I can't imagine the uses this bridge endured from 1923 until the day it closed. It saw days from when people struck it rich during the Gold Rush, Korean War, WWII, Vietnam, bomb scares, etc, etc, etc. I love history. Under this bridge is the original gold filtering system that was built with this bridge in 1923. Through a series of water falls and pullies, gold was filtered out of the Trinity River. They say 90% of the gold is still in the mountains of California. And with the price of gold going back up ... it might be worth to start mining again. (I'd better go get myself a donkey).

Terrible Two's have set in with Maysen. Not only does he scream at the top of his lungs when you remove him from a situation he wants to stay in plus ball his fists up while screaming ... but his new thing is grabbing the biggest handful of my hair he can muster, and yanking with all his might. He's turning into "one of those" kids you see and go "Oh My! My child will *never* act like that!". We were at a birthday party yesterday when he pulled that stunt. You can imagine the look of "no he just didn't!" that was across my face. Discipline needs to take a turn...

Kitty Update:

This is Sushi, the kitten we saved from the racoon. And although Maysen was in love with her, she now has a new home with Charity. From what I hear she's ripping around the apartment like she owns the joint. Running so fast that she slams into things in front of her because she's so busy looking behind her with her back arched. Sweet baby.

Happy 4th of July!

This morning we went to the annual Creswell 4th of July Celebration. It is a tradition that reminds me a great deal of my childhood. In Dighton we would have a parade similar to this on a late July evening. After the parade, the whole town would follow the parade to the end of Main Street and out of town to the carnival. From town you could see the lights of the Ferris Wheel and other various carnival rides that littered the field.I was lucky enough to have a best friend, Cherina, who's dad owned an old firetruck, and we would get to ride it in the parade and throw candy to everyone off of it. We felt so cool! We had the candy hook up...

After the Creswell parade there's a huge community get together at the park. The park is filled with cotton candy, music, water balloons, tables/chairs, and food stands. This is one of the nice things of a small town. It's sort of the "christmas time" of a regular family - it's the time of year the whole community meets up to say "hello" to one another. Tonight Creswell will shoot of it's wonderful fireworks. Never judge a book by it's cover because the small town of Creswell has magical fireworks. HUGE fireworks. I'm just hoping that they will die down at a reasonable time. Last year we actually had to drive around at midnight with Maysen because he wouldn't sleep and was scared of the big booms that were going on. Bailey isn't a fan either. They light off the fireworks at the high school, which is right behind our backyard. So, we're having friends over to watch the

fireworks from our front yard. Ok, so back to memory lane: In Kansas we were allowed to light off "firecrackers" as they were called (not fireworks) 3 days before and one day after the 4th. Jenn and I would save our money up, go to the local fireworks people (who were veterinarian techs the rest of the year) to buy "Black Cats" which were essentially just like M80s but on a much smaller scale. We had "punks" that we would light on the gas stove to set them off. Jenn and I would stick these little bags 'o explosions in the tree bark of our huge oak tree in the back. So, when it would explode, chips of tree bark would come flying off. We thought that was pretty awesome. We did this religiously for the entire 4 days we were allowed to. I'm so sure our old neighbor who was a night shift nurse loved the hell out of us! We even had special school boxes in which we'd keep our loot. Loren and Logan Campbell, the neighbor boys who were our age, would get creative on what they blew up, which included pop cans, Barbies, popsicle stick forts with GI Joes inside, and whatever else might look cool blowing up. We're lucky we still have our of our fingers ...

Happy FireCracker Day!

Out with the new; in with the old.

I'm now a proud owner of a Regulator school clock from 1915-1920. It is all original and works like the day it was made. You wind it up every week and it chimes on every hour. Growing up, my father collected/fixed up antique clocks. When my parents got divorced, my mom got all dad's clocks (which pissed me off) and has since sold them all. Since my dad sold our house and now travels and lives in a 5th wheel, he can't have clocks. My sister and I have carried that love for antique clocks and she owns her own antique mantel clock. She found a love during this latest antique shopping spree as well. She is now the proud owner of a 1860 pine dining room table. They're delivering it to her tomorrow.

Friday night we had quite the experience. Nate took me to Weyerhaeuser to show me his new office. On the way in, he had told me about a litter of wild kittens that lived in the busy that they feed. As we were leaving, we saw the mom, dad, and only 1 baby kitten sitting outside the bush. We approached the cats and they all fled in different directions, but the kitten went under a nearby bush. All of a sudden we noticed a huge raccoon preying on the cats. It saw the kitten go under the bush and it was like a wolf on a baby deer. I put Maysen in the van and started throwing rocks at it so it would leave the kitten alone. Finally we chased it off long enough to rescue the scared, wild kitten out from under the bush. It was SO CUTE! All white except for grey paws, ears, and front face. Blue eyes are bigger than moons. Looked like a baby Yoda. We brought her home and put her in Bailey's old pet taxi. Believe it or not, she was eating wet cat food and using the litter box before the next day!

