Flight, Family and Fuzziness

And of course she ran away again on Sunday. At least I got a chance to talk to her though and really tell her that I am here for her, whether or not she is following the rules. We'll see if she comes around.

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I had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Spokane. We had a great family dinner on Thursday, then on Friday went to the Rocket Bakery on Cedar and 1st and had an awesome lunch with Dr. T's brothers and sister in law and two nefews. We also went to the Whitestone tasting room and enjoyed tasting Mr. M's own wine blend, Pieces of Earth.

I had been feeling weird since Wednesday though and when I went to work on Saturday I was pretty much a wreck. I was dizzy and couldn't concentrate. By Sunday I was a lump and didn't do more than watch tv all day. The only change I could think of was the antibiotics I have been taking for a tenacious case of acne, but I didn't think that could be the culprit. Finally I looked at the label to check and low and behold it can cause "dizziness, blurred vision". So I stopped taking it Sunday and called the doctor on Monday morning. I picked up some new, less lumpishness causing antibiotics yesterday.

Yay!

I have so many things to be thankful for these days. A rewarding job that isn't going anywhere (whew), a wonderful family including my pretty good son and my lovely boyfriend, a bike that gets me where I am going and a car that is running well even though she is 17 years old--and gets good gas mileage.

I just got another thing to be thankful for. My mentee is back in the system and seems to be really interested in doing better and staying off the streets. I just talked to her and even though phone conversations can be awkward, I told her point blank that I care about her and what happens to her, and that if things did go wrong again, she can still call me and talk. You have to take these opportunites while you have them (as I learned while she was missing). It sounds like her baby is doing well and she has already had 2 visits and behaved like a parent, interested in being with her child. I am really proud that she is always so level headed with him. We talked about school; she is doing well in her classes so far and is going to join the basketball team. I was also told that while she was gone, despite being surrounded by crack and meth, the only drugs she did were pot and x. She was tested, it is true. To some that might sound like a lot, but it was recreational use (parties) and being around the other and having a history with them, it is really something.

I invited her for a family dinner at my house next Saturday. My Dad's Family* will all be there and we are planning on playing games and having dinner. It will hinge on whether her social worker can swing the permission.

Tomorrow Dr. T and I are heading for Spokane. We are having dinner at my Step Dad's with my Mom's Family*. It will be a whirl wind trip, since I have to work till 8 tonight and in the morning on Saturday, but it will be so nice to see everyone and to visit with my little niece :)

*Dad's Family=Dad, his wife and my siblings on his side, as opposed to my Mom's Family, which is really comprised of my siblings on her side, my step dad and his wife and not my mom at all. Family gets complicated.

Happy New Year!

It has been longer than I meant to let go by without a post--I just put up those family pics I promised. Many of my friends are doing a survey for the new year, but I get a little exhausted after about the 10th question and there are close to 40 on the one going around now. I think I will just pick and choose a couple then move on to other things.


1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?

I trusted someone completely. That might sound trite, but it is true. Dr. T and I seem to have a certain connection that allows me to let go of any reservations I might have, any fears that usually crop up when I date someone for more than a month. It is an exciting place to be. Quite lovely as well.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? (see, jumping around, but still in the first 10)

Yes! My good friend Miranda* had a beautiful baby girl and my brother and his wife adopted a baby girl. I suppose adopting is not "giving birth" but this little one will never feel the sting of that difference. She is a gorgeous little one and obviously dotted on by her parents (and her aunties, uncles, cousin and grandparents as well). We are so happy to have her in our family :)

22. Did you fall in love in 2008? (and now I am a liar, because I jumped to 22 from 3--but the other ones were too convoluted to answer)

Still in love :)

24. What was your favorite TV program?

Currently I am between favorites, but in the past I have loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Veronica Mars, Weeds, Wonderfalls--so the colorful and weird, I guess.

26. What was the best book you read?

I can't answer this one truly but I can tell you that the author that I discovered this year was Kelly Link. And yes, I know I am a bit behind on this. I keep trying to find more stuff to read by her, but come up short (short story that is). I randomly picked up her newest collection of short stories Pretty Monsters: Stories at the ALA conference last summer and fell instantly and deeply in love.

16. What will always remind you of 2008? (Yes, now I am out of order...and it was supposed to be what "song" but oh well)

Obama winning the election and The Boy texting me then calling me right after to celebrate. That is one good kid we made.


Ok, done with that for now. Maybe I will make up some more questions of my own later.

