle, here’s an email (and an update to the email from today) about what it’s like to work with someone who makes so little effort to do their job that it boggles the mind why he is still here [brackets not included in original email]. Some background info to keep in mind is that we, my department as a whole, are really backed up on work that was contracted to be done in October and November, and will be due again in January. So there is a big push to get stuff done before year-end, and I am short-handed on the techs available for this work.

To My Supervisor & the Technician Supervisor
I am feeling frustration in regards to L.’s lack of pro-activity in regards to his workload.

Yesterday, (Thursday 12/8) he did not work at all. I was on vacation Wednesday, and left a couple of techs open for Thursday in the event that a helper was needed, but if not there is PLENTY of apprentice work that is due/overdue. L. called T. [dispatcher] very late in the day (around 4:30pm) asking about work for the next day. T. and L. tried to scramble to find something that could be scheduled at that point in the day. Nothing was a go for L., so he was left open for the day.
I arrived at 8am, and saw that L. had nothing on his schedule [usually we type in OPEN or something that says “yes, I am aware he does not have work”]. I called and paged him to find out what was his status (T. thought perhaps he had found something and went to it), but did not get a call back until about 11:30am. He told me he was staying home for the day due to lack of work.

Today, I had about 7.5 hours scheduled for him, one of which was tentative, but in the same building as one of his other maintenances, so I suggested he pop his head in and see if it would be a go. He was very reluctant to do so, saying that it would “push the envelope” with the customer who prefers more notice and that it would take too much time to go back through building security. I told him that I would try to find something else for him.
When I got back from lunch, I paged him a call that was meant for another tech earlier in the day (who had called in sick), and L. called back, saying he had gone home for the day with 6.5 hours. He did not check back with anyone in dispatch before leaving the city to go home to Federal Way.

Both his day off yesterday and his short day today could have been avoided, I feel, by a more proactive push from his end. If he had called me earlier in the day yesterday, I am sure I could have found him something, even from another apprentice’s board. If he had called before he left Seattle today, I could have gotten him a full day – even a 10 hour day, if he wanted, since he was out the day before. We are shorthanded right now in dispatch, and I’m working 25 techs and in the middle of a cold snap. I need more help from the techs to keep things together with each of them.

And then from today, where I was so pissed I almost cried.

An additional issue has come up again this week, and while it’s more on the dispatch side of things, it still concerns L. and it’s still in the same vein.

I was out this Wednesday, again, and this time I made very certain that I had a full day of work scheduled for L. before I left at mid-day on Tuesday. All of the work scheduled was overdue October and November maintenances. I made a point of emailing the dispatch team that everything for Thursday was hard-scheduled, and to please page everything to all the techs.

For some reason, L. was only paged his first call, which was 1 hour. The dispatch team was in a meeting when he freed up at 9am, and our coverage does not have access to our schedules. So L. chose to go to a maintenance he “knew he could just go to” without scheduling, which is a December maintenance.

While I am more understanding of his need to continued on his day today, and without additional information he did the best he could, I feel that he could have called in yesterday when he was only paged one 1 –hour job, and could have clarified with anyone in dispatch as to whether anything was scheduled after that. Alternatively, he could have called in this morning while he was at the shop getting filters for the one job, to see if he needed materials for anything further. This type of proaction on his end would have spared both of us a great deal of frustration this morning.

So, what I have here is:
A tech who doesn’t call him to confirm if/where he has work = TECHNICIAN FAIL.
Teammates who aren’t supporting me in getting things accomplished = DISPATCH FAIL

I’ve been doing this job for 6 ½ years, and most of the other dispatchers are 3-5 years (with the exception of T., who is the new guy at about 8 months right now, and is referred to as Rain Man, for painfully obvious reasons). You’d think a team that was together this long, and knowing darn well what is expected of us on a daily basis, and is told (JUST IN CASE WE FORGOT) in an email to please do this, that and the other thing, would actually get shit done. Right?

I am soooo over this job. I’ve been sending out applications weekly, but no real nibbles since my interview with Classical KING FM (Assistant Programmer position) this summer. I would have been a shoe-in, had I not just that day gotten my offer accepted on the house, and they were only able to offer me $13/hour (I’m making almost $19/hour). I couldn’t take the major paycut!
I know a new job wouldn’t necessarily cure all the ills of annoying coworkers and shit that pisses one off, because that’s everywhere. I’m also well aware that sometimes (more often than not), the grass is only greener on the other side because there’s more bullshit. But at least it would be different tasting bullshit, right? (Ewwwww…that’s a gross mental image!). But working for what is now the better part of a decade in the same entry-level position with no hope of progressing further in the company – so much for my LEED certification! – has just made me really, really done. Stick-a-fork-in-me done.

My end-of-year self-evaluation and review is coming up, and with it, the question of “what are your goals for next year?”
I am so tempted to just be honest and answer with, “getting a new job” :\

The falling leaves drift by the window, the autumn leaves of red and gold.

lightningflash — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:05:21 GMT

You can totally skip this post if you want, as it's really more of a reminder to myself about Things I Want to Do Around the House!
All of this is going to have to wait until the Halloween show is over, though. Might be posting a reminder about that, too - for you all!

Time frame for most of this stuff to be done is over the winter.

Bedroom:
DIY - Curtain rod/holders over windows, curtain hemming and hanging over bed
DIY - Magazine holder floating shelf, stain and hang
DIY - Faux Roman Shade for closet
DIY - Wall of fancy shopping bags, framed and hung over vanity
To Do - Hang mirror, jewelry holders, any art?
To Do - Touch up paint as needed
To Buy - 2 small wall sconces to hang above bed on either side of window

Living Room:
DIY - Canvas photographs/David poster
DIY - Line white plastic bins
To Do - Pick out and hang curtains
To Do - Touch up paint as needed
To Buy - Stencil for glossy wall art

Music Room:
DIY - Shelf – paint, (wallpaper the back?), organize music
DIY - Decoupage musical lampshade
To Do - Hang musical items/art
To Do - Install curtain rods, hang curtains

Kitchen:
DIY - Doily table runner
DIY - Bookshelves – paint, wallpaper the back?
DIY - Glass Cabinet – paint, wallpaper the back?
DIY - Remove drawer/drawer front, install paper towel rod
To Do - Reoganize spices into better cabinets/drawers arrangement
To Do - Hang art, herb-growing jars next to fridge
To Buy - Area Rug for underneath table/chairs

