Oh, to be 29 again!

Last night was wonderful! (don't worry, you can keep reading.)
Paul said I could open my gifts before we went out to dinner, so I did! I loved all of them, noting several times how thoughtful everyone was, especially with Christmas right around the corner. I'm okay with getting dryer sheets or hotel soaps, if that's what's financially allowable. I got some really cool exercise clothes and gear, a neat recycled clothing kitchen rug, and a little spending $$.
For my B-day dinner, Paul took me to the Bombay Cricket Club, a restaurant on Hawthorne Blvd. that serves excellent lamb & other Indian dishes, and shows cricket games on TV for atmosphere. The meal & service were great, but their desserts didn't sound too spectacular. We headed out to the cat store to pick up some White Lightning Catnip, and then on to Trader Joe's for travel snacks & some REAL dessert, chocolate in pure bar form.
When we got home, I made 2 little catnip toys for the boys, and then we watched them go wild! Catnip has crazy powers over cats, sort of like the ring & Gollum; Gatsby attacked Bosco like a wild animal, just so he could have both toys. This morning the toys are drenched in kitty drool. I've never smelled such potent stuff - really primo at only $5/oz.

So now that I'm closer to 40 than I am to 20, what's a girl to do? I feel like I'm in limbo. I've compiled this list recently, and added to it today.
- Annoyed by the person next to me in the restaurant saying, "Shut the F-up!" to her dining buddy on several occasions during my very nice birthday dinner (linen tablecloths & napkins and everything!). Should I scold her?
- Doesn't particularly jive with Old Navy-style or Eddie Bauer/Land's End-esque clothing. What can I wear?
- Can't get down with clubbin' (just one, for that matter). What is hip-hop fusion?
- Fervently searches for & plucks her 6 gray hairs. It costs how much to color?
- Senescene. It starts @ 28, not 30.

That's it for now. I've only been 30 for a day!
-Anne

B & Me

Wonderland!

As a new Portlander, one thing became resoundingly clear to me yestarday afternoon; snow is not normal!

Hmmm, this is the confusing thing.
Freezing rain: no big deal. Snow: pandemonium.
Around Portland there are semi-San Francisco-like elevation changes, ranging from 100' to 1000'. This is especially true in the West Hills, or suburban Beaverton and beyond. Well, that's where I was on Sunday, at a Baby Boot Camp (BBC) holiday cookie exchange. About an hour into the party, the first few flurries started to blow in (50mph gusts!). Mine and most the BBC moms' cell phones started lighting up. We traded cookies, took a picture, and split. I had about a 30-minute drive in front of me - back through City Center, across the bridge, and home.
Annoyingly (to put it lightly), suburban roadways don't tend to follow any sort of North/South-East/West format, and they also aren't straight - at all (in retrospect, I think its b/c of all the hills). Having no map or idea of which way was North, I promptly got lost. With my gas tank nearly on E, I pulled into a gas station to fill up and get directions. By the time I became 3rd in line, they closed, saying that they were out of gas. So I trolled on down the road toward some other promising major intersection, hopefully in the right direction. It turned out to be the right way, but no one could get up the last hill before the highway. So... I turned around. After going another wrong way for a couple miles & turning around again, I finally found a gas station and was pointed in a different direction, which turned out to be another traffic jam. So 2 hours and 2 miles after I left the cookie party, I was sitting in traffic with my bladder about to burst (2 cups of coffee at the party had set in), when I saw the Max (metro train) fly by. Ureka! Paul had suggested the same thing earlier, via our neighbor's intelligent suggestion, but I didn't know where it was. I called Paul a 4th time for directions, this time to get to the Max station (Paul says it's hard to give directions when I don't know where I am).

By 4:15, I was on a train, speeding by the very highway I was trying to find! It was crawling, and the next major road I saw (I-405) was totally jammed. By 5:45, I was home. My toes were like little rocks! Brrrr! The two best things about this adventure was that earlier that day, I had decided to take my jacket at the last minute, and that I had a whole bag of yummy cookies to snack on.

I took these pics this morning, pre-dawn (Impressed? The sun rises at 7:50). Now the ice is melted, and it's misting, but there's still some slushy snow leftover (good for snowballs).
I'm getting a ride back to Beaverton today with my neighbor, to pick up the car. Hopefully, it didn't get towed!

-Anne

Merry-Merry

The day after my final final, I made this wreath! It's hanging right next to the front door, facing our neighbors to the north. I got most of its contents off the ground at Laurelhurst Park, a local green space. The Gorge Winds had been blowing, so there were lots of conifer sprigs all over the place! I did stop at Portland Nursery to pick up a few pieces of Holly (I later found that I could have picked that up for free too!), and cut a live wreath circle from the frame that this wreath now sits upon. So I made a $3 wreath; does it show?
-Anne

Wooooooo-Hoo!

Alrightey, then. That was stimulating.

I just finished my first term at PSU Wednesday, and boy am I'm tired! I don't even remember how to Blog anymore. The kitties are sleeping in our box of Christmas decorations (that I am finally able to tackle), since they like the crackley packing paper & are hoping to find a piece of faux garland to choke down.

I guess I should give a rundown of our latest happenings. Paul has been the the go-to man for the last couple of months. He's been doing more of his share of housework, cooking, chores & errands, and has tolerated my 3 weekly evening classes well! Lately he's been busy getting us totally wired for satellite radio (Sirius). He found a new device that is adaptable for car, home, and walkin' around. The portable part kind of has a catch - you have to record stuff at home or in your car in orde to have something for walkin' around listening. He worked hard to get all the little gadget's components, and to get it all properly set up. I'm listening to Christmas Country hits right now - it's awesome!
Also, a few weeks ago Paul brewed an awesome (crossing my fingers) keg of Chocolate Porter - hoppy holidays - that has a little 'kick.' You'll have to ask him about the exact % ABV.

My life for the last 8 weeks could be better-covered by listing what I haven't been doing! Anyhow, mostly I've been eating, sleeping, exercising, and practicing the 2 R's. But since school's been out since Wed., yesterday I did a little bit of fun stuff! I made a nice evergreen wreath out of some branches I picked up after Boot Camp at Laurelhurst Park. I pulled out a couple Christmas gift sewing projects - can't say what, just in case you're reading this. I'm gonna work on them today. In a few minutes, I'm making pizza dough for tommorrow night's calzones. This weekend I'm making & canning some more cranberry-ginger compote, and going Christmas shopping!
Oh yeah, as for us, I'll be updating our 'Wishlist' under our Blog's "View My Complete Profile," and maybe our Amazon Wish List (Marci, you've inspired me) before I get to the pizza dough.

It's good to be back.
-Anne