Jenn and best friend since 8th grade, Charity (who moved to Portland from Kansas last year), came down Saturday (Matt was in a conference in Seattle) and Charity within an hour decided she'd take the kitten home with her. So, it got a good home. We figured it was better this way, because it appeared that the rest of the litter was "no more" and where they were living was near a really busy road and parking lot. So, now it has a good home and Nate will watch out for the other cats when he's at work.

We did fireworks on Saturday night which was fun. Maysen enjoyed watching them. He'd say "DAAAAAY" and hold his arms up after each one. (his version of YEAH). The night ended with a nice long fire in the backyard, s'mores, and laughing about the good 'ole days...

`

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.

If I laugh, I will die

So, lately I've been nothing but a whiny little thing on here. Last week, Maysen was watched by my father/step mother in law at Danielle's house (my step sister in law). Danielle has 3 kids who always seem to be sick. Welcome to public school. Well, anyway, Maysen was over there Monday and Wednesday. Monday Jurny had a temp and a runny nose, but was assured it was just "cutting teeth". Which, is normal when you're cutting teeth. So, Thursday Maysen woke up with a slight fever and runny nose, and he started coughing through the day. It's weird because kids can be sick and still act fine. Which, he was a tad "cuddly" here and there, but the rest of the time he was OK. So, Friday I go to work ... nothing wrong. Then I start getting a sore throat. By Friday night it was getting worse .. Saturday I wake up and decide we'd better just hang out and rest. By Saturday night, my chest was heavy with congestion and starting to "burn". I laid down to go to sleep, and I had this deep tickle in my chest, sat up and had to cough and OH MY LORD. I felt like a sawed off shotgun had just ripped open my thoracic cavity and someone was pouring bleach on it and my open throat. OH MAN! Rubbed Vick's all over like crazy and fell asleep shivering from the menthol.

So, I get up this morning (after maybe 4hrs of sleep) and the acid-cough is every 3min and my ears are starting to hurt. So, I decided I'd better go into Urgent Care to make sure I don't have strep throat or something that will manifest into "no good". So, we get there, and the doc listens and I'm wheezing like I've smoked 4 packs of cigs an hour. So, I have to have 2 albuterol breathing treatments via nebulizer. Dizziness has now set in from all the bronchodilation and I'm starting to breathe better. So, he says that I have SARS ... no, just kidding. I have viral bronchitis. So, I'm on mondo cough medicine and an inhaler. Is it bad that I've already had HALF the bottle of cough syrup with codeine?

But ... why is it that Jurny, 3, blows around with a runny nose and slight fever like it's nothing, gone in 1 day. Then Maysen gets it ... yea, he may be a tad slower but by the next day he's A-OK ... that runny nose means NOTHING to him. Me? Hell, I'm down and out as though someone with the biggest and worse pneumonia came and slept all over me, drooling down my throat. Nope! Maybe one slobbery kiss from my runny nose boy and this is day 3 that I'm down and off my ASS! Why are kid's germs so potent ... and how are they "that" immune to their potency?

So, yea, if I even think of beginning to laugh, I get that "Pstfff--" *hard hold of breath* trying to throw my body into that reject "No, you're NOT GOINGTO LAUGH" mode because knowing if I do, my chest will explode into a coughing frenzy, my head will rocket off my neck and burst into a million pieces. So you sort of just have to "blow through it" like you're in birthing classes, which I never took. Ok. And meanwhile, I've taken enough codeine to make my mouth so dry I feel like I might eat my tongue and swallow it whole ... if I only had some moisture. Lips all curled up in my gums .. I look like granny who has dentures and they're all dried and crusted up ... and the lips are clear above the gum lines all you see is "SKELETOR" teeth/gums. Yea, great. That'll kick your Saturday night romance RIGHT off ...

Ok. I am going to bed, and praying like hell that I feel better in the morning so I can MAYBE actually make something out of the last day of this long weekend. I wanna see the DaVinci Code.

Same but Different?

I was so confused when I first moved to Oregon. Do you have Hardee's or Carl's Jr. around where you live ... and why the different name?

Fog

I'm in a total fog today. One of those "can't quite wake up" mornings. Thank goodness it's a holiday weekend. And I have a 4-day weekend because I have Tuesdays off.

Our weather has crapped the bed. It was 70s-80s and gorgeous! Blue sky, no clouds. Now it's been raining for a week and 50s-60s. Which is OK because my grass/garden/flowers were needing watered and our new transplanted grass was getting to look a tad sad. One revelation since moving to the Pacific NW is there are SNAILS and SLUGS here. They're both slimy worm things; one with a shell, one without. But they will eat EVERYTHING. I just put out my snail bait and they dissolve like cotton candy in your mouth (yuck .. that was a disgusting analogy).

