I'm in the in between

Yeah, it is a line from "The Lovely Bones" and it refers to where a person might go that has died but hasn't transitioned to heaven or that other place.  No, I haven't died...this would be one impressive blog if that were the case, and someone would have to come over and pick up Jason off the floor.

I'm in the "in between" because my doctor that I like so much has decided to move his practice to Bainbridge Island and while I like him, I don't "take the day off and grab a ferry" like him.  I just had my annual exam and things came out mostly perfect (as always, I never quite reach perfection.) Since I don't have a need to see a doctor right now, picking a new one is sort of like throwing darts at a map.   Our insurance people say that I can make a consultation appointment, but the clinic I called today wasn't excited about that prospect.

I found a clinic in my very own neighborhood that does general family medicine.  The two doctors on staff aren't taking new patients, but they have two new docs coming on staff in August.  I want to get in their record books for the sole reason that they are part of the local hospital and dang, I could actually walk to the doctor if I wanted to.  They are across the street from my Starbucks - HANDY!

I made several calls today on the hunt for a new primary care doctor.  Monday mornings are not the time to do this.  One office had a auto message that told me I was 8th in line to talk to the operator.  I didn't call them back. 

I'm not overly thrilled about not having a doctor that I can call.  However, I can call the office where Dr. Mike use to work and get help from someone in that practice.  So I guess I'm not completely without medical care.

Quiet & Nice

This past weekend was one of those (rare) weekends were we didn't have ten thousand things planned.  I didn't invite anyone over for dinner, I didn't schedule us on the 6am Northwest Trek tour and I didn't decide we would be repainting the house.  It was fantastic!

We did go see Toy Story 3D - which was super cute.  My car spent time with the mechanics for an oil change and tire rotation, and Jason installed 5 stepping stones on the far side of our yard.  Yesterday we stopped over at the St. Matthew's Church Picnic and enjoyed some fried chicken and green jello .  You have to love a Lutheran Pot Luck.

We made a yummy dinner last night and then watched Design Star on HGTV.  Aren't you just so jealous of my fabulous life?  I mean it is all champagne, parties and yachts!

One very funny thing happened last night.  I was in bed, cozy and waiting for Mr. TP to finish his shower so we could watch Design Star.  While I was waiting I was catching up on FaceBook and someone posted that the new Apple 4.0 upgrade fixed a (for me) major irritation about the camera on the iPhone.  Post upgrade there is no more shutter lag.  Excited, I held the phone up to take a picture to see how it worked.  As I snapped the picture, my sweet but naked husband walked out of the bathroom to grab his pj's.   I'm not sure who was more surprised, me or him.  Based upon the speed at which he had my phone in his hands and was deleting the picture I would say him. 

We agreed early on that while it may be acceptable for Paris Hilton to photograph herself in the nude doing "things" to people that we are NOT Paris Hilton and there will be NO NUDIE pictures of either of us.  It just won't be done.

You can thank me now, or later!

My eyes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bummer

Forgive me for bitching about something trivial, please.

This working from my own home thing is a grand and wonderful gift.  My commute is nothing, I attended a conference call this morning while still in my pj's.  I am eating out WAY less and it is blissfully quiet here. 

However, now that the darned sunshine has come back to us the call of the pretty outdoors is taxing my sense of responsibility.  Oh how I want to camp out in the back yard with a tall ice water and a book - but NOOOO, I'm upstairs responding to email, editing documents, being available and all that other grown up junk.

I did run out at lunch today and pick up our "free" tickets to see Toy Story 3D Saturday.  I say free because we got two $8.50 coupons for upgrading our Toy Story 1 & 2 dvd's to blu-ray.  The tickets were $14.00 a piece - holy hell, when did THAT happen?   I'm sure the elevated price is due to the fancy 3-D glasses I now have safely tucked into my purse, but still.  I also forked over an additional $11 for our free movie night.  Mark my words, my 1 cup of popcorn is on Jason's dime!  Heck, he may even have to buy me a 5 Guys burger before the show.  (yummmm... meat!)


I digress.  So, here I am with the glorious outdoors a mere stair case away and I can't do it.  I would be bad to show up back in San Jose in the middle of July with a fabulous tan.  I'm from Seattle - they would know something was up.