Loft:
DIY - Recover file cabinets (scrapbook paper, fabric?)
DIY - Side table – add table legs to an old drawer (from kitchen?), paint/decoupage?
To Do - Make up guest bed (foam is coming)
To Do - Set up craft area
To Do - Hang wall art
To Do - Set up small TV, get used DVD player?
To Do - Organize storage area
Build/Restore Built-in Bookshelf, Railing
Paint – Light & Dark Greens, White Trim

Assorted Easy & Cheap Projects to DIY:
Cork Monogram
Cereal Box Star + paint/fabric/paper
Yarn ball wreath
Candlestick + Frame
Twine-wrapped vase lantern(s)
Terrariums
Button Clock
Binding together old cards/notes
Assorted items into Treble Clef shape, spray-paint copper, mount & frame
Air freshener – baking soda & essential oils
Frame/hang corkboard

To Buy - Get 3 window screens (bedroom, music room, loft)

A fantabulous night to make romance, 'neath the cover of October skies

lightningflash — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 23:59:52 GMT

Holy gods, I'm updating!
Things have been sooooo crazy-busy that I've not had a lot of inclination to post, but I have not yet abandoned Ye Olde Livejournal. Most of you are on my Facebook, so y'all have a pretty good idea of what's going on in my life. Things like my house is coming along (slowly, but surely!), my ankle is healing fantastically (physical therapist is delighted with my rate of recovery) and the Halloween show is coming up (I'm going as Hans Christian Anderson's "Snow Queen").

What I've not posted about (yet) is the new man in my life. SQUEE!!! Although he is a new FB Friend, it's not "Facebook Official" yet that we are dating. But I'd say 7 dates in 2 weeks qualifies, don't you?

His name is Joseph, and he's been in Seattle about 9 months, a recent transplant from Richmond, Virginia. He's a PhD, and is incredibly smart, with an engineer's brain that my dad is going to love. He works in foot'n'ankle research, so he's totally into what I did to my foot, haha. He fences (German longsword), loves movies, books, snuggling, and makes pizza from scratch. He texts me every day, and we usually talk, too. For hooooours. It's kind of amazing!

How did we meet? He'd posted an ad on Craigslist, copying text from his plentyoffish profile. I was originally just kind of bored and flipped through the personals to see just crazy schite people were posting about themselves. I found myself really intrigued by his profile for real, though, and emailed him. We did that for a couple of days, then met up, and haven't stopped since. I'd never thought I'd actually find a truly amazing guy on Craigslist! Jobs, apartments, furniture... a man???

We seem to be very much on the same wavelength. His post specified that he was looking for somebody to get into swing dancing with (HELLO!) and a possible LTR. Okay, so that starts off well, right? Then, on our first date, I broached the C-word - children. I've come to the conclusion (after a lot of mistakes and a year of therapy) that I need to not be so shy about what I want in my life, and the white-picket-fence thing is a big deal for me. I want to create a family, that's no secret, but I struggled a lot with how and when to approach that with a potential relationship. What I've decided works best for me is to be upfront about it, but try to do it in a non-scary way. With Joseph, I prefaced the question by saying that this is something that's important to me, but I'm not so baby-crazy that I've gone out and gotten myself knocked up for it; I'm looking for the right man. When I asked how he felt about kids, he didn't pause for a second, just immediately said, "Absolutely, definitely want them." It was actually a weight off my shoulders, because I didn't have to worry/wonder about it. Surprisingly, knowing that makes me much less anxious about the relationship in general, and I feel like I can focus on just the two of us, here and now, instead of freaking about the future. It's not set by any means - I'm not so dumb as to jump to the Island of Conclusions and assume that WE ARE HAVING TEH BABBIES TOGETHER NAO! - but now that the conversation about whether or not we individually want them is done, we will need to find out if we want them together.

Particularly interesting, especially for those who know me so well, is that we haven't had sex yet - which surprisingly hasn't driven me crazy! But there's so much cuddling and high-school-ish making-out, and we are both really enjoying taking it slow - although I also enjoy pushing his buttons to be really tempting. And he knows it, too. :) There's some very good, slow-burning sexual chemistry there.

Joseph and I have a lot of the same values, upbringing, tastes, with enough differences to keep things interesting. I am so very hopeful and optimistic and happy, and I don't think I've put him on a pedestal (I do that sometimes, you know). We're going to fight and there's going to be things I don't like about him, and I'm going to drive him crazy eventually. But the foundation, thus far, seems to be slowly and solidly built.

So, that's me today. I'm about to get off work, run home and feed Teddy Bear, then back out to the door to tour the Coca-Cola factory in Bellevue with Joseph!

Green Shirt Thursday!

lightningflash — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:30:18 GMT

Hello.

How YOU all doin'?

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

How we've grown to love each other, everywhere we go

lightningflash — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:14:42 GMT

Happy Friday! I have decided to regale you all with delectable fluffy cuteness. Behold and Rejoice!

Him so handsome!

Giving me the stink-eye.

Sleeeeeeeeps.

On Gretchen's lap during a Crafternoon.

On top of Eric, who is on top of Gretchen. King of the Mountain, suckas! Also, he looks disproportionally large here, hehehe.

Romping with me, whilst I'm taking a picture. This is "artsy," right?

And an "artsy" angle.

I swear, with that long flowy hair, he could be on the cover of a dog's romance novel. I would call it "Doggy Style," and he would be the dark, sexy male with a mysterious past. He gets ~~adopted by~~ with a lovely brunette, who pampers him with delicious foods, snuggles and kisses, and long walks in the park.

His last pic before he got his hairs did.

And now, with less fluff'n'stuff!

Look! It's Teddy Bear with a teddy bear! I crack myself up...

He got new toys, during my pre-move purge this week!

He's just so damn cute when he sleeps!

Meeting my sister's not-yet-full-grown English Mastiff, Gracie Lou. Please note that Teddy is as big as her head.

And just for fun, I'm going to end with some Crazy!Face pix.

Unrelated: Moving Day 2k11 is tentatively set for Saturday, August 27. Mardi & the Boy Army are coming to help, along with my parents, Gretchen, and anyone else who is so inclined. I shamelessly bribe with pizza & beer!

Homebird sing, leave out nothing tell me everything

lightningflash — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:18:27 GMT

I have almost 200 photos to upload and update for my Project 365. Ooooops.
However, since that's not going to happen while I'm at work, I shall update you on my current status.

The house is officially in escrow, and I'm looking at a closing date of August 12th. OH SHI- THIS IS HAPPENING. Cue happpy dance! Please, come along for a little breakdown how I envision my forthcoming domicile.

