Classified

I realize that many more days than posts have occurred in September, but the posting has still picked up.  That’s good, right?  Because it is quick and entertaining I will share with you two recent classified ads that appeared on my company’s classified ad section.

Ad Details

9/8/2009 – Missing Chicken Alert System (Lost and Found) Jiggle me chicken! She’s eggscaped? Been chickenapped? Also known as the the chicken on a string. She served as  the communication device between myself and those who dwelled on the other side of the cube wall. We’ve been CM’ing (chicken messaging) for years. But today, no chicken. No string. No note. Nothing. Was she tired of dangling from the yellow ribbon? Did the depression over her dried up egg finally cause her to take drastic action? Is there a randsome note coming? I need answers! The community needs closure. Small dirty, yellow rubber chicken, approx 6 inches in lengh, stuffed with a crusty yellow egg and tied by the foot to 4ft of yellow ribbon that has a cardboard ring on the other end. Last seen hanging on the wall of my cube in Rainier. Please contact me if you seen or heard from our chicken or our chicken nappers. A reward for any information leading to the location of the chicken.

 

9/4/2009 – Wanted: Darth Vader Fork (Items Wanted)
My Darth Vader fork broke today. It was part of an intergalactic spoon/knife/bowl set. It gave me the power of the darkside when reviewing spreadsheets while eating at my desk. It was a smaller sized fork so it also helped with bite portion control. Would be willing to negotiate a replacement fork featuring any Imperial forces or bounty hunters. Please, no rebel silverwear.

Butt Bow

My sister is coming back to spend another night or two with me. She has allergies, so to make her last stay more comfortable I used my “Dog Park Special” coupon to get Midge the works…..an oatmeal bath, toenail trim, ear cleaning and tooth brushing.

She is looking quite smashing. The butt bow just sets the whole thing off.

She looks pretty pleased with herself, doesn’t she?

Just Another Day in Paradise

Already I have broken my resolution.  I didn’t post yesterday, but as you will see I had a good excuse. 

Ant and I scooted the girls off to school and jumped in his car and pointed it in the general direction of Mount Rainier.  I was a bit worried that it would be completely cloudy and we would be unable to see the mountain since it had rained all night.  And there were only brief glimpses of it as we drove, but they were glorious.  Our destination is the highest place that you can drive to on Mount Rainier…a place aptly named “Paradise”.

At one of our stops, a sign showed us just exactly what the mountain thinks of Seattle.

We stopped occasionally at the pull outs on the side of the twisty and turny road and were rewarded with our best view that we were going to get of the mountain that day.

We hiked behind a tour bus group out through the glacial morraine and across a rickety “bridge” over the rushing water that is tinted white with volcanic ash.

Waterfalls were everywhere.

And the occasional view of craggy peaks reminded us that we were on top of the world.

When we arrived at the Visitor’s Center we decided to take a hike on the many trails that wend their way through creeks, wildflowers and waterfalls.  This deer was only a few feet off the trail, munching happily on the leaves of a small bush.

It was lush, green and absolutely gorgeous no matter what direction you looked.

The creek gave a clue to how little soil sits atop the glacially ground rocks.

And there are always more waterfalls….

And more waterfalls…

“…the most luxurious and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top ramblings.”

-John Muir on Mount Rainier’s meadows

She came out of the clouds one last time to say goodbye.

Salmon, Oysters and Clams…Oh My!

Today was spent with me working pathetically at home while my sister went shopping and Ant went sight-seeing by himself.

Nice hostess, eh??

We did have a wonderful seafood extravaganza dinner at Johnny’s Dock in Tacoma. Salmon, oysters, clams and crab were consumed with gusto. Desserts were ordered and then left unfinished. A walk around the the glass museum installations was necessary as we dreamed about what type of boat we would like to own someday. I settled on a sailboat or a dinghy. A dinghy being more likely.