Oh well - trapped inside with a paycheck is better than free and worried about the mortgage.

It's a Patio!

Here we (I'm behind the camera) are on day one. Getting read to dig up the grass, remove the mulch and level the area.

The post dig.  Do you like our primitive leveling devices?  A rock, a rope and a stick.  

Superior concrete arrived at 12:20 pm last Thursday, cut down our fence and grabbed a wheel barrow.  I'm sure I made them nervous with my camera.

Even though we paid someone else to make the forms and pour the patio we still acquired quite a few tools for this project.  I think I like the sod cutter the best and it is the tool we will have the least amount of use for in the future. 

Since our yard is sloped on the new patio side they had to double up the forms.  It is quite the step off that side, but I'm thinking once we get grass back over there that it won't seem like such a massive drop off.

Jason also talked them into curving the outside corner, which is very wonderful.  It looks so much nicer than a pointy corner.  I hate that he's right about just about everything.

When they were pouring the cement into the nice flat hole I asked if they were going to pin it to the house, and got the "oh yes" but I don't think they did.  I doubt that the slab will move unless we have a big quake and if that happens we'll have other fish to fry.  I just won't be paying for the pinning and am thankful I have a photo to show that there are no pins in our house.

Once the patio was poured and smoothed I had a minor heart attack that the aggregate look of the old patio wouldn't be matched on the new slab as promised, but about an hour after it was poured someone popped into our backyard and "sugared" it with some red powder which I was then worried would stain the house.

About 30 minutes before Jason got home they came back and did this last step of watering it down and using a handy push broom to scrub away the top layer. (I once brought a push broom a gift to a family gift exchange and everyone hated it and made fun of me for bringing the worst gift ever. But the person who got it uses it all the time - how's that presto sandwich press working out..don't use it at all? I thought so, so  there!)

The new slab is a darker color, but I'm assured it is because it hasn't cured yet.  We have had our first glass of wine on the deck and when Jason's parents were around we even had treats under the umbrella.

I'm quite happy!

This weekend we will collect more sod to fill in the far side that you can't see.  I wish we hadn't disposed of the original sod, but at the time it was good to see it go and I suppose that organic material will help to decompose non organics at the land fill... or I'm just fooling myself.

I just saw a tan chevette with a big blue fluffy couch tied to the roof with Christmas lights. (bulbs out of course). The driver and his passengers were hanging on to it through the windows.

Damn the new cell phone laws or my phone would have been close enough to get a picture.

Trust me, it was classic!

It was a simple, sweet wedding

The family wedding of Jason's second cousin Friday was a nice affair. The ceremony was simple, but presided over by both the groom's family priest and the minister from the bride's church. Our young bride (age 20) looked lovely and even pulled out a second wedding dress for the party that was simple and super cute. They chose a happy color of yellow for the bridesmaid dresses and it really worked.

The groom and the grooms dudes wore long tuxedo jackets which I don't personally like, but they seemed happy and 15 seconds into the reception they were in just the cute yellow vests anyway, so the silliness was removed from my vision.

The reception was at the grooms mother & dad's house under a festive cover lit with a bazillion white lights and our disco ball made an appearance to make folks sparkle.

Teresa, who is Jason's cousin as well as the groom's mother gets a medal for hosting a rather large wedding out of her kitchen. When you're the grooms mom aren't you supposed to get to sit back and simply be gorgeous?

I know, I know, today's weddings are far from the traditional by the (Emily Post) book affairs. Who pays for what is often determined by who can or wants to pay for what. Jas & I were happy to host our own wedding with lots of moral and other support from both of our parents. Their participation in every way was and is greatly appreciated.

As it should be, the details of who paid for what for the wedding of the "young uns" is a mystery, but from where I sit (in judgment?) it seems like the grooms mother did a yeoman's amount of work.

I was surprised to see the casual nature of dress of some of the attendants. In addition to the tuxedoed groomsmen and decked out bridesmaids there were people in jeans, a kid (aged 20) in a tuxedo t-shirt. Hey, it's a fancy t-shirt right? There were also some interesting fashion choices that look like an actual attempt to dress up, but that failed miserably.

