Jane's ramblings

2005-01-27T14:28:00.000-08:00

That report is from our "local" ski area, which is really easy to get to, and less than an hour away. At the time of posting this, however, it was closed (and had been for a while). They won't be reopening until they get more snow (none in the forecast). Yesterday Crystal Mountain closed, which was the last ski area in Washington open. The kids are NOT happy bunnies. Luckily their season passes are now valid for the rest of the season at a couple of resorts near Lake Tahoe. It's only (!) a 900 or so mile drive. Lovely.

2005-01-26T22:26:00.000-08:00

100. I love it. I adore round numbers. (Is that weird?)

2005-01-23T21:11:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, and I managed to finally get a ticket for the Tsunami Relief concert in Vancouver, BC on 29 January. 11th row, although I think I'm stuck at the side a bit. Oh well. It's better than nothing and I manage to get a break.

Today we had fun shopping for new cell phones. Since Natasha needed a new one, we decided to switch to Cingular. I got another smartphone, which is hopefully better than the MPx200. Natasha got a video camera phone, but Jordan wasn't with us, so he's going to return the one we chose for him.

2005-01-23T11:34:00.000-08:00

Not quite sure how anyone can be a slight loser, but there you go.

Luckily, I'm not going to have to be a slight loser for that much longer (although it still sounds like a ripe old age to me):

2005-01-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

Weird weather week - last weekend it was REALLY cold FOR THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST (I know it gets cold in Canada, This Week magazine told me so :-)). Hardly getting above freezing in the day, and well below at night. The forecasters did think we'd get an Arctic blast from Canada, which should have taken us down to zero F. Luckily it wandered off east. The I90, the freeway that goes over Snoqualmie Pass to the ski area, was closed several times due to lots of ice on the roadway. Skiing wasn't much fun because of the freezing rain. Driving up there was horrible too. The kids wanted to make up for lost time, since all the ski areas were late in opening this year. They'd got a decent amount of snow though by last weekend.

Then came the Pineapple Express weather system. Lots of warm rain. Temperatures at least 10 degrees over normal. One day it even got to 68F in Sammamish, compared to a normal for January of in the 40s. In a couple of days, most of the snow pack had gone. The I90 closed again for ten hours due to standing water on the road, up to 3 feet in places.

It's still warmer than normal and the heavy rain is forecast to come back this weekend. Ski areas are closed all down the Cascades until we get more snow. It's going to be a funny year.

2005-01-14T23:22:00.000-08:00

One way to pass the time in Seattle

Sigh.

2005-01-02T08:24:00.000-08:00

Just because a girl likes Math(s)?

2004-12-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

Compare the places I have been to the places I'd like to go.

create your own visited country map

2004-12-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

I feel like I've visited more places, but maybe it's because I've been to several of them lots of times. Also, I did check French Polynesia, but it's so tiny it hardly shows up at all.

How about you?

create your own visited country map

2004-10-18T22:39:00.000-07:00

So, I was out getting some retail therapy recently (shopping!). A woman was next to me, trying on some tall boots, and complaining that even so-called stretch boots were not made for her calves.

Within 10 minutes, we'd shown each other our tattoos (she got them done in Texas and Alaska), body scars (from a gastric bypass) and knew each others family situation (11 year old daughter, into Tae Kwon Do since kindergarten).

That never happens in the UK; One of the many reasons I prefer the US to the UK. Americans are generally very friendly and open. Brits are a lot more hard work.

So I don't have to do another blog today, here's another reason.

I'm quite conscious of my northern accent. In the UK, I am a bit withdrawn and reluctant to talk (unless I'm drunk, when you can't stop me). In the US, everyone loves the way I speak, and nobody draws attention to the fact that I'm from the grim North. It wasn't so bad when I lived in York, or even Newcastle, but moving to posh Surrey really made me aware of the differences, and it wasn't a nice feeling.

