Events
I am participating in The Komen Portland Race for the Cure(R)! Please support me with a donation.
Dear Friends & Family,
This September 18, 2011, I will join more than 40,000 runners, walkers and volunteers for the 20th Annual Komen Portland Race for the Cure. As one person in a crowd of thousands, I am accepting a challenge to make a difference.
One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. My mom and my sister are both breast cancer SURVIVORS!
When I stop to think of the friends, aunts, neighbors, mothers and grandmothers in my life, I can easily think of eight women. And I do not want to see another one suffer from this terrible disease.
I want to make a difference for our children, so they may have the promise of a full life.
It’s clear that Komen has made a difference in the last 20 years. 20 years ago, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer diagnosed at its earliest stage was 74%. Now we celebrate that it is 98%. But, until no one fears a diagnosis of breast cancer, we still have a lot of work to do.
Will you help me? If you have only $5 to give, I will be as grateful as if you have $500. The size of your gift is not important, because every dollar counts in the fight against breast cancer.
Gratefully yours,
.:Tracie:.
Baby Roland is Here!
Our grandson, Roland arrived this morning at 12:15 AM weighing 8 lbs 10 oz and 20.5 inches long. Kat and baby are doing great! We left at 3:30 AM and he was nursing like a champ. More to come. For now we sleep. 🙂
Facebook killed this blog…
I don’t blame Facebook entirely. It’s just that I post anything of significance there, where I know who’s reading and who cares. And then conversations ensue, or they don’t. Either way, I don’t post here because I don’t want to be redundant. I’m pretty sure anyone who still reads this is on my Facebook. Right?
Well, in case not, and at the risk of being redundant, here’s what’s new:
Work: I got a new job. I resigned from the web hosting field, and got a job that will benefit my career and family in the long run. I still work from home but I’m no longer working as a contractor. I’m an employee for the first time in over a decade.
Kids: Kevin is home from college until he figures out where and how he wants to proceed with his education. We tried to tell him that pursuing a musical teaching degree in this economy might not be the wisest choice, but did he listen? Not till he got there and realized we were right. Musical programs are being cut all over; teachers, assistant teachers, you name it. He even experienced it first hand when the award winning choir program lost their assistant choir teacher his senior year due to budget cuts. That didn’t phase him.. but watching the cost of college rack up and seeing how many students would be his future competition opened his eyes. He’s currently working part time, while trying to find full time work somewhere to help with the cost of school once he figures it all out. It’s really tough for his age group right now..
The rest of the kids are doing great!
Grandkids: That’s not a typo… We’re going to be grandparents. Soon. VERY soon! Kat is due early August but I’m guessing she won’t make it till the end of July. 🙂 We can’t wait to meet our little grandson!
Home: We’re still happy with the rental. We’re ecstatic with the central A/C. Until it breaks. So far that’s only happened once and the landlord paid to fix it. Happy about THAT! 🙂 The old house is no longer our concern. And that’s all that needs to be said about THAT! Well, maybe a bit more needs to be said: Banks suck. They are the root of all evil. I’ll never use a bank again and I’m quite happy with my local credit union. OK. I’m done.
Health: Well, there’s a can of worms. I’ll start with Jack. He’s always had breathing issues at night (sleep apnea) as long as I’ve known him. But it used to be occasional. It’s progressively gotten worse over the years. Now, it’s so bad he keeps ME up at night because I’m worrying and poking him so he’ll breathe. He struggles physically all night to breathe. When he starts struggling (the second he falls asleep) his arm shoots up in the air and he holds it there for a while (this seems to allow him to breathe), then it falls back down. Occasionally on me! Rinse and repeat. All. Night. Long. He can no longer stay awake for… well, anything. So he saw a sleep specialist today and they’ll be calling us back soon for his overnight sleep study. I have a feeling it will be a split study.
Normally they monitor you all night, then go over the results, decide what to do, and call you back in a few days. However; if your apnea is bad enough, they’ll stop the monitoring that night to treat you right away. Since Jack’s apnea starts the second he falls asleep and he struggles the whole night, I don’t think they’ll let him go all night like that. We both can’t wait to get a good night’s sleep! 🙂
As for me: I’ve started a new Diabetes medication. Remember that Lizard Spit I was all “wtf??” about? Here’s an updated link to an article about it since the one in my old post doesn’t work anymore.) Well, guess who’s on it! Moi! Never thought I’d see the day! Although, it IS really fun to tell people I inject Gila monster venom twice a day. 🙂 It’s done wonders for my BG levels. And I’m one of the lucky ones that have lost weight on it. Twenty pounds since October. Basically for some it has a side effect of loss of appetite. I never really lost my appetite, BUT… If I overeat, even by a bite, the results aren’t pretty. I get very ill. So, I eat smaller portions. Eating less = weight loss. Who knew??? 😉
The weight loss also made me rethink the exercise thing.. again. Remember how I ranted here, and then pondered here about the whole exercise and weight loss thing? Well, I can tell you from my own personal experience that just by eating less and controlling your portions, while not exercising one bit, you can still lose weight. I’ve never tried that before and didn’t plan to when going on this new medication. It just happened all because I physically could NOT overeat. I still can’t, but also have no desire to. I’m now acutely aware when I get full.