Tomorrow will be chock full of fun. We drive to as close to the top of Mount Rainier as possible – to a place called Paradise. It might be rainy but it will be a beautiful drive anyway. And later that evening Ant and I will head to the Paramount Theater in Seattle to see the play “Wicked”.

When a blog will fit in, I don’t know. But I swear that it will! And Toast, I will definitely try the drunken karaoke trick on him if I have the energy.

New September Resolution

I resolve to post one blog a day in September. Even if it is one sentence long.

And BTW, Ant is coming from Scotland today!!! And my sister from Alaska!!! And the girls start school tomorrow!!!!

Maya, in particular, starts Junior High. Oh. So much happening. All blogworthy.

I promise….

Introducing…..

We have been keeping an eye out for a perfect dog. I had one on hold that I was to go meet and possibly pickup this Saturday. After driving 25 miles, I found that although I had the dog on “hold” they adopted it out anyway. I was livid. I walked around the rest of the dog Adopt-a-thon seething. Then, as I wandered dark and dreary, I spotted off in the corner…. little Midge. After meeting her and filling out a ridiculously long application I was able to take her home.

She is a Corgi, about 1 year old. Incredibly social, house trained, spayed and up to date on all her shots (Hi Mom!). She is also very small for the breed, hence Midge – which I am pretty sure is short for Midget. Apparently you can’t say the word Midget any more, and calling her “Little Person” was out….so, in private, I whisper her secret name in here ear……”Smidgen”.

What We Did This Weekend – Save the City Edition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I’m not sure if it is even possible to get tired of pictures like the one above.  I don’t think I’m ever happier than when I’m following the girls through a sun-dappled Northwest trail.  It’s good for the soul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We camped at Dash Point State Park.  One of our favorites and only about 15-20 minutes from our house.  We have visited often during the day, but this time we convinced the neighbors (Natalie, Mistah and Grace) to camp overnight with us.

 

This crazy trail down to the beach dropped some serious elevation and charmingly, there were a series of amazing outdoor staircases.

 

 

 

 

 

  And we found a tree slide!   That’s good.  No slivers were suffered.  That’s even better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we arrived at the beach we were pleasantly surprised to find a skim boarding contest going on.  The creek running out to Puget Sound gushes across a pristinely-flat stretch of sand where the skim boarders throw their boards down the creek, run like crazy, jump on the board and then hit a series of ramps, steps, etc.  Very much like skateboarding tricks, but it is harder to find a strip mall on the beach.  They have to bring their own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each and every time we come to this beach we play the same game.  Save the City.  You must first find a high spot.  This beach is famous for being flat, flat, flat and the tide going out FOREVER, so finding a high spot takes skill.  Next you build an elaborate sand castle city.  You need moats and rivers and drainage ditches.  You must use your engineering skills to get it just right.  You must also use your persuasive skills to encourage other people to help.  If you don’t, it is no fun at all.  We got two pre-teenage boys and an entire non-English speaking Japanese family.  Pretty awesome considering the language barrier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, as the timde starts coming in it fills your river, then your moat, then eventually if things go well it drains out the other side in the drainage ditch.  This weekend’s city was the best ever.  It was large, well fortified…and the river/moat/drainage system worked the best it has ever worked.  Experience is a great teacher. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But an even better teacher is the inevitability of the tide.

So then you give up and go find cool stuff like shrimp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the campfire later that evening Natalies hot dog bun waited in its artistic splendor for it’s sausage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And breakfast the next day was just as indulgent.  Eggs, bacon, fruit, pancakes.  We really roughed it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We roughed it so much that Natalie modeled the typical Northwest city camper with her glass french press and Starbucks coffee.  Ridiculous, I know.  But the coffee was amazing.

What did YOU do this weekend?

One…Singular Sensation…Every Little Step She Takes

Since the beginning of the year the girls have not had a nanny.  They walk the short distance to their school and use their cell phones to call me when they leave and when the arrive.  Remember when I was so horrified that their Dad bought them cell phones?  Well, it seems like a good idea now.  They are not ridiculous phone users and often get grumbled at by their Dad that they don’t answer their phone when he calls. 