My color scheme is earthy, jewel tones. I’ll talk you on a hypothetical walk through my hypothetical house :) And this is all going to be over a long period of time – years, I suspect. So with some help from my Pintrest boards, please join me!

The outside of the house is currently a slate-blue, with [dirty] white trim. I want to get it resanded and painted to a deep foresty green, with crisp white trim. Since I have plans to put lots of pretty flowering things in pinks, fuchias, and periwinkle, I think the green will set them off nicely.

The Living Room, which is what you first walk into, will have deep honey-gold walls, with a lighter shade for the ceiling, and white trim (white trim will be a unifying feature of my place, so pretty much consider that for all rooms from here on out). I want to use this amazing technique, to give it a lovely brocaded look. My couch is sage green, and I have pillows in sage, purple, chocolate brown, and multi-colored with green, gold, burgundy, violet and brown. I’ll have solid wood pieces, like the coffee table and two end tables (one square, one round), my desk, the forthcoming grandmother clock, the telephone chair, as well as the TV and TV stand. Also getting my dad’s vintage recliner from the 60’s, and I’m going to reupholster in burgundy.

The front room, or shall henceforth be known as the Music Room, is to the right of the Living Room. Eventually, part of the wall/doorway will be taken out and replaced with French doors, and the bamboo floor from the front room (and kitchen) will be continued into this room for continuity and to make the whole front space feel more open and cohesive. So it will have the same honey-gold walls, and will house my piano, probably the hall tree and/or the fainting couch.

Continuing from the Living Room into the Kitchen, which has beautiful blue slate backsplash all the way up to the hickory cabinets, and stainless steel appliances. The walls in here will be done in sage green with chocolate brown accents, to keep the earthy tones with a calm, soothing feel, and will tie in the blue slate with my sage green dishes. My little table and bentwood chairs will be in the breakfast “nook” (it’s really too big to be a nook, but not large enough to be a dining room), probably anchored with a rug, hopefully with all 3 blue/green/brown tones.

Heading to the right of the kitchen is a small Hallway, with the stairs going up to the loft, which I tell you I am strongly inclined to paint these awesome book stairs. For a bibliovore like myself, how perfect is that??? Although they are reasonable nice wood steps, so… maybe I’ll paint something that can be attached to the steps instead? Anybooty, to the left (across from the stairs) is a niche that I think would work really well for my two large bookshelves. Or possibly my white cabinet, which I could FINALLY sand down and repaint, and maybe in one of those aforementioned kitchen colors, like a chocolate brown with sage green on the inside, or some such thing. That cabinet, which currently houses a lot of tchotchkes and stuff, hair supplies and sweaters, will be repurposes to display my lovely glass antiques, my cheap-thrills (I’m cheap, but they thrill me) multi-colored martini and champagne glasses, with cookbooks and glass vases in the lower section.

To the left out of the hallway (it barely qualifies as a hallway, but I’m calling it that), is the Master Bedroom. It’s an odd sideways-T shape, so it will be interesting. I’m currently playing with the idea of creating a separate bed-nook with paint and a curtained-off area (it will look a bit bordello, but hey, that’s me!). So, when you walk in, it’s the crossbar of the T, with windows dead ahead and to the right, with the closet entrance to the right and slightly behind. I am thinking this area to be a more neutral color already used in the house (the honey-gold or green, probably. The perpendicular section would house my bed in a rather narrow area, which I am inclined to paint burgundy, with the same brocade-glossy paint technique used above. I’d put in wall sconces for light, and floating shelves for my book, alarm clock, phone, etc. I’d like to get a curtain (possibly in a velvety heather-purple or more burgundy, and possibly with a white gauzy layer, all of which could drape down and shield the bed, but most often be draped gracefully off to one side. There’s also a built-in vanity type thing, that is due to the stairs that go down to the basement (it’s what causes the funky room-shape, too), and I will put my perfumes and stuff here, with a big mirror (just got this spring at Apple Blossom) and this sort of faux-luxe (is that even a term) wall art like this with the fancy-store shopping bags.

Across from the Bedroom is the Bathroom, in which the floor is the same blue slate that is in the kitchen. Again, I will have sage green and chocolate brown accents, and it’s huge so there is room to put in shelving units (probably dark wood), and there are some open shelving units tucked into a corner already. I am thinking to get some lovely baskets and make it pretty and organized like these shown here.

Moving on upstairs, the banisters at the top are a little bit wibbly, so I would like to put in something like these, with the built-in bookshelves. To the right of the stairs will probably just be storage space for now (it’s not big enough for a room, especially with the eaves that angle in). To the left, and around the banisters, it opens up into a much larger Loft Room. There’s a window at the far end that overlooks the backyard. This room also has eaves that angle in, but the center part is easy to stand up in. This will probably be a combo guest room/craft room (or craft supplies, at any rate). I would like to do the bottom part of the walls in sage green (darker shade) and then the eaves and ceiling in the same green, but lighter. My current bed will go up here (I’m totes treating myself to a new bed!), and all of that bedding is currently green. Some other wood furniture, like my cherry-wood cradle that my dad made for me, and the cart which currently houses my scrapbooking stuff, will go up here, and possibly the trunk that is at the foot of my bed right now. So this room will be very “green” for now, and I’m debating about finding ways to make it a little more interesting (browns or burgundy, somehow). This might be done with carpeting, because all of that needs to be replaced (it’s in the two bedrooms on the main floor, the entire loft and the entire basement), and I will probably only replace it in the master bed, upstairs and downstairs (see above re: running bamboo into the Music Room)

