...

I had a witty and funny blog brewing in my head about Thanksgiving, family (that act like children at every age - 50...60!) and my fun Friday shopping experiences.

I even had a self-deprecating story about my deserved speeding ticket that I earned Friday afternoon. The officer was appreciative of the fact that when he walked up to my window and asked "do you know why I pulled you over" I promptly and humbly replied, "yes I do" and didn't try to explain my way out of it when he asked "were you in a hurry?" "No, it is a sunny day, the music was good, the road was clear and I wasn't paying attention." "That's an honest answer," he replied.

We had a dinner party last night that was really fun and lots of humorous things to share there too - but the news this morning of four Lakewood City police officers getting murdered at a coffee shop has ruined it for me.

I'm not in the mood for levity. I'm pissed and wondering what the hell is going on?

Sure, the police can be difficult to deal with, they treat almost everyone they encounter with caution and assume that you might be trying to evade, lie or even be capable of killing them. If you were an officer, wouldn't you be less than super friendly to everyone you deal with until you're confident you are safe?

I can't stop thinking of the four families (and their entire support system of friends and extended families) who are trying to comprehend what happened this morning. Why? It makes no sense.

I was also thinking about the workers in the coffee shop, if the place re-opened and the killer was still out there would you be able to go to work? I don't think I could.

As for this murderer, do you think he feels victorious tonight? Do you think he feels like he accomplished anything? I hope he's a scared little rabbit right about now, and that his world is getting smaller and smaller. I hope he and that Christopher Momfort fellow... oh I don't know what I hope. I feel a black nugget of anger and hurt towards this person...

The news has made me sad tonight. I think it's time to unplug tv & phones and sit under my pretty Christmas lights.

waiting....

I'm ready to hit the road but have to wait for Jason to return from work. It won't do to show up at the parents without the new husband.

I've been trying to focus on work, but have really only been successful in some email clean up, and um a purchase of our first ever joint holiday card. (not at all work related.)

Regarding the blog, I had to turn on comment moderation, so your witty posts may not be visible right away. I was getting some comments in Japanese with strange hyperlinks and I need to make it challenging for a while to leave comments to make it go away.

In other mundane and boring news, the FedEx delivery man dropped off our quarterly wine shipment from one of Jason's wine clubs. While he was at my door (for 15 seconds) he had time to comment on the amount of glassware we have. At first I was confused because he said "glasses" and I thought he was talking about my cute specs - but no, he was commenting on something in my house. I didn't like it.

It is true that we have a lot of glasses. We both had "everyday" wine glasses and a set of nice red wine glasses. He had barware for martini's, champagne and highballs. I had a full set of 8 crystal wine, port, water and highball glasses that I inherited from my grandparents. We also registered for the most beautiful wine glasses and four super sturdy enormous crystal goblets. I love when we set a table we can really set a table.

We are talking about hosting a multiple course dinner with wine pairings. We have enough glassware to do a unique and wonderful treat with each course. Now, we just need to find the time.

I'm thinking spring. The wonderful thing about the new house is that it is ideal for hosting events. We're having fun inviting people over, but need to build in time to sleep.

I don't see it calming down until after Jason's birthday.

I should go...work becons.

Pie Baking Day

I need to get my work done early today so I can get baking my "famous" apple pie.

Update: pie made -(and am back to work)

Trashy II

I guess the new saga at Casa TP & Jas will be about garbage. We were originally given the wrong pickup schedule by the waste management people (after being given the wrong waste management company by the builder.)

Now that we're on the right schedule we seem to have one issue after another. I know, we've only been here for 5 weeks and how darned hard could the trash be? The removal of the cardboard boxes was crazy. Since they only pick up recycling every other week, all of our boxes and packing material were stacked up in the garage. Fortunately when it is recycle day they will take as much stuff as you have. We have stacked boxes filled with boxes next to our huge green recycle can and they go away! (yeah!)

For the record we returned a large number of boxes to Doug & Chelsey to be used in the family moving materials pile, and through a stroke of good luck we were able to have many many others picked up by a friend and a friend of hers who were both moving at the same time. Our piles of boxes were mostly the strange boxes and packing materials that the wonderful wedding gifts came in, and boxes from IKEA for our fabulous storage solutions.

