Where have the days gone...

It's Tuesday night, and I can't really remember what I've been doing for the last few days.  I went to Ash Wednesday service at a Lutheran church last week.  I liked it.  Then I went to Sunday Mass at a Catholic church this past Sunday.  I didn't get that 'this feels like a fit' feeling.  Mark got home Sunday afternoon and we took the puppies for a run at his office, which is on the campus of St. Martin's University, a Benedictine school.  We stopped by the Abbey there and I think we are going to try a service there this coming weekend.  We're still looking around for a place as comfy as St. Joseph's in Wenatchee.

I haven't been up to much.  I cleaned house Friday and Saturday, put some more stuff away, did some paperwork, etc.  Just sort of the usual.  I have been cooking more, though.  Like almost real cooking.  I'm following recipes and making meal plans and that sort of thing.  It takes a lot of time, though, which apparently is not a bad thing.  I recently read that Americans spend less than 30 minutes a day cooking.  So, my spending two-three hours making a real meal is ok with me.  Plus, we're eating well.  It's fun.

We may get snow tonight (1-4").  I hope not.  It was very cold today, though.

And that's it for tonight.

Driving around Olympia

I went out to dinner with our friend Susan last night and we had a really good time.  It's fun getting to actually know in person someone you've been in contact with for years via Christmas cards.  She's lots of fun and a wealth of info and help in getting me acquainted with Olympia.

Today started out really good.  My territory manager called at 9:00 a.m. (and I was up!) to offer me an assignment -- find a place to have a one-time-a-week meeting in the Tumwater area.  Now, I have no idea where Tumwater really is, but it's not far from here.  So, I get to drive around and look for places for a meeting space.  This will definitely help get me oriented to my new home base.  Yea!

Then I went driving around Olympia to find such fun places as the Thurston County Courthouse (new tag for the Jeep), the Social Security Administration (wrong info on their records), the mall (I bought a Sleep Number bed), and then off to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting.

Then it was home to talk with our financial advisor in DC, pick up puppy poopies in the back yard, play fetch with the puppies in the clean yard, and have some lunch.  All in all, a pretty good day.

Weather report -- it was relatively sunny today, and sort of warm.  It was a nice day.  I'm adapting to this climate a lot better than I thought I would, or anyone else thought I would either, I think.  I like it here.

Anyway, that's it for tonight.

Pokin' along

Mark got off to Montana yesterday.  I did absolutely nothing the entire day.   Oh yeah, I did take a mid-afternoon nap.  Whoo-hoo!

Today was more productive.  I vacuumed up the piles of dog hair in the family room.  I put some files away in my office.  I went to Costco to get a new dog bed, but was so excited about finding the paperback edition of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest out that I forgot to buy the bed.  I also made fresh tomato soup, and some pesto.

So, now it's just going to be a quiet evening with the puppies.

And that's it for tonight.

To North Bend and back

Mark left this afternoon for Bozeman, only he got no farther than N. Bend.  Snoqualmie Pass had mega snow, and multiple accidents.  So, he came back home.  He will try again tomorrow.  Living on either side of The Pass in winter is a more than iffy thing if you need to get from one side of the state to the other.  Always fun and games.

It's been a busy week.  I worked three WW meetings and had a great time.  I really like working meetings and talking to members and stuff.  It's fun.

We managed to get some moving-in paper work done this week.  We still have more to do.  And, I managed to get stuff together for our annual review with our financial advisor.  I am hoping it is what he/they want/need.  Mark is thinking of retiring early; there is an early retirement buyout on the boards right now.  I hope he can do this, too.  He needs to quit working as hard as he does.  He  needs to enjoy his life.  I really hope we can work this into doable numbers.

We took the puppies for a romp in the field at Mark's office this evening.  The weather has been really crappy all week, so they haven't had any exercise.  But, it was relatively clear and not raining this evening, so we went to play.  They had a great time.  Lots of muddy foot prints in the car.  Oh well.

