When walls going up is a good thing.

Waiting is really hard, but it brings me joy to see visible progress.   The window on the left will be the one I look out of at my kitchen sink.  Those trees will always be there as they are part of the protected green space.  In the summer they will provide much needed shielding from the late afternoon sun, and in the winter the leaves will be gone from the deciduous trees giving us extra light, but the evergreens will give us color.  Sadly, there are alder trees back there and when they bloom the pollens attack me in the most unfortunate way, but they are pretty so I forgive them.

There are all sorts of things we're doing to pass the time while we wait.  Picking out furnishings and placing of existing items in the 'room' has been a great way to pass the time.  Here's a view of our living room as it is planned today.

The blank spot on the left is the kitchen and our island will end about 1 foot before the transition.  Our hardwoods will extend the entire width of the space, so an area rug will be needed.

At this point I've picked a couch, a rug and a buffet.  All these things are subject to change and of course 100% reliant on budget.

We've set aside money for furniture, but there are more things on the list than our budget will allow.  I won't be buying a $15,000 hand tufted rug or a couch from Ethan Allen.  But, the $600 rug from Ballard Designs looks pretty awesome and my hope is that the pottery barn couch I'm drooling over isn't too big.

When it comes time to put everything in the room I may call in some expert help (but not in the form of in-laws or parents).

The next dream room to plan is the office/guest suite on the main floor. This may be a space that "works" for now and gets the high design later on.  Sorry dad, you may be sleeping on the slumberjack for a bit.

The dream house journey

Where to begin?  Maybe it all started with an ongoing joke about winning the lottery and building a "cabin" with an expansive outdoor kitchen, a sleeping porch for all the kids that would come to visit and a basement!  

That talk turned to a serious discussion about our marital financial goals, plans and what we would do with "all the extra" money after our mortgage was paid off.  Ideas included a vacation home, traveling the world, digging out the crawl space in our house one pocketful at a time to create the most amazing wine cellar ala Shawshank Redemption Style, or building up our savings and sitting at home night after night.

We then started talking about a more realistic project, using our current equity and purchasing a home that meets our long term life goals now.  The obvious question is, "gee, your house was already so nice, how could it not work for you long term?"  Good question, our house was lovely and had MANY things going for it that made me proud to call it home, but it was missing a few things that we knew we need/want.  Namely, a main floor full bath and a sleeping space on the main level.  We won't always be spry and being able to accommodate an elderly roommate is important.  The new house has a basement, a place to stow things like racks of DVDs and a tv the size of Guam, as well as a guest room and bath to double as a private space for visitors.  We are gaining a larger, and more private back yard.  It will still be a TINY yard, but we are doubling our useable grass space and because of the walkout basement getting a large deck on the main level to entertain.  We also back up next to a protected green space, so no one will be building behind us.  It will be quiet and wonderful.  Lastly, a different and better rated school district.  

We looked in all of King County and found what we were looking for less than a mile from our current house, and it wasn't built yet so we are able to customize it to our hearts & pocketbooks content.  During the week after the Peanut's fourth birthday we put in an offer that was accepted.  Within three weeks our house was on the market, and after a long and emotionally draining weekend where a realtor called at 9pm on Saturday night asking to come and look at the house we received a full price offer that in a strange bit of real estate folk lore went through on time without issues.

We have moved into an apartment on a temporary basis until the house is ready for us to occupy.  As it stands today it is a foundation that has been filled with dirt.  They say the house will be done around the end of December.  I have hope that we'll be in by the 15th so we can put our world together before Santa tries to shove himself down the gas fireplace insert.

For your (my own) enjoyment here are a couple photos of the hard surfaces we've selected.

bathroom

flooring

It's On!

Terrible Twos??? Pishaw

Those who are ahead of us by just six months in the parenting space have been saying that a 3 year old is NOTHING like a 2 year old and a 3 1/2 year old is nothing like the kid you had at 3.  Man oh man were they not kidding.