This week, they took what we hope is the last big push of boxes from the move, but didn't dump the can. WHAT!? It seems that although they can recycle plastic if your recyclables are in plastic bags they won't touch them. (insert bad words here ________ ) So, I rolled the big cart back up to the house and dumped the bottles and cans into the bin and now we are on a two week recycle embargo. Sadly, what I think will happen is that we will likely have more recyclables in the trash than we should next week. The other option is to smash all the glass to make more room, but that seems like a loud, dirty and dangerous activity.

I wonder, will we EVER be free of extra trash?

Apple Cup 2009

The Apple Cup is coming and I will proudly wear my WSU alumni garb this week.

I've never been one for clinging to the rivalry and now that I'm married to people who are alumni's of UW I'm kind of a UW-in-law. The ribbing is fine as long as its in good nature, but I worry about those folks who graduated 10-15 years ago who are still making the stupid french fry joke.

What does a UW WSU graduate ask after graduation? "Do you want fries with that?"

Har Har...

Anyway, one thing is special about this year's Apple Cup. If I can be frank - both teams kind of suck. WSU has a 1-10 record and UW a slightly better 3-7. Still, not much to be proud of on either side of the 50 yard line.

You never know, sometimes when only pride is on the line the game can be more exciting. I will don my crimson sweatshirt and have the game on in the background Saturday. I'm confident that at least one of the teams will win.

Go Cougs!

How breakfast can be an all day activity

For some reason (maybe the wine with friends the night before) I was moving a little slower this morning than I normally would. We didn't discuss it, but I knew when I awoke it would be a miraculous event for me to be motivated to head to church.

Around 8, I moved from the wondrous nook on my side of the bed and headed downstairs. Jason has been working on our wireless network for days and days and he was already at it when I shuffled by the office door. "Coffee?" "Yes please!"

I made us two coffees and shuffled back upstairs. He was not at his desk, but was coming back, so I set the large RED cup filled with hot coffee on the corner of his WHITE desk. It was not teetering on the edge, or in a dangerous location. I then moved back to our room and HGTV.

About 1 minute later I heard a crash and a panicked husband calling "help! towels. ahhh." The entire cup was on the floor, dripping down the edge of his desk, pooled in the drawer pulls on the dresser thing where we keep paper and pens.

I thought, wow. I'm glad I wasn't the one who spilled (because even though the clothes detergent flung itself off the washing machine when I wasn't even in the room I feel responsible) this time. The clean up involved essentially dismantling the desks to move Jason's PC tower away from the brown liquid. This took quite a while, and things are still not back to normal in the office.

The cleaning operation became a one person task so I again moved downstairs to make breakfast. Eggs, hash browns, rolls and low sodium bacon (honestly, you can't tell the difference.) I am still quite excited about cooking in the new kitchen with the wedding gift pots and pans. The bacon browned up nicely but the hash browns were a terrible mess. The oil almost instantly turned my beautiful skillet an icky brown. I thought that our secret trick of using baking soda as a cleaner would work it out in a jiffy after we ate.

WRONG.

I let it soak for hours, but no dice. I made a paste and tried elbow grease... no change.

Jason reminded me that the Macy's lady and the William Sonoma people were trying to sell us "Bar Keeper's Friend" so off to Target we head (well, I went to Target, and Jas went back to Fry's for one last attempt at wireless network building.) Target is a wonderful place to find treats. I found Santa cheese spreaders, a trash bin for my side of the bathroom, saran wrap, catsup, and a 6 foot lighted artificial Christmas tree. (I knew I would get a tree upstairs and downstairs this year. glee!)

Once we arrived back home - well over an hour after we "zipped" out for the cleaner I gave "BKF" (that is the name on the packaging) a try. I would conservatively estimate that it took about 30 minutes of hard core elbow grease and BKF to get the pan back to its original state.

So, here it is 3:30 and I'm just finishing the breakfast dishes.

I need a nap.

Why aren’t independent women keeping their maiden names anymore?

This tweet came across my twitter account earlier this week. (I’m not a huge twitter fan, but it is a nice way to keep up with some folks who are CRAZY busy.)

As a recently married person who has opted to abandon my maiden name this question posed to the Internet haze made me think. I do consider myself an independent woman, even now after my oh so recent union with a certain dude. I’m learning to let go of things I use to HAVE to do for myself, such as scheduling car maintenance and trash removal from the house. I CAN do these tasks, but if he’s willing, why should I?

