A fresh shiny new wet Monday

We had a slight taste of what things may be like when we'll all be getting ready for work in the morning. Just a taste.
N has this week off, but the two of us took Fran in for a PT appointment at 9 (well, as close to 9 as we could manage). There was too much competition for the bathroom for Fran to get in as soon as she needed, unfortunately. Good to have a head's up before the dress rehearsal.
She had enough energy after pool therapy to shop at Costco and Petco. I was surprised after her busy day yesterday and the rest of the week. She's sound asleep on the couch now.
I felt so bad leaving Gwen and Randy with all those dishes and the rest of the mess last night. It is good to spend time with them, though. And I'm glad they do all that for us.
L & J are in Portland for interviews today. J learned the important lesson of not sitting in the Hyundai and listening to the radio this morning. The battery isn't strong enough to handle that, plus the headlights go on when someone is in the car with the key on. I'm glad Norm was around to take their call.

Time for sleep, please

L and I made a trip with Reggie's help up to Beaverton for an interview this morning. They called her back with a possible job as an administrative assistant at an engineering firm in the Portland area. She returns on Monday for an interview with the firm and J has an interview in Portland that afternoon.
She and I stopped at Bridgeport on the way home. We misunderstood and thought there was a Title Nine at the mall, but I found out later from Fran it's a store LIKE Title Nine named Lucy. Dang! I hate to waste a good trip! We went to REI as long as we were there, but they didn't have one single dress.
J repaired our laptop while we were gone. Yay! Now to get the plug thing fixed by HP. Hopefully, they don't screw the new fix up.

If it's moldy, toss it out

I sure hope someone takes some video of Emma and Izzy playing together. I've only heard Fran's stories of the two of them racing up and down the stairs and Izzy being completely cowed by Allie - not knowing how to play with such a big dog. Fran also told us how she and J went into the co-op, leaving Izzy on the floor of the car, returned and couldn't find her anywhere. She had climbed up and into their coats on the backseat. I wonder if all those windows and activity of the parking lot were a bit frightening? Or maybe she was just tired.
Darn rain! Cowed me into staying home rather than going to the Wednesday Market. I wanted to do a test of people, booths and produce with the video camera. Oh and buy some herbs and vegetables, too.

Tuesday

Our start for outside-the-house-plans was late. One of those miscommunication type days, but also due to L's need to fill out some applications. J and I drove out to Lancaster. He hand delivered an application to the school district for a tech position. He was worried at the amount of turnover (it's listed about every 3-4 months), but I explained to him that people use it as a spring board once they find a job that offers more pay. The pay isn't bad, though.
Then we went and ran several errands together before coming home and then taking L with us downtown. We visited The Little Cannoli Bakery, were very entertained by the comedian baker in the back and then went to Cherry Redd, a fun shop also in the Reed Opera House. They had a small camera crew shooting for a local program, Portland Now. Hmmm, this isn't Portland . . . It's an on the road show, he replied. The owner has such a great personality and he can figure out a woman's size just by looking at her. ;>) He had fun picking out dresses and shoes for Lisa to try on. She tried on one that looked like it was made for her and would be great for interviews, but it was more than she can afford without a job - dog gone it. By that time we had to head back to the car since we were parked in a two hour spot.
I had an answer to my email to the Public Market people. They like the idea of a video and want to talk to me. Now for the biggest question of all . . . will I be worthy? {sigh} I sure hope so.
How fun! I got to be sissy S's first chat last night! :>) I love gmail and wish the rest of the family would jump over.
I can't believe this rain. What should we do on this rainy summer day?

Monday

Pretty funny, I went to get my haircut this morning and Karyn asked where I parked, "um, in back?"
"Oops! Sorry! You can't park back there, it's for employees only. It would be okay if it was Saturday."
I knew this, but - Oh crumb! It's not Saturday?? I'm not sure how I made that leap. It had been a fairly typical Monday morning; up with the alarm, making breakfast, saying goodbye to Norm as we left for work. We both had a good laugh over that one.
By the time I returned home, Fran's clothes were pretty well packed. I just needed to pack Izzy's things and some provisions for the girl. I'm so glad the week stayed clear and the stars lined up so she could spend some time with Jon - even if it will be a busy time for him.
While L & J drove Fran down to Roseburg, I cleaned house a bit and did their laundry and then spent way too long trying to solve the mystery of how to get the videos from the camera to the PC and maybe begin the process of learning to edit.
Why must technology be so difficult at times?? I do like the challenge and to learn new things, but I would also appreciate a little "universalism" as far as formats and features go.
Oh google, where are you when I need you?? ;>)

Saturday

Day's rundown - very rundown due to high temps :>(

Fran worked hard and made two different salads for us last night. We began to work on them for dinner this evening. They were a great addition to the turkey burgers.
Thank goodness for fans!

Testing Slideshows

Hello! This is Lisa. I'm stealing the blog for a second to show mom how to embed a slide show in a post. Here goes!



I hope you enjoyed it! :-)

To the vet

Izzy has been to see the vet now. Poor thing. Delia, a past kindergarten parent, was her doctor and was justifiably gaga over the cutie pie. Even if she was acting comatose. Seems to be how she deals with stress.

Is it really almost hump day??

