Wedded Bliss.

In October my sister will be getting married. I'm very excited for her and Matt. However, I have to admit that I am a bit nervous for this upcoming event. Mainly because my parents have been divorced for about 9 years now. My dad and step mom will be flying in from Florida, as will my dad's mom from Iowa. My mom says she plans on being there as well. She is disabled with multiple sclerosis so it is a challenge getting her from place to place. So, I am a bit unsure of where she is planning on staying and how she plans to get around, as she has no one else in the state of Oregon except Jennifer and I. My dad/Jo and grandmother will be staying with me in Eugene, and as expected, Jenn is going to be mondo stressed and busy in Portland. What makes the situatioin even more complicated than merely where will she stay and how will she get around, is the fact that my mom is in deep denial over the divorce (still) and we play a constant game of "What's your dad's email address? I want him back". So I can only imagine what a)getting us all together as a family for the first time since the divorce b) in a church c) for a wedding, will be like. I guess we'll really see if she even makes it. It wouldn't surprise me if she didn't come. She didn't come to my wedding because it was "too hot outside".

Re-run on TVLand

UPDATE FROM PREVIOUS POST: Oh. My. God. Talk about a living nightmare. I have had a spectacular weekend, folks! Please read this before reading further. Having said that, today's plan was to take back the 42" Plasma. We had bought the 32" LCD screen TV at another store last night with plans to take the plasma TV back today. So we load that big hummer up in the truck and head back. I'm waiting for Nathan to come back to the truck, when I look he's standing next to the window with that "You've got to be F'ing kidding me" look in his face. This lovely store we bought the TV from very conveniently in small print on their receipt have "Returns only good for store credit". Yeaaaaaaa. Right. Not ONE word was mentioned about that yesterday at the store. In fact, all the salesman said was "Keep your box and within 30 days if it's not working for you or you don't like it, bring it back". Yea, bring it back because this is the only place you CAN shop at now that we have your money! I was pissed. After telling the salesman, Scott, what I thought of him and that store, he said there was nothing else he could do. I proceeded to inform him that there was something, in fact, more that he could do for me: He could shove the TV and the store up his ass. He said "Wow. Quite the mouth, young lady" at which point I informed him that he hadn't heard anything yet. I called the district manager, Wade, to tell him what I thought of their lovely policy and even went as rash as contimplating just calling VISA and having them cancel my transaction. It was then Wade came to his senses and worked out a "deal" with me. I could go pick out the TV I wanted at the store and he would credit my card the difference in the TVs. I go back to the store and the shell shocked men sort of just looked at me. I picked out the TV I wanted and told Scott, who I had asked to shove various things up his ass, this was what I wanted and what Wade had said. So, I now have a THIRD TV, but I made the best out of a pretty crappy situation. I'm exhausted. Where did my weekend go?

Adventures in TVland

6/2006: Ghost town of Bagdad, CA. Sprung board to local school house.

It was near 100F today. Thank God for central air conditioning. So, Friday night our big screen TV went out. It had spontaneously been turning off by itself. Iwas just sure it had to be a ghost or something, but turns out it was the power board, whatever that is. But it was still working, just had to keep turning it back on. Friday that went bye-bye. So, today was spent TV shopping. Eventually we settled on a 42" HDTV Hitachi Plasma Flatscreen. Getting it where we wanted it was a mess! Lets just say that we had to bring in our picnic table, stand on it, lift the TV up to that point then raise it above our heads. Augh. Nightmare. Got a nice tricep workout! So, we get it all rigged up and I tell you what. The picture was thoroughly disappointing. The quality wasn't what I expected. Every channel looked like a 4x6 picture overblown to a 8x10. It was really washed out. We called the store (because of course it never looks like that in the store). We had gotten the TV with the most resolution and we don't have HDTV channels. Something about the lines having to duplicate because the video being inputed had to double itself, blah, blah, blah. Unless we ordered HDTV and only watched the EIGHT channels supporting HDTV, this was the picture we were going to get. So, long story short, we decided it wasn't worth the $$$$ watching a grainy/blurry TV. So, we had to take it all down, repackage it up, and in the end, we now have a regular 32" LCD flatscreen and it's 110 times better and $1100 cheaper. It's pretty sweet. Having had a 52" big screen to this is a change, but the quality is so much better, it balances out.