I do things he’s not a huge fan of and he does things that I don’t particularly enjoy. I think that’s the partnership portion of our teamwork agreement. Along with these remedial chores we have agreed to not ever fall apart on the same day – if he’s laying on the floor I’m the one who has to keep it together and vice a versa. That “it’s your turn” thing doesn’t quite translate to days when we’re cranky – we’ve figured out it is possible for both of us to be cranky at the same time and to survive it. It’s not fun, but it is survivable.

As for the name thing – I don’t believe that my decision to share a last name with my husband means I release one tiny little bit of my strong willed, hard earned independence. It is because of my autonomy that I felt I could change my name and not lose an ounce of my identity. It is because of my stong sense of self that I realized people who knew me before will always know me as the same person.

I respect those who opt(ed) to keep their maiden names. But, it doesn’t change how I see them. If they carry their father’s last name or their husband’s last name – they are still who they always were – in my eyes.

It is an adjustment, but I like it. It doesn’t make us any more or less a family, but I made this commitment for the long haul and I want to share this outward sign that to me feels intimate and public at the same time. It will also make the addressing of holiday cards and formal invitations easier.

There’s a cheesy and too sickly sweet scene at the end of the 2005 Kiera Knightley (who needs to EAT a COOKIE) version of Pride and Prejudice where she and Mr. Darcy are in their “sexy” pj’s watching the sunrise. He asks what he’s supposed to call her when he is something, head over heels in love with her and her response is “Mrs. Darcy”. Gosh, that scene makes my teeth hurt and yet the sentiment is one I can get behind.

I believe there are women who bow to the pressure of “tradition” and acquiesce to adopt their husband’s name. That’s a purposeful use of the word “acquiesce” over “choose”. Agreeing to do something and choosing are very different actions. This practice makes me sad. I am of the opinion that unless it is your decision and your decision alone that perhaps there might be a tiny crack in your partnership. I am fortunate to have received total support for whatever decision I made, and I am happy and comfortable with the direction I chose.

I’m not justifying, but the question sent out to the universe made me think, and this is my world for noting my thoughts.

By the way, the most important thing you can take away from this post is that the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice sucked in comparison to the BBC version, that starred Colin Firth. It is a mini-series and will consume hours of your life, but if you are on the couch for a day or two, this is your happy place. I recently lent my copy to a dear friend, but only because she’s very ill. I made her sign paperwork saying that in the event of her demise, the DVD returns to my possession before anything else occurs – no family notification, no removal of corpses, I get my DVD back first. That is how much I LOVE IT.

They told me to call

We had a security system installed in the house and the installer said we needed to confirm that 911 has our address in the system. Seemed reasonable because it's a new neighborhood and mapquest and google maps can't quite get you to our place.

I called the administrative division of the Renton police department and was told to call 911. Yikes, I didn't really want to do that but since that was what I was told to do so I did it.

For some reason my heart started to race as I dialed. I didn't want to be one those idiots who makes the news for being a dumbass. You know, that guy who called 911 because he wanted sex, don't we all buddy.

911: what's your emergency?
TP: this is a test call to see if our address registers in the system, the Renton police department told me to call you.
911: you should always check every time you move. What's your address?

The whole call took less than a minute. It's funny that the nervousness was palpable.

It's good information to know that you should check the address with 911 when you move. I won't be moving for quite a while but I thought I would share.

Grumble

Things that are under my skin today:

1) The company I subcontract through hasn't paid me yet for October. TICK TOCK people. I don't work for free.

2) I have a check that needs to go to the bank, but I'm waiting on a "must sign for" package from UPS that has be "out for delivery" since 4:00 am this morning. I am being held hostage in my own home by UPS.

3) We have garbage service every week, but recycling only every other week. I know we just moved and the box and paper ratios are out of control, but I would like it to go away each week.

4) I slipped and bruised my arm while trying to clean my wonderful oversized bathtub in our master bathroom today. (I have an owie)

5) traveling tomorrow; it's a short trip, but I don't wanna go. (whine)

6) rainy and dark today. I think a fire and some wine are in order when Jason gets home.

The great name change of 2009

It turns out that changing my name hasn't been that traumatic. I guess I figured that I would loose part of the silly quirky bit that is the "P" in TP gal.

Legally, I am now TL gal and I'm still very much me (albeit a little under the weather today) and I do think it is nice to be Mr. & Mrs. Jason with a shared last name. It is equally nice that Jason left the name change decision up to me.