2004-10-05T20:21:00.000-07:00

For all you die hard persistent buggers who keep checking back, here's a new post.

Update:

Mount St Helens is having a bad week, so she's been erupting quite a few steam and ash clouds recently. It's over 100 miles away, so it's exciting and cool instead of potentially scary.

I hate daytime TV and Dr Phil is no exception. However, I caught a special he was doing on the family, a subject dear to my heart ever since Jordan turned 13, so I bought the book. I've only skimmed through it, but 2 things struck me as obvious, but I didn't realise:

How you react to a situation is up to you. I am guilty of blowing my top when Jordan swears at me, or is generally completely obnoxious, and I always felt it was his fault that I reacted like that. Now I realise, of course, that it isn't.

If you want to have a Grade A lifestyle, you better get Grade A's. This, again, is the problem we're going through, in that he's doing great at school, but crap for homework. This brings his grades down. I'm still working out what a Grade A lifestyle would be (probably pretty much what he's enjoying now), etc.

Sigh. 30% of parents wish they hadn't had kids. I wonder how many of the 70% have teenagers.

2004-09-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

Life sucks. I can't be bothered doing a blog any more, at least for a really long time. Look at Steve's web page for photos ... have a nice day.

2004-08-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

[this space is intentionally blank]

2004-08-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

Over the last few months, I've turned into someone I would have laughed at a few months before that, and I don't like it.

I yelled ("whatever") at a teenager who rolled her eyes at me when I wouldn't give her money to call her parents (I'm still not convinced that's what they wanted it for).

I care about what other people think of my kids when we're in a restaurant (I usually did anyway, but I'm more conscious that they've started acting like complete arseholes).

I find myself describing school to the kids and digging myself deeper into the depths of being an old fogey parent who doesn't know anything about what's going on today.

:(

2004-08-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

We're back. I have a life. It is good.

My life has been rated:

See what your rating is!
Created by bart666

2004-06-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

OK, I think I took out enough personal info to publish our trip without having weirdo's following us around. I'll try to update this blog on the road, but if not, see you in 8 weeks! :)

All blooming done in Notepad since Excel and Word were just overkill HTML. No idea why there's such a huge gap, but it'll show me who's really paying attention here.

[later] Sorry, awful HTML. Well, basic, and I am too tired to figure it out. Just shows what an old stick in the mud I am, doing tables. Well, it works ... usually. OK, it worked well in 1997. :)

Day	To	State	Est miles
1	Astoria	OR	198
2	Newport	OR	147
3	Crescent City	CA	215
4	Manchester Beach	CA	258
5	Vallejo	CA	127
7	Bakersfield	CA	294
8	Valencia	CA	74
11	North Hollywood	CA	24
14	Anaheim	CA	39
20	Palm Springs	CA	115
23	Las Vegas	NV	284
27	Kingman	AZ	115
29	Tempe	AZ	201
30	Colossal Cave	AZ	129
31	Lordsburg	AZ	190
33	Belen	NM	267
34	Albuquerque	NM	57
37	Trinidad	CO	249
38	Castle Rock	CO	175
39	Cheyenne	WY	133
41	Douglas	WY	133
43	Devils Tower	WY	221
45	Buffalo	WY	131
47	Cody	WY	185
48	Yellowstone NP	WY	76
50	Bozeman	MT	159
51	Missoula	MT	213
52	Whitefish	MT	131
54	Coeur D'Alene	ID	209
55	Grand Coulee Dam	WA	134
56	Home	WA	236

2004-06-25T02:20:00.000-07:00

rossie Highway

Loony-Bin Lane	4
Confusion Lane	21
Study Hall	58
Tower of Commitment	106
Paintown	495
Please Drive Carefully

Where are you on the highway of life?

From Go-Quiz.com

2004-06-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

Oh the joys of parenting. Can someone please remind me what they are, as I can't see any relating to our sullen 13 year old.