We had kind of a busy day today; busy, but good.
All of us slept in, since we didn't need to be in Kalama until later in the day. Then we began to hustle and bustle around.
L and J, sound like the Todd Road house is a good possibility for temporary housing. It's just 10 minutes closer to Portland from Kalama, but minutes can count when you double them each day. Besides, I'm sure they're concerned about the stress their pets are going through. I'm not worried about Izzie and Zuzu. I know they'll be fine. Zuzu needs to know that her world can change once in awhile and that other animals in her vicinity aren't the end of the world. Besides, I love having my girls here. :>)
After the house tour, G'ma and G'pa took us out to eat Chinese dinner in Kalama. Very good! I should've taken pictures and written them up. Hate to waste a dining experience!
Tomorrow we rise early and head to Portland for a 9 AM appointment.

Isn't she lovely?

They're Here!!

They pulled in time to rest for an hour or two before it was time to head north to pick up Fran from the wedding picnic. Seems surreal to have them here. It's a wonderful feeling, and of course I'm still feeling the need to pinch myself. :>)

Fun with a new toy

A Weekend to Remember

So exciting! Lisa and James, are just a day's drive away from us! It's going to be a busy weekend, since J's sis is getting married and we're Fran's transportation to the different functions. Which gives us the added benefit of getting up and going early today. An early start is always good (but so is sleeping in!).
Izzy gave me an extended session of "puppy aerobics" this morning. Whew! I think I'm giving some big muscles the kind of use they haven't experienced in YEARS.

Izzy in bartender training

We're back from the dentist and I'm trying to give Fran a chance to sleep by doing some puppy-sitting. :>) So I took Izzy into the backyard and taught her the basics of carrying a drink. Maybe tomorrow we'll add some beer.

G'morn

This is Miss Izzy relaxing in my lap before we head to the dentist. Fran's turn, not mine. :>)

Learn something new everyday - but not on purpose

I didn't get out of the house as early as I had hoped, but I did accomplish all of my errands before lunch. Yay!
List; mail package, take bag of misc. to Goodwill, return carafe to FM, take gleaned audio books to Reader's Guide. There! Now I feel like I did something today!
Izzy had her first bath this afternoon. I noticed her itching and began to worry she had picked up a flea or two from her potty trips outside. We don't want to put any insecticides on her yet. She's too tiny. The bath wore her out, even though it was pretty low key. Guess I should've taken photos. :>)
We put her to bed in her playard to get her used to it. She's been sleeping with J and Fran during the night, but the playard will come in handy eventually and we'll want her accustomed to it when it's time.
Oh yeah, what I learned today . . . don't use a flash when you're taking a photo of a wee black dog against a light background. When I looked at the preview, Izzy looked like a dream dog floating in the clouds.
(I'll post the photos later. Comcast is giving me fits.)

Izzyed out?

J said that perhaps I've blogged enough about sweet lil Izzy. Perhaps, but she's pretty much what we're all revolving around right now. That and Fran.
So much for my great plans of heading out early to run errands. Bad K! Doesn't take much of an obstacle in my path to distract me. I decided I should probably call sissy K to make sure they're going to be at the canal to receive their perishable package. She said they might head home for a day or two early this week, but cousin Lanny's funeral is today and will take place up in the same basic area.
So, so sad that Aunt Betty has lost two sons. And both were such tragic unexpected events. At least Lanny was doing something he loved.
Zuzu, is slowly returning to her regular habits with this little intruder in her house. She came out and meowed for her breakfast this morning and supervised the making of N's lunch. Progress is good.
Fran has three appointments this week. One is her first time visit with pain specialist, Dr. Heros. I hope her paperwork is about done. I'm sure that gets old - filling out the history everytime she goes to a new place. Maybe we should photocopy this one.

Isabel and Jonathon on the couch

Okay, I see her belly, but where's her face?? ;>)

I'm too tiny for my dish, too tiny for my dish . . .

Guess what? More Izzy!! AND video!

Bringing Baby Izzy Home - Making zzzzzzzs

The Joy of Hearing

I've noticed some outside interest in my post where I mentioned my new hearing aids. Here's more of the story.
As a young adult, I abused my ears at concerts, in bars with live bands, with head phones, etc. We loved our music in the 70s and we loved it loud. (I don't think that has changed much.)
Over the past several years I began to notice that it was becoming more and more difficult to hear at work, whenever we ate in a restaurant with more than 2 people and I was turning the volume higher and higher on the both the radio and TV. I found myself sitting back and just accepting it, trying not to care about what I was missing during group settings. My father has had significant hearing loss from mill work since I was a teen. So I've had an opportunity to see first hand how hearing aids can make a big difference in a person's life. What was I waiting for?
Four years ago, I made an appointment with an audiologist. He was able to show me exactly what types of sounds I had lost; mainly in the range of children's and women's voices. BUT the cost of the hearing aids was more than we could afford, especially since both insurance policies only covered a small fraction of the cost. Another two years went by and I made another appointment with Costco. The cost was much less, but still more than we could afford. Two years after THAT N's insurance had changed to pay up to $4000 for hearing aids! I decided summer would be the best time. That would give me an opportunity to get used to them before entering the often noisy environment at work.
I'm now the proud owner of a set of Rexton Reveras, made by Siemen's. I can hear so much better! And after only one week, I feel naked without them. Granted, there are noises I'd rather NOT hear, but that's a fact of life. The good definitely outweighs the bad - no contest.