One gal was in a black tank-top shirt - dress thing (Jen called it a "shress")with three tiers of fluffy ruffles. It was too short to be a dress and too long to be worn as your standard shirt. She wore this ruffled nightmare with tight grey leggings that were stretched to their limit in certain areas. She also wore a 'lovely' bow in her hair. This gal was attractive, but of the rounder variety and as a rounder girl I have learned that what looks good on Heidi Klum does not look good on me. My stick thin, tall, small boobed friend Misty could have pulled off the "shress" and leggings, but she's so fabulous that she can pull of a "shress" and rockin' high heel shoes. (on my quest for the perfect "shress" photo I ran across a blogger who was talking about this very topic and she said: "Why do people need to know that my vag is literally an inch away from the hem of my dress? " I almost spit up on my keyboard. I am happy to know I'm not the only one who finds the shirt-dress (shress) outfit disturbing.

Back to the wedding. It was a country music wedding, so there was no dancing - or at least by the time we hit the road the only people dancing were the flower girls. Thankfully our summer weather held, meaning that it was over 65 degrees and not raining - a Seattle June Miracle! We visited with all sorts of relatives and had a wonderful time.

A Friday wedding seems odd because there's not really a whole day devoted to the bride and groom and yet, how wonderful to have two whole days after the wedding to visit with out of town guests. We had people over Saturday for a rather fun dinner party.

So, other than snarky comments about the dress of some guests and a general feeling that 20 is too young to get married it was a perfect day. I hope the new Mr. & Mrs. enjoyed their special day and have fun on their honeymoon in Mexico.

I reviewed the gifts to find one the size of the gun rack, but nothing of that size stood out. I would be interested to see what they got considering how sparse their registry was, but alas it will (as it should) remain a mystery.

Woo hoo! Early day today. We are now onto fun family things before the wedding this evening. First up - lunch!

TSA & the creepy little kid

I'm formulating an exciting and indepth narrative about sportsmanship that I'm sure you will be excited to read about, but my recent (10 minutes ago) trek through airport security in San Jose has derailed that I'm I'm simply going to bitch about TSA and a creepy little kid.

I left work in the middle of a meeting to catch my flight (return the car and then catch my flight). Dropping off the car was easy, although I had to giggle at the attendant who called me Mrs. Terri vs Mrs. Ladkghrenfressecerfer. Yes, my new last name is a bit daunting for folks the first time around (or 3rd) and for those non native English speakers it could be even more challenging. Mrs. Terri is fine. In fact, I shall make all future house servants call me that. (house servants??? can you say fantasty land?)

The security line was shortish (due mostly to the fact that all the other airlines have moved into the fancy new terminal at this airport, but Alaska is the last to go, so we're stuck here with few services and icky surroundings.

I opted to step in line behind a mom and a 5 year old kid to go through the bag screening because the other line was about 7 people deep. The mom did a pretty good job of getting her stuff organized into the separate bins for screening, while "Justin" was bouncing around being as "helpful" as a 5 year old can be. Which means that about every 15 seconds she was yelling "Justin, stay with me!" I removed my shoes, put my laptop in its own bin, put my purse on the conveyor and then pushed my backpack through behind everything.

I stepped to the special box that I guess scans for explosives and a red light went off and a buzzer sounded. The "helpful" TSA agent asked me to step inside the gate (a Plexiglas cattle shoot thing) and I complied. he mumbled something about a random screening.

I stood there for a bit and then behind me the other end was opened by a stern looking German woman. Maybe East Gernmany? I stepped out thinking I was done and moved towards my pile of stuff now being squished by the stuff from the people behind me in line.

Olga told me to get back on the mat, and that's when I saw that "Justin" had my laptop in his little hands. I pointed and said, "the kid has my stuff!" Olga said, you can get it in a minute, stand over here.


So, while she started to touch me I kept an eye on my things and Olga seemed irritated that i was distracted. "Are you ok? You seem nervous." No lady, that little kid has his hands on my stuff!

After giving me the once over including a nice pat down in the lady region (why I chose to wear a skirt today is beyond me) I was able to gather up my things and get to the gate.

I'm here, finally and Justin and his mom are sitting behind me. I am taking evil pleasure in the fact that Justin has a lisp and while trying to find a seat he yelled out pretty loudly "where do I shit? where do I shit?"

Exactly, Juthtin, where do you shit?

I'll be having a nice flight, I'm sure. See you on the Seattle side.