2004-06-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

After an amazing thunderstorm last night, which should have made the temps drop (90F in Redmond yesterday) it's even hotter today. The cheap curtains I put up help the sitting room stay cooler, but I'm still SO glad we got the AC.

I love the heat! I love it even more when I'm on vacation with freshly waxed legs though - I won't wear shorts around here.

2004-06-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

You are <blink>

There's no two ways about it - you're pure evil. Sure, there may be a few people who say you've got a good soul deep down, but really, you're irredeemable. Right?

Which HTML tag am I? at workingwith.me.uk

Evil in the HTML world, maybe, but not IRL. That's what matters, right?

Aside, my nickname at school was Eve, short for Evil. It was the eyes, apparently.

2004-06-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while. Busy ol' me.

Now we have new doors everywhere. They all work and have handles. All Steve needs to do is install the trim around them, and the whole door saga can be laid to rest. It would make a fascinating story, but I'm not the one to tell it. Lucky you. :)

The RV now has a wonderful navigation system. I couldn't decide between the Kenwood KNA-DV3100 or the Pioneer AVIC-N1 (X1 in the UK). The only review I could find on either of them mentioned that the Pioneer had a noisy fan, since it's an all in one (touch screen, DVD player, etc). Also, since I already had a Kenwood 8" widescreen touchscreen monitor from my old RV, I thought it wise to try to use what we already had. Installation costs were about the same for each, and I like that the Kenwood brain part is hidden away in a cupboard. The only bad thing is that we have a permanently mounted screen near the head unit. I can hide it with my silly hat though, so it's OK. All the rest of the stuff, including the DVD multichanger is hidden away too. Scott at Magnolia Hifi did an awesome job, as usual.

The trip is pretty much planned. Good job too, since I haven't been working on it for ages now. I've been busy sorting stuff out for Deb's garage sale (my first one), then playing with my labeler with the boxes that fit PERFECTLY in the RV cupboards. They waste a bit of space to allow for the door hinges, but they stop things moving around so much. I think I did get a few too many though, so I'll return those later. I also bought a Culligan water filter for before the city water hookup gets into the RV (keeps sediment and stuff out of the system), and I did get a Brita pitcher. However it's too big for the fridge, so I'll have to find a smaller one. Alternatively I could get one to go on the faucet, but since I'd need to change the whole faucet for a threaded one first, and the on-faucet models don't have good reviews overall (they tend to leak after a while), I'll probably stick with the Brita jug.

That's about it really.

2004-05-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

Oh. My. God. I am Rachel.

I'm Rachel Green from Friends!

Take the Friends Quiz here.

created by stomps.

Sorry, been busy, so no time to write about it. It's our 6th wedding anniversary today. I bought Steve 2 HIGNFY DVDs, and we went out to Black Angus for dinner. Yummy.

Steve went home to pick Jack up, so I went to Magnolia Audio-Video. Talked to the mobile electronics (fav dept) sales manager for an hour, drooled over some really nice GPS systems, then came home and ordered one for the ipaq from amazon. 1/4 of the price, and I might as well see if it works before discounting it. I didn't even go for the BT version - just the plain old Navman 3450.

Road trip is fast approaching, so I need to get my &%$# into gear. We just had the RV parking space concreted today, in the worst rain I've seen for ages. They said it will take 10 days to dry properly, since it's thick. That leaves just over 2 weeks before we leave to pack it up and check it out. I could get the TVs installed now though.

2004-05-18T00:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry, sorry. Life. You know. That annoying thing that gets in the way of having fun sometimes.

Ok, that's an excuse. I have been planning something fun, which in itself is fun. The sun has made a few appearances now, so I'm in the mood to go traveling. I've got our summer 2004 roadtrip down now, signed for a new (to us) RV, started to think about where the TVs are going to go, bought plastic plates, and thought about what meals I can prepare other than quesadillas or hot dogs. Last year, if we ate in, that's pretty much all we ate, for 6 weeks.

