Just When...

Just When

I got serious about turning our backyard into a respectable place to hang out

The sun decided to make an appearance after almost 9 months of being MIA

My steno machine was about to see the light of day in almost three years

I decided to pull out a paint brush and add some color to our house

Olympia got a Trader Joe's, an REI, and a Chipotle, and Target a makeover,

That's when the Government decided to do some restructuring ~ some restructuring that carries with it a big possibility that we won't be here past 2013.

When we arrived almost four years ago, we had no expectations that we'd retire here, but more and more we throw it around, and to say that I've given up all hope to move back to California would be a flat out lie. But we always thought we'd have a choice; we figured the decision would be ours to make.

Things are still at their very preliminary stages and changing daily. I know that we'll be fine no matter what happens and where we end up.

And while the employees at the Department of Agriculture may be hanging onto every word the suits in DC have to say. I"ll be keeping my sights closer to home - in this Washington, the "other" Washington; namely, Olympia. Because I can guarantee that if and when ground breaks for a Nordstrom at our mall, the moving trucks won't be far behind the construction ones.

Tale of the Tape

The other day I was taking down some things off the cork board in the bonus room to make way for other masterpieces that may be coming home from first grade and I came across some questionaires that were part of our Mother and Father's Day gifts from J. They're pretty entertaining.

Here are the standings:

Age: D 38 ~ Me 44 (right on)

Hair Color: D black ~ Me brown

Eye Color: Brown for both

Weight: D 96 lbs ~ Me 120 lbs

(I'm torn between being estatic that he thinks I weigh that little and feeling insulted that he thinks I weigh 24 lbs more than his dad.)

Height: D 96 lbs tall (you read that right) ~ Me 5 feet

Some Other things of Note:

I'm really good at playing on the computer. I bet the tech support departments at many establishments would beg to differ, but I'll take it. Or, maybe I should take it as a hint to get off the computer.

And although it was cut off in the picture, I love him because he helps me cook. Really?

He never helps me cook!

D is apparently as strong as a bear, all 96 pounds of him. His favorite food is steak. J loves him because he likes to draw with him, and he's funny when -- oh, wait.... He's NOT funny.

Now THAT's funny!

Double Duty Daddybration

It only happens once in a blue moon. Maybe more; maybe less because I'm not sure how often a blue moon comes around, but the point is that it doesn't happen very often. This year, however, Daddy's birthday fell on Father's Day. June 20th was the third Sunday of the month and it called for a double dose of celebrations.

Daddy had asked his family to drop by on their way home to Corvallis from Seattle after celebrating N's birthday the day before. They, for some reason or another, respectfully declined. That didn't deter our plans any. We were going to BBQ steaks come hell or high water. Actually, he was going to do the queing because nobody makes steaks like Daddy! I, however, made a special cake to mark the occasion ~ his favorite: Boxed yellow with

chocolate frosting.

And it turned out like most of my baked goods do:

Nothing but the best for my loving husband!

But also nothing a little frosting couldn't cure.

We sang Happy Birthday

and together they blew out the candles,

we ate cake --


which despite its appearance was really yummy,


and Daddy enjoyed the day with his two beautiful kids.


The last time we had a celebration of this sort was in 2004.
We were living in temp housing in Gaithersburg, MD.
J was only five months old:

The next time will be 2021.

J will be 17 and knocking on the door of his senior year in HS.

M will be 12 going on 22, I'm sure.

And Daddy, well, he'll be celebrating

half a century on this earth.

What a party that will be!

The Old Man and the Boogey

For the third year in a row, our family has bought a wii for Christmas.

Two years ago they were the IT item of the season, people were waiting in line to get them only to walk away empty-handed. I happened to be at Target a couple of days before Christmas and two of the guys working there were talking about how they had just gotten two in. I had them dig one out of the boxes and bought one for D. He was excited about it for a couple of days until he decided he didn't have time to play and we returned it!

Last year, PK was already working for Nintendo and we could get a small break on the price. I, once again, decided to buy one for D because he had showed some interest in it. I was smart enough to give him a coupon for it instead of the actual machine in the box. He never had P get it for him. Again, no time to play.

This year, it was his idea to get a refurbished one at a great price from P. It was Js gift from Mommy and Daddy, and this time, it's been opened and set up. J loves it and because D has been off all week, there's been a lot of playing going on.

A couple of nights ago, the whole family was going to go upstairs and play. While they were waiting for me to show up, D and J were playing bowling. I have to say that J is pretty good for a little guy and apparently he wants to call people out about it. At one of Ds turns, he said, "Come on, Old Man." We have no idea where he got the idea to call him Old Man, but it's in his arsenal of intimidation tactics.

Golf was next and this time all three of us played. We're all pretty bad. Even D who is a "real golfer" had some problems, but we continued on our three-hole journey. We all had some "boogeys" in our game. As a matter of fact, most of our holes were boogeys. There was no shame in Js game...he kept saying, "Oh, I got a boogie," like it was a good thing.

I don't know why I think this is so funny. It just is. It's the type of priceless stuff one day the Old Man and his even Older Lady will talk about with each other and laugh about. We'll tell J and M about it once or twice; maybe three times; maybe 300. We'll bore them to death with the same stories told over and over and over again. A lifetime of laughter (or yawns depending on who you ask) over one moment in time.