Yeah!!! Headed home. Let the (almost) weekend begin.

Well...how interesting. While at the gym at the hotel I was surfing through the tv channels on the workout equipment and ran across a channel that seemed wrong for a public area. Don't get me wrong, I think porn has it's place in the world but I think the gym isn't the right place.

Somehow, the images of naked, fit, well groomed people with super sized genetalia don't quite go together with my workout routine.

I wonder if the hotel staff knows.

What's shakin' at casa la tp this week

Here we are at Monday again. It is going to be a very busy week. I’m in San Jose until Wednesday and then the moment I get off the plane I am instructed that I am to do an OJ Simpson through the airport (that is running like a professional football player not “allegedly” murdering people or holding people against their will while I take stuff that is “mine” back) to get to the car where Jas & his parents will be waiting. From there we will zip up to Cousin Marty’s for the first of what I assume will be an entire weekend of activities related to a wedding Friday.
Thursday, there is the traditional “man’s lunch” which is a nice gathering of all the dudes who get together to throw back a beer and eat meat to celebrate the impending nuptuals. I’m not sure how it got started, but I like it. There are SO MANY woman oriented wedding activities, that one the dudes can do that don’t involve gifts or stripper poles are a positive.

Thursday evening, the night before the wedding there would normally be a massive rehersal dinner, but the bride (who may be smarter than anyone) has limited this event to only the people in the wedding. I’m thinking that Wednesday night, a plan will be developed for a gathering at someones house (who lives with me.)

An impromteau party would be fine. My in-laws kick butt and make hosting easy. A trip to Costco and a table on the patio and it is a festival!
Friday there’s the wedding and reception. Saturday,there will be some sort of post wedding “thing”.
Sunday we have reservations to see Teatro Zanzini for dinner.
Somewhere in this week, we think the concrete people are coming to pour the new slab. I hope it is done by the time I get home Wednesday – you know, like magic. We don’t have a specific day scheduled, but unless the weather turns to poop it will be this week.
So, that’s our week – exciting stuff eh?

Girlfriend needs a girlfriend

I am aware this is not the most flattering part of my personality, but Friday we spotted a gal in an unflattering outfit that called out for mentioning.

This baby blue 'dress' looked more like a pillow case than anything else.  It was thin and almost transparent.  It was also backless, but thankfully our gal had enough smarts to wear a tank top to cover her much needed bra.

She waswith a group of people that looks stylish. I wonder why no one has ever mentioned that is dress is awful and does nothing to show off her assets (boobs) and totally draws attention away from her genuinely pretty face.

The Grecian Goddess look is hard to pull off and I'm afraid she missed the mark by a long shot.

Patio Renovations

Finally, we got a second bid for our patio. The first came in in the $3000 range and I have to say for a 9 x 10 foot patch of concrete - um.. NO THANK YOU.

The second bid came from the company our builder uses to pour patios (they poured the nice but tiny pad we currently have.) Since they are down the road twice a week pouring at the new houses anyway the bid came in quite a bit lower than the other one.

Part of the reason it is so low is that we have to do some of the prep work ourselves. They would not remove the sod or level the area. So, we are again doing labor in our own yard.

We (Jason) dug up the sod and then (I) removed the mulch from the border area.

We did some digging and some big earth worm relocation and then covered our work up with a BAT (big ass tarp) and then went inside to dry off. Dry off?? Yes, since our concrete masters are coming next week we can't let a little thing like horrendous rain hold us back from being in the yard.

Yesterday, after work we picked up our U-HAUL truck and took the cut up sod to the transfer station (dump) I think it is safe to say that carrying the now wet sod in the too big rolls to the front of the house and then lifting them into the truck bed was quite a work out. I skipped the gym, but WHOA - talk about elevated heart rate and muscle movement.

The transfer station is, as always, a stinky place. It is interesting to see the other people and what they are disposing of. On our left we had a man with multiple mattresses of questionable origins. Stained and unpleasant. That is my polite description.  On our right a woman with a load of junk that looked like it came from Messy Martha's before I cleaned. **SHIVER**

We were shocked to see that our tiny 60 square feet of sod weighed almost 500 pounds.

Feeling free of the sod that would have taken all summer to haul away by the yard waste people (who will only take 50 pounds at a time, and only come every other week) we set our sites on gravel.

