03-31-15

Phone upgrades!

Anastasia went from a Galaxy S3 to an iPhone 6.
Xander went from an iPhone 4S to an iPhone 6.
I went from a Galaxy Note 2 to a Galaxy Note 4.

Bruce already had his upgrade, so he was along for the ride.

03-30-15

Xander officially became the President of the RA Long Key Club at Vernie's Pizza, with Elvis presiding over the installment...

03-29-15

When the game of Ingress started, Google pre-loaded some points of interest into the game - historical sites, fire departments, post offices.

Today we went on a little Ingress adventure is search of new portals.  In the tiny town of Deere Island we were looking around for the post office when Bruce realized that the game was leading us to this row of mailboxes.  Now that's a small town!

03-28-15

Today was long Ingress walks, "chores", and the vegan community potluck.

On one of our walks we saw a different view of our local bridge project, and evidence of quite a bit more work being done - the old green bridge is getting munched right up.

03-27-15

One of the in-between items that is difficult to part with is my letterman’s sweater from high school. 

I didn’t have a boyfriend, spent too much energy chasing the wrong guy.  So had to earn my own letter and get my own “jacket”.  I remember working really hard to get a non-sports related letter, and finally getting the sweater embroidered just the way I wanted it, but I don’t remember having very much of my senior year left to enjoy wearing it.  And green and yellow, what horrid school colors!

A last photo, think I can part with it…

03-26-15

And so it begins... the UW Mom and UW Dad and UW stuff all over the place.  Bruce talked about getting W decals for his storm trooper clings in the back window of the Corolla.

A nice quiet Thursday at work with a new mug...

03-25-15

Operation “cut my belongings in half” is creating quite a mound of garage sale fodder.

Tonight I went through some memorabilia boxes.  They are like time capsules through the years.  A rag tag teddy bear.  My dad’s wallet and “for a real man call Jim’s Handyman service” T-shirts.  Yearbooks and graduation photos.  College graduation cap and dating mementos.  Cross shaped ring bearer pillow.

Some things are easy to toss, some are definitely to be kept.  The in-between stuff is what takes the energy.

03-24-15

We were out on one of the islands this evening, and I realized it was a closer and different perspective of our bridge construction project.

Two guys pouring over plans to the left, five new pilings, a floating work space at water level, and half of the old bridge.

And the constant banging continues...

03-23-15

It still catches me by surprise to see 3/23 on my calendars.  Today is my day!  :)

Forgot to take a photo at our family dinner out, so posed this one with the fun "what is it?!?" gift from my mom.

Now back in jammies for TV...

03-22-15

Another night on the town.  Took our photo at the end instead of the beginning, dumb move.  Tonight was a sweethearts dinner at the Electric Bean.  Lower key, same caterer, more fun with Bruce.

03-21-15

Bruce and I went to a "cocktail attire" event tonight as ambassadors for Weyerhaeuser.  Fun to work for a company that gives back to the community; to the community college in this case.  Wish I was better at small talk.

03-20-15

"Mom's taking a day off work to go to Costco?" - Xander

Sort of, but not really.  A trip to Costco to get diapers and food for the Highlands Easter food baskets was the focal point of a trip to Portland on my vacation day, but we also had lunch, walked a bunch of steps, and explored new areas while Ingressing.  We found ourselves at an old cemetery on Stark, which had several very old (late 1800's) and very ornate stone logger headstones.

Mom's taking a day off to go to a random cemetery.

03-19-15

Busy day, not enough movement, balmy evening, ended up walking the lake at 9pm.  I never knew that our hospital has a  lit up cross on the roof.  Things look different in the dark!

03-18-14

Wednesday night is Bible study night.  Or small group night.  Or Life Group night.  My scrapbook room looks more like a study room these days.  Finished 2 Timothy tonight, moving on to Isiah next...

03-17-15

Happy St Patrick's Day!  I noticed today that people were either decked out in green or weren't wearing any green.  No middle ground or token green, all or nothing.

03-16-15

Wheh!  We can all quit wondering, waiting, and stressing over college admissions.  Anastasia got the BIG envelope today, her acceptance into UW Seattle  Way to go!

03-15-15

Stormy day.  Traffic lights out.  Our power was out for a bit. Bruce wondered if it was safe for us to walk at the lake with all the tree branches.  Lo and behold, we came across the city trying to safely bring down a cracked tree wedged against another tree.