Mostly, it's all good.  We make funny faces before bed and hers are the best.  She tells me secrets like when she's grown up she wants to take me to Disneyland, and Daddy can come too.  I can't be sure, but I think she thinks she'll be a grown up within the next two years.  She is helpful, she loves to have a job to do.  Thank you for jobs big enough for a wee one to help with.

Naps are a thing of the past.  She still rests at school, and I'm sure the AH-MAZING teachers run such a tight ship that she even sleeps on most days. Weekends...not so much.  If we've had a crazy busy day on Saturday I can somewhat get her to do a quiet activity on her own during the day on Sunday, but mostly not so much.

The real pain is the gap between her patience and ability to use words to make her point.  When she's tired, like after school or late on the weekends she can't hold it together when she doesn't get her way.  And by hold it together I mean, she's on the floor, there are tears, she can't seem to hear us, or calm down.   There are brief moments when my instinct is to talk to her louder than she's yelling and then I remember a few things:

1) I'm the mom.
2) I'm in CHARGE
3) I do not want to live in house where people yell.
4) Talking to her in a low, calm voice at her level helps her calm down.

There are times when her frustration boils over because she just wants to feel like we heard her.  This is super easy to manage.  We sit and I tell her I either heard her, or when she calms down she can tell me what she's trying to say.  She is an actual person.

damn it mom...

She has, on occasion given me stink eye or really scowled at me.  Those moments break my heart because I can see into the future and the terrible teenager that she could morph into.

I can predict two futures, one where she stops getting her way and the fact that we hold her back from watching hours and hours of Paw Patrol turn her against us and we have to sleep with our bedroom door locked so she doesn't knife us in our sleep.  The other where she's a semi-reasonable child who can roll with the everyday disappointments that life brings.  I'm hopeful we're doing everything we can to be the second family.

 She'll be 4 in about 6 weeks and that's a good thing.  I'm sure four will be a total breeze.

Hello friend

I'm sorry it's been so long. I do miss the "externalizations of my internal dialog". Lately I have been happy, busy, busy, and...busy. The sarcastic life observations are still in my brain, but I'm editing the content and there's a significant time differential.

Blogging about my colorful and, to me unique, husband is off limits. It's not fair to make witty statements about things he says or does to the "public" (3 people who <emphasis> may <end emphasis> still read this crap) but not bring it into the regular and healthy dialog we have about our marriage.

Blogging about thus kid seems obvious... She is funny, bright, a vortex of energy, a huge inspiration of frustration... But mommy blogs... No thank you.

Blogging about work is very not smart. I have lots to say ... Jerks and people who are 125 times smarter than me, you are funny, but not worth my salary.

That leaves me with current events - Ebola scares me, what does it matter if our gay friends marry and football is harmful to the players. I can blog about daily life - but outside the previous limitations that leaves me with Rita at the grocery store and the crazies at Costco.

I'm still VERY funny ( in my head) but...parenting a 3 year old takes a lot of time (even with an awesome co-parent ) I'll be back in due time

Sent from my iPad

SuperGirl

Zoo!

August F. Hahn - Chinook Observer: Obituaries

For you dad:



August F. Hahn - Chinook Observer: Obituaries

KIRKLAND — August F. “Fritz” Hahn, long time Long Beach attorney, passed away due to complications of kidney disease March 18, 2014 at his home in Kirkland, WA. Fritz was born in Winslow to Catherine and August M. Hahn. Their eldest child, he spent his youth between Bainbridge Island and Seattle. Even in his youth, he was ambitious, and chose to go to school in Seattle, as he would get a better education.

He is preceded in death by his wife Marilyn and his brother George. He is survived by his four children, John, August Jr., Geoffrey and Mark.

What can be said? A veritable icon of the Peninsula for the better part of 20 years, Fritz was known to everyone on the beach, and I do mean everyone. You either loved him, because he was working for you, or you hated him, because he was working for the other side in a legal issue.

Fritz went to the University of Washington, where his studies were interrupted to serve in the Navy during the Korean War.