So, trekking back down the stairs, into the kitchen and to the stairs to the basement. This will probably be the work that waits the longest, because we need to take out the carpeting, remove some weird, non-structural half-wall thing and let the room just “be” for a while, so I can monitor what kind of water damage is going on. Once that all gets resolved, though, I have some plans for down here. First off, the stairs (or more specifically, the wall to their left) needs to be done. It looks very piecemeal, like when the addition was put on (the breakfast nook/master bedroom is an addition), it was sort of half-assed. There’s technically crawlspace access, but it’s odd and I think it can be redone to look better and more cohesive.
Upon entering the basement, I’d like to put in a bathroom to the immediate right, which will require some intensive replumbing of certain things. It would also necessitate moving the washer/dryer further away, which would be ideal as I want to create a laundry nook, with nice cabinets, space to hang a full-size ironing board (I have my little dinky dorm-sized one right now), etc.
To the right upon entering will be the main storage area, for décor, supplies, etc.
The furthest-back section will eventually be a movie room. The big blank wall will have a white square painted with a black (or dark) edge to it, and I will have a projector for showing movies. I’m envisioning big squishy chairs or beanbags (or both!), maybe tiered somehow. There is a platform area, which used to be the coal chute from the 20’s, and I’m thinking to put in a smallish fridge for drinks, a microwave for popcorn or other snackies, etc. It will be so awesome and cozy, and my ~~milkshake~~ movie room will bring all the boys to the ~~yard~~ house!
Because this is all further down the line, and dependant on water damage/repairs, I’m less set on how this will all be done up, other than purpose-of-room. The furnace will get replaced next month (crosses fingers), the other stuff will get hauled out, and then it’s a waiting game. When I’m finally ready to revamp it and bring it up to snuff, that will involve finishing the ceiling with something that is not stapled fabric, enclosing the water heater/furnace properly, painting, carpeting, and tiling the laundry area (or something). Right now, once we haul out the nasties, we’re just going to seal it with special paint that my mom recommends (I forget what it’s called…). But it’ll just look white.

Back up the stairs we go, and hang a right through the breakfast nook and to the back yard. There is a LOT of potential, but it’s all getting run over at the moment. The lawn desperately needs overhauling. The old garage foundation will be modified with paving stones or acid-etched cement or something, to be a nice patio with an awning, patio furniture, a BBQ and a funky fire pit. I’d like to redo the steps that lead to the backyard for a more finished patio and portico, with stepping stones curving over to the BBQ area. I want herbs, veggies, fruit and a chicken coop, as well as lovely plants like roses, lavender, pansies, and lilies. Maybe a clothesline for drying my clothes in the fresh air in the summer (saves on dryer!).

This concludes the virtual tour of my yet-to-close house! Thanks for joining, and please do come again and often!

I will not rest till I lay down my head in the house of stone and light

lightningflash — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:08:58 GMT

The house-buying process is moving right along!
I found out a bit of the recent history on the house, and how it came on the market. Apparently, the most recent owner (probably the one who started upgrades, like in the kitchen, but then randomly stopped) was renting it out to college students. Trouble was, he wasn’t applying their rent to the mortgage, so it went into foreclosure. College students, they are hard on houses, I should know. So it’s not in the best of shape, just needs a lot of TLC to make it pretty and happy again. Also, previous owners had definitely made some additions and stuff, like the big eating area and the master bedroom.

So, here’s where I’m at right now!

Things that HAVE happened:
- I won the bidding war (DUH. WINNING!).
- I signed my part of the Purchase/Sale Agreement.
- House Inspection and report done! Might write more on that later.

Things that still NEED to happen:
- Get the OTHER half the Purchase/Sale signed. It’s “mine,” but not on paper yet. It got sent in about an hour before the 4th of July holiday weekend, so they are a little behind. But my realtor has the assurance from the asset company that it’s good to go.
- Get the plumbing lines scoped. Since this is bank-owned, apparently there are no records (either at all, or being offered up willingly), so I want to make sure there’s no plumbing problems to anticipate.
- Renegotiate with the bank, based on the house inspection findings (see below). I’m hoping to ask for them to knock $5,000 off the purchase price.
- Close the deal! Probably won’t be until on/after August 1st.

After Closing, but Before Moving:
- Furnace Replacement. The inspection found a lot of little things (a lot of which my dad can fix, and I will be on hand to help/learn), but the most pressing concern is the furnace. It’s from 1985 (nearly as old as me!) and while it “works,” it is in TERRIBLE condition, absolutely filthy, probably never been serviced, no filter, etc. Blech. However, since I work for this snazzy HVAC company, connections: I has them. One of my techs is willing to do side work for me, and will be coming out to check the furnace the same time as I get the plumbing scoped out. 2 birds, one scheduling stone.
- Duct Cleaning and Reattachment. We have a duct cleaning service that we refer out to here at McK, so I’ll be calling them for an estimate. ALL of the ducts need to be cleaned, one needs to be reattached completely, and one needs to be realigned.
- Painting! This is the part I’m most excited about so far. I’ve never painted a wall in my life, and for some reason, that is SUCH a homeownery thing to do – paint your damn walls! I couldn’t (or didn’t want to deal with the hassle of re-painting upon move-out) in my apartments/dorm rooms, so this is exciting for me. And I have IDEAS, y’all. It is going to be GORGEOUS!!! More on that later – probably going to be a separate post, heh.
- Mom will want to bleach everything to high heaven. And really, this place needs it. Actually, I’m considering getting a one-time cleaning service, because it’s just been used SO HARD. Poor house-baby.
- Need to remove certain things in the basement, to monitor some water damage concerns.

Moving Day 2011
- Will probably be late August. I’ve got a sweet arrangement with my landlord worked out, in that my last month’s rent was paid up front, and so I wrote my last rent check for July, and that will give me through the end of August to get the house freshened up before schlepping all of my stuff (all 4 blocks ). My landlord said I was doing a really smart thing by giving myself a month to get the house ready before loading it up with stuff, and saving myself a world of headaches and hassle. Yay! It so worked out.
- Yes, I will be putting out a call for friends to come help me move – I will TOTES provide pizza and beer!
- My parents are helping to coordinate the really big stuff that will require professional movers from Wenatchee. These items include my baby grand piano, the antique hall tree and grandmother clock from Granny (paternal grandmother), and the antique wardrober from Grandma (maternal grandmother), as well as the antique black leather fainting couch (that desperately needs to be restuffed and retufted, eventually), the delightful Laz-E-Boy that my dad has had since the 60’s (needs a slipcover/to be recovered)… and I think that’s it for furniture from there. There are other things, like my prized and priceless gifts from my surrogate grandparents, holiday décor/ornaments, rugs and quilts, etc., that are mine and have been held for me by my parents. But those items will probably come over in my parent’s car, not the movers.
- I am hoping to have a lot of small items moved over before anybody has to deal with them. Things like extra bathroom stuff that is not in use (like bubble bath – I have a standing only shower right now, but the new place is back to a tub!), holiday plates/décor, outdoor patio furniture, all 350 books, kitchen supplies/dishes I don’t use on a regular basis, and so on. Because I’m only 4 blocks away, I can make a lot of short trips with my car packed up each time.