Friday afternoon a smile returned to my face that hasn't been there in quite some time. A smile, until now, I wasn't sure would return the way it has. I'm glad it's back and I hope it sticks around for awhile...

Food for Thought

1.) I had a co-worker of mine pose something to me that I had never really thought about. In a recent conflict of mine, she shed light on: Maybe people are just presented in our lives for certain reasons. Maybe they're just meant to be in our lives to serve a purpose and that's it. Sometimes they're meant to be in our lives forever; sometimes they're just meant to be in our lives for a short period of time. The key is knowing which is which, and when to realize that the purpose is over. I have a hard time realizing the latter....or do I want to realize it?

2.) Why did summer used to mean so much to me as a kid and now it's "just another day"? I was walking to the park with Maysen the other day and saw 2 kids playing in the sprinkler in the front yard. I was immediately brought back to the exhilaration I felt on "the last day of school" which marked the first day of summer. That meant late nights, sleeping in, excitement because of that evening's softball game, "harvesters" coming into town, 4th of July parade/carnival, days at the pool, riding bikes, locusts, fire crackers (in particular, Black Cats), the Campbell boys, neighborhood "Capture the Flag" and "Grey Wolf" games, Ashley Herman's trampoline, and the smell of a warm humid night. This part of the year was MORE than just a part of a year. It was "THE" part of the year. What everyone lived for. The break from everything else. It's sad that as you grow older, that exhilaration fades and summer, a once absolutely cherished time, is now just mixed in with every other day of the year. But now you can bitch about the heat. I want to be a kid again.

Swiss Family Robinson

This is the quiet, little bit of heaven I just spent the last 3 days at. We left Friday morning for Willow Creek, California for a small get away; sort of a graduation/anniversary gift to ourselves. We traveled down the coastal highway 101, driving through the Redwoods on the way. We arrived at Coho Cottages around 3pm. Coho Cottages consists of only 3 accomodations. The Riverside Bungalow (above; where we stayed), a cottage in town, and the Farmhouse on top of the hill. So, what I am trying to say, is we were completely secluded. Just down the private trail from our bungalow was the Trinity River. We went and ate at the local small pizza parlour and came home until dark sitting on the balcony drinking a few beers. The shower was an open shower, where I stared up at the stars with the smell of Biolage running through my hair. When I opened my eyes, I was staring ahead at the moon gleaming off the river below. Absolutely amazing. Falling asleep inside the screened in bunglow listening to the crickets and birds was so peaceful. I felt like I part of the Swiss Family Robinsons', minus the pirates.

Saturday sort of changed my life. Marc and Londa Rowley, who own Coho Cottages, also own Big Foot Rafting Company. So, we decided we'd go White Water Rafting. It was a TOTAL blast until we hit the rapids named "Slot". Nathan and I were sitting in the back of the raft near our guide. Out of nowhere, a huge wall of water hit me, and knocked me off the raft. When the 38 degree water hit me, it knocked the breath out of me and I was in the water. Although, I wasn't just in the water; I had fallen into the swirling whirlpool we had just hit and I was quickly taken under by the undertow. The first thing they teach you is to not panic. I'd consider myself a pretty skilled swimmer, but I tried to relax and wait to surface. This was uncomfortable because I had started out with no air. I kept seeing the surface, but when I'd get close to surfacing, the undertow would drag me back under. I literally started sucking in water through my lungs and nose and I thought "Oh my God, I'm drowning!!" I started thinking of my family and Maysen. Finally I surfaced long enough to gasp a breath and I was back under the water. I was finally spit out by the whirlpool and I surfaced to see my raft and an oar being handed out to me. After needing to throw up, I finally caught my breath and was OK. Needless to say, I am a tad shell shocked from ever returning back to the wild river and rafting. I don't mean to scare anyone else away from the water; I had an unfortunate experience, but with that said, it was a blast! (all things aside).