It's been warm, but still not warm enough for the AC to come on. Well, it's saving us money.

2004-05-12T04:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's 4am and I can't sleep. That's been going on for a while now, but what makes it harder tonight is that Jack crept into our bed about an hour ago, just a short while after I crawled into bed myself. I did whisper to him to try to stay on my side, which he is trying to, bless 'im, at my expense. Never mind. Sleep is for wimps anyway. :)

I've been busy, planning the road trip extravaganza for this summer. I watched a TV show on RV's, which featured a couple and their 4 young kids who had packed up and were traveling the US. They spoke of a beach park in Texas, where you could camp on the beach for free. I convinced myself for a week that it was worth diverting an additional 2,100 miles to get something for nothing - plus being on the Gulf Of Mexico sounded like a good idea. Earlier this evening, I realized that it probably wasn't worth it. I'd still like to go, but maybe not in the height of summer.

Since the current planned trip involves taking all 3 kids out traveling for 8 weeks, I finally acted on my thought that the Roadtrek is way too small, so I've been shopping for a Class C. Found a reasonably priced one, hope it's not a lemon. I'm test driving it tomorrow. The saleswoman said that we could even drive it here to make sure I could turn it around in our driveway (it's almost 30' long), which is nice, since it's almost a 60 minute drive one way.

That's about it really. G'night.

2004-05-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, although I don't know how you'll work out what it all means, here's my blogger code. B9 d t- k+ s-- u-- f- i- o++ x+ e- l+ c+

(I haven't figured out how to do links, or pictures. Actually, it's quite nice to be old fashioned. Like going back to keeping a handwritten diary. Hmmm, I wasn't very good at that either).

2004-05-01T01:42:00.000-07:00

Hot. Hot. Hot. Not REALLY hot, but touching 80F, which is pretty good for April. A/C passed the inspection this morning, so we should be all turned on by Monday morning. Haven't checked the forecast yet, but I'll bet it includes rain and cooler temperatures.

I'm on a mad tidying up splurge, although you wouldn't know it. It's more like Spring Cleaning really, as I'm chucking out all the stuff I haven't used for ages. The pile for some junk removal firm is growing by the day. We also have an amazing amount of furniture which is now unnecessary. Maybe I can join in with Deb's planned garage sale this summer.

Slightly bored, so I'm not going to write any more. It's 1:43 am, and both Natasha and I are still wide awake. Sigh.

And I rediscovered www.stickfight.net. Double sigh. I did really well, and stayed off for 2 months.

2004-04-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what is going on in the world of sport, since I don't follow anything over here. The best time to go shopping? When the Super Bowl is on, whenever that is. Don't ask me.

Anyway, we (Steve) was busy this weekend, painting trim and replacing light switches. What he forgets is that he has me to thank for supplying him with jobs. I come up with the ideas, and buy the materials, and he does them. Works well for me. :)

In the process of sorting out what we are replacing, we get left with loads of stuff. We tend to just throw most of it out (who wants old crappy doors?) but my neighbor is going to have a garage sale this summer. It might be worth hanging onto some things for that. Or perhaps not.

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. Well, if I was in the UK, it would be at the dentist. Here, it's with a periodontist. Some of my gum is missing, and my regular dentist said that I might need a gum graft. Yuk. Anyway, it's stopped hurting like hell, but it's still not quite right (I just checked). I'll let you know how that goes.

Nothing fun planned. Summer is rapidly approaching and I still have no idea what we're going to do. I think that if we went to the KOA in the Kalispell/Whitefish area of Montana for a while, the kids would be happy. It was the first KOA we ever visited, and it's still Jordan's fav. I would really like to get the retaining wall built around the side yard, so we can get a swing set/climbing frame for the kids. I go to sleep* thinking about it, and it's not that difficult in my dreams.