Had I still been at MegaBank professionally I might have been TP for a long long time. When I get a full time gig, I will be TL from the get go.

Changing my drivers license wasn't hard, even the social security card wasn't a challenge, and most of the credit cards and banks have been easy. Toyota Financial and Marriott Frequent Traveler rewards have been the most trouble . Toyota wants to keep a copy of our certified marriage certificate, but will be satisfied with a copy of the social security card when it comes. I will do the latter. Marriott needs 6 weeks to process the name change and in the meantime, I may have some trouble with getting the credit for my stays because the credit card and the reservation name won't match up. I'll fight to the death for my points. Oh yes I will.

For the record, my new driver license card photo is super cute and I'm sad that I only get to keep it for a year. They make you re-test at the age of 42 which means a new picture.

Anyway. boring topics for a grey Sunday. I want to snuggle on the couch and watch tv, but a) I can't work the tv yet and b) my in-laws are here and it's wrong to veg out when they are all hussling and bustling around my lovely new house. (so I'm in the computer room? still wrong.)

tp gal comments on the news of the day

# Ivar's undersea billboards a hoax devised as marketing ploy

How very funny, IVAR's claimed it found an old undersea billboard (which it had planted) and then forged "authentication" documents and the local media was duped into printing it as news. This "hoax" harmed no one, but I'm glad that they came clean on their own. Their goal wasn't to make local news outlets look stupid, it was kind of a side effect.

# Aggravated murder charge filed against man accused of killing officer

Yeah! I also read that the DA is considering the death penalty for this misguided a-hole. While we're at it, what about the (explicative removed) guy who shot his ex-girlfriend to death on the beach approach in September. I vote for a two for one.

# Salute those Muslim-Americans who stand up for their country

Amen to that. (no joke intended) We need to be careful that we don't assume that every Muslim is a terrorist or a potential murderer. Yes, there are wacky crazy sects of the Muslim doctrine, but can't we say the same thing for the Christians too? Let's not forget the (explicative removed) Rev. Fred Phelps who leads the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., and their loving picketing of military funerals, and are kind enough to remind us that he believes that "God hates Fags". That guy is a problem in my book, more so than the average Muslim-American.

# ESPN's Bill Simmons gets us: He hates Clay Bennett, too

Uh, who is Clay Bennett, or Bill Simmons for that matter?


# GOP clueless as families struggle with health care

This was a headline on the Seattle Times website. I'm about as "Democrat" as they come, but I do hope this article is an opinion piece. I think it would be hard to define "clueless"

# City Light rate increase of 13.8 percent proposed

ouch. The lights in my kitchen are hurting my pocketbook.

# US expects to seek death penalty for 9/11 suspects

Well, duh! The big scuttlebutt is the controversy over bringing the "suspects" (who bragged about being the "masterminds") to the US (New York, specifically) and trying them in civil court. I'm wondering will this be a jury trial and if so who are the poor souls who have to sit there and try to be unbiased. I don't think I could do it - the being unbiased part. I could render a verdict...

# Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19

Woo Woo! I wished I still worked in downtown Seattle so this would be an option for me. It doesn't really work from the east side, but I hope people use it.

# Colorado balloon boy parents plead guilty

These people burn me up. I think they are terrible parents and quite delusional. I hope they don't benefit from their notoriety any more than they already have, and if they monetarily profit from this stunt that they are forced to compensate the local police, fire and rescue teams, the farmer who's field their stupid balloon destroyed, the hours idiots like me spent watching the news and every concerned person who sent out a shout out to God for that boys well being.

I don't recall doing that.

One of the super smart and funny book group ladies coined a new phrase:

PercoSex: The interpersonal interaction with your spouse or significant other that you don't really remember because of the pain medication your doctor has you on.

(For the record, this wasn't me. I'm not on pain meds... calm down Mom, all is right with the world.)

Fictionary addition

SedenTerri: when Terri sits around for long periods of time, usually reading or playing with the laptop.

Let's all take a moment shall we.

For pete sake, can we stop shooting each other?

It really solves nothing and it breaks my heart each time.

Over the past year we've seen Pastors shot in church, police shot in their police cars, military people shot while getting ready to ship overseas. people shot while sitting at their desks at work, and lets not forget the numerous people killed on a one off basis (domestic violence, or general crime.)

Frankly people, you're pissing me off with all your "shooting is the way to get attention" crap. Indeed times are tough, there's not enough jobs to go around, and our new wonderful President doesn't seem to be able to fix everything all at once. (He's not the king people...we have to help ourselves.)