After returning from service, he obtained his law degree, and went to work for the King County Prosecutor’s office, where he handled several very interesting cases. He decided to move to Pacific County in 1966 to join the only other lawyer in the county. After his partner passed away in 1967, Fritz invited James B. “Jim” Finlay, a fraternity brother at the UW, to join him, as there was too much work in the county for a single attorney. Though their partnership did not last long, both stayed on the beach and practiced law, with Fritz handling most of the civil issues, and Jim handling more of the corporate issues.

Fritz was one heck of a lawyer. Once, a local woman shot her husband dead as he walked into their home. Not only did Fritz get her off the murder charge (an early spousal abuse defense in Washington), he managed to secure her double indemnity on the husband’s life insurance policy.

Fritz was also the only attorney I’d ever heard of who would take payment for legal service in fish. The family always had fresh salmon, halibut, and Dungeness crab because of this. His attitude was that if somebody needed help, Fritz would take care of them, and figure out the details later.

Fritz also had a thing against the feds. One time, a local fisherman was about to get his boat seized by the government for failure to pay taxes. Fritz went to a judge, argued double jeopardy (the feds had closed the fishing season, and thus the fisherman’s livelihood was lost). He won the argument and literally threw the feds off the boat. And, he did it with a chuckle.

Fritz was a community leader. He helped to found the Peninsula Playhouse back in 1980, which has since morphed into the popular Peninsula Players. Unfortunately, he was too ill to come down and see the new theater at the Chinook gym.

Fritz was also instrumental in transferring Beards Hollow, a former campground, to the state park system. Without his advice, we wouldn’t have the beautiful park and trails that are there to enjoy today.

Fritz left the beach after an unsuccessful campaign to become the county judge. He ended up in Yakima, where he became (at the time) the only Public Defendant with a winning record. Again, true to form, he helped free a local Hispanic man who, while being chased by gang members, pulled a gun while running, shot behind him without looking, and killed one of the gang members. He even attempted to learn Spanish, as he felt it better to try and fail to communicate, than not try at all.

Fritz briefly moved back to the Peninsula, living in Ilwaco until his wife Marilyn became ill. He then moved to the Seattle area, where he lived until his passing.

Per his explicit request, there will be no memorial service. If you wish to remember Fritz, please consider making a donation to Providence Hospice of Seattle.

Loving tribute authored by Mr. Hahn’s family.

Character

It has been a rough couple days in the extended friend department.  My friend and former colleague from MegaBank has been battling pancreatic cancer for two years now.  He was diagnosed with stage IV, and through medical intervention and determination he's done a remarkable job.  It's been painful, expensive and excruciating, especially since he's the father of a now five year old boy.

Jay and his ex-wife were, at the date of his diagnosis far from friendly with each other.  These things happen - blame is easy to spread around.  It's easy to vilify one party over the other when you are only presented with one side.  I've never met Jay's ex-wife and based on things he's said about her I never wanted to.  I can see how anger, hurt and whatever else he was feeling impacted his ability to focus on the things about her that made him willingly and happily marry her and then have a child together.

They have, in spite of not being able to be friendly, worked out how to live in the same geographic area for the sake of their young son.  This has meant moving to Oregon, Florida and back to California to support their overall goal of being with their son.

Now, here he is having taken a terrible turn for the worst at home on hospice care and she, the "evil ex-wife" has moved in, put her world on hold to take care of Jay and ensure that their son makes it through this awful time.   I really can't think of anything more beautiful to do for someone.

I see that Jay's very close friends are involved and supporting the three of them as a combined family unit.  I wish I could be there to do something, but I guess the best I have to offer is appreciation for the fact that you can't or shouldn't judge someone based on limited information.  

I'm sad for their loss, sad to be losing a friend and thankful he's with people who care.

Bunnies

The never ending story

It does not matter how many times I pick up the princess dress up box, by bedtime it will have to be picked up again.

There are sparkles EVERYWHERE in our house!!!!

Tired TP

The Big Move

The awesome back yard that was.