Made an appointment with H&R Block to figure out how in the hell we're supposed to be doing our taxes once Nate starts work. Since he's on a 1yr contract, we'll be getting cut a check and we're responsible for the rest; paying taxes, SS, Medicare, etc. I don't want to even try and swing that blind because I can see the IRS knocking on my door next year saying I owe $$$ because I didn't know what in the hell I was doing. But I'll be a pro a quarterly taxes in a year.

I'm rambling, really. Slow day, fog, not much else to say. Other than the keyless remote to my van went out. Yea, try figuring out how to replace the battery in that hummer. It's like trying to pry apart the legs of .... well never mind. I'm not doing too hot on the analogies today.

Merry Weekend!

New Hairdo!

Before:

After:

Here is another "Before & After". Maysen got his very first haircut on Sunday. His Auntie Marsha did it and did a wonderful job! Maysen did fine after we stopped trying to put rubber bands in his hair trying to tie off his curls in the back. He didn't like that and freaked out. After we stopped, he did great. It's amazing to me how much Maysen can change in only 3 minutes. He went from a big baby to such my little big boy.

So, a secure files containing personal info of 26 million US veterans were stolen from the Dept of Veterans Affairs computer analyst's house nearly THREE WEEKS ago and only made public yesterday. Now we can look foward to worrying if Nathan's identity was stolen. I highly doubt it will, but you never know. Apparently the analyst didn't have the authority to take that info home, but did, house was broken into, and files stolen. Go figure.

Nathan's cell phone screen broke while we were in Florida in August. It's been usable, just that there's a huge constant purple blob in the screen and you can't what you're dialing or who's calling. He's continued to use it since then, but tonight we're retiring it and getting a new one. Now when you go to dial out, all you hear is this horrible ROEEEEEEER-D when you dial. Yeah. Since he's more rough with the phone than I am, he'll use my "old" phone and I get the new one. Think I'll go with the newer sleek phone.

I'm enjoying Richard Dreyfuss go absolutely nuts with Bill Murray in "What About Bob". "Doooccctttoooorr ..... LEEEEEEEE-OOOOOO .... MAAAAAAAARVIN!!!"

After

The painting was finished yesterday. Perfect weather for painting; sunny, no wind and about 86F. You can't tell very well with this picture, but my front door is red. It's behind the screen door. But, I love how it turned out. So nice sitting outside on the front porch and be able to watch Maysen push his toy lawn mower around in the quiet street. And I promised an "after" picture of the deck, too. Before it was rather overstained, scratched, and dingy. Now it's a brilliant cherry cedar color and looks fresh.

I got a call from my Nate's brother that my sister in law is having her baby today. She went from the Dr's office to the hospital to have her water broke. If the baby comes before 5pm we'll go to Albany (where they are, about 50mi from here). Otherwise we won't be able to go tonight, as I have to work tomorrow and Maysen won't be able to stay up that late. If we don't go tonight, then we'll have to wait until Sunday; we're having company this weekend and we'll go Sunday afternoon.

I'm going to go out and sit in the sun and try and finish In Cold Blood. I'm trying to get my albino-white legs some color!

UPDATE: I have a new niece as of this evening! Welcome to the world, Miranda Cory Mae Scovil | 8:37pm | 7lb 3oz, 19". Little sister to Jonas Roger, 3.

Before

This is our house right now. Our front porch and back deck got newly stained on Tuesday. On Monday we're having our house repainted. The main color will be a green/grey with trim being white. And my front door will be red.

Nathan got an "unofficial" job offer on Wednesday from Weyerhaeuser. As many people know, there are alot of technicalities with larger companies. They have to have the offer letter printed through Human Resources, etc but he was basically offered the job on Wednesday. He's one of the first string software developers developing a new software to speed along development and manufacturing of homes through Weyerhaeuser. He got offered a 1yr contract, no benefits. It's great in a few ways. There are Pros and Cons:

Pros:
a) The $$$ is really good, almost double what I make
as an RN (with raise to be discussed at 60 days)
b) *Great* experience for a software developer right out of school
c) Awesome opportunity for advancement in a great company
d) Great chance of the contract being extended/turning into permanent position
e) If it becomes a permanent position, high likelyhood that Nathan will quickly turn into a Lead or Senior programmer, as
he is one of the first developers working on this project

Cons:
a) 100% stability only 1yr right now
b) No benefits offered while on contract

I guess I was just hoping to drop my job as soon as Nathan graduated and obtained a job. I guess I may have to be patient a tad bit longer. Mainly for the benefits. We could get coverage through the VA, but I'm not convinced at the quality of the VA medical benefits. Oh well, it's a great opportunity for Nathan. Plus, Dr D may be taking an extra day off during the week to train interns from OHSU. I've already cut Tuesday out of my week, so if he takes a M,W, or F I'll only need to work 2 days/week and still keep my benefits. I will let you know when we get the official letter. Should be Monday. Happy Mother's Day to those who are mommies!