There's lots starting to go on in our new life here in Olympia, and it is all good.  I'm happy about that.  Actually, I'm just happy.  Yea.

And that's it for tonight.

Another good day

We got up and had delicious waffles for breakfast.  Yum.  Then we took the puppies to Chambers Lake for a swim and a walk.  This time our friend Susan and her dog Bella joined us.  It was a nice sunny day, so it was good.

Our friends Vince and Leslie and their daughter Tasha from Seattle came by yesterday afternoon after Tasha's  soccer game in Tumwater.  Then we all headed to O'Blarney's for a late lunch/early dinner.  After they left, we joined other friends, Susan and Brian and Julie and Jon, at a sushi bar while they had their dinner.  Another day and night of good fun.

We did a little shopping this afternoon for things we needed for the new house, and to get another carry-on bag since we seem to have lost one of the other ones.  This one is blue, which I like.

Our good friends Teri and Ken lost their Kelly dog on Friday.  We are very sad for them.  She was a very sweet dog.  She was just shy of 14 years old.  She had a good life.

And that's it for tonight.

A busy week & puppies pictures

I have no idea where the week has gone, but I was busy the whole time.  I got a lot done in my office, which seems to take up an awful lot of time.  I didn't get any more 'moving in' done this week.  Hopefully, next week will be a bit more productive in that area, though I will be working four Weight Watchers meetings next week, so that will be taking up a good bit of time, too.  I got to meet my new territory manager yesterday.  Yea!  Now there is a face to go with the emails.

Last night our friend Desmond came and spent the night with us before going to a meeting near here today.  As always, it was great fun and conversation.  We had Costco lasagna for dinner.  Very yummy.

The weather has been off and on, sunny-gray-sunny-gray, rain.  I realized yesterday that I kind of like this weather.  Whodathunkit?

These are pictures of Brenna and Ty.


The big snow storm:

 In the park at Chambers Lake:

 Ty's first exposure to water:

 Brenna with her birthday ball:

And that's all for now.  Gotta get back at it.

Three days after Brenna's 10th birthday

There really wasn't much to distinguish today, hence the subject line -- because every day with Brenna is a special day.

I got a bit done around the house today, but was set back, schedule-wise, by a wonderful surprise visit from a new friend from yesterday's Super Bowl party.  Julie stopped by and we had a great yak-fest for about an hour and a half.  It was terrific.  I am really looking forward to spending much more time with her, and with her and her husband, Jon.

I managed to get the master bedroom ready for us to move into this evening, after almost two months.  It is really hard to believe we have been in this house for that long.  It seems like just yesterday that we moved here.  So, tonight, we will sleep in 'our' room instead of one of the guest rooms -- because Thursday night we are going to have a guest!  Yea!  (The other guest rooms are so full of stuff still to be put away that it was impossible to think about having someone stay in them.)  Desmond is going to visit us and spend the night so that he can attend a meeting in this area on Friday.  We are really looking forward to it.  Desmond is (and Desmond and Judy are) such great fun to be with.

Tomorrow has to be another 'office' day.  I have gotten quite far behind in my paperwork, again.  It seems to be never ending.  I thought computers were supposed to make our lives easier and paper free!  Hah!  That little bit of nonsense was first told to us in 5th grade when we were the first elementary class year to begin learning the  'New Math' -- 0's and 1's/On and Off.  I'm buried in paper and absolutely cannot catch up with myself, or anyone else.  I'm not sure life has worked out to be what they had anticipated.

Anyway, life is still discombobulated, crazy, unorganized, out of sorts, nuts, and a lot to deal with... but I'm doing my best, enjoying it, and it is good.

So, that's it for tonight.

