Keeping me entertained

I have been a bad post-er and it is starting to show. Facebook has taken over my life. My addictions on the internet don't usually last too long because I end up getting bored or the medium doesn't live up to my standards, but Facebook is ever changing; sometimes for the better and occasionally for the worse. The downside is that I post here less often because my attention span has shrunk to the size of a status update.

I have made notes twice for a blog post, which I don't usually do. It must be my guilt over neglecting my blog. So here I am, getting to it.

The Boy and I went camping after his diabetes camp last week. We went to Sun Lakes and baked in the sun, played cards and explored a bit. It was beautiful, but hot and The Boy was being a teenager part of the time--just wanting to sit around, complain of being bored and listen to music. It was too hot to make him go hiking and he didn't want to swim, even when we found this great place called Steamboat Rock. The water was so beautiful!

We had a raccoon that would visit us at night. I didn't leave any food out, having had the experience of wildlife taking off with it in my early days of camping, but the raccoon seemed very intent on seeing what was in my green tub of supplies. I probably wouldn't have cared, since it was the middle of the night and there was nothing he could hurt, but my neighbor kept flashing his light into my tent and telling me about the bugger, so finally I got up and put the tub in the car. Maybe the noise was bothering my neighbor, but I think it was more concern that Mr. Raccoon was going to get something good out of his rummaging. Anywho...

The next night I had two new neighbors; a small family and a bunch of young kids, probably in college. I warned them both about the raccoon. The Boy and I were still up watching the fire when another group of girls joined the college bunch. They unpacked, then left somewhere. Soon The Boy and I could hear some rustling from their camping area--they had left several food items on their table. The raccoon made off with a bag of hotdog buns and was sitting fairly close to the camp, taking out each one with its little hands and munching on them. We trained the light on him and he didn't care, he just sat there and ate his dinner, then he went off. The girls came back and exclaimed over their loss and put the rest of their food away.

The next morning, the same girls came back from driving somewhere and when they got out of their car, one of them had a hookah. I did a double take and the girl said "oh, it's not a bong!" and laughed. I told her I knew it was a hookah, but in my mind it seemed really weird for an 18 year old girl to bee carrying one around. She and her friends spent the morning taking hits off of it and I could tell it was tobacco from the smell, not maryjane. They got some looks from other neighbors and I could tell they were curious as hell. The Boy and I left fairly early that day, so we didn't get to see any more of their antics. I think they could have had their own reality show ;)

Almost Crazy, Almost There...

Once again, too long between posts.

Planning wedding showers and bachelorette parties is time consuming! I am done with everything (crossing my fingers) except food. Usually I go all out with cooking and yumminess, but I have to work. My 4 hour shift this Friday miraculously turned into an 8 hour and I get to work on Saturday too, and suddenly I have little time for shopping, let alone cooking. Amazon Fresh, take me away! Maybe the miracle will reverse itself. Wish me luck.

The 4th was fun, although we saw few fireworks. We went down to some of Dr. T's friends' for a bbq. The food was amazing--some had been on the bbq for 2 days! Yum, so good. We stopped at the dollar store on the way home and had fun scouring the aisles for useless and useful times, the first to poke fun at the second to make use of. That place looked like a mob had hit though; there was stuff all over the floor in all the aisles. What amazed me was the freezer section. Red Baron Pizza....

Today was wonderful! I met up with a friend and walked down to Fremont. We perused the Sunday Market, I got some new sunglasses--let me tell you about this in a moment--and had thai for lunch. We also stopped in a couple of really cute boutiques and I think I got someone a very sweet something. That's all I can say...

Sunglasses...I have been holding onto a pair for YEARS that were non-prescription for gods knows why, until I could finally use them now that I have contacts. YEARS. I have been using them for several months and aside from a scratch, they have been great. I wear them biking even. Well, not anymore. I accidentally set off the alarm at work the other day, partially due to my bike gloved fingers refusing to press the right buttons and my bike being unmanageable in the scuffle to turn the alarm off. Somehow (or just my usual me-ness) I set the sunglasses down in the water fountain and left them there. I didn't notice until it was time to leave. And of course they were gone. I wouldn't even have known where I left them except that a co-worker mentioned having seen them there. I hope some &*^%$ person is enjoying the hell out of them.

The Boy's basketball camp was successful--if successful means "kicked his ass everyday and made him want to go back for more." He came home and his ass was in bed except for dinner--but then he got up every morning, got himself ready and caught the bus to SPU on time. It is the most responsible I have seen him in...well...ever. He had good stories about his games and his teams got a couple of awards: 3 on 3 champions and Shooting league champions. This one might be a keeper.

Rambling all over town

This weekend I was down with a sore throat and sinus troubles, which I now think were allergies. I have tried various remedies for allergies over the years, but the side effects of the drugs is often worse than the allergies themselves. To me, anyway. So we stayed home the whole weekend, although The Boy and I did make it out for a walk on Sunday afternoon in the pretty pretty sun. We walked to the Bluff park in the Sunset Hill area of Ballard. We wandered and did one of my favorite things: look at the prices of local houses on the market. WhoooWee! $800,000 if you're lucky! One had the price reduced, but it had been over a million, so there you go.

Today I took The Boy back to BFD, then worked in the garden a bit. I had a cappucino made at home and drank it out in the yard--which is one of the nice things about living in a basement apartment; there is a yard. Around noon, I tootled on my bike around Greenlake to the U-District and went to volunteer. I was really sad to hear that one of our kids had been in a shooting over the weekend and was in the hospital. Everyone was pretty shook up and drop in was almost empty most of the time. I like the kid quite a bit--he always has something interesting to say and he seems like a good guy.