That isn’t what I wanted to blog about.  What I wanted to blog about is the fact that Sophie apparently was bored before school because Maya had to go in a bit early because she is a crossing guard as part of the school’s “Safety Patrol”.  Of course she is part of the Safety Patrol.

Sophie began to see a pattern in which friends of hers came earlier than most and they began to meet under the rain shelter for impromptu musical theater dance numbers – choreographed by Sophia of course.    Apparently these get togethers became so popular that the music teacher heard about them and approached Sophie with an idea.  The teacher (bless her heart) would come 20 minutes early to school once a week and meet the musical theater gang in the music room.  She would help to choreograph a song and dance routine that they could perform at the end-of-school orchestra and band concert.

Here is the result…..please note the presence of her very serious violin-playing sister in the background.  The body language speaks volumes.

That is not where the musical thing stops!  All year she took an acting/theater class after school on Wednesdays.  In January the class of kindergarten through sixth graders decided they wanted to put on a Musical for the end of the year.  They picked “School House Rocks”.  Do you remember School House Rock?  It really is the only reason I know anything about grammar or the Bill of Rights.

The following video is them performing the “Nouns” song.  Not only does Sophie know her part, where she is to stand and all the dance moves – but she apparently knows everyone else’s part and where they are to stand and their dance moves as well.  I suppose it is also her directorial debut.  You’ll see what I mean, just be patient with the “raw” video and know that she really pulls out all the stops at the end.

Maya’s Musical Interlude

I’m trying to keep up.  Really I am. 

About a month ago Maya had her Honor’s Orchestra concert.  The 22 schools in the district were represented by a few kids from every school orchestra.  They played a song alone in front of thier peers and the orchestra teacher and were chosen depending on their performance.  Maya was chosen and even got a first violin spot.  She practiced every day and went after school to practices once a week since February.

They played 5 songs and did a great job.  Here is part of one of the songs.  I was WAAAYYY up in the bleacher and not paying attention to my videoing duties…but you can get an idea of what they did.

I find it pretty amazing that a bunch of elementary school kids can play that well after only two years.

She also had a more recent orchestra concert at her school with their much smaller group and another school.  Maya’s school are the ones in the black and white – more on this later.   The following is her friend and her playing the first violin part in “Joust”.  It’s a bit hard to hear them over the cellos and bass.

 Maya has determined that she is not going to play piano anymore.  I’m fine with it.  She has given it quite a few years and has obviously built a strong musical background….but I can’t help but be sad.  She played piano really beautifully.  It looks like violin is her love, though, so I’m going with it.  She has that “I’m a serious person playing the violin” face.  I suppose it’s kismet.

She is also the kid in her class that organized a uniform revolt.  Not in the way I would have at her age.  This year in orchestra they dropped the requirement to wear black and white.  In years before it was always a requirement.  Due to the economy (or something) they just asked them to wear “their nicest”.  

This was not good enough for Maya.

After class she got them all together and made them make a solemn pledge to wear black and white “like  a real orchestra”.  Otherwise she was worried they would just look like a bunch of kids playing violins and cellos.

A pro-uniform revolt.  Who knew it could happen?  Especially led by MY daughter.

Blog Posts Building Up to Point of Pain

There is so much to blog about, but in the last weeks of school I have little or no time.  I can tell youthat I will be blogging about (in no particular order):

• My crazy birthday party extravaganza
• Our trip to the water park and a certain slide dubbed the “Howling Tornado”
• Honor’s orchestra performances
• Regular orchestra performances
• Sophie starting an underground gang of musical theater loving 4th graders (unbeknownst to me)
• Sophie talking her teacher into being part of said gang and the secret meetings that ensued
• A late night incident involving my fence, the back shed and a K-9 police dog
• A School House Rock live theater performance
• Maya’s sixth grade camp experience
• And much, much more!

Stay tuned!