Sunday, September 30, 2007

Fred

Hey! We're all moved and settling into the new place. We got our new washer and dryer today - very exciting.

The pets are having an interesting readjustment period. Instead of transferring their heirarchy from the last place, it seems they are trying to reestablish their roles here. Bella is being very submissive to the cats - almost as if she's afraid of them - before she was intimidated by Paul and didn't pay Rachel much attention. Paul's being a super jerk and just trying to bully Bella as much as he can and Paul and Rachel have both taken to eating Bella's food - while she's trying to eat!

And just to add to the chaos, Jason and I rescued a kitten this morning. Jason woke me up about 3 am saying he could hear a kitten meowing outside and asked if it would be all right if he brought the kitten inside. I jumped up, got dressed and joined him in the search. We found her (not actually certain of the gender but we're going with female) squeezed between our porch and a fence. She fled when Jason went to grab her. After chasing her up a densely vegetated hill, we gave up and went inside. We were able to catch her this morning and brought her inside and set her up in one of our spare rooms. She's currently hiding between two pillows covered by a blanket. She seems to be about 6 weeks old, but is malnourished. She's been eating but starts to shake whenever we are close. We're going to give her a couple days and try to help her regain her health. After that, we'll decide if we want to keep her and take her to a vet or turn her over to a shelter.

We've already named her -- Fred (after a female character from Angel), who was found living in a cave, terrified and alone but soon rejoined the world successfully. I wasn't really wanting another pet, but she's just so darn small and cute, and poor thing, all alone in the great big world. Of course, if we find out that she has feline leukemia or something contagious but not curable, we'll have to give her away because we can't have her infecting the other two. I do worry that if we keep her, Bella will feel outnumbered and not as loved.

But...I need to not get ahead of myself. We just need to help Fred survive the next few days and then go from there.

Monday, September 24, 2007

What happens in Aurora, happens to ME (and you?)



The fight for women's access to reproductive health care has landed in Aurora, Illinois, a fast-growing city outside Chicago, where Planned Parenthood just built a large health center.

The usual suspects in the anti-choice fringe have showed up in droves - more people are protesting this clinic than Planned Parenthood has seen in a very long time. And they are doing everything in their power to try to keep our clinic doors shut. You can read more about it here and here.

Planned Parenthood needs our help! People like you and me are tying ribbons at the new clinic - a ribbon for every supporter. If we get massive amounts of ribbons tied, we'll send a powerful message to the protesters that Planned Parenthood has support from across the country. And, we'll also let the women seeking care there know that they are welcome and supported, too.

You see, what's happening in Aurora isn't just some isolated incident. What's happening in Aurora today is what's happening in America. It's not a war on a clinic - it's a war on women's access to needed health care - in Aurora, and across our country.

Join me! Tie a ribbon to show your support. Click here.

Friday, September 14, 2007

New House!

The outside (note the massive deck)

The living room

The fireplace in the living room

The kitchen

The downstairs bonus room


The house also has four bedrooms, two baths, a laundry room, double car garage and a wonderful view of the Blue Mountains and the town. It's located in Milton-Freewater - we're Oregonians again! Not sure when the moving will start...

We didn't get the roof issue sorted out - the sellers refused to give us the funds necessary to finish the job. But since it wasn't a costly repair, we decided to end the bickering and just finish the deal.

I can't believe we're home owners again. I'm very excited, a bit baffled and little overwhelmed.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A Little Whining

Yeah, I'm just gonna do it -- whine, on my blog. I won't insult your intelligence by trying to justify such behavior.

It's 7:40 pm, and I'm still at work -- going on hour 12. I have to be back at work at 7:30 am tomorrow to drive for two hours for Staff Day, or as some of my co-workers call it, Forced Fun Day. I was looking forward to it earlier, but now I'm just too tired and would rather sleep-in tomorrow. But we're getting track jackets -- something to look forward to.

My hubby is sick, perhaps with the flu. Or perhaps side-effects to his meds. Poor guy. And because I'll be out of town tomorrow, he has to take the bus to and from work. If he can make it to work.

I've started a new diet -- no dairy or eggs. I'm seeing a homeopathic doctor, and she did a blood test that came back showing that I am strongly sensitive (but not allergic, i.e., won't die from) eating those things. Cutting them out hasn't been very hard so far, but I have been having some nasty bowel movements. Not sure if the two are related, but I'm suspicious. Perhaps my colon is cleaning itself out. Sorry if this is TMI.

The house is still not ready to close. We have an extension until Friday. We've already signed papers, but are just holding back the funding until the darn roof situation is worked out. We had the sellers put a new roof on it, which they did, but the roofers didn't do a complete job and because the sellers already paid them, they (the roofers) are being less than responsive on getting the job done. So, we're now trying to convince the sellers to just set aside some funds for us so we can hire someone to get the roof finished. I'm starting to get frustrated -- we've had four extensions on closing so far. I don't want to get too impatient and lose our wonderful house-to-be, but...I'm a sucker for resolution.

Things to not whine about --

I'm loving my hair! So cute and subtly (very subtly) punk rock, in my opinion. I always like to believe I'm more punk rock than I am (which is to say, not at all). And thanks for the compliments, ladies.

Bella is just a big sweetie. I love having her in our lives.

My co-workers and boss are super groovy and supportive.

Jason is too and such a helper-outer.

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Whew! That was a long one. Thanks for reading this far. It's about time for me to finally head home. Peace out. Much love.

Monday, September 10, 2007

New Hair



Got my hair professionally dyed for only the second time in my life today. It's hard to tell in the picture, but my head's at that weird angle as an attempt to show off the color variation. I'm liking it so far.

Work and home have been kicking my butt lately. Just finished putting together then putting on a two day training. And we're in the process of buying a house and closing was delayed today for the fourth time. My time at home has been spent parked on the couch vegging or in bed sleeping. I'm hoping to rejoin the land of blogging and e-mailing soon. But I wanted to let you all know that I hadn't died, joined a cult or run away to Bora Bora.