In the next week or so, the DC area sniper will be put to death for his summer of terror, that turned out to be nothing more than an elaborate plot to kill his ex-wife so he could have custody of their children. Sorry buddy, I think you failed. Not only did you fail to get custody of your kids, but you failed them as a parent. It is sad that they will be deprived of you throughout their lives, but you made that choice. The oldest is in college and I want to say, bully for you kid! I hope you are surrounded by people who see you for who you are and not the "son of the sniper"

My heart hurts for the family of the Seattle police officer killed on Halloween and it aches for the family of Lisa Bonney who was killed in September by her ex-boyfriend. Lisa leaves behind two teenage girls, a kind ex-husband, a grieving family and an entire community rocked by such a stupid and senseless act. (The town I grew up in never seems smaller and more wonderful than when it comes together to embrace a family like the Bonney's and Klinglers at their most nightmarish hour.)

My point... stop shooting at each other. Got it? Good.

til death?

My new favorite room in our house is the "formal" living room. Instead of filling it with furniture we are too sloppy to use, and spending our days raking the carpet into perfect rows we filled it with bookshelves that are big enough to house both of our collections and the pile of pretty things we have gathered over the years and many of our beautiful wedding gifts.

My loveseat is the perfect size to create and inviting place to sit, but it's not so big that the room is jammed with furniture. Maybe someday we'll replace the love seat with a couple overstuffed chairs but for now, the loveseat, a rug from my condo and the new coffee table acquired at CostPlus last night round out the room beautifully.

We're up early again this morning because SEARS had to come back to reinstall the dryer. I washed a down comforter and it snowed in the house. That was a clue that something is wrong.

While Jason is upstairs with the (re)installers he's trying not to bug them, while supervising their actvities. I'm downstairs enjoying a cup of tea and (trying to) read a book given to me by a friend. Jas keeps popping his head over the banister over the vaulted foyer from upstairs to talk to me.

The first time was cute, the second time I laughed and the third time, he held out a staple gun from my toolbox and laughed. "What's this, it's so tiny!?"

I explained that for my condo and what I used it for it was perfect. "I bought it to staple new fabric on chair seats, I wasn't holding up walls or anything."

"Would it staple through fabric?" Jason mocked.

"Don't you have a hobby that you could be doing instead of bugging me?" I replied.

"I'm doing it now!" He laughed.

Touche'

(so now, my book has been cast aside and I'm doing MY hobby, posting to the world the funny and exasperating things whatshisface says to me.)

my eyes...

It's amazing what you find when you open EVERY box from the storage unit.

This monstrosity was made by my beloved grandmother, in 1970 something...

It is in terrible condition, with portions of the lovely wigwam pattern coming apart and then there are tale tell signs that it lived in a house smokers. It doesn't smell, it just has a few burn marks.

I may keep it around to decorate for Jason's 40th birthday party (an ode to the 70's) but on the other hand, I may box it up and give it back to my mother.

wow...

To Do...

I worried for a few moments that after the wedding and after the move that Jason and I would sit around the house with nothing to do. For the rest of our lives.

This is not the case. I'm down to opening boxes that have been in storage for a VERY long time. With each box a project has been brewing in my head. I have found wonderful picture from college and my 20's & 30's. It feels weird to display them in this home of Jason & mine. I have decided to unframe them (except for the most beloved) and put them in a scrapbook.

I know, SCRAPBOOK!? Who am I? Suburban housewife? Apparently so. The activity will serve some very nice needs, the first is to consolidate them into a format that I can enjoy when I want, the second is to reduce the amount of space they take up and the third is to spend a little time with them as I organize my 'memory book.' I don't expect anyone (Jason included) to ever have to go through it, but I think will be a fun activity.

My other "project" is to start cooking more. My repetoir is kind of limited and I have decided to branch out. I love the dining out experience, but we do it too often just because we wait to long to decide what to have for dinner. It's lazy and expensive.

I'm starting with breakfast tomorrow. I've already been to the store to pick up the needed items and I'm confident that Mr. L. will appreciate the effort.

We can't go out anyway, the security system people are coming between 7:30 am and 9:30 to do the install. I doubt they will arrive at 7:30 and I doubt it will be a 30 minute visit. So, while we wait around, I'm making a savory breakfast.