We decided to come home today a different way, which turned out to add an extra hour to our trip instead of shortening it. However, this enabled us to visit a ghost town abandoned back when the Gold Rush ended. It was so neat seeing the houses and buildings that once had a history of a community, family, customers, holidays and various other things that create memories in our day to day lives. As we were driving along the river, it was hard not picturing old men, sitting along the banks, panning for gold 100yrs ago.

It was a great weekend, but glad to be home, away from rapidly flowing water and out of the car. I can't wait to visit the Redwoods again. There is something oddly prehistoric about them. You can't help but visualize some Jurassic Park-type environment when you're around them. Here's just a taste of truly how big they are: (FYI: Nate is 6'1").

Si!

Nate graduated (FINALLY!) on Saturday with his degree in Computer Software Design. He starts working at Weyerhaeuser next Monday. He's very thrilled to actually be done with the neverending late nights sitting up with his nerd-light on "coding" all night. The graduation was Saturday afternoon. I gotta tell you ... trying to keep an 18mo old occupied while you listen to Jose not only give his 10min speech in English, but turn around and TRANSLATE that hummer into Spanish (yea, can you believe that!?) was IMPOSSIBLE! Maysen and I ended up touring the grounds acouple of times waiting for Nate's name/degree to be announced. Uncle Matt tried to keep him entertained with a (painful) game of JUMP! on his legs, which Maysen thought was absolutely great as he jumped harder and faster nearly giving Matt bilateral femur fractures! That, and I took my turn fetching various items such as sippy cup and his Beanie Dog out of the aisle as he chose to heave them into it, hoping that would give him a motive of escape (because I usually make HIM go pick up the things he throws). Afterward we had a nice turn out of family and friends who came for BBQ and cake. Ironically, my dad sent Nate a Happy Graduation card. The only thing is, (and you have to know my dad) the entire card was in Spanish. There was no return address to the envelope or anything. At the end of the card, the only closing was "Si!". That's it. We knew right away it was from my dad and Jo. Crazy kids.

Sunday I went to an afternoon tea/dinner for my new niece, Miranda in Albany. It was a small turn out, but we had some good chatting. Just made for a LLLLLong weekend. Then I come to work today. Dr J left for vacation to Russia over the weekend. We cover when Dr J is on vacation. We cover paperwork, patient load, procedures, prescriptions, lab results, everything! And today is Day 1 on vacation-coverage and it's been a NIGHTMARE. Just what I want after my weekend. But, I have tomorrow off, then work Wednesday, then off Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues because Nate and I are heading for Willow Creek, CA (the Redwoods). It was our 6yr anniversary while Nate was walking across the stage on Saturday. So, we're celebrating both ... CHILDLESS! I'm hoping my house doesn't burn down while we're away, because Jenn and Matt are house/babysitting. Ha ha. Just kiddin' guys!

Selfish?

I've been faced with some personal/relationship decisions lately that I've walked away wondering if I've made the right one or not. Because having made the decision, the repercussions I face are those of me being selfish, neglectful, unthoughtful and basically "How could/dare you?" So then, like any person, I sit back and ponder the decision, wondering if I were in the other persons' shoes, what would I think? I've then, also, run it by my close friends/family like "get a load of this" and often I'm told that it was the "other" person who is being selfish in responding in the "how dare/could you" mind frame. But then I think, are THEY being told about me "She's so wrong. How could she do that? I don't know what is wrong with her" and getting their feelings validated that I'm 'so wrong'?

That was me once back in the day. When my dad moved, I thought it was horrible he didn't come visit more, "had to work", etc. Then I stopped, looked at it from his view, and thought "Man, I am really acting like a spoiled brat" yet at the time, I had all the support of "No, he should want to come". So, I guess the bottom line, is I am who I am. I make the decisions I make because of who I am, and if they're wrong, then they're wrong. I feel at the time, its' the right decision. I can't fret over if I made the right or wrong one forever and ever. I have to make the decision that is best for me and my family at the time I make it. And not let it eat me up days, weeks, months later. I think overall, I am a caring and loving person. If I make a wrong decision, I hope it's over casted by some of the right ones I've made in that relationship. Who knows. Maybe that means nothing.