Bye-bye Hummer H1.

I have had a nice last few days off. I only work tomorrow and Friday this week, which is nice. We have been doing more home work, as you can see at the right. This afternoon we are having our front porch and back deck restained. The deal was, is that we would have it ready to go before staining, so that is what we have been doing. I actually ran a FLOOR SANDER (you can see it there). I felt a bit man-like by running it, but hey, had to get it done. Today will be staining and at the end of the week the painters will start the painting of the exterior. We're doing a grey/green with white trim. And I'm having my front door painted red. Will post the final product pictures when it's all done, which should be late next week.

Nate's interview with Weyerhaeuser on last Friday went great! (see post below). The job he would be doing sounds really cool, but apparently is slightly *hush hush* at this point due to being in mid-developement. But, I think he'll like it alot. The interview Friday lasted 1.5hrs and yesterday they called wanting to meet with him again tomorrow at 1pm. I'm almost positive they'll be offering him a job. The only thing we are hesitant on is that most larger companies have now merged to offering 1yr contract with prospect of permanent employment thereafter. That's fine except that I don't like the fact that they have no obligation to you after 1yr and could be jobless thereafter. Then sometimes they don't offer benefits. The goal is me being able to quit my job and be home with Maysen full time ... but if there's no benefits, and potentially no job after 1yr, I don't know how comfortable I am with that. So, Nathan will vocalize his concerns to them tomorrow, if they offer him a job.

One thing I'm excited for is we have made reservations for a weekend getaway June 15th to the Redwoods in a cozy riverside bungalow. We're going to stay in the bungalow by the river ... outside shower with open top, which I can't wait for. My fondest memories of growing up with summers at Cedar Bluff Lake were the open roofed showers. After a long day of sand, wind, and water it would all wash away while I stared up at the open sky of stars standing in the warm water. Jenn and Matt are going to get a crash course in parenting by baby/house sitting for us that weekend. Know what's funny? Neither one have ever changed a poopy diaper!! We'll leave the garden hose hooked up for you in the back, Matt. Just hose it off.

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow with Nate's "meeting" with Weyerhaeuser.

Mase and his Popo:

Update on Nathan's license suspension. I think when I last posted about this, we were applying for a hardship permit. I had contacted the Eugene DMV, explained Nate's situation and that I didn't want to spend $125 for this permit (in total) if it was hopeless. What I was told by "Beverly" was "...Oh, they'd have to have a pretty good reason to deny your application..." So, away went my $125 and about a week later, we got our answer. Denied. Why, you might ask? Well, with his suspension, childcare and work are simply not allowed. That's it! So I faxed a letter to the DMV in hopes to get my $125 back (I doubt it works). If I had known, or was advised, that this sort of thing wasn't allowed with this suspension, I wouldn't have wasted my money. They send you a 4 page application, and no where does it state what is and what isn't allowed. Then they sit behind their little desk with these books of stipulations to certain suspensions. BS! So, we'll see. Nathan was advised the only way around the suspension was to write a letter to the Creswell judge (who happens to only be available one day per month, because this "judge" is actually just a volunteer ... welcome to Smalltownville) in hopes that he'll overturn the SEATBELT violation (which was his 4th violation is 24mo, hence his license being taken away). So, he did ... and after waiting a week, we were notified that since Nathan had paid the ticket, he had automatically pled guilty, and they couldn't overturn the conviction. So, here we are. Day 1 of no license. Thankfully, Eugene mass transportation bus runs out to Creswell, and Nathan is able to ride it to work/school. And luckily we have a great family support system who is willing to help with picking up/dropping off Maysen. Thank God it's only 30 days.

On a lighter note, Nathan graduates in 5 weeks with his Computer Software Developement degree. And after putting his resume on monster.com, he has managed to score two phone interviews. One was for Weyerhaeuser, which he had yesterday and went *REALLY WELL* and is having a face-to-face interview with them Friday. And the other is a technical phone interview with Microsoft tomorrow. The downfall to Microsoft (although it would be a *wonderful* experience for Nate) is that it's in Bellevue, WA. We would have to give up a lot to move up there. Nate talked to them today to confirm the phone interview for tomorrow and actually told them he'd have to make $X for us to move up there (which we thought it would be so much they'd shoot us down) and he was told that it would be considered and evaluated after his interview. So, we'll see. I'm personally rooting for the local Weyerhaeuser job (it's 6mi from our house).

Tomorrow is my Friday because Dr D is taking Friday and Monday off. And because my normal days off include Tues, Thurs, Sat, Sun that means I will have Thur-Tues off. And nothing really to do. I should go on a trip. Hawaii sounds nice ...