After drop in, I rode to Fremont along the Burke-Gilman Trail. That ride is so much more pleasant than being on the road. I got there about 4:30 and had some time to kill, so I sat at Canal Street Coffee and read. It was absolutely beautiful out and there were a lot of people sitting out at the porch tables in the sun or shade. Since I was still a little hot from my ride, I chose the shade. It was bliss, even when some strange guy came up and dissed my book of short stories by Stephen King (he hadn't read them) and told me that SK steals all his stuff from some guy named Theodore Sturgeon. I just looked at him straight on and said "Thanks for the tip." and went back to my book. I haven't read any SK for years, and when I did, it was mostly in middle and high school. I don't pretend that he is the end all/be all of writing, but these stories were good, if a little horror movie-esk, and I wasn't going to let some ...guy... tell me what to like. If he was trying to wow me with his mental powress, he really struck out.

For the next stage of my all day odessy, I locked my bike up and walked around Fremont, stopping at the library and checking my email, wandering up to the Troll then back around the streets until I made it to Blue C Sushi just in time to meet a friend for dinner. We spent more time than we had intended gabbing and eating happy hour food--happy hour was over at 7, and we had finished eating by then, but we sat in the bar for another hour and 45 minutes.

I left there, feeling giddy from all that socializing and was happy to find that my bike was still where I left it. I fumbled around, trying to remember how the bike light worked--glad that I brought it, since by 9pm it was dark out--and finally got back on the trail to Ballard. I thought I would catch a bus once I reached there, but I just kept on truckin' all the way home. And then I took advantage of another cool thing about my house--the hot tub. I have only used it twice, but it is nice to know it is there.

There you go, I don't write anything much for a week, and then I give you a narration of my day. Maybe next time I will have a nice story for you. Maybe...

A Little Sun Never Killed Anyone...

Sigh. It is sunny and 70 degrees in Long Beach right now. Only 11 days till we go. I still need to find a bathing suit. Looked this morning and just got frustrated. Tomorrow night, I will hit the big mall in Lynnwood. I hate shopping when I have to search. I want all the goodies to just come to me.

I finished my summer reading displays today. I will post pictures later, although they won't be much to look at until I get some reviews to put up there.

I got a message today from the P-Patch organizer inviting me to the next few work parties so that he can introduce me around. He also complimented me on the work I did on my plot. For someone who barely knows what she is doing, evidently I did ok. I can't make any of the work parties this month, since I work all weekend--Saturday and Sunday--and late on Tuesday. Hopefully next time.

The lack of sun and warm weather is surely what is keeping my veggies from taking off. The ones that I planted here at the house are still tiny, and it has been about 3 weeks now. I know some folks say that we are just whining about the same things every year, but I am cold!

Wii is not dead yet, and Friends!

More great Wii news: Mario Kart for Wii will be released May 1st! I am going to try to get this one for work, because it works so well for tournament gaming, but I also want it for home.



It was beautiful today in Ballard up until about an hour ago. I went out running and the sun was out, there were people walking on almost every block. I ran by Tent City 3 which has taken up residence in the church parking lot on 25th and 85th, but aside from some tent tops and a maybe resident at the bus stop nearby, you can't even tell they are there.

Now me and The Boy are going to play some basketball at the park. See, Wii does not chain you to the TV!

Oh, and went to a dinner party last night SJ's house. The food was lovely and it was really easy to interact with her friends. Hmmm, now I have to come up with a misnomer for my boyfriend...how about My Man? Sort of goes with The Boy. Anyhow, My Man and I had a great time, and The Boy did too until he realized he could have been home playing Wii, at which point he affected boredom almost to death. Needless to say, I haven't gotten to play the Wii much this weekend.

And now that I am completely broke, I am getting to see my friends. Monday my red headed Miranda look alike friend is taking me to dessert to celebrate the new job (we have both been busy) and on first Thursday, my black haired diva friend is going to SAM with me. (these friends will now be known as Miranda and Diva, if I should reference them in the future.)

Kids on the Ave

The sun is struggling to come out now, but it was certainly cold this morning when I went running. That's right, running, for the second time in 3 days! Lets hope I can keep it up. A little exercise can go a long way to improving my mood and sometimes it is sooooo hard to get started. I hope the sun wins the battle today, because I would dearly like to have it around for a bit longer.

Yesterday I participated in a class called Homelessness 101, put on by the University District Service Providers Alliance (or UDSP). This class is required for staff and volunteers in the different agencies that provide services to homeless youth in the University District. Their goal is consistency and to not duplicate services (except of course where more of a service is needed--I am sure they would love to have more shelters, for example.) The class covered the different reasons why youth are homeless, what life on the streets is like for them, what is appropriate or not appropriate in program (drop in, shelter, etc). We watched a documentary called Kids on the Ave, which was made by a former Vista volunteer. It was really good, I recommend it if you want to know what those "street rats" are really up to. I look at them in a whole new light. The only bad part of the class is that my butt still hurts from sitting on the folding chair for 4 hours...

The lunar eclipse on Wednesday was beautiful. I wasn't able to take a picture--it probably wouldn't have turned out anyway, but here is a link to a local ballardite's Flickr page who took some amazing photos. (pilfered from the MyBallard site.)