As we drove east (or south) to Sunset Materials (the gravel store) we noted the black black sky. "Wow, I'm glad we're not working in that!" I said. "DAMN IT WOMAN, NOW YOU'VE JINXED US!!!" Jason thought but said "Shhhhh..."

Well, as per usual he was right.  We drove right into the rain.  Horrendous rain.  Noah on a boat with pairs of animals rain.    We waited in the truck for 10 minutes hoping it would blow over like most summer storms, but nope.. it was going to rain for about an hour.

We debated and debated about the gravel (with multiple opinions from the Internet and our experts in the field, Dad) and finally Jason braved the weather to go in and talk to the gravel lady.

She said we could get gravel on a rainy day, but they weigh it when they sell it and wet is far more heavy than dry.  We debated some more and I let my desire to not fiddle fart around with gravel effect my decision.

We drove away without any gravel product, but with a surprisingly clean truck bed (the rain washed away all traces of the sod and dirt from our earlier outing.)  When we arrived home not only was it NOT raining at our place, the sidewalks were dry as if it hadn't rained at all!  That was strange considering that on our way back from the gravel store (lot...whatever) there were areas where the water had pooled and was flooding over the road.

We cleaned up, took the truck back to u-Haul and then went on our merry way.

Tonight we will be digging and leveling the dirt in our new sod-less area and tomorrow picking up a tamper thingy to pound the dirt into place.

We will have to be done by Sunday because the concrete people will come when they come next week, it could be Monday it could be Thursday and we have to be ready.

These are our before and step one pictures.  More to come!

New Layout...

Do you like it?   It says summer to me.

The other thing that screams summer is my back that is finally peeling. It is disgusting and awful.

This weekend, we will be out and about in the SUN again and I will be covered.  Not only because I don't want to leave bits of my dna everywhere but this new skin underneath needs time to fully form before I subject it to the sunlight.

I'd show a picture of my back - but it is very unattractive.

More later on our patio situation.

GET IT STRAIGHT

Dear People of the Earth,

When using someone's name in print please make a TEENY TINY effort to spell that person's name correctly.

Clues as to how to spell someone's name are pretty easy to locate. Here are some hints:

On Facebook: the person's profile name is a STRONG indication as to what the accurate spelling of their name might be.


In email - the individuals email address will commonly give you a clue.  See example:

joe.jones@hoppedup.org

I bet you $10 he spells his name J O E.

In other communications, people tend to leave a signature, that is also a clue as to how their name is spelled.  My signature at work is:

Terri XXXXX XXXXXXXX
Information Security
Blah Blah Blah
Phone Number

I commonly get "Thanks Tracy" or even "Thanks Patty"

Where Patty comes from I have no idea.  (Actually, I know a Patti and she's from New Jersey, but that's a different story.

Use the clues given to you you find your way!

End of RANT

A real view

I am one to 'borrow' photos from the web to highlight my point and in my last post I used a photo of the Piazza Navona in Rome as an obsurd example of what my patio looks like.

This photo is a closeup picture of the fountain that can be seen in the 'borrowed' and much appreciated picture. This picture was taken by me.

I must say those damned birds were everywhere.

Maybe we'll get laid!

As mentioned earlier our little 9x15 patio isn't doing much for us and we have been on a quest for an additional slab.  We have made multiple calls to reputable companies and have gotten one quote and one guy who is missing (also known as ignoring us.)

The company that works with our builder is on location in our neighborhood a couple times a week and after three weeks of trying to get a hold of them they FINALLY came by today.

I am encouraged that we might actually see this thing through.  Keep your fingers crossed - if it all works out we may be digging up sod this weekend.  Woo Woo

(This is EXACTLY what our backyard looks like.  Don't be envious, is such a hassle to have all those tourists tromping through and taking pictures.)

It puts the lotion on its skin

We had one nice summer day Saturday afternoon.  It was pretty, it was sunny, the restaurants scrambled to set up their outside seating and BOOM, it is over.

I, like the good northwest girl I am, took to the sun as if I would never see it again.  After a morning of happy foot pampering at the "salon" with the one "Gift Certificate Available" I headed to Home Depot and  purchased lawn edgers with my fella. 