Settling In – Future To-Do’s
- Knock out a partial (non-load-bearing wall) just inside the front door, that leads to the front bedroom, in order to put in French doors and make it more a part of the living/front room. Possibly run more bamboo flooring for a more seamless effect. This will be the music room, and the French doors will allow it to be more open and inclusive, while still keeping it with “bedroom” status (for house value).
- Replace all the carpeting in master bedroom, loft and basement.
- Yardwork. All of the vines encroaching up the side need to go. Grass/lawn needs to be de-dandelioned. Start an herb garden. Want lavender and rosebushes in immediately, and then go from there. Also: Chickens.
- Back “patio.” There was an old shed there once upon a time, and the shed is gone (there is electrical run out to it, though), and there’s a solid cement foundation. It’s ugly now, but I have PLANS to lay down nice paving stones, a barbeque, and a cute firepit (yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a “cute firepit,” and I have one already on my wishlist :D). Also, possibly an awning, pretty twinkly lights and maybe a fancy doghouse for Teddy Bear.
- Basement has a LOT of potential. Unfortunately, it also has a lot of concerns, like water damage in one corner, and mold along an interior wall. There’s 3 areas to the basement, and I’d like to make them specific areas: laundry room, storage room, and movie room. The movie room would be big comfy squishy things to sit on, get a projector for the big open wall, and there’s an odd little platform area (we think it was the old coal chute/storage) with maybe a small fridge for snacks and drinkies, and so on. Possibly, depending on the huge effing hassle it would be, also put a bathroom downstairs. It would be a pain in the patoot I bet, but it would also make it a 3 bed/2 bath house, and would add expontentially to the value of the place. Basement also needs new ceiling – or rather A ceiling, as it’s currently just cloth tacked to the rafters, and enclose the hot water heater/furnace areas properly to be tucked out of sight, out of mind.

I’m sure more will get added to the list as I go. I mean, I still have crafty projects to do that have NOTHING to do with a house! And books to read! And things to knit! People to see and dog to walk and boys to love!

I’m so excited! * cue Jessie Spano * I’m also overwhelmed, nervous, terrified, thrilled, and accomplished.

How much is that doggy in the window? The one with the waggly tail.

lightningflash — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 23:50:42 GMT

I have lots to talk about. Try not to get lost in the epic ramblings of a not-posting-enough-in-smaller-doses Ashley.

In order of increasing importance:

* My SIFF movie of choice to see this year was Burke & Hare, which has Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Andy Serkis (LotR's Gollum) as grave robbers in 1830's England.

* I have a couch/sleeper sofa for sale! Here is the Craigslist ad, I'm asking $50 OBO, and that includes the chocolate-brown strechy-suede slipcover, that's been modified for the sleeper bed part (not visible when it's in couch-mode). Needs to go by next weekend, 17 June! If no one takes it, I'll call Salvation Army or something.

* I have officially started the search for my first house! Some opportunities in West Seattle have arisen, and with my car being paid off last month (YESSSSS!) and 2 loans finishing payments this summer (about $800 total), all that remains is my last student loan. So I'm in a good position, with good credit/credit scores, to buy. As a first time buyer, I get a bunch of help, and additionally, Clay is holding my hand through all of this process (he's a realtor). It's a tremendously exciting, yet slightly overwhelming experience, but I'm so jazzed to find my OWN place, and stop paying rent, and getting to paint and fix up, and it will all just be so awesome. I've got my pre-approval letter (not just pre-qual, I've been through the underwriter and everything, I could have a house within a matter of weeks!), and I've got a budget. With the housing market where it's at right now, I'm looking at a 140,000 to 180,000 price range. At the upper end is something like this charming house with the picket fence and everything. At the lower end, and the house that really kick-started this process, is this little one, which is a block away from me, and in decent condition. It's bigger than the first house, by about 300sq ft! Lots of potential, a few cosmetic things. It was also originally priced at 153,000 (it's bank-owned) and has dropped to 139,900 in the last week.
I have an appointment with my realtor to see 4 houses this evening, and some more with my parents on Saturday when they are in town (delivering the new couch).

* And of course, the BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL (so far - this has actually happened, while a house is still TBD), is that I got me a dog! It's been something I've talked about, wanted, daydreamed, etc. for a long, long time - basically ever since I graduated from college. I luuuuuuurve dogs, and one of my favorite things about family gatherings is that I get some doggy lovin's. Schnauzers, boxers, mastiffs, etc. It has always made coming home to an empty place a little bit lonelier every time. But, I always felt like the financial obligation of owning a pet would hamstring me (I've had some months that were beyond tight), and I didn't want to be one of those jackhole owners who get a pet and then can't afford to take proper care of it. Plus, I was always so busy, and landlord restrictions, and yadda yadda yadda.

But then, some things changed recently.

The first one being financial - my car is officially paid off as of May 20. YAY! 5 years of car payments, and I felt much freer (this ties into the whole house-hunting thing, too!). Almost $300/month going towards my car is now available.
The second one being that my therapist thought that having a pet would be a good idea for me. She didn't make an official doctor's note (it would count under Americans with Disabilities if I have a doctor's note for a companion animal, and I could not be denied housing becuase of it), but because I have relationship issues, having someone to come home to, that needs me (I need to be needed), and will give unconditional love was highly recommended. I figured, oh, I'd wait until I got a house, then I could avoid the landlord issue.
The third thing is that I'm considerably less busy right now. I'm taking some time for ME, and a little hiatus from dance classes, dating, running all over town damn near every night, etc. So I have the time to devote to an animal in the evening, and I only work 3 miles from home, so I can go home on my lunch breaks.

Last Sunday, I stopped by a plant sale/adoption event in West Seattle. It went until 4pm, and I figured I would just drop off some stuff I had for donation (containers for plants), and skedaddle. I didn't expect that there would still be any pets left for adoption, but there was - just one. A small, very friendly, black Pomeranian with handsome white markings and an adorable little dance. He was a stray, available through King Country Animal Services, and was recently neutered, microchipped and vaccinated. My landlord, Brad, had already said "no pets," although he himself has a cat (which I think he is allergic to, oddly enough). But I picked this little feller up, and he just snuggled right up to my neck.

It was pretty much all over at that point. I lost my heart to a tiny fuzzball.
Seriously, could you resist this?

I started making some calls. To my parents, who were a bit dubious (but then saw a picture of him and realized "no" wasn't ever an option), Gretchen, to get her works-with-dogs-every-day perspective, and finally, Brad. Just to see. Worst he could say was "no," right? And if I had a plan for minimizing household damage, and the dog seemed quiet and was housebroken... maybe. Maaaaaybe this could happen.