* I can't sleep. Last night I was still doing laundry at 2:30am, perfectly happy. Steve wandered in weary-eyed, grunted and went back to bed. I don't lie in that long, although sometimes I don't wake up as early as I'd like to. I have an article on changing my clock from night-owl to almost-lark, so I should try to put some of the ideas into practice.

I have a big list of things to do today, so BFN.

2004-04-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, I remember what I forgot to tell you last time - the treadmill stress test results came back. My heart is pretty much same as last year, which is a good thing. The bit that died obviously won't magically reincarnate, but no more has suffered the same fate. My ejection fraction is 60%, so it's still within the normal range. Yeah!

The air conditioning people came today. What I failed to notice in the glossy brochure is that the exterior unit, with the cooling coils, is ENORMOUS! It's a Trane X-something 16i (reminds me of a sporty Ford), and it's almost 5ft tall. They were late in arriving, plus we had a few problems along the way, so it's not completely finished but all the problems are sorted. At one point there were seven cars/trucks/etc in our driveway, which was funny. Deb, my friend and neighbour, brought Starbucks since I was housebound, and had to walk down the hill. She only just got back from a funeral week in Chicago, and I really missed her. I needed advice on paint colours and sofa choices. :)

Also visiting today was the designer from California Closets. She left happy with a sale, and I'm relieved that I don't have to try to configure the space any more. I am going to make a couple of changes though. They'll be installed next Wednesday.

Steve came home to complete bedlam - Nikki, Natasha's friend, was over for the night, plus we had Little Jack, Jack's friend, and whenever you add Jordan to the mix, the volume just gets turned way up. Luckily I had to mail some letters, so I escaped for a while. Then Natasha had her first soccer practice of the season. Came home later than planned as the game ran late, then vegged out watching Queer Eye For The Straight Guy and Changing Rooms, since all my current projects involve home decoration.

Bit tired so I might have an early night, although Steve's already got his PJs on. I really appreciate how he gets up early and wakes the kids. Thanks sweetie!

2004-04-19T01:09:00.000-07:00

Reminder to self - read last entry before writing new one. Sorry - you'd heard the sofa, Ikea, curtain stories all before. Ah well.

2004-04-19T00:42:00.000-07:00

Hello again. So sorry I haven't posted anything for a while. I did a really long post some time last week, but it kept saying that the server was busy, so then I just lost it (the post and my temper).

Ok, so … since my last entry, we:

• Got curtains for the sitting room. We have really odd shaped windows since we have cathedral ceilings, and it’s hard to get window coverings. I was initially thinking that we could attach some wood to the frame, right before it goes off at an angle, but I couldn’t find suitable hardware. Joist hangers was what I was originally thinking of, but they only tend to come in a plain galvanized finish, which is a bit too industrial for our contemporary house. The new curtains are just hung from tension rods, and they work quite well in shading the afternoon sun. They are only cheap, and therefore thin, though, so I am thinking of fitting another pair over each window. Trouble is, Target only has one more pair of the shorter ones – I tried three stores, but I think I could possibly get away with just using three individual curtains on those. I also bought several tie backs, but I still haven’t made a final decision on these. Because they have to go on the inside of the window, I don’t want enormous tie-backs, but the smallest ones I have seen come from the kids range at Target, and I’m not sure ducks or flowers really fit the décor.

• Went to Ikea! I haven’t been there for SO long. When I returned home from the THIRD trip there in three days, I remembered why I try to avoid the place. I love it so much that just cutting myself off completely is sometimes to best way to go. Their stuff just fits so many of our room sizes, it almost looks like custom made. If they don’t fit, I just get Steve to modify them. Trust me – I am a designer. The latest project was finishing off Natasha’s room, especially her Ivar wall. She chose a cupboard on casters, which would be OK in a room with straight walls, but as she has 15” or so of concrete foundation along her window wall, we could never push it back enough to line up with the others. Steve had previously cut the back legs of the side units, so the whole thing does fit flush with the wall. Anyway, I got some more side units for him to modify, which he did BRILLIANTLY while I was out picking the little darlings up from Snoqualmie today (it was the last skiing day of the season, so Natasha is quite tearful). I also sit on many different sofas, and I still think leather is the way to go, despite what the kids say.