I also have plans for the aging bananas on our counter. I found a great looking recipe for banana pecan bread. I had to buy pastry flour, but I'm sure it will get used eventually.

Cross your fingers that it turns out.

ok, enough rambling. It's time to fold up a box or two.

Fictionary

It came to me this morning while eating my free hotel breakfast.

Awffle: a cold, flavorless hotel food product made to look like wonderful golden waffles.

Sigh

Oh to be home.

I am a big, whiney baby who wishes she was home instead of in a loud pizza joint watching the Yankee's.

I got some encouraging news about continued employment and am happy. Won't be celebrating until we have a date or a commitment but I think he plans to sell my ovaries can be put on the back burner. (are those even things you can sell?)

Jason and I made a smart decision about a planned weekend excursion today, but while I 100% agree that a weekend in san Francisco isn't good financially it sucks to cancel it.

Maybe I'll plan something wonderful for around valentines day.

Terri

Home away from home

Here I am again in San Jose. woo who

This is a what we call a mixed blessing. I would rather be home than anywhere else - or rather, with my cute new hubby. I suppose if pressed, I'd like to take my cute new hubby and all my wonderful friends for exciting and new experiences. Like, maybe lets all go to Switzerland for a month of skiing, alp viewing, cocoa sipping and spa's in luxurious hotels. Then, maybe let's pack it up and go to somewhere where we can enjoy pleasant outdoor weather and build schools for kids or some other enriching activity where we can feel better about ourselves.

TANGENT

Back to me... up at 4:30 this morning for a now quicker jaunt to the airport. Those extra 15 minutes are nice, but there was no line at security and they were boarding my plane when I arrived which means I didn't leave a lot of room for error.

The flight was easy, and unlike normal I actually didn't sleep on the inbound flight. I foolishly devoured my book and now without reading material. I can pick something up for the ride home, but I have two nights here with nothing to do but watch crappy hotel tv.

I'm not sure who selected the TV offerings, but clearly sports minded people are the audience they were trying to please. I don't know why you would need 5 ESPN type channels and yet not have BRAVO or HGTV to keep the non-sports people happy. It's a mystery. I have complained, but feel like I am one lone (female?) voice in the din.

I picked up a new project today, and have a solid direction for the rest of the year which makes me happy. We'll see what 2010 brings... there has been no talk about extending my contract, but the work seems to be extending beyond December.

We'll see. Jas has been very patient while the year ticks down and we don't have a solid road map. I'm working multiple angles.

I wish I was home, as I want to get the last of the boxes put away. We made wonderful progress over the weekend - moved 98% of the boxes from the storage unit into their rightful homes. I've opened all the kitchen boxes and all of the china & glassware items. We do have a table full of items that are as of yet homeless, and some MAY remain homeless.

Once the loft area is more put together, I'll move some of the "lesser grown up" knickknacks into that area. I love the "Wilson" volleyball, but it won't have a home in the downstairs area. Sorry buddy. I'm pretty confident I'm not alone in this assessment.

The floor cleaned up very well from the toxic blue laundry detergent spill, but the walls need another coat of paint. I was up early yesterday and painted one coat before I started my workday. There was an improvement, but I think Jas and I will always know where the spots are. The wall most affected has two skylights casting wonderful daylight. This is nice but highlights the shadows of the detergent splatters. Sigh.

Someone kindly commented that this incident is similar to getting the first door ding on your brand new car. true so true. Still, I want to send Samsung a nasty note about their "non-shaking" machines. I'm SURE that would make me feel better...

NOT.

More later!

Vote!

For a year without a "marquee" election I am very nervous about the election tomorrow.

I don't live in Seattle anymore and think either mayoral candidate would be fine. The big issue that separated them is nothing more than lip service. Seattle will have a tunnel to replace the Alaska Way viaduct. It will be expensive and the citizens will hate it. However, the decision is made and time for discussing it is over. Greg Nichols sort of gave his mayoral career for the tunnel and I imagine he sleeps at night.

The King County Executive race is one I'm on the fence about. The news caster lady has some fishy things in her back pocket, but is endorsed by some groups I respect. However, Dow Constantine has the support of some very smart people who I have learned through the years care deeply about our community. Short of doing my own research I made a choice and I will stick with it.