So Brad and I talked that night, and the shelter was holding him for me. Brad asked me to sleep on it, and consider the life-style change that this would mean. I did think about it, quite seriously - although it was hard to "sleep on it" when I was too excited to actually SLEEP. :P But I've been wanting this kind of lifestyle for quite some time now. Someone to come home to and play with and care for, someone who needs me, "another heartbeat in the house" as I heard someone put it recently. If I was to move in with someone, and/or have a child, it would be a similar change in lifestyle, and I want that, and I knew that I was making a conscious choice. I haven't had good luck finding another person who wants to share their life with me, and perhaps a dog is a better route to learning how to love unconditionally and accept it in return. Clay said once (or several times in different ways) that I am not really prepared to factor in someone else into my life, whether that's making space for them (I seem to expand to fill my living spaces), or in adjusting for their time to get ready when making plans. Having to stop and slow down, know that I need to go home and take care of the dog would be good for me to remember that my life doesn't/won't always revolve around just me.

So, Brad was convinced, and things happened VERY quickly. Gretchen came down after work while I picked up the pooch, and if I'd been just a few minutes later, I wouldn't have gotten him! When I arrived at the shelter, there was a mom and daughter holding him, waiting to see if I was going to show up and claim him, otherwise they were going to take him. I felt bad, as I totally understood how attractive that little guy was. But I was ready to bring him home, and some paperwork, a phone call to Brad (they call your landlord when your application says you rent, which is cool. Brad was delighted that they did so), and I was a new dog-momma! I kept the name the shelter gave him, which was Teddy Bear (although one girl tried to name him Hamlet, but I find Hamlet to be a whiney little emo-kid, and so I preferred Teddy Bear), although Gretchen is going to call him Hammy. O_o

Got home and met up with Gretchen, who gave him a thorough going-over (since I was all starry-eyed) and checked the medical records that came with him from his time at the shelter. By the end of the night, she was charmed (and not just because I plyed her with wine).

She went with me to Petco, and we got all the doggy necessities - toys, treats, food, bowls, beds, leash, harness, all that jazz. I took her home, and by the end of the night, both Teddy Bear and I were zonked. It was a big day for both of us!

We've been getting along fabulously ever since. Teddy is a very sweet, affectionate boy, who doesn't bark (except for other dogs, more on that later), and a non-yappy Pomeranian is sort of the Holy Grail of Lapdogs! He's housebroken, doesn't chew on anything except his toys and his food, and loves going for walks. Which is good, because he gets 4 of them a day (morning, midday, evening, and night). He's very smart and that becomes annoying when he's playing stupid, because I KNOW he is too smart, hah. I don't know his story, since he was a stray, but I think he must have had a family at one point. He is too well-trained and too good around people not to have been raised in one.

But that family must not have had another dog. That is really Teddy's only fault - he's fairly dog agressive, which surprised me. When I saw him at the plant sale, he was corralled with another little Pom (a yippy bouncy one) for company, and he was totally fine with it. But when we are on our walks or at the park, he snarls, lunges, snaps, and I'm afraid he's going to hurt someone else or their dog. He finally did "make a friend" at Westcrest yesterday, but by "friend" I mean he ate her out and then tried to hump her. My dog is the frat-boy douche of dogs! OMG SO EMBARASSING. So I'm looking into some dog training, probably with Puppy Perfectors, which was recommended by my vet (Dr. McKim with Greentree Animal Hospital). He'll meet Maggie & Millie (my parent's miniature schnauzers) when they come over this weekend, so that will be interesting. And noisy. And if he still thinks like an un-neutered male, he's probably going to be all "OOOOH, TWINS!"

So, now that you all have the background on my new little fluffernut, fuzzykins, squirrely monkey, Prince Charming, good boy, bad dog, Sir Licks-a-Lot, here are some pix!

With his spearmint rope toy

With his tiny tennis ball

Studly Dog is Studly.

Embarassed to be photographed with Momma?

On my bed with his Heffalump

And you can be sure, there are many more to come :D

FINALLY, A FUNNY.
I have been laughing at this all. damn. day. It is SO what work feels like, especially in customer service, or any job where you deal with idiots all day! Like people who book calls with not enough information in them, and then I get lambasted for not knowing this invisible, magic information. Set up to fail, I tell ya.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

April in Paris, this is a feeling no one can ever reprise.

lightningflash — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:20:06 GMT

Fan of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire? Enjoy food? Then this looks like the most amazing conglomeration of the two - Inn at the Crossroads!

Insert segue here. :P

Updating a bit, as I'm behind on photoblogging my year thus far. Here we are, up until last Sunday.

Project 365 post

38 - Valentine's Day!

39 - Man's Search for Meaning

40 - Lily

41 - Cobalt City's Timeslip

42 - Green Hat

43 - Rat City Roller Derby

44 - Chili Fixin's

45 - Nail Polish

46 - Breakfast of Champions!

47 - Snowballed Golf

48 - Purple Silk-Bamboo Mitts, for Anna

49 - Twofer! Maesi...

& Otis

50 - Flower & Garden Show, Caterpillar

51 - Tasty Brew!

52 - Green Beads

53 - Pat Rothfuss Signing

54 - Pagan Tools

55 - Inappropriate Logo!

56 - Potato Blossoms

57 - Harry Potter Mini-Cooper

58 - Baby Gift!

59 - Girl Scout Cookies, Lemon Chalet Creams

60 - First sign of Spring!

61 - Fancy "A"

62 - Artistic Egghead

63 - Purple Cable Mitts, for Gretchen

64 - Banana Chocolate-Chip Walnut Bread. OMNOMNOM.

65 - Canterbury Ales

66 - Zorro

67 - Maggie & Millie O'Schnauzer, lulz.

68 - Boot Planter

69 - Girl with a Pearl Earring

70 - Supermoon

71 - Carmen in RealD-3D

72 - Hyacinth

73 - Taking Charge of Your Fertility

74 - Pansy & Lace Cap

75 - Moisture Festival

76 - Hula Hula Light Light

77 - Garnet Hat

78 - Roxie's Diner, YUMMMMMM.

79 - Air Plant, it's growing a baby!

80 - Cloche, Pearls & Feather

81 - Favoritest Calvin & Hobbes Panel EVER.

82 - I &hearts C&H

83 - Knit & Sticks!