Great Super Bowl party

We went to a really terrific Super Bowl party today and had a wonderful time.  We met lots and lots of really nice people, many of whom will become friends.  This was all thanks to our friends Susan and Brian.  (We had dinner at their house last night.)  There was an amazing sampling of food, along with beer, wine and margaritas.  Lots of kids, who pretty much had a game room to themselves.  Then there was the indoor TV, along with the outdoor TV.  The weather was perfect.  And as it began to chill a bit outside, the heater was lit.  The moon was almost full.  All in all, a great afternoon/evening.

Now it's time to clean up our kitchen, make Mark some lunch for tomorrow, and kick back.

A really great day

We got up today, had a nice 'big breakfast' (that means we ate eggs), and then we took Brenna and Ty to Chambers Lake, which is just up the road from our house.  This was Ty's first exposure to water other than rain.  It was typical puppy -- trying to swim with his head straight up and splashing like crazy.  We got some video as well as some still photos (I'll post those later when I download the camera).  He really liked it, but then he is a Lab.  Afterward we all went for a walk on the Chehalis Northwest Trail.  It was a gorgeous day today -- totally blue sky and sunny and warm.  Perfect.

Tonight we went to our friends Susan and Brian's for dinner.  It was mega-yummy.  They made this really delicious chicken and mushroom lasagna.  We brought a salad.  There was Italian balsamic vinegar and olive oil that they brought back from their trip to Italy in January for bread dipping.  Amazingly good balsamic vinegar, and olive oil, too.  Very fruity.  Brian also made pepper jelly with goat cheese crackers. Yum.  Nice contrast to the oil and vinegar. For dessert we had pomegranate sorbet with chocolate port.  An amazing evening.  Lots of fun and laughter.

We took their dogs, Marcy and Bella, pieces of Brenna's birthday cake.  They loved it!  Brian says Marcy can be a little picky about eating (she's 14 years old), so it was great when she wolfed it down.  Yea.

And that's it for tonight.

Pumpkin's 10th Birthday

Today was Brenna's 10th birthday.  We had a party, with hats.  I will download photos and re-post them when I do.  She got a red Kong ball, which she is loving.  And she and Ty really enjoyed the birthday cake.  They also got rawhide chew bones.  No, we absolutely do not spoil our dogs.

I ran lots of errands today and had a good time doing it.  The weather was gorgeous -- blue skies and warm temps.

I met two more neighbors today, and we already planned to have another puppy birthday party for Ty's 2nd birthday in June so that all the puppies and puppy parents could get together.  Sounds good to me.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is on, so I'm going to go watch that.

Good night.

Groundhog Day

It was beautiful today, and it is supposed to be like this at least through Monday.  Yea!

I have been working on getting routine into my life.  So far, I have managed to work a light yoga program into my day, and I'm working with weights to build up the strength in the arm I broke last summer.  I'm going to my Weight Watchers meeting each week, too.  The other things I want to incorporate are dog walking/training, meal planning/cooking well, and house caring-for.  Small steps, small steps.

When I re-started my yoga, I realized right off the bat that I had lost my God-spot.  This is a little, hazy, purple spot that I would always see when my eyes were closed and I was in the zone.  It really bothers me that it's not there now.  I have seen hints of it coming back, so I'm working hard to find it again.  Today there was quite a bit of ambient gold light coming in from the sides, but I'm hoping that goes away as I refocus.

I made a birthday cake for Brenna today (she'll be 10 years old tomorrow).  The puppies thought it was pretty fun -- they got to lick the beaters and have some little treats that I used for decorating the cake.  I still need to find the party hats we used for The Girls' first birthday party ten years ago so that Brenna and Ty can wear them tomorrow.  This is a picture of Brenna at her and Sweet Pea's 1st birthday party.

 
This is a picture of Sweet Pea at the party.  The toys were gifts from their vet, our friend, Courtney.  They were enjoying rawhide chew bones.

 

This is a picture of all four puppies -- Bart, Chip, Brenna and Sweet Pea in the back -- right before the birthday festivities began.

It's getting late and is time to clean up the kitchen and make Mark's lunch for tomorrow.  So, that's it for tonight.