I am deeply and passionately apposed to Tim Eyman's bill 1033. In addition to hurting schools his continual quest for less taxes will hurt social services that are badly needed in our community. If the Rhianna / Chris "I smacked her" Brown incident from earlier this year shows, domestic violence can happen to anyone. Cutting taxes and as a result programs like the Eastside Domestic Violence Program isn't good for us. I hope Timmy never needs to have a safe place to get away from his spouse but if he does I hope he isn't turned away over a few $$.

I am, as you might expect, in favor of keeping the domestic partner rights that was signed by our governor in effect. This bill is not about "gay marriage" it is about non-traditional families. Your or my religous beliefs aside - this bill evens the playing field when it comes to health care decisions, common property issues, and even child support.

In addition to same sex couples who have signed paperwork to be domestic partners there are quite a few elderly American's who are also documented domestic partners. Sometimes this happens because one or both have pensions that they financially rely on, but if they were to re-marry the pension would terminate. Is this a crime? I don't think so.

If my father were to pass away my mom would be entitled to a portion of his pension. This is/was a benefit my dad's employer offered, and at the time of his primary employment they had an expectation that "the wives" didn't work. It wasn't written anywhere, but the pressure was intense and it was clear that certain jobs were ok, but others were not. So, there's my mom, who as the 60's & 70's housewife wasn't earning her own pension and was supporting my dad's job by being flexible regarding the rotating schedule. (4 months at 9 to 5, 4 months at 7pm - to 11 am, 4 months at 5am to 2pm)

So, back to my example. Mom and Dad, now retired live off his pension. If he were to "go on a long bus trip" she would be paid his pension. I could see a scenario where, 10-15 years later my mom meets some nice old man and they decide to shack up. Unless he was willing to foot the bill for her every need, I doubt they would marry no matter how wonderful he might be, thus they might decide to file paperwork to allow them to care for each other related to property, health care decisions and child custody - but not legally marry.

This scenario may seem silly, but I can't tell you how many people I talked to when I worked for the Social Security Administration that couldn't marry because it would hurt them financially, and I don't mean not being able to go to Red Lobster every night, but not being able to pay the mortgage or keep their insurance.

Old people aside (because really, who cares about old people) - it is true that the majority of families that will benefit from this bill are same sex couples. But, is that so bad? This law has been on the books for almost a year now - has it hurt your marriage? Has it lessened your meaningful relationship? I don't think so.

Repealing it is simply wrong.

So, I'll be watching the returns with anxiousness. Will we do the humane thing?

WE HAVE TO MOVE

The new house is now marred and ruined for all eternity.

It is sad.

Today, I opened a box that had a wonderful blanket called "The Minkie" that Peter the cat use to love... and by love, I don't mean adore and respect, but LOVE in that husband and wife way. I'm pretty sure I have shared that information before, but a quick search of the blog finds no relevant entries. (found it. ) What I can say is that it's a good thing the cat was neutered and that the blanket has no rights because I'm sure the Blanket Protective services might have wanted to take the blanket into protective custody.

My point... the blanket after all THAT abuse and a year in storage needed a good wash in the clothes washer.

The Samsung commercials that show some kid balancing delicate stuff on the washer and dryer to demonstrate their "quiet and non-jumpy" the machines - are, well BULLSHIT.

Our new tub of blue liquid clothes detergent launched itself off the washer and exploded when it hit the floor. I would estimate about 2 cups of liquid hit the carpet and another half cup was splattered, Jackson Pollock style across, the ceiling and walls of our brand-damn-new house.

Jason made the saddest sounds as he soaked in (no pun intended) the damage. Frankly, for someone with mild OCD I thought he handled himself pretty well. As I started to mop up the floor and carpets he made his way to QFC to get a carpet cleaner.

We got the carpet back to normal, but the walls and ceiling in the laundry area and stairwell are a nightmare. The "quality" builder grade paint turned to mush while simply dabbing the blue drips. I got one spot so "wet" that when I touched it to test the spot my fingerprints left indents in the reliquefied paint.

I will have to touch up the ceiling (thankfully a low one) and the walls on the stairs. But I'm not thrilled. I know I could take the paint sample to a quality paint store like www.dalyspaint.com and have them match it, but I'm afraid that since I'm doing spot touch up that the difference between even mildly decent paint and this shitty builder grade paint would be noticeable. I certainly don't want to have to paint the whole staircase (considering it's at least 18 tall.)

So, the house is ruined and we have to move. I'm so bummed because we just unpacked most of the boxes yesterday. What are you all doing next weekend? Wanna come over?