03-14-15

A day at home all alone with the rain keeping me mostly indoors, bliss!  I started this morning by taking all of the stuff I've squirreled away for Shoebox Ministries, organized it, and tallied what I have so I don't buy the wrong things going forward.  Working on posting some excess belongings on e-bay,  And this evening scrapbooking is on the agenda...

03-13-15

Layered jars party!

Four ladies joined me tonight to assemble layered soup jars to hand out at adopt-a-block tomorrow.  Bullion, minced onion, split peas, pasta, lentils, barley, rice, and tricolored pasta.  I made a batch with a ton of veggies added, pretty yummy.

We borrowed measuring cups from the neighbor.  We took the required trip back to the bulk foods at Winco to buy the ingredients we were short on.  And it might even be pouring down rain tomorrow, a great chance to enjoy soup!

03-12-15

What a lovely evening for a walk!  The weather was perfect.

If we don't get significant moisture soon the newly planted seedlings out in the woods will die, so I hope it rains, but boy have I gotten used to dry weather!

We could walk forever...

03-11-15

Bruce and I have been watching Survivor together for years.  I preferred it on Thursday nights rather than Wednesday, but I don't get to pick.

This season the white collar vs. blue collar vs. no collar teams are pretty interesting.

Through the years we've had different office pools centered around the game.  This season I put $5 in the pool and got assigned a player, Tyler on the left.  If he makes it to the end I get the pot.

The gal on the right reminds me of Christy in our family.  Well,maybe not when she tries to talk to the howler monkeys...

The show is truly a water cooler topic.

03-10-15

This week I'm working out of town.  Longer hours and a 30 minute commute each way.  Kinda interesting to be in a different environment, though, and working on a project that take s a lot of thinking.

03-09-15

Walking downtown this evening... two loops is about 3 miles.

Hating daylight savings time!

03-08-15

After letting the garden spaces lay fallow all of last year, today began the process of trying to reclaim he spaces for flowers and vegetables.  We went to Home Depot and loaded the truck bed with soil, compost, garden gloves, and new outdoor chairs for a duplex.  It was quite warm outside, the little girls across the street were selling sno cones.  And Anastasia took the paddleboard out for its first voyage of the season. #LIFEISGOOD

03-07-15

Today all four of us headed down to Gresham for a family fun day.  Ingressing of course, today is the first Saturday!

Last month in Tualatin we met a gal who was filming a documentary about the health benefits of Ingressing.  This morning she specifically asked me to be interviewed about the social aspects and health benefits of the game.  

I love spreading the word about ways to be healthy, so even though I loathe video cameras and felt/looked like a complete dork, I participated.

03-06-15

The three of us walked downtown after dinner before it got dark.  Nice weather, and made it to another weekend.  The traffic lights were really dumb tonight, often red for all four directions.  We gave up waiting for the walk lights and had some photo fun.

03-04-15

Today was such a clear sunny day, seems a good time to photograph the bridge replacement project close to our house.  Half the bridge is still there, the green with equipment sitting on it.  The puff of smoke on the left is the pile driving, which we get to hear over and over and over.  Four months into it, 8 months to go...

03-03-15

Our whole street is lined with blooms, the ornamental plum trees.  Spring has sprung, a bit early this year.

03-02-15

Xander cannot get any privacy.

He and Jess go to Applebees after a barista shift.  Anastasia's friend Sadie goes to Applebees after theater auditions.

Sadie sends Anastasia a pic and annoying sibling strikes again...

03-01-15

Hello truck!

This weekend is the breaking in period, getting used to a different (not new, buy any means!) vehicle.  Hopefully they will eventually learn how to park it.

It's a 1999 Ford Ranger.  The color is up for dispute.  The salesman called it tricolor, a mix of black, purple, and blue.  As long as it's not white.  It looks navy to me.

Looking forward to driving it at some point, and using the bed instead of the trailer.

02-28-15

Saturday we attended a 12 hour BUSGRESS event.

What does that mean?  It means meeting in Portland, hopping on a bus or light rail, riding it to the end of the line hacking and attacking the portals we can reach from the bus, getting off at the end, walking around to hack and attack the portals nearby, and jumping back on a different bus or light rail line to do it again.  All day long.

We saw downtown Portland, Beaverton, Lake Oswego, University of Portland, St John, Hollywood, and Gresham.  We walked over 10 miles.  We held our bladders and ate on someone elses schedule.  We met a lot of fun people who also enjoy Ingress.  We turned a lot of heads and got a lot of questions, 14 people walking along with noses in cell phones.  This photo, though, is proof that I do look up and see my surroundings sometimes.