84 - Mossflower & The Subtle Knife

85 - Cherry Blossom Trees at UW

86 - Green Table is Green

87 - Green, Pink & White Randomness

88 - Grape Hyacinths & Candle

89 - Academie Cabiri

90 - Flowers by my Front Door

91 - McMenamin's Pub

92 - Pedicabs

93 - His & Hers Bikes

94 - Sushi with jennicole

95 - 5 lbs of Tortilla Chips

96 - Jewelry Party

97 - The Thirteenth Tale

98 - Book Sale Haul

99 - Deception Pass - Beach Sunset

I'm not meant to live alone, Turn this house into a home.

lightningflash — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 23:57:11 GMT

This weekend is going to be an intense one.
Saturday, I have the public library's semi-annual book sale + crafty day with Gretchen. My goal is to not buy more than 10 books - WE SHALL SEE HOW THAT GOES.
Sunday and Monday, though, are going to be the really big ones. Clay and I will be taking our farewell road trip up to Deception Pass on Sunday, spending the night (probably in my car, with the backseat folded down and lots of sleeping bags, blanket and pillows), and coming back on Monday. We'll get to Seattle late-morning/mid-day, and spend several relaxing hours at Banya5 (getting in on their early-bird happy-hour half-off price). And then he will go to work that evening (his new business venture of pedicabs, working the Mariner's game). And I will go home. And we will be officially broken up.

I have some very mixed feelings about this trip. I'm looking forward to this time, just the two of us, but I'm incredibly saddened by what it represents. I know that the break-up is the right thing to do, in order to have the kind of future that I want, but I love him fiercely and a part of me does not want to let this relationship go. I'll be taking some time for myself, but I also know that I'll be lonely quite often. So it's a mixed bag of very strong, and some conflicting, emotions.
I dislike being conflicted. I like to be what I consider my usual self: happy, optimistic, laughing, enjoying what I'm doing. To be feeling things like sadness, loneliness, fear, etc., is NOT a bad thing. On the contrary, it's good to feel and acknowledge one's full range of emotions and not deny their right to exist. But it's hard for me to enjoy (if that's the right word?) feeling those things, and being okay with it. My emotions swing so high and so low, so intensely that I don't really function at 100% when I'm in the lows.

So, with this busy Sat/Sun/Mon schedule (plus being out tonight), I'm taking Tuesday off for a mental health day. My supervisorlady knows the bare bones of what is going on, and she is very supportive of me taking the time that I need. I am hopeful that with having some time to myself, and just taking each day as it comes, and each emotion as it rises, I will be okay. Maybe even better than okay.

So I'm just going to prattle on here about some things I want for the future. This particular topic will be a House of Dreams theme.

I'm 28 now, and I've had a goal to buy a house on or before I turn 30. I've been stockpiling money away for several years now, and hope to have enough for a down payment by next year. Clay, who has worked in real estate and still has his license, has offered to help me with this process (yes, even after we're no longer dating). I think it will be good to take him up on this offer, as I have no freakin' clue what I'll be getting into, but he can explain it in terms I understand, and has recommended several books that I can read to get familiar with the process. I definitely plan to read up on this stuff, as I feel that being informed will give me a lot of negotiating power when the time comes.

I want to stay in West Seattle (oooooh, yessss). And the upper limit of my price range that I think I can manage is about $300,000. Naturally, I tend more towards the higher end of things whenever I have choices to make - and not on purpose, either! I just like what I like, and it turns out to be the most expensive option. Yikes. I also have an ultimate dream of a Tudor-style, brick house someday, but I doubt that will be in my price range. Also, I have a thing for brick houses - I call it the 3-Little-Pigs Syndrome. The brick house was the sturdiest, remember!

So, with that said, I like something like this 2 bed/1 bath cutie for $299,000. Look at the arched entryway through the hedge! I'd feel like I was entering fairyland (or I would make it so, anyway). And the walls with lovely saturated color, which I have been dying to do. And the huge kitchen! And the hardwood floors! Nomnomnom. However, I wish it had the square footage on the house, so I could see what the cost per square foot breaks down to, and compare.

This considerably smaller one is waaaay more within my price range, as just under $200,000. It's only slightly larger than my current apartment, and I suspect the layout is a little odd. But it does have some nice-appearing feature in the pics, but I'm not as wild about it as I am with the first one. Interestly, this cost per square foot is about $265 - that seems high to me!

This third one, with a whopping 5 bedrooms(!!!) is right in the middle, price-wise of the other two. I wish there were more pics of the bedrooms, but I love that there is a front porch, hardwood floors, a finished basement, and an actual master suite. Do you know what all I'd do with those five bedrooms? My bedroom (duh), guest bedroom, craft room (depending on the basement), future dog's room, and a shoe room. Okay, maybe I'm kidding about the last one (okay, two), and of course, if I was to start a family we could seriously grow into this house. And the cost per square foot is just about $120. So of the last two (since I can't factor in the first one), this is really a much better deal.

So that's just some current house-browsing. I'll see how much things change in a year with the housing market (up, down, or neither!). I've also been checking auction.com, to see if there's anything that catches my eye!

So, once I get this lovely fabulous home, or this fixer-upper full of potential awesomesauce, whatever shall I do with it??? Granted, a lot of these are things I have/am doing/could do right now, but when it's my own home, I think it will feel different somehow.

Well, I want to paint. Walls, especially in some gorgeous saturated colors, would be a ton of fun. And I've never painted anything before, so I reallllllly want to try my hand at painting large spaces.

I want to decorate. I love the decor and stuff that is in my current apartment, but I have a bunch of very nice things (glassware, wall hangings, vases, blankets) that are in storage back in my parent's basement in Wenatchee. I really want to start bringing all of these things together and getting to really enjoy them! A lot of them are vintage items from around the world that have been sitting in boxes for about 6 years now - they want to come out and play! I have a funky, electic, vintage flair to my taste, I think - I love Tiffany-style lamps and unusual wall art, pansy-painted china and odd items from my travels. I have a lot of "stuff," but every single piece means something to me, whether it's sentimental, makes me smile, intrigues my mind, or is functional. I have had people be fascinated when they come into my home, and start looking at the things. I don't feel like it's cluttered, but is interesting. And I want to expand!

I want to refinish furniture - like painting, it's something else I've never done. I've got some bookshelves and cabinets that I would dearly love to see what I could transform them into, especially the cheap-o Target pressboard stuff.

I want to start living as green as possible. Composting or a worm bin, energy-efficient windows, anything and everything I could do. If it was a fixer-upper, then I would have the opportunity to put a lot of my LEED training into place, and make it really eco-friendly. If it's a nicer joint that doesn't need a lot of renovation then there will probably be less replacement of stuff until much further down the road. I will be on a tight budget, after all. I also want chickens!!! BAWK BAWK!