The snow is already gone here in Seattle. All that is left are piles of sand and holes in the pavement. Mayor Nickels is having to defend himself over his handling of keeping the roads clear, and all I can say is that he did the best he knew. Maybe he did not know best in this situation, but I don't have many complaints against him and I can let this go as a learning experience. I laughed at the news the other night when they interviewed a guy who complained that Dravus wasn't open to drive on. I actually saw a girl flip her car in the rain on that hill once. You can't tell me you expect to be able to drive on it in freezing conditions?!? Fool.

The disabling aspect of the snow had me thinking back to other times when the snow was deep and school was canceled. I would say this happens here in varying degrees every 5-7 years. I remember sledding on a snow day when I was in 7th grade with my friend Jill. There was a big hill right next to her house and we would take our sleds out and just about kill ourselves on the hairpin turn half way down. One kid slid right into a car that was parked there, but he was ok. The car...seems like there was a dent. I also remember building a rather large snow fort with my son in either 2000 or 2001 out in front of our apartment building. It was a great place to hide when having a snowball fight.

More recent events in Srcsmgrl-land: went to Leavenworth with my dad family** and had a fairly good time despite being a bit sick. I had to miss work when I got back due to the sickies so I wouldn't pass it on to the work peeps. Went back to work on Wednesday, got all my reports done and helped a lady that had her purse stolen. After work, Dr. T and I went to see the Presidents at the Paramount. As a New Year's Eve party, it was lacking--only one bar and a beer garden, lines out the door for any kind of refreshment. We went to the Six Arms to bide our time and got back in time to see Monotonix who were quite interesting--think performance art meets rock and roll + short shorts, long unkempt hair and foreign accents. They were quite entertaining and actually pretty good musically. The Presidents were fun,but I think that somebody integral to the event fell asleep somewhere because they almost forgot to put up the clock to midnight--only got it up with 2 minutes to go--then they forgot to loose the balloons, despite the outcries from the crowd. We left at about 12:20 to meet Sister U and her beau for a nightcap, then headed home. I think I was out the latest I had been in the entire year before. Good way to start a new year.

*Miranda is my red headed friend that resembles Miranda from Sex in the City
**Dad family as opposed to Mom family--I have 7 brothers and sisters, 3 on my mom's side and 4 on my dad's. You could say that he won the race, if there was one to win.

Holidays and Libraryland

Shoot, I forgot to take a picture of my other branch last time I was there. Everything looks great there right now--the Children's librarian rearranged her section too and it just looks ...so bookstore! Usually I don't go for that sort of thing, but in this branch it works well. I PROMISE to take a picture next time.

My holiday was spent with family in the second largest city in Washington. I regret not taking any pictures while I was there. I had a great time relaxing with the family. We did a little shopping--I got a pretty new coat (FINALLY!). It is actually just a basic gray pea coat, but it goes really well with the scarf and hand warmers I made myself--and will go great with the matching hat I am working on right now. Of course there will be a picture as soon as I am done with the hat. I spent a lot of time crochetting while I was with the family as well. I made several scarves for people--one really pretty one for my sister in law. The new man came over a couple of times and was able to hang out with us. He has family in Spokane, too. He also came to the family dinner I threw at my Dad's last night, so now he has met all of my immediate family except my mom and The Boy. Pretty intense for 2 months... Everything is good and he makes me really happy. I think I make him happy, too. ~ (dreamy) sigh~

Libraryland is slow at the moment. People are still visiting with friends or relatives, or even working, like us. I would say that we are only at about 30% of our regular volume. It will pick up next week, and likely be even busier than usual, at least for a little while. It is hard to watch my displays stagnate though. I like picking out new books to display and writing or finding reviews to go with them. I am also still very excited about the comics event coming up next month and have started putting flyers in all the display comic books. It is really a pain to go by and realize that no one is checking them out! I just need to be patient. Holiday hum-drums.

Holiday Bliss

Did I mention that I have all my shopping done? Yes, I do. This is bliss to me. I took my friend's daughters Xmas shopping today and expected total hell, but was pleasantly surprised. Evidently people are not shopping as much this year. Yay! I managed not to buy anything until the last minute, when we went into Fuego. I love that store...like a cutesy Archie McPhees.

The talk with The Boy's father went well. Amazing what 24 hours between bad news and discussion will do. He was reasonable and was actually down with laying it all on The Boy rather than trying to blame his teachers and such. Thank goodness.

I am getting a new-to-me TV tonight. I seem to be the luckiest of free TV recipients. Last year I got a pretty nice 27" Toshiba from some colleagues. It has worked well. Now my Dad is getting a new TV and has offered me his huge HD TV. It is mostly the HD part that made me jump on the opportunity. I heard a rumor that all TV will be HD sometime in the near future. So here I am, jumping onto the HD bandwagon. No, I still will not have cable.

Now to decide what to do with the 27", and hope that the new one will fit on my stand...