After years of talking about it, my parents finally sold their house and moved into a condo/townhouse in 'town'.

My grandparents bought the little house in Granger in the 1950's which was built in the 1940's and after the addition of a bathroom totaled 788 square feet.  What made this place a great place to live was the acreage and the barn in the back.  In the late 70's the State of Washington and the Department of Transportation  informed my grandparents that they were purchasing the majority of their land to run Interstate 82 through the Yakima Valley.  This was a dark moment as my grandparents owned that land free and clear and the purchase price in no way was fair market value.  While having the freeway in your backyard is handy for a quick getaway it also brings a LOT of road noise to what had been a rural oasis.

My grandfather died (at his own hand) in the back bedroom in 1980 and in the mid 80's my parents quietly purchased the house and land from my grandmother who continued to live there until her death in the early 1990's.   Because my grandmother never mentioned that she sold the house, there was some angst between the siblings when my grandmother died and the house/land wasn't included in the 'estate' distribution.

I graduated from high school in 1986 and that same year my parents started talking about selling their home in Ilwaco, Wa when dad retired and traveling in a massive truck and trailer monstrosity.   In early 1992 they made that dream a reality.   The reality was that gas is expensive and they only lasted about 2 years on the road and much of that was parked in various campgrounds as on-site work campers.

They moved back to the Yakima valley and purchased a home in Moxie.  After my grandmother died the little house in Granger was rented to a family who wasn't doing a stellar job of maintenance.   Eventually, my parents moved back to the Granger house and we spent a summer tearing out walls and opening up the space.   They traded goods to a 'kid' for assistance with the rebuild.   Thankfully, they discovered that he was a terrible electrician before the house burned down.

exterior

This little house holds many memories for my family including lots of laughter, picnics, work parties, arguments, hot summer days, cold winters, funerals and everything in between.  With all those experiences I'm surprised that the sale of the house is actually a relief.  My parents are at the point where managing 2 the two acres and the upkeep on a house is too much.

The new place is nice enough, it's 1100 square feet which is practically a mansion.  They have a dining room and a spare loo!  The kitchen is separate from the living room and the main bathroom is massive.  The garage will hold both cars and has storage.  Additionally, the community has a pool and a nicely cared for green space where the Lucy can work out some energy.

remodeled (seriously) interior

Moving was, as you can imagine, a task and a half. My mom gets a rather large gold star for packing everything up, coordinating everything, obtaining a muscular person and getting it all done.   She's forgiven for the state of the barn on the two days that we could come over to help.   I'm sure that in time, she'll weed through even more of the "necessary" things and lighten their load again.

As of Sunday afternoon, everything was removed from the Granger house, except for some important rocks.  Yes, ROCKS.  To quote my mom "you would understand if you were a rock person."  I'm not, so I don't.   We did as much as we could during the weekend to help restore order in the new house.  We are going over again on Sunday to complete the IT connectivity portion of the move.   We are hopeful to pawn Lucy off on someone for the day so as to not inflict a drive over, play quietly on the floor, and then drive back kind of day on her.    I know the grandparents will be sad not to see her, but it's not fair to Lucy.

I have good feelings about the new place and think it can be kind of cute.  They'll have enough space to stay out of each others hair (sorry dad, bad pun) and being in Yakima makes our visiting that much easier.  We'll still end up in a hotel, which I don't mind, but having it be 10 minutes away vs 45 is great.  Of course, they moved solely to make my life easier.  After all, I am the center of the universe. Arent' I?   *crickets

Life & partnership.

Not this...

This!!

Not the hippo-nanamous

The grown up girl

Sent from my iPad

Variations may occur

Which is the sample purse and which is the one Lucy colored herself? It's super hard to tell.

3rd Birthday Photo Album

First Gift of the day

Sully in Sunglasses

jump rope

ready for a party

princess birthday hat

this cupcake is on fire!

Lu & Jo in dresses later in the evening

after a bath, but still in the party mood

a selfie with mommy

a quiet moment with some friends

the birthday cupcakes

Happy 3rd Birthday

Hello my sweet!