But I still don’t get enough exercise. And exercise is good for you… There is NO denying that. So, since we can afford a few extras now, we joined a gym this week. We tried Aqua Zumba last night and had a blast! As soon as I publish this I’m heading out for a Yoga class. Which means I got to go!
I posted this last night right before the Yoga class, but wordpress was doing maintenance so it didn’t post. FYI: yoga is harder than it looks!
Two months? Really??
It doesn’t seem like it’s been two months since I’ve posted. Wow. I guess that’s what happens when you’re working your ass off day and night for two full months.
Not long after my last post we found a house. And not just any house. But a NICE house. A BIGGER house. An AWESOME house. And for the icing, a really cool landlord…. MEGA COOL! He’s totally OK with our dogs, my kids, our history, everything. He’s very laid back and made this transition from home owners to renters VERY easy. And for the cherry on top, we could afford it.
But wait! There’s more!
NONE of my kids had to change schools!!!
That alone was a gigantic relief. We’ve been looking for so so long for a house, trying to keep at least most of our kids in the same schools, but it was looking pretty grim. As the deadline started approaching for when we HAD to move out, we started looking for houses in other areas but still close and found nada. So this was a very lucky find!
The downstairs of this house is pretty much the same layout as our old house, except bigger. Our “big” sectional couch (it looked huge in our old family room) looks tiny in this house. 🙂 The upstairs is different… bigger… with an extra bedroom. The house has new appliances, central air (!!!!) and there’s a huge (GIGANTIC – park-sized) covered back patio, and a nice-sized fence yard. Best of all it’s the last house on a dead end street! Sounds too good to be true, huh? Yeah, that’s what we thought. But here we are! And we couldn’t be happier. The kids love it too!
There is one downside. It backs up to a semi-busy street. But there’s plenty of arborvitae to keep it totally private. We’re just having to get used to noisy cars. Jack and the kids say they don’t notice it anymore. I’m almost 100% used to it, but not quite there yet. I still wake up when big trucks go by at night.. Fortunately that’s not often as it’s not a SUPER busy street. After living in totally quiet areas for so many years it’s taking a bit to adjust but it’s all worth it for how awesome the rest of this house is.
So.. after we closed the deal for renting this place, we started packing right away and we moved in March 5th. The week after we moved in was pure madness with baseball practices, two choir concerts, a trip to Ellensburg and back in one night, a trip to the Dalles (I could go on and on). So we lived in box hell that whole week. The second week we got more unpacking done. Then last weekend we built mega-desk for our office. No more mismatched ugly press board desks. We have two big desks now that face each other to basically form one huge (mega) desk and a matching printer station. Ikea for the win! It looks SO much better and we all have more room.
(sorry for the crappy photo, but it’s all I got for now.)
Here you can kinda see our backyard, bust mostly it’s Kevin trying to scare me. 🙂
We’re still dealing with the stupid mortgage company on the old house. I so want that over with. I’m so so so done with their games, their lies, their heartlessness. They are pure evil and I swear… right now, after all this, I am soured to every wanting to buy a house again. It’s so so so not worth it. Maybe in a few years I’ll feel differently, but right now I’m content to live in this house forever. I hate moving anyway. 😉
Pumpkin patch
For Kevin
I can’t believe you’re going off to college already! It seems just yesterday you were born. …But we are so proud of you!
Here’s our wish for you..
I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
and each road leads you where you want to go,
and if you’re faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin’ till you find the window,
if it’s cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,
More than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
and while you’re out there getting where you’re getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.
I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,
all the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
and you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God’s grace, in every mistake,
and you always give more than you take.
Oh More than anything, Yeah, and more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
and while you’re out there getting where you’re getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
and while you’re out there getting where you’re getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.
Anniversary Weekend
August 21st must be a good day to get married. Jack and I saw three wedding parties at the places we visited this weekend.