• Arranged for us to get air conditioning installed. Every summer, we complain about how hot the sitting room gets. A recent warm spell proved that the curtains help with this a little bit, but it still got up to 70 in there when it was only 78 outside. If this summer is anything like last, the temperatures could be well into the 90s in the sitting room. Not nice. So they’re coming out on Tuesday. Yippee.

• Called California Closets back. They do custom cabinets for anywhere around the house. Natasha’s closet doesn’t function well and it’s ugly. Jordan doesn’t have a closet in his room at all, so his clothes go in a toy box. I sketched a few ideas, and would normally figure something out myself, but because of the foundation walls in both of the kids’ rooms, I’m a bit stuck for out of the box products, such as from Ikea. She’s coming out on Tuesday too, so we’ll see how much $ and what ideas she has.

• Got some doors installed. Yes, the great door saga continues. Some of the door openings downstairs are standard height. Most of them are not. We overlooked this when we (Steve & I and the contractor) measured. The only real option us cutting the doors down to size, but because they are hollow, they would have to be cut twice and the original top and bottom glued back on. Lowe's, my preferred DIY store, quoted us $100 just to do the cutting. This is making me think that solid doors, at around $150 each, might be a good option. Not only are they better quality in the first place, but they’re going to be about the same price. I realise they’ll still need cutting to size, but none of the gluing nonsense. I’m calling the contractor back tomorrow with my cunning plan.

• Got a quote to make the office skylight operable. Our office doesn’t have any windows, and sits between the garage and sitting room, our bedroom and the hall. It doesn’t get much sun, but the computers running all the time makes it quite hot. I got the idea of getting the existing skylight replaced with an opening one, naturally with bells and whistles such as remote opening and rain sensors, so we can go out and not come home to frazzled PCs. That was before the AC idea though, so I might wait until we see how that cools the house. It’s not a huge cost though, and I know we will only use the AC when it gets quite bad. I’m probably going to go ahead with this too.

I think that’s it for now.

2004-04-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Another sunny day, temps in the high 70s. Wonderful!

Since The Summit at Snoqualmie, our local ski resort, is closing for the season next week, I agreed to take the kids up there today for a day of fun in the snow. What's more fun is that I don't need to stay with them. So I dashed back home, picked up Steve and Jack and drove on to Ikea. I haven't been for ages, but the current catalog doesn't really inspire me that much. It was nice to have meatballs and, more importantly, the delicious bread rolls, again. Then we spent 2 hours wandering. Didn't spend too much, surprisingly, although we sat on a lot of sofas (desperately need a new one!). We bought a swing for Jack's bedroom, although we forgot the hooks to fix it to the ceiling. Shame. I'll have to go back. Snigger. I'm probably going to go back to buy a new dining table and chairs and more garage storage soon anyway.

After taking Steve, Jack and our purchases home, I drove back up to The Summit to pick the kids up. They were all a bit sunburnt, since it was really sunny and bright up there. Ooops. They'd had fun though, and begged me to take them back next week even before we'd left the car park. We'll see. Usual response. I don't want to commit to too much.

When we got home, I went out yet again. We've never had any window treatments up in our sitting room since we had the new windows put in, so sometimes it's really bright in there. What's worse is that in summer, it's REALLY hot in there, as the windows let in the sun from about 2pm until sunset. So I made it my mission to try to find something. Several stores and much frustration later, I did manage to get a few things at Target (still accept my team member discount from Mervyns - shhh) although I think they're a bit sheer to be much good. We'll see. (Told you so :-))

2004-04-09T00:46:00.000-07:00

Apparently I'm not tired enough to not notice AGAIN that there's a typo in the subtitle of this blog (in other words, I've just realised it's there). Funnily enough, it's the only part I can't figure out how to edit. LOL. Summarizes my life really.