Today is your third birthday.  You are wearing a pretty pink dress with sparkles (oh the sparkles are EVERYWHERE in our house.)  

Grandma and Papa are here and we are heading out to the place where we're having a small party for you in about 20 minutes.  You  are very excited for your birthday and are having a good day - but the waiting around is hard.

You changed so much this year and it is wonderful to see you learn new things.  You're using the potty on your own, which by the time you read this may not seem like such a big deal, but trust me - it is!  You are talking up a storm and it's really fun when you tell me stories. 

Usually, your stories involve mommy and daddy or something we just did, but it's great to hear how your mind works.

This year you asked "where's my brother".  Well, I'm sorry to let you know you won't be getting a brother.  We decided one peanut was enough for our house.  You don't seem mad about it and there are many wonderful things about being an only child.  All these toys and books are YOURS.  You can have friends over, and are very good at sharing, but in the end you don't' have to share mom & dad with anyone.  

We are a happy family and you are a very important part of that.  I love painting, playing water colors with you, and teaching you how to tell the time.  Reading books is also fun, but kiddo - you need to be better about listening at bed time.  Those last few moments of the day can be a bit frustrating while you work out every possible scenario for staying up just a little bit later.  No matter how tired you are, you don't want us to shut that door.  I know that won't last forever, and it is kind of cute - but dude... SLEEP.

This summer we will take swimming lessons again, go to Denver for the 4th of July and spend lots of time outside.  Today, snowed for a tiny moment, but nothing exciting.  

You are downstairs putting together a puzzle and waiting to leave for your party.  You know there are balloons in the car and can't wait to see them.  I hope you have fun today and know that we only want the best for you for now and always.

Keep growing, stay healthy and know in your heart that I love you more each and every day.

Happy Birthday,

Love,

Mommy

Turning The BIG 0-3

at the dentist

Saturday marks three years that Miss Lucy has been with us.  Obviously we're still pretty happy with her performance and she's chugging along quite well in the manners department.  Although, we're experiencing a little bit of a glitch in the 'perfect child' department in that when she gets herself out of bed to go tinkie without assistance she's missing the 'go back to your own bed' step.  Like everything else, with determination and discipline (on the parents part) we will work this out.  I will get to sleep in past 5 am again ... oh yes I will!  Until then.. coffee.

Turning three is a big deal.  It's not Nobel Prize big or going potty without assistance big but it is worthy of a cupcake or two. I received some great advice that said don't make every birthday a holiday or you'll have a spoiled kid on your hands.  This seems smart and forward thinking, but completely ignores the fact that I LOVE BIRTHDAYS, and getting to throw a party for a little girl is fun.  Maybe after the newness of being a parent has worn off I can only make her favorite dinner and call it good but until then there will be balloons.

The neighborhood community center has a package called "Bouncy Birthday"  We get two hours to enjoy an indoor bouncy house and a room for pizza, cupcakes and treats.  The food & decor will be provided by us of course.  I had anxiety about how many kids we invited as the place only allows for 25 people (kids & adults) but we're holding steady with 8 of the 16 kids invited confirmed yes and 4 solid no's.  That means there will be enough kids there for it to be a real party and not so many that we're driven out of town for breaking rules at the community center.

  

We're having a Monster's Inc party theme.  The kids will get purple or green capes, I'm making green cupcakes and have decorated blue and purple lunch bags with monster eyes that will have party favors.   Balloons are on order and the whole thing will be over with by 2:15 Saturday.  I'm excited and hope that she has a great time.

The capes were my attempt to avoid giving out bags of junky junk.  Party favors, it appears is a requirement.  But... I saw the bag idea on Pinterest (oh damn you Pinterest) and thought they were a cute double duty item.  Kids like a take-away and they add to the decor.   The truth be told - I like an arts & crafts project.  

Lucy is excited to turn 3 and knows her birthday is March 1st.   She's starting to do visitations into the next class at school and will move up soon.  My baby.. not so much anymore.

Enjoying Chihuly