I want to garden. I want to have a fruit tree (I'm nostalgic for the one I grew up with, a Lambert cherry tree), a veggie garden (for the "fruits" of my composting!), a rose garden, lots of lavender plants, all sorts of things. I adore working in the ground and feeling that warm soil that is so ALIVE. I want to plant and see what works and what doesn't. I'd save money by growing my own veggies and herbs, and some fruits (mmmmm, homegrown strawberries are awwwwwwwesome).

I would finally have room for my piano, and I could play regularly again! And this would be the first time EVER that I'd get to play simply because I wanted to, not because my parents or a scholarship required me to play. I do miss playing, and I enjoyed making beautiful music. My black baby grand in Wenatchee is what I will bring over to Seattle, as soon as I have the living space to do so.

Alrighty, that's enough rambling and day-dreaming for today. Tune in next time for more!

Clusters of crocus, purple and gold. Blankets of pansies, out from the cold!

lightningflash — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 22:20:04 GMT

Bosslady is still out on maternity leave, and Supervisorlady is having a mental health day, so I am continuing to dork around on the internet. And post more pictures!

From the Flower & Garden Show that I attended with mamma and auntie again this year!

I've recently started getting in with Orchids, thanks to my birthday present from my parents after our trip to the Conservatory, and so I took a bunch of photos of various orchid displays.

My favorite displays were tied! The first was an Alice in Wonderland theme (the overarching theme for the show was "Happily Ever After," so there were lots of storybook references).

The Tea Party Table!

Yes, that IS a real White Rabbit next to the Caterpillar!

Other fairytale-inspired ones, starting with A Wind in the Willows

Ikebana (Japanese Floral Arrangement) of Flora, Fauna and Meriwether from Disney's Sleeping Beauty. My favorite of the ikebanas!

And, "there was an old lady who lived in a shoe..." And lemme tell YOU, I totally want a high-heeled shoe set-up in my future yard! Maybe not quite this big - but definitely there.

Another angle of the shoe. Think a pair of shoes can't change your life? Just ask Cinderella!

Other random bits from the show.

Mamma and Auntie

A couple more ikebanas.

This one was "Persepone's Return" - note the "pomegranate" in the bottom, where it looks like the cold, dead, Underworld, and then it grows into Spring up top, with branches beginning to leaf out and purty tulips? Cleverly done! I had to explain it to my mamma and auntie, though, heh.

We always see this vendor, who turns old musical instruments (most brass or woodwinds) into water features. I think it's awesome, and my uncle, who works with instrument repairs, should totally do this, IMO.

What are your plans for the weekend, friendsies?

In the religion of the insecure, I must be myself, respect my youth.

lightningflash — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:30:43 GMT

Finally catching up on some old photoblogging from last year. Edited for content, of course, although there's not much - I honestly didn't take that many pictures last year. But I still like to post them for posterity :)

Halloween!
From The Cabiri's annual Ghost Game, Devil in the Deep Blue Sea. My pretty table set up! Black tablecloths, glass ripply-water patterned plates, bowls of tinted blue water with floating tealight candles, and the coup de grâce, my hand-made sea creature silhouettes! I had all sorts of things - krakens, mermaids, narwhals, anglerfish, sharks, jellyfish, etc., all accented with blue and silver glitter. And then people were assigned tables by sea creature name! LOVED. IT.

The view of the tables from the stage:

Me at one of the tables, in my faaaaantastic dress!

My awesome jellyfish lights over the bar - easy-peasy to make (paper bowls, bubble wrap, blue holiday lights, and scrap fabrics). They were unanimously everyone's favorite part of the decor, and several people asked if they could take them home at the end of the show! FUN!

In my mermaid costume, which Gretchen and I made from scratch, from an idea out of my own head. I love it so hard!

Yes, I had to pose ridiculously. :P

Here is Gretchen, who was representing the Goddess of the River Ganges. She also made her costume from scratch, from a sundress and two old-lady nightgowns she got at thrift stores. Upcycling at its best, yo!

Isn't she lovely?

BFF ♥

From our costume prep day! I was deconstructing this old belt of my mom's from the '80s, which I love and everyone else hates, ahaha. It was to become part of the headpiece!

Prepping for headpiece crafting.

Some detail shots.

Detail shot of the scales on my dress as I was stitching on the shells.

In the midst of all of the Hallowing Show-ing, I managed to squeeze in a Halloween Swing Dance with my darling Clay. Isn't he adorable? I don't think I'd actually posted a picture of him before.

And why yes, he does look like Ralph Macchio! Hence the Karate Kid costume. I'm wearing his Tina Turner costume (dress, wig, etc.) for a last-minute, dance-able costume.

One of our fellow swing dancers is retired, and has a hobby of making aaaaaamaaaaazing treats for the Thursday night dances. Last week's was Sex on the Beach Cupcakes, the one before the Academy Awards was red-[carpet]-velvet cupcakes with tiny edible trophies and comedy/tragedy masks, etc. So she did a full-out dessert extravaganza for Halloween!

And finally (for Halloween-related stuff), here's the pumpkins I carved.

Thanksgiving
Since I had a last-minute change of plans due to the nasty weather 2 days before I was supposed to be in Wenatchee, Clay and I ended up having Turkey Day together, and a couple of his friends came to join us later in the day. So here's my first, tiny, Thanksgiving table!

Another friend of his, Sandra (actually, the one who got him into swing dancing, which is where we met...), has a birthday the day after Thanksgiving, and there was a surprise party for her! Including karaoke, which Clay just loves. Here he is, rocking out with the birthday girl (she's in costume... apparently she goes ALL OUT for karaoke, and has a bag of props and stuff... oh dear :P).

And this is Clay with Sandra's boyfriend, Jesse - also in costume, thank goddess.

Other Random Fall Things
I met my sister and her family down on the waterfront one afternoon, when they were briefly in town. I took a walk with my camera, and here's the few shots I got.

Not-autumnal-looking flowers

Leaves in the process of changing color.

Ivar feeding the gulls.

Yay fishermen!

For some reason, my holiday stuff (there was only two, anyway) didn't upload to Photobucket, but did to Facebook. Ah well. To close out last year's stuff, here's a wintery scene in my front "yard."

And to close, and to reflect the gorgeous colors of the flower at the top, here's a sunset, becuase I'm me and that's what I do, ya'll.

Best part of today - getting to hold my bosslady's brand-new son (13 months old) that she just adopted from Korea. What a cute little monkey!!! 'Scuse me, I need to go now, my uterus is knocking... anybody else hear that beeping?
How's your day, peeps?

~*~ Bibliophile ~*~