2004-04-09T00:30:00.000-07:00

I'm tired.

I was woken at 9am by a phone call reminding me for the umpteenth time that I had a appointment at Overlake Hospital at 1pm, and that I wasn't to eat or drink anything for 4 hours before (so from then). I guiltily glugged a glass of juice, played with Jack, etc until about 11:30am, when Deb, my friend, guardian angel and babysitter came round to pick Jack up. I had a while on my own, then went to the hospital.

I had been warned it might take a while, but I didn't get out of there until 4:45pm! I'd had something injected into my arm - twice, went through a nuclear ??? machine (like a CAT scan, but only my chest, although it was very close to my face most of the time) for one hour total (I fell asleep within 5 mins each time) and endured a increasing intensity treadmill (just once - luckily). Apparently I managed to stay on within the normal range for my age, but I still felt like a wuss when I asked to quit because my calves hurt. My cardiologist wanted my heart rate to get to 155 - oh well, 110 was the most I could manage. I was trying to think of things that normally stress me out to increase my heart without increasing my work load, but it didn't work.

Since I managed to find out that Jack was safely at home with Steve, and I had a Mended Hearts meeting in 2 hours back at the hospital, I decided to stick around the area, rather than face the traffic - twice. I ate at Panda Express (and Baskin Robbins and Starbucks) then went to a very dull meeting about Long Term Care Financial Planning. Oh well, it's nice to pop my head in every now and then, so they don't think I've snuffed it. We got a new member. She's youngish, but I still beat her by 10 years. She had a heart attack last year, but the cardios couldn't find out why, and think it was just a spasm. That must be tricky to deal with.

Then I came home and had to "help" Jordan with his homework. He has been trying harder recently, but he wanted me to type something out. 2 hours later, I'm finished, and he's writing in parts that can't be easily done on the PC. It's after midnight, I'm really tired now and so I'm off to bed.

G'night.

2004-04-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have to make a correction - the replacement doors are not crappy. Allegedly. :)

2004-04-07T11:33:00.000-07:00

The weather changed back to being cold and rainy. I think my mood is directly affected by the weather (although in Arizona I was still in a foul mood, so that's my theory down the plughole).

Y'all know about the door saga, right? Basically, Steve removed all the doors downstairs (kids rooms, several bathrooms, laundry room, jam-packed closet), in the hope (I think) that it would spur us into buying and fitting new doors. Well, that was at least 6 months ago. The good news is that we have the replacement doors (going from a cheap crappy dark brown to a cheap crappy white panelled), but they're still just propping up the walls. The "door guy" (bascially a local do-it-all contractor) called me this morning, with much despair in his voice (he's sounded like that the last few times I talked to him too) to inform me that he couldn't come today as planned, and it would be Tuesday of next week.

Sigh.

Since it's the season of trying to get an entire years worth of work done around the house, so I don't feel bad when we bugger off on another roadtrip in summer ... I also had a skylight chap around today. The office has a fixed skylight, but it gets really hot in there, so I thought we could change it to a venting model, especially with the remote control and rain sensors built in. He's getting back to me with a quote later tomorrow. I had a dream it was going to be $28,000. He said it should be around $1,000 plus labor.

2004-04-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

OK, so ... hello, I guess should be the first thing.

Earlier today, I was sitting at Marymoor Park, thinking that everyone (or at least my immediate family) was against me, and feeling pretty lonely and depressed. So I thought a blog might be a good way of recording my feelings, just to look back on and hopefully realise that I do have fun sometimes and I'm not always sad.

I don't actually have many deep and meaningful thoughts, so don't expect this to be a back door into my mind.