My much beloved daisies are growing out of control and making mowing and weed eating our itty bitty yard a two person job.  You know, of course, that I am the one having to hold the daisies back while Mr. Wonderful weed eats the edges.  So, we edged the lawn and then I trimmed the daisies.  I deadheaded the sad flowers to give the plants the energy to bloom the tiny buds that are wanting to come out.

It was therapeutic and fun, and I knew it was going to be the only sunny day in a while, so I decided to give my WHITE WHITE skin some vitamin D.  Am I smart enough to put on ANY sunscreen?

NO I AM NOT.

Today, this is what the yoga lady behind me had to transcend while she moved into the downward bendy pose:

Pretty, isn't it?


Pretty dumb.

Fictionary

Not my word - but it's great!

PORNADO: the endless loop of pop up pornography website advertisements that happen when you click on some unsavory web site.  " "I clicked on something and got caught in a pornado."



Glorious!

Date night!!! After working in the tiny yard (lawn edgers) we cleaned up and are at SIP and then off to Cirq d solei to see Kooza! Fun

It was as I guessed... wet

So, my mid-morning (early lunch break) yoga experience was great.  I am pleased to report that I have more mobility than I did at my biggest weight - go figure.  I did sweat like a pig (has anyone seen a pig sweat?) but it felt good.  The instructor didn't seem to mind and didn't look at me like I was about to die.

Some of the more "namaste" aspects of yoga might be lost on me,  I'm a spiritual person but to be one with the now is confusing to me.  (I know... be present in THIS moment because it is the moment you have.)  It also took me a couple times to be able to "take in an Ohm".  I was silent during the first Ohm, and then participated a bit with the "whoosh" as we pulled the bad energy out and threw it away but I gave the last "Ohm" the old college try and kind of liked it.

I walked out of the studio feeling stronger than I did walking in.  It certainly is a good work out and very peaceful.  Thankfully, even in the more bendy, open positions there was no tooting.  My biggest fear is to cut a huge fart during a quiet downward dog movement.  I clearly have some room to grow in the flexibility arena, but I enjoyed myself and I will try to work some more classes in.

I have cooled down, enjoyed some much needed food (I forgot to eat before I went to the class) and have finally showered.  I am feeling clean, refreshed and ready to take on the rest of my work day (thankfully, my co-workers can't smell me while I work at my desk in my stinky yoga pants) and then our dinner out tonight.

Fictionary

"Postworthy": an activity, occurance or idea worthy of posting on your facebook status. (Becky)

For the record, some folks have an unfortunate idea of what is postworthy. "I made a big poopie" will never EVER be postworthy.
For me, things that are funny, or make me look silly are postworthy. My (or your) opinion of politics are boring and make me (or you) sound like a jerk. I have a blog to post my boorish opinions on stuff only I care about.

Stretch...

Well, this could be fun.  Uber cool Pastor Gretchen and I will be partaking in a yoga class tomorrow.  I can sneak it in during my lunch hour and be all nice and bendy for the weekend.  (wait.... that sounded bad.)

I took a few yoga classes earlier in my life, but I was "big TP" then and it is hard to bend when you've got an extra 100 lbs on your frame. I am hopeful that I'll be less awkward this go round.  No matter, I'm excited to do some relaxi-sweat exercise.  I like the gym work outs...but mixing it up is a good idea.

The classes are a whopping $15 to drop in, but since my schedule is so whackadoo (it's a word!) that I can't commit to an "every Wednesday" type class.  I'm just lucky that I can work it in during the day.  The not needing to shower right away to get back to work is nice.

There were folks at the bank that could go running at lunch and quickly clean up and be professional again.  Not me, I turn RED when I work out.  It is not something I can simply turn off.  When RED SWEATY TP shows up at your meeting it is hard not to think she is pissed about something.  (She's not, but she looks it).



By the way do you like my "art"?  I'm wondering if I should stop "borrowing" stuff from the Internet.  Some images must be stolen (Milk-a-what?) but images showing me at yoga or sweaty, can be easily created.  I'm sure I'll either get better at it, or get bored with it.  Either way, it is a win win for you.

Read the caption

"Firefighters wrap up at the scene of a fire at 15 M St. in Hampton this morning, where a home was gutted by two fires this morning.  Right, Wayne McGowen, who was sleeping in the basement of the house when is caught fire watches firefighters at the scene along with neighbor Kali Burns, who was dressed as a gorilla.  (JASON SCHREIBER)"

HOLY HELL BATMAN

This oil spill is breaking my heart.