Jack and I just celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary and 16th year together this past weekend. We started off by seeing Inception (which we enjoyed) at our favorite movie theater, Cinetopia. Then Friday night we stayed at The Heathman Lodge for free thanks to buying the winning raffle ticket at Sissa’s school fundraiser last year (for only $5.00!). We had a blast! The hotel was beautiful and the beds were actually comfortable! The accompanying $50 gift certificate to Hudson’s Bar and Grill was just another treat as the staff and food were great. We stayed there Friday night then Saturday we spent a good portion of our day at Portland’s Saturday Market.
We haven’t been to Portland’s Saturday Market in years. We forgot how fun and adventurous it can be. From the unique entertainment,
video: Some guys playing buckets at Portland Saturday Market
to the strange people you come across,
to the amazing items you can purchase!
Toothbrush Holder and Matching Cup
It’s not very often I get excited about a mundane purchase, but I have to rave about these toothbrush holders Jack and I found at the Saturday Market this weekend. I’ve seen many handmade pottery toothbrush holders but it’s always the same: holes are too small, holes too close together (my kids can’t stand it when the brushes touch), they are hard to clean, etc. These totally caught my eye. They are unique, pretty, and functional in more ways than one: nice wide holes, matching cup, the brushes don’t touch, easy to clean, and there’s even a holder on the back for the toothpaste. It’s perfect!
I found these at FarPoint Stoneware and Porcelain at the Saturday Market. And we’ll be going back to buy another set for mine and Jack’s bathroom considering I found MOLD that I can’t get out at the bottom of our traditional cheap holder. EWWW.
After soaking in all we could at the market, we had a couple hours to kill so I decided to show Jack where I used to have lunch every chance I could when I worked in downtown Portland many moons ago: The Ira Keller Fountain.
This is a short walk from from the “Black Box” where I worked, and I loved eating lunch there any day it wasn’t raining. Jack was really taken by the uniqueness of this fountain and explored it for a long time. 🙂
Saturday night we took a dinner cruise on the Portland Spirit. This is the third time we’ve spent an anniversary on the Portland Spirit and they’ve never disappointed us.
Sunday we slept in, had breakfast, then decided to go for a drive and quite by accident ended up on the The North Clark County Scenic Drive. This took us through Battle Ground, Yacolt, by Lucia Falls and Moulton Falls. We stopped at Moulton falls to explore a bit.
It was an amazing, perfect, romantic weekend and I’m so very happy to have spent it with my soul mate.
P.S. There’s a few more photos here.
Starting over
It’s a scary time for us right now. But it’s also an adventurous time. At least that’s what we’re telling ourselves and our kids. 🙂
We’re selling our house… or rather, we’re short-selling it. At least that’s what we’re hoping for.
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ve likely read how nervous I’ve been about the housing market crashing so soon after we purchased this house. It was clear in 2008, just one year after purchasing it, we were upside down (aka underwater). Heck, I started panicking August 2007, only six months after purchasing this house! By then I’d unexpectedly lost my job so it was natural to panic, but I had no idea how bad things would get.
Needless to say, we’ve never been able to enjoy this house. We’ve never been able to get comfortable. Watching the value of your home plummet so soon after purchasing it just plain sucks. There’s no other way to describe it. But to make matters worse, we got screwed on our loan. We knew going in that it was bad but we were promised we could refinance in three years. Who knew the market would crash so badly and make that impossible?
There’s a whole list of reasons for our decision to sell the house that I can’t really go into on a public blog, but the bottom line is we face having to start all over. That certainly wasn’t in our plan. But then a lot of things didn’t go “as planned” after purchasing this house.
- I didn’t plan to lose my job.
- I didn’t plan to only find part-time work at first.
- I didn’t plan that when I did find a full-time job, it would be making much less than I did previously.
- We weren’t expecting our family to grow … and yet it did.
- We weren’t planning on having car payments. But it’s kinda necessary when your family unexpectedly grows.
The list goes on and on.
So here we are, looking to sell, to move, become renters, and hopefully someday soon become homeowners again.
We were really concerned about the effect this would have on the kids. But it will be a life-lesson for them: sometimes like knocks ya down and you just have to pick yourself back up and move on. Cliché as that is, it’s true. We hope to make this as positive as can be for all of us. Get excited about living in a new place, even if it’s not OUR place, learn to make new friends at new schools if it comes to that. There’s lots to look forward to.
It still hurts, though. And I keep finding myself teary about all this saying over and over, “this wasn’t how this was supposed to go!”. But then I remind myself that we have an amazing family full of love and that’s all that really matters in the long run. No matter where we live.
Fourth of July and Dinosaurs
Photos of our day at Fort Vancouver on July 4th, and our trip to the zoo Friday to see the Dinosaurs:
4th of July, 2010
Dinosaurs at the Zoo, 2010
More later. 🙂
Jack 'n Tracie ~ Life 