It seems to get worse every day and with everything they try it grows and grows and grows.

In addition to feeling overwhelmingly helpless, I have a sneaking suspicion that our thirst for oil and our consumption will not drop one bit.  We, as a people, will learn NOTHING from this. Our policies won't change and we will continue to  "drill baby, drill."

The "leak" will eventually get stopped and the cleanup efforts will continue and then some famous person will die, or some politician will get caught having sex with a goat and our attention will be drawn elsewhere. Ten years later Dateline NBC will run a one hour special "The Gulf, ten years later."  We will cry when the images of blobs of oil wash up on our pretty Florida beaches with sad ominous music playing in the back ground, but we'll be bored with the statistics about the death of the Louisiana fishing industry and the impacts to the wetlands.  I mean come on, if we can't put a 5,000 square foot house on it, what good is it?

I'm sickened by this whole stinking mess.

I also want to smack those people who are using this horrific event to further their own political agendas.  It is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue it is a global, environmental issue that (feels like) we may never recover from.

Sheesh...where is the fun?

Weekend recap.

Our weekend away with my family was fun.  We left Saturday morning and avoided the 14 mile backup over the pass.  It seemed silly to spend Friday stuck in traffic just to pay for an extra night in a hotel.

We helped my parents with lots of "around the house" type things - Jason helped my dad finish the trim on the new flooring they installed.  I burned out the motor on the weed eater. Perhaps when the dandelions have 1 inch circumference stalks they probably should be lopped off with tree cutters versus decapitating them with the weed eater.  It was a messy and fun job.  

There was a lawn to be mowed, the apple trees in front, the giant walnut tree in the back and the little apple tree in back needed trimming.  These trees have long ago stopped producing fruit, so trimming them in late spring is more of an aesthetic thing than a maintenance thing.  Chopping out all the suckers and low hanging limbs help with a more safe lawn mowing experience.   Trust me on that one... those branches are a bitch when you fly under them with the riding lawn mower.

We also helped do some barn organizing, lifting heavy crap and making room for more heavy crap.  There was an exciting trip to the dump (with a stop at the recycling center to drop about 50% of the load).  All in all it was a productive weekend.

The aunts came over Sunday for a back yard bbq.  Jason grilled up juicy rib eye steaks and took some flack about everything he owned coming from Costco.  He's a good sport and only spit on one of the steaks.  We played lawn darts and in spite of our best efforts no one got hurt.

We managed to sneak in one winery stop over the weekend, and heaven help me I don't remember the name of it, but I do remember this creepy statue that they had outside.  I'm not sure what she is all about, but she is (in my opinion) ugly and has an extra eye.

Because the parents house is so quaint, and home to one very sweet dog and a cat a hotel is the place for Jason & I.   I reserved us the "whirlpool" suite and made a trip to LUSH to pick up some fun bath bombs for the interpersonal time after family time.   The bath bomb "Big Blue" looks innocent enough.  It was described online as "We sprinkle each bomb with Atlantic sea salt crystals and infuse them with seaweed to soften and nourish the skin, giving you a beautiful beachy glow."   Yes, the online description clearly states... SEAWEED.  I tell you, in the store no mention of seaweed was present.  It was quite the shock when our bomb exploded and this came out into the tub:

It looks like pubic hair, right?!

Well, since we had the jets on in the tub all these little bits of black twigs got everywhere. We tried to gather it all up and scoop it out but lots and lots of it got into the inner workings of the tub.

Instead of a relaxing bath that inspired the things that are inspired at a hotel with a whirlpool tub... we spend 30-45 minutes picking the nubby bits out of the tub and rinsing the jets, filling the tub turning it on, scooping up MORE nubby bits, rinsing, scooping. IT WAS HORRIFIC.

Trust me, I would rather have used the Honey one that makes the water look like pee than this thing. It would have been one thing if the twigs had dissolved, but seaweed is hearty in water.

So, the romantic whirlpool room (like my fireplace suite on the honeymoon) was a bust. Maybe I should stop all attempts at hotel seductions. Clearly, I am VERY bad at it.

The good news is that we